Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1857-09-03
THE DEMOCRAT. I.
PLYMOUTH, IND.
Thursday Morning. Sept, Sd. 1851.
Honesty.


We are sorry to see men possessed of or
} dinary intelligence, exerling their abilities
through the public Press to prejucice
, truth, in relation TO matters affecting the
whole community in their civil capacity,
and in which they are Interested civilly,
legally, and socially. Yet Mr.. ". ).
Hand, and the Editor Of the Republican
have been doing this, and we ieel called
upon to contradict their statements, and
present the truth An article was pub
lished in the Republican of August 18th,
over Mr.. Hands initials, and one in the
last number apparently editorial, in great
degree, about the Roadlaw; and attempts
10 coerce men wronyfully hereunder. In
both of these the writer's do not state the
truth, and in the last one, he attempts TO
make Attorney General Mcdonald sane
zion long opinion .giyen By Tie writtr, oy
attaching short letter of Mr.. McD's to
the bottom, but gives 10 evidence that the
facts stated before it in the paper, are the
ones on which Med. wrote the letter. We
undertake to say lie nerer goVe that opinion
on M0se tacts;; and we shall endeavor to
get his opinion with the facts stated, in or
der that the people may know what they
are TO abide by. The facts on which S.
much stuff is based are simply these:
The Trustees of Green Township pass
an order. and the clerk issued copy TO
J. B. Logan, Supervisor, directing him to
open road, and complete bridge No
appropriations were made by them, nor
was there any money arising from fines and
forfeitures and of course the Supervisor
had nothing but the road labor with which
to make the repairs. The two days work
provided by statute had been done before
The Supervisor warned out the hands. and
among The rest, Abgam Hand and William
J. Hand Both failed to work. or pay the
forfeiture. The Supervisor was compelled
by statute to sue for the forfeiture, which
he did Abram Hand stood trial, and the
Justice rendered Judgment against him,
/, and he appealed to the Common Pleas
Court. There ii was tried ogoin and the
judgment of the Justice affirmed. William
J. Hand gave as his excuse for rot attend
ing he did not hear tie Supe, ,rtsor ahen he
worued him.
This the Supervisor did not believe, aid
he sued for the forfeiture. Hand called a
jury Of twelve, got lawyer and made a
good deal of talk and fuss. The Super
visor had no Attorney. Hands lawyer
took the ground that ''cfter tire ftco day's
uork tad Jsen done, If there acos money IL,
the 7o~nsh;p treasury, tie Supervisor could
rot call out tie honds unta Hot money mos
erpeaded, and therefore Hand uas not la
Ue."
No pretense was made by him that Hand
did .not hear the notice" On this there
were two or three Jury trials. Political
feeling crept into the litigation. 1t lasted
near week, and finally the Jury found for
Hand. The grounds assumed by the SUI
pervisOr were as follows:
Sec. 6. of the act in relation TO Super
visors. II S. 1852 vol page 463. pro-
viIes that the hands shall be called out il
May or June to work two days. Section
10 provides. that the person may commut,
for the labor by paying seventy-fve cents
20 the amended by the acts o
. '53-to one dollar. If he fails to work
or pay in ten days. the Supervisor shall
sue; and i'll case he fails to sue, he shall b,
fined ten dolors. Section II says-Th,
money arising from these mutations anC
fines is subject to the order OF the Super
visor under tie regulation of Tie Trustees
n In this case there was no such fund in tn
Treasury, nor had the Trustees made an,
F order; consequently the supervision coul'
not draw for it. Section IA provides 70
|, the expenditure of money in the Supervi
sor hands, and the same section provIde
). that ''such Supervisor shall an no case neg
y lect 10 repair such highways" Money o
no money. he must repair them, if there i
hands enough to do 1t; and section IS pro
vides for giving credit to hands for sucl
extyo labor. Sections 90 and 9 provid
for road tax, and its payment to tn
!, Township Treasurer Section 22 provide
for the expenditure of such tax by tn
, Trustees; and the Supervisor has noth'n
: 10 do NTH IL until they have provided for 1t
expenditure. nor is he supposed to kno'
that there is any money IN the treasury
until the Trustees have provided for tn
). manner of its expenditure. Section !
provides for suits Gin the name of tn