Demoine courier., 1854-08-03
o NJ U NICATI0N
For the Demoine Courier.

For the Demoine Courier.
To THE VOTERS OF THE COUNTIES OF wAP.
ELLo, MONROE, LUCAS n CLARKE:
FellOW-C ti1eaS: In the Demoine Courier Of
the 9th inst. | find a communication over tht
signature of some who knows" whose rea
author is Joseph ii. d. Street, Of Ottumwa; il
which he attacks me and charges me as default
err TO Wapello county while acting as Clerk
thereof.
Having'been placed before you by the Dem.
ocratic party Of this District as candidate &c
represent you in the next General Assembly,
feel it to be a duty which | owe the citizens OF
this Senatorial district TO respond TO it, while al
the same time, if it was in the bounds Of Mr..
Streets acquaintance, / should regard it as do.
ing me good instead Of harm.
Twill, however, place this whole matter be.
fore you, as 1 will pledge you that the records
will bear me out. My time expired as Clerk
of the court of Wapello county, on the 9th OF
August, 1852; a little over thirteen months q
which time | had been &C ting Under the code OF
Iowa, the 213th section of which makes it the
duty of the Clerk to make a final settlement OF
tA iho dNtohlANs al All' tIu VI lis I'll III VI tlhtt.
AT the end Of my term urged upon the County
Judge some three days, to settle with me, which
he declined 10 do until the quarterly account
ings Of the officers which did not take place
until about the first of January following, al
which time those accountings with the officers
were had without my knowledge. Lin a short
time afterwards, went to The County Judge and
settled with him. Upon final settlement there
were funds in my hands belonging 10 the coun-
~ equal to S317,8l. This l admitted TO be due
the county. Ihad a claim against the county
for salary from the 1st of July, 1862, to the 9th
Of August following, amounting TO SCI 80,
which / filed as an offset, and rendered 10 the
Country Treasurer the balance. This offset
was rejected by the County Judge, who con-
tended that / must have my pay in county Or
ders and pay the amount in my hands over for
use of the present incumbents to which | obiec-
ted, and upon which a suit at law was COM
menced against me. On the trial of the case. by
agreement of the parties, the whole affair was
referred to Geo. G. Wright, ESQ.,, to report a
special verdict 10 the court. Mr.. Wright finds
aud Judge Sewers confirms that finding, that
there was in my hands and due the county
from me S3l3,96 $685. less than | admitted due
the county on settlement. This, fellow-citi-
zens is the true state Of the case as the records
will bear me out.
Notwithstanding | had beaten the county in
the civil action, a few designing men in our
town, wishing 10 break me down and thereby
affecting they sought TO indict me before the
Grand Jury. After Mr.. Hayne, the Clerk. and
Judge Osburn, together with the record before
them, were all examined, and after a thorough
investigation of the case. this Grand Jury pro-
nounced me innocent. My confederated enc
mics, still not satisfied, bring up my case before
the next Grand Jury of my county, with the
same evidence before them, and met a similar
fate. And after all this, after | had demanded
a settlement of the County Judge and been re-
fused, and after having had a settlement rendered
the money to the proper officer of the county,
these wanton and INSCRIPTIONS scoundrels still
charge me of being a defaulter.
In the third clause of the communication
refereed 10, you will find that he garbles the law
with a design, most clearly, to mislead the pub
lie, which will be found ON page 80, sec. 2l3 Of
the code.
In another part of this communication the au-
thor says | wrote a receipt and asked the Judge
TO sign it. l have only to say to this, that he
most positively states a falsehood. And in an
other part, where he says ''the County Judge
told Given that all was not right and he must
come and make a fair settlement" that in this he
perverts the truth. lie particularly avoids say
ing that | did settle and rendered to the Treas
urer the amount due the county from me. And
in another portion he says, she has thus render
ed himself liabe under the 26lS section, 14O
chapter of the code, 10 fine and Imprisonment,
&C." In this, fellow-citizens, he charges the
Grand Jury of his county, for two sessions, Of
our conrt of willful perjury, from the very fact
that they investigated this matter under the So
lemnity of an oath, and the record and sworn tes-
timony before them, and say that / am not
guilty.
But since Mr.. Street, has fallen from that
high position of a congressional a%spirant, so low
as to dabble in the pool Of scurrility and black
guardism, he finds that / am a.defaulter, and to
give his article more force he writes over a
false signature, hoping to make some one be-
lieve that Judge Osburn or Joseph Hayne had
written il; but neither OF them will indorse it.
for neither of those men viii dare publicly to
lndorse a issue of so gross falsehood and
misrepresentation as contained in his commune
cation.
But, fellow-citizens, this thing transpired
some l8 months since, and / have been a candi-
date some two months, and if the county rec
ords will develope themselves SO strongly
against me, whyd did they not appear sooner, and
why on the eve Of a political canvass when it
was too late for me to place myself right before
you. THOS G.. GIVEN.
Ottumwa, July Goth, 1854.
Clayton County All Right.
mass meeting Of the people of
Clayton county, without distinction of