A HEADLESS EDITOR

The Cortland Democrat, Friday, October 23, 1891.

A Headless Editor.

   EDITOR DEMOCRAT:—The editor of the Cortland Journal sometime ago claimed that Palmer [Irving Palmer was the Democratic candidate for Cortland County District Attorney in 1891—CC editor] threatened to "knock the editor's head off if he did not stop lying about him."

   The Journal in its issue of Oct. 20 renewed its attack on Palmer and its eulogy of Squires. That Mr. Palmer has actually knocked his head off is not certain, but the article in question indicates that the writer of it is headless. Certainly no one with a "head on him," would write such silly trash.

   It was not supposed any one would have had the hardihood to justify Squires' arrest of Crandall. Nevertheless the Journal says it was right and proper for Squires as attorney, to bring civil action against Crandall, and then upon the same subject matter have him arrested and brought before him for a criminal examination. In other words it would always be proper to have defendant tried before the plaintiff's attorney in case the plaintiff's attorney happened to be a Justice of the Peace. In such a case where the Justice was an interested party it was an outrage plain and simple to issue a warrant and no fair-minded attorney would issue a warrant under such circumstances. The law did not require it and common decency forbid it.

   The next charge is that Palmer obtained an attachment against Crandall and Pullen's property from Squires, and that Squires set the attachment aside on motion of Mr. Champlain. It does not aid Squires to say that he set his own process aside. If the papers were not sufficient why did he Grant the attachment? Did the fact that Squires had a civil action then pending in the Supreme Court cause him to vacate the attachment and thus keep his own action ahead?

   VERITAS.

The Office of Sheriff.

   MR. EDITOR: The deep anxiety of a certain ex-Sheriff to secure Miller's nomination was manifest to all who attended the late Republican convention.

   To assure Miller's nomination, Cutler, who had been a faithful and efficient Superintendent of the Poor, had to be slaughtered. Trading  was also resorted to in order to hold a majority of the delegates to the ring ticket, and when all else failed delegates were moved by means more potent than healthful to carry out the purposes of a desperate ring.

   When the ex-Sheriff referred to manifests an anxiety for any one, it may safely be assumed that his interest is a purely selfish one. If Miller is elected the ex-Sheriff will be where he can again feed out of the public Treasury, and Supervisors who passed upon his bills when he was Sheriff, will readily understand what that means to taxpayers. If Miller and the ex-Sheriff would name all that they have promised deputyships, voters would be astounded. The people of this county cannot afford to put these gentlemen in a position where they can carry out their bids for support.

   Mr. Van Brocklin is in every way qualified to discharge the duties of Sheriff. He is active, honest and energetic. He has no entangling alliances or outstanding promises that would interfere with a faithful and economical discharge of his duty.

   Mr. Van Brocklin is not under obligation to any ring or combination. If elected he will perform the duties of the office honestly and in the interest of the people.

   He has the confidence of all who know him, and a confidence once given him is never abused.

   TAXPAYER.

A Clean Record.

   EDITOR DEMOCRAT:—On the 9th day of October of this year, the Cortland Journal made some vile insinuations against R. W. Bourne, which disgusted the decent thinking men of all parties.

   On the 20th the same paper again makes a series of charges against Mr. Bourne which are not only false in fact, but indicate that the writer was destitute of common sense.

   One of the cases about which the Journal complains is Crosley vs. Cobb. It was a case where a large number of witnesses were sworn and one that occupied a long time upon the trial. Upon the trial, the plaintiff abandoned some of his alleged causes of action, and under Section 3234 of the code, as construed by Justice Martin and other judges at that time, it was believed that both parties were entitled to tax costs for the reason that the defendant had succeeded upon some of the issues presented by the pleadings, and the plaintiff had succeeded on certain other issues.

   The result was that each party presented a bill of costs, and the Clerk taxed both bills, stating at the time that it was a doubtful question, and as the taxation would be appealed from in any event, it would be safer to tax both bills and the court could, upon appeal, determine all of these questions. It would be sufficient to say that these bills of costs were taxed in March 1886, when Mr. Bourne was not the Clerk. Mr. Morgan was then Clerk and I think he made what then seemed to be a judicious disposition of the case, though the Court of Appeals finally held that only one bill of cost was allowable.

   The fees paid for certifying were less than those allowed by law, and went to Mr. Morgan who was a Republican, and Mr. Bourne never received one cent of the fees so paid and was not a Clerk at that time.

   The next charge is in relation to Mrs. Nancy R. Collins' pension claim. When it is known that the attorney of Mrs. Collins was Ed. Crosley, and that the charge originates with him, it would hardly seem necessary to make any answer to it.

   What would the people think of a Clerk that would certify to a search made by Ed. Crosley, even if he had put the books out on the table? What assistance would it be to Mrs. Collins to have the Clerk give him [Crosley] service for nothing? Those who know Crosley can easily answer this question. And it might well be asked what right Mr. Bourne would have as an employee of Mr. Morgan to give Crosley anything.

   Mr. Bourne as Clerk, has always aided in every possible way those trying to get or dependent upon their pension [sic], and no such person has ever been refused affidavits or any service he could render because of inability to pay in pension cases.

   He has always been the firm, loyal, consistent friend of soldiers and those dependent upon them.

   The charge that Mr. Crosley and the Journal makes is known by every intelligent man to be false, and Mr. Bourne's reputation in Cortland county stands too high to be injured by the vile breath of Ed. Crosley, in the scurrilous columns of the Journal. Let the comrades that he has befriended answer Mr. Crosley by their vote on election day. Mr. Jones must be in a sorry plight to need such despicable assistance. If Jones had a higher sense of what was decent he would be the first man to repudiate it, but he remains silent and by his silence, approves of the vile charges and insinuations against a soldier and gentleman.

   TAXPAYER.

PAGE FOUR/EDITORIALS.

   Fortunately for Mr. Ed. Crosley of Scott, the Mrs. Collins for whom he claims he made a search in the Clerk's office, and requested Mr. Bourne to certify to the same, is dead and cannot be produced to deny what Mr. Crosley charges. It isn't to be supposed that any one who has an acquaintance with Mr. Crosley, would care to certify to a search made by him. Mr. Bourne was not in the habit while acting as clerk or deputy, of certifying to searches made by others and no fair-minded person would expect him to do so.

   Charles E. VanBrocklin, the Democratic candidate for Sheriff, is an educated gentleman and a successful business man. He is precisely the right sort of man to discharge the duties of the office in a thoroughgoing business-like manner. He is a bright, energetic young man and will bring to the discharge of his duties the same energy and business-like qualifications that have brought success in prosecuting his private business.

   The department of Public Instruction has been under the control of the Republicans for several years past, and Andrew S. Draper, a shining light in that party, has been Superintendent for the past six years. The expenses of that department have been increased within the last ten years from $15,000 per annum to $34,000. Do the voters of this county want to continue Draper in office? Both Mr. Peck and Mr. Tripp will have to vote for him to hold the office another three years if they are elected.

    The Republican county papers are publishing the charge that Mr. Muller, the Democratic candidate for Member of Assembly, never done a day's work on his farm and that he loans money on farm mortgages at six per cent, and not otherwise. When at home, there is scarcely a week day that Mr. Muller does not work on his farm. He is a tanner and laboring man in every sense of the word. He does not own a single first-class mortgage, nor does any member of his family, that draws more than five per cent interest. That is all he requires on good security and a man who is willing to loan his own money at that rate of interest would be pretty sure to vote for a bill requiring others to loan their money at the same rate. If the Journal or its echo, the Standard, can show that Mr. Muller owns a first-class mortgage and takes more than five per cent interest on it, we will produce his affidavit to the contrary and exhibit the documents.

   The Cortland Journal claims that it was the duty of Jerome Squires, while acting as the attorney for the plaintiff in a civil action, to issue a criminal warrant against one of the defendants in the case, in his capacity as a Justice of the Peace, and bring said defendant before the plaintiffs attorney to answer a charge growing out of the same transaction for which the civil action was brought. Respectable and honorable attorneys regard such proceedings as decidedly reprehensible and never resort to them under any circumstances whatever. As well might a District Attorney acting as an attorney in a civil action, use his influence with the Grand Jury to procure the indictment of the opposite party in order to obtain evidence to bolster up his side of the case in the civil action; or a surrogate would be equally justifiable in purchasing the claims of the heirs an estate that he was administering in his own court and concerning the amount of which claims no one but the surrogate could possibly have any knowledge. The proceeding was reprehensible in the extreme and instead of attempting to justify it, Mr. Squires would gain friends by admitting that he did wrong and acknowledging his error. Good citizens will forgive the commission of a grievous wrong when it is confessed with a promise to do better, but they do not take kindly to that man who commits a grave offense and then argues that it was a proper and meritorious thing to do, unless of course, he is incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong. But what sort of District Attorney would a man make who is entirely incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong in a very plain case?

   The Journal charges that Irving H. Palmer, Esq., is the author of certain communications which have appeared in the DEMOCRAT during this campaign. Mr. Palmer has not written, dictated or inspired one line or one word that has appeared in the DEMOCRAT during the entire campaign.

   The Standard takes the DEMOCRAT to task for a typographical error in quoting a line from Shakespeare and says "what the editor means would be hard to find out." The DEMOCRAT begs leave to inform its over captious critic once for all, that it will be a decidedly cold day when it undertakes the hopeless task of furnishing an understanding for the editor of the Cortland Standard. We shall leave that field entirely to the association of editors now in charge of the Cortland Journal.

   The editor of the Cortland Democrat has been engaged in distorting and misrepresenting some of the speeches made by the Republican candidate for Member of Assembly.—Cortland Standard, Oct. 22.

   How could we possibly distort and misrepresent the speeches of Mr. Tripp? The DEMOCRAT did nothing of the kind. It simply published a portion of an address which he prepared and delivered before the Farmers' Institute held in Marathon last March. It was a perfectly fair and proper thing to do and the editor knows it as well as any one. 

  

WASHINGTON LETTER.

(From our Regular Correspondent.)

   WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 1891.—The Harrison crowd have been shaken up from center to circumference by Mr. Blaine's letter explaining his position in relation to the McKinley tariff bill. They appear to regard the letter as Mr. Blaine's pronunciamento, issued to inform his special friends and followers that he is still in the political ring. And if republican opinion here is a fair reflection of it elsewhere, it looks very much like a gigantic Blaine boom was about to be launched on the country, and that Bre'r Harrison was to be crowded out of the hurrah, if such a thing can be done. One thing is very certain, Mr. Blaine's letter, which contains about nine parts endorsement of the Blaine reciprocity idea to one of the McKinley tariff, act, is not the work of a sick man, but a very shrewd, wide-awake politician who is more intent upon pushing his own fortunes than upon helping McKinley. The fact is that Mr. Blaine will never forgive Maj. McKinley for snubbing him by ignoring every suggestion he made when the original McKinley bill was being constructed, and while he is too strict a party man to oppose McKinley's election, he would not grieve any to see him defeated.

   The officials of the State department are apparently never so happy as when deceiving the public. After repeatedly denying that our minister to China, who by the way happens to be a good democrat—Gen. Denvy of Indiana—had been instructed to join with the other powers in the recent demand made upon China for the protection of foreigners resident in that country, they now acknowledge that such instructions were sent to him some time ago. There may be times when these officials would be justified in temporarily keeping knowledge in their possession from the public, but there is never any time when misstatements by officials are justifiable, and least of all are they justifiable in this case, which may involve the country in war.

   Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt is again at his desk, and he is apparently trying to prevent the clerks in the government service from being bulldozed into giving up their money to political collectors. He says he intends to have a bill introduced in the next Congress to make it a crime to send circulars to office-holders asking them to make political contributions. Mr. Roosevelt may be perfectly honest, but he should not have prolonged his vacation until the departments had been "worked' if he really wished to put a stop to this evil.

   Mr. Harrison made an excellent short speech on International arbitration to the Methodist Ecumenical Conference Saturday. Secretaries Noble and Foster also made speeches.

   Representatives Mills and Crisp, the rivals for the Speakership, spent several days resting in Washington last week. They have both gone to fill campaign engagements, Mr. Mills to Massachusetts and Mr. Crisp to Ohio. The friends of both of these gentlemen claim their man to be in the lead in the Speakership contest, although acknowledging that neither have enough votes to nominate, and there is more bad feeling shown by some of their followers than should exist in a friendly campaign. If this is not eliminated, there is a probability that neither of them will receive the nomination.

   There is a rumor that Mr. Harrison is trying to make some sort of a combination to secure the support of Gen. Russell A. Alger, who is now in Washington, it is said, by request of Mr. Harrison. It seems queer to see so much trouble being taken to capture an empty honor.

   A special train carried a large crowd of Washington people to the funeral of the late Representative W. H. F. Lee, which took place Saturday afternoon at his late residence, Ravensworth, Virginia.

   Rev. James M. Townsend, the Indiana colored clergyman who was in 1889 made Recorder of the General Land office, has resigned, for the purpose of returning to Indiana. It was at first rumored that the colored preacher-politician was going back home to fight Harrison's renomination, but the fact has now leaked out that he goes at the special request of Mr. Harrison, to see if he cannot quell the anti-Harrison feeling which has of late shown itself to be rather strong among the colored voters of that State, as it would seriously interfere with the Harrison programme to have it stated upon the floor of the republican national convention that any considerable body of voters in his own state were opposed to his renomination.

   The Court of Claims meets next Monday, and it is expected that the vacancy on its bench will be filled this week.

   There are few, if any officials in the Pension office who believe that Gen. Raum will ever resume his position at the head of that bureau. It is thought that his resignation would have been announced before this but for the difficulty in obtaining his successor.