From our archives, 100 years ago

The case had been touted as one of the most egregious public swindles in Idaho history — yet a jury took only 15 minutes to acquit former Kootenai County auditor D.E. Danby.

In fact, the judge told the jury that he would not have allowed a guilty verdict to stand because there had been no evidence to show any “intent to appropriate money to the defendant’s own use.”

Danby had already “admitted incompetency,” but there was nothing in the trial to indicate he was trying to defraud taxpayers or enrich himself.

A grand jury had indicted Danby and other county officials for what was characterized as dozens of “shortages” in the county books, stretching over many years. Nobody was really sure how much money was missing, or where it had gone, because the bookkeeping was so shoddy and confusing. However, the trial showed that in a number of cases, the correct entries had in fact been in the account books, but had not previously been found.

Even the prosecutor, N.D. Wernette, seemed pleased at the trial’s outcome. He shook hands with Danby and said, “There is none gladder than I. I was simply doing my duty.”

A petition was already circulating to ask the county commissioners to give Danby his job back.

However, the larger scandal was far from over. The sheriff recently went to California to bring back James W. Smith, former county assessor, to stand trial on 14 counts of misappropriating public funds. Smith was released on bond pending a trial.