DESIGNATION OF JUSTICE ADAMS AS PRESIDING JUSTICE OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION, FOURTH DEPARTMENT

STATE OF NEW YORK

Executive Chamber

In accordance with section two of article six of the Constitution and the statute in such case made and provided, the

Honorable WILLIAM H. ADAMS

of the village of Canandaigua a justice of the Supreme Court of the Seventh Judicial District is hereby designated as Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in and for the Fourth Department for the term ending December 31, 1901, to succeed the Honorable George A. Hardin whose designation as such presiding justice will expire by limitation on the thirty-first day of December, 1899.

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GIVEN under my hand and the Privy Seal of the State at the Capitol in the city of Albany this seventh day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine.

By the Governor:

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

WILLIAM J. YOUNGS

Secretary to the Governor

MATTER OF THOMAS HUTSON, TREASURER OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY ORDER OF REMOVAL FROM OFFICE, AND OPINION

STATE OF NEW YORK

Executive Chamber

In the matter of the charges preferred against Thomas Hutson, county treasurer of the county of Chautauqua Order of Removal

Charges of misconduct and malfeasance in office having been heretofore preferred by Herman Sixbey and Seth Scriven against Thomas Hutson the county treasurer of the county of Chautauqua and a copy of the said charges having been served on the said Hutson and an opportunity having been given him to be heard in his defense, and he having filed an answer denying any misconduct or neglect of duty, and an order having been made by me appointing Winfield S. Thrasher of the village of Dayton, county of Cattaraugus, commissioner to take the testimony and the examination of witnesses as to the truth of said charges and to report the same to me and also the material facts which he deems to be established by the evidence, and the said commissioner having taken the testimony relating to such charges and in refutation thereof, and his report bearing date October 13 1899, and the evidence taken by him, having been duly filed, and it appearing to me after an examination of the same that certain of the said charges are true, that in violation of law and of his duty as treasurer he neglected to report to the board of supervisors of Chautauqua county the amount of interest received by him on county funds; that he ac

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cepted a present of $100 from the Fredonia National Bank, one of the banks in which the funds of the county were deposited by him; that the aggregate amount of said interest and present, to wit, $1,695.92 was kept and retained by him as his own property until after the commencement of this proceeding, when said amount was paid by him into the treasury of the county; it is therefore ORDERED that the said Thomas Hutson be and he hereby is removed from the said office of county treasurer of the county of Chautauqua.

GIVEN under my hand and the Privy Seal of the State at the Capitol in the city of Albany [LS] this seventeenth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine.

By the Governor:

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

WILLIAM J. YOUNGS

Secretary to the Governor

OPINION

STATE OF NEW YORK

Executive Chamber

Albany, October 17, 1899.

In the matter of the charges preferred against Thomas Hutson, county treasurer of the county of Chautauqua · Opinion

Herman Sixbey and Seth Scriven of the village of Mayville, Chautauqua county, N. Y., have preferred charges against Thomas Hutson, county treasurer of the county

of Chautauqua, alleging that he has been guilty of misconduct and malfeasance in office. The charges contain numerous specifications and are amplified with considerable detail. A copy of the charges was served on Mr. Hutson, and his answer thereto in writing was filed, in which he denied that he has been guilty of any misconduct, and that whatever he did in relation to the matters referred to in the said charges, and in the answer, was done in good faith, and according to what he supposed was the established precedent of his office.

Winfield S. Thrasher, Esq., of Dayton, was appointed a commissioner to take the testimony and examine the witnesses as to the truth of the charges, and report the material facts which he deemed to be established by the evidence. Mr. Thrasher's report, dated October 13, 1899, and the evidence taken by him, have been duly filed.

On the sixteenth instant a hearing on the charges was had before me, at which Willis H. Tennant, Esq., of Mayville, and H. C. Kingsbury, Esq., of Westfield, appeared as counsel for the petitioners, and Arthur C. Wade, Esq., of Jamestown, appeared as counsel for Mr. Hutson.

From the evidence and report of the commissioner, it appears that the treasurer retained for his own use fees allowed to county treasurers under the Liquor Tax Law, and also the fees allowed under the Transfer Tax Law. The county treasurer's right to these fees was not seriously questioned on the hearing, by the counsel for the petitioners, and this branch of the charges may I think properly be dismissed from further consideration.

It is also claimed that the fees of certain school collectors on return school taxes were in some cases wrongfully withheld from them. The amount of such fees actually

withheld by the treasurer is not shown, and it appears that when sometime in 1898 the treasurer's attention was called to the matter, an investigation was made and it was found as a matter of law that the fees belonged to the collectors. Since that time all fees to which they were entitled have been paid or allowed by the treasurer to the school collectors.

It also appears that the treasurer in 1897 and 1898 erroneously credited himself in the aggregate with the sum of $551.30, excess of fees on return taxes. His attention was called to this matter in the summer of 1899 and after some investigation, he discovered that his report did include such excess of fees, and therefore an erroneous credit of the amount stated. Said sum of $551.30 has been refunded to the county by the treasurer since the commencement of this proceeding.

One of the charges which demands serious consideration relates to the retention of interest by the treasurer. It appears that since the first day of January, 1897, when his term of office began, he has received and retained for his own use $1,595.92 as interest on county funds. The larger part of this interest was received from banks where deposits were made, and some small amounts were received from other sources. In retaining this interest Mr. Hutson claims that he followed the precedents of the office, and it is shown by the evidence that the county treasurers of Chautauqua county for many years have retained to their own use interest received on county funds, and have not reported such interest to the board of supervisors. Reports of the treasurers for some thirteen years last were put in evidence and in none of them was any interest included. Whether the board of supervisors has