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Letter from the City Clerk and Treasurer of Victor, Colorado

June 1, 2006
The following is from a copy of hand-written minutes from an 1897 meeting in Victor. Phil keyed in the text and added the bold font to some phrases for the purpose of summary.
The board of Trustees of the Town of Victor met in regular session in the council chamber. 
Meeting called to order by Mayor Pro-tem W. J. Donnelly.
Roll call and absentees recorded.

Mayor James Doyle    absent
Mayor Pro-tem W. J. Donnelly Present
Trustees J. A. Kennedy              Present
  J. J. McCarthy             Present
  Isaac Rease                Present
  John H. Williams    Present
Clerk G. L. Armstrong           Present
City Atty Brady Present

The following communication was presented by Trustee J. H. Williams.

To the Mayor and Board of Trustees of the Town of Victor, Colorado.

Gentlemen
The undersigned hereby prefers charges against your present city clerk, G. L. Armstrong for Malfeasance in office in this to-wit.

That on the ninth day of April A. D. 1897 the said G. L. Armstrong, as clerk of said Town of Victor, under the statutes of the state of Colorado, in such cases made and provided, called to his assistance, James Doyle the then Mayor of the said Town of Victor to canvass the votes that was cast at the Town Election held on the 6th day of April 1897, that said canvass was made and certified to by said G. L. Armstrong and said James Doyle.  And that said canvass showed after being so certified to that one Edwin D. Ford had a plurality of five votes over Mark D. Greave, one of his competitors and more than one hundred votes over George E. Simonton his other competitor, and that said Edwin D. Ford, by said canvass was shown to be elected to the office of mayor.

Your informant further respectfully represents and shows to the Honorable board of Trustees of the Town of Victor that the said G. L. Armstrong willfully and corruptly and in violation of law issued to the said Mark D. Greave a paper purporting to be a certificate of election and among other things recited that said Mark D. Greave had been elected to the office of Mayor of the Town of Victor.  That said pretended certificate so delivered to the said Mark D. Greave by said G. L. Armstrong was false and did not state what the canvass was but falsified the same, and that the said Armstrong did so with a wicked intent and purpose to wrong and defraud the said Edwin D. Ford of and out of the office of Mayor.

The above was signed by Michael Donavan and subscribed and sworn to before Geo. L.  Winkler, a notary Public.  The above communication was received and placed on file, whereupon Trustee J. H. Williams offered the following resolution.  Be it Resolved, that the charges preferred against G. L. Armstrong the present Clerk and recorder of the Town of Victor by Michael Donavan are of such a character that the Board of Trustees of the Town of Victor cannot permit the said charges to remain upon file among the records of the said Town of Victor with prompt and immediate action, therefore

Be it further resolved by the said Board of Trustees of the Town of Victor that charges be preferred against said G. L Armstrong so recited in said communication and that the Town Attorney be instructed to forthwith prefer charges and specifications against said G. L. Armstrong in reference to the matters contained in said communication and

Be it further resolved that pending said investigation the said Armstrong be and he hereby is suspended from the office of Town Clerk and Recorder of the Town of Victor and that he surrender and deliver to Joseph Quinn who is hereby appointed Town Clerk to act in his place pending the investigation all books, papers, keys, moneys and all property of whatsoever kind, nature or description that he has in his custody as Town Clerk of the Town of Victor and that he do so forthwith and that he immediately vacate his said office; and the said Joseph Quinn is hereby instructed to take charge of the affairs of said office forthwith, and the Marshal and Police Officers of the Town of Victor are hereby instructed and directed to take possession of the said office of Town Clerk of the Town of Victor by force if necessary and surrender and deliver the same to Joseph Quinn.

The resolution was adopted by the following yea and nay vote.

Kennedy-Yea     Williams-Yea     McCarthy-Yea     Reese-Yea