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1892.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 515
would be responsible. The bulk of his defalcations
occurred during this extended period, and the sureties
apply to me to recommend to your Honorable Bodies
to relieve them from the strict measure of their legal
liability thus fixed by the Court of Appeals.
They do not ask, as you will observe, an entire re-
lease from their responsibility, but tendering them-
selves ready to pay at once in cash the amount of
their principal's defalcations during the period begin-
ning on February 2d, 1886, and ending on February
13th, 1888, they pray to be relieved from ail greater
liability.
After careful reflection, it seems to me that the case
of the sureties on the first bond presents a strong
equity, widen should be passed upon by the General
Assembly and not by the Governor alone; and, accord-
ingly, I respectfully recommend that you take their
memorial into consideration, and extend to them such
measure of equitable relief, as upon a review of all
the facts and circumstances of the case, shall appeal
to you to be fair and just.
I notice that the memorial makes no mention of the
third bond, and proposes no indemnity to the State
for the costs and expenses of the litigation. And
therefore, if you shall see fit to grant their application
in whole or in part, I suggest that in any bill which
you shall pass, provision be made for the payment
by the sureties on the third bond of the amount mis-
appropriated subsequent to its approval; and also for
full indemnity to the State for the costs of all the
suits at law and in equity in the Circuit Court and in
the Court of Appeals, and also for proper compensa-
tion, out of the sum to be paid by them, to the State's
special counsel, for his laborious services in the whole
litigation.
The liability upon the third bond is not disputed, I
believe, and hence, it seems to me to be only reason-
able that the amount covered by it should be paid,
together with all the expenses of every kind to which
the State has been subjected, throughout the entire
controversy, as a condition of any equitable adjust-
ment of their responsibility upon the first bond.
FRANK BROWN,
Governor,
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