St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-03-18

one authorized so TO do. Now. Mr.,
Wilberforce, not one of those provi.
sions has been complied with; and
few know that better than yourself
The law requires that petitions re-
curing notice shall be presented at
the regular session of the County Court
which is held by law on the first Mon
day in the month, except on those Mon
days when our regular elections are
held. Now, in the first place, this pc
tltlon was not presented until the
Wednesday after the regular session,
when the County Judge had no right
to grant the prayer of the petition, and
violated his oath of office the moment
he did, for he said himself he thought
he had no right to do it under the law.
I'd. There was an affidavit appended
to that petition, signed by Mr.. Conger,
but it was not such an oath as the
statute requires. He did not swear
that the signatures to the petitions
were genuine, or that he even believed
they were. Sd. Neither yourself nor
your Attorney, Mr.. Wilberiorce, intro
duced evidence to show that your Pc
tition was signed by one half of all the
legal voters Of this County, as shown
by the last preceding census. That
was wilful negligence on your part.
4th. How did you obtain the names to
your Petition, Mr.. Wherefore Why
did you not present in Court the same
petitions you circulated and which the
people signed? Now, mark! You OBJ
tanned many of the signatures by mis-
representation. You had various Pc
titions, suited to the various portions
of the County, asking for whatever
you thought would be most likely to
be signed by the persons in the par
ticular vicinity in which the Petition
was to be circulated: witness st.
Charles, Cedar, and a portion of River
ton Townships. Then, when you
thought you had obtained names
enough in this way, it is thought
good idea to cut off the heads of the
various petitions and append the names
to the petition which asks for the re-
moval of the County Seat to the Geo.
graphical Center. Was this done
within your knowledge? Was it fair,
legal, equitable and honorable as be-
tween man and man? Is this the kind
of equity you ask at the hands of St.
Charles :? If it is, you will not get it.
Thrice has the County Stake been
driven at st. Charles Nine disinter-
ested men and non residents have done
it. You say that All Commissioners
are ready to pull it up. Are you sure
that the men you have misled and mis-
represented are now going to do your
bidding! Are you sure that the citizens
of this County are going to vote the
County Block and Court House back
into Mr.. Kelly's hands :? Will they
vote upon themselves an additional
tax of s., 900 or $4,000 for the year of
1858? Remember, too, that however
much you may attempt to deceive and
mislead the citizens of this County, the
truth twill out" Be fair when you
quote the golden rule. Who is enti-
tied to the good will of the County?
David Ripley or any other man
should not, cannot, will not determine
the location Of this County Seat. Be
consistent! The good old rule is still
true, that he who asks Equity must
first do Equity. Present fair petit
ton to the County Court, take your
steps in a legal manner, and St. Charles
will be ready to meet you on the ques-
ton. Yours, Usus PuERoRUM.