Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1860-07-19

shown BY the ev'idehcc Of Aquilla Jones,
see page 86 Of said Report), may throw
some light upon the fact Of why the people
of Jasper county have not seen any Of that
1879 600" which his Excellency saved
10 the county" by ga wise appointment. :"
But the ugliest gap between his Excellen-
cy's s'statement that he 'found Mr.. Merkle
coming from the hands of his Republican
supervisors IN debt siOI3s6 IL" and
the truth, is>shown and proven by the
record of Swamp Land Sales here in our
Treasurer's Office, made and kept by MIR.
MertIc himself. a.,.,fl a,4a
: THESE records show The fact that up to
March, 1857, Mr.. aferkle was not indebt-
! ed to the State more than. the amount as
eertainelI BY Major Prnitt and Others. as
Before stated, which included the amount
due upon the notes given upon compro-
mise Of the first suit, and that outside of
these notes his indebtedness could not
have been more than Sl4.00 or SIS 900.
for which amount his Excellency, with
Mr.. Merkle's other modern Democratic
SupeTVlSOrS, iOuit suit pehuHS "hi|h
had peen instituted by said Republican
supervis's," which suit, as has been shown.
his Excellency and other Democratic SUI
pervisors, settled and dismissed to their
..satisiaction." But these records show
another very material fact bearing upon
this S101, $50 II of Indebtedness which
his Excellency found Mr.. Merkle bending
under in Coming from the hands Of his
Republican supervisors" They show that,
between the 21st day Of March and the 18th
day of August, 1857, (the day on which
Mr.. Merkle's term Of office as Treasurer
legally expired, that Mr.. Merkle issued
certificates for the sale Of Swamp Lands to
the amount of Sl3S,229 90. A portion
ofthese certificates, to the amount Of some.
thing over 10000. were afterwards. foI
various reasons, (Which are mostly ex-
planned in the report of the Swamp Land
Committee, before referred to, set aside
but as will be seen by the sworn evidence
Of our present County Treasurer before the
Swamp Land Committee Of the last Leg.
Iislature. (see Report p, As, the amount
of valid certificates issued by Mr.. Merklt
within the time above named, was. in
round numbers, Sll7, 900. This large a.
mount Of sales and great issue of certif
Gates, took place several months after Mr..
Merkle had passed under the hands of his
modern Democratic supervisors, at the
head of whom stands bis Exccllency.--
A the time Mr.. Merkie's legal term as
County and Swamp Land Treasurer ex.
pircl August 18th, 1887. there had not
been ditching done upon the contracts
upon which these lands were sold, to the
amount of $4,000. The balance Of the
SI17, 900 according to Sec. 8, p. la, of
Acts of 1857, should have been in oul
County Treasury. and have been paid over
by Mr. Merkle to his successor, but not
one cent Of it was paid over-then what
has become Of it? Echo answers. WHAT
The contractors who bought these lands
have long since obtained patents for the
same, signed bv his Excellency, a. p.
Willard, and have been hawking them
about for sale in all parts of the United
States. But a small amount of the ditch
ing has been done upon the contracts upon
which these lands were obtained. The
late Swamp Land Commissioner. Mr.
Merkle, has been removed by his Excel
lency. the vacancy not filled, and no work
done on bitches for over six months. In
this way Swamp Land matters have been
supervised to an end in this county under
the administration Of his Excellency.
The fact that his Excelcncy "found'
Mr.. Merkle involved in law suits instituted
by his "Repnblican supervisors" from
which he swiftly relieved him. taken in con-
nection with the fact that he has caused nc
suit to be instituted against him on his Of
fcal bond. which is perfectly good fot
$4,000, to recover that much OF the S25,
993 S3, which he still owes the State, ac-
cording to the statement of his Excellency
is thing which he cannot explain salts
factorily-even to his own party.
A rather small specimen of pettifoggire
is shown by his Excellency, where, in hi:
speech he says: "Ihavey yet to learn. though
perhaps Col. Lane. who aspires to be Gov
ernor. may be better informed than | am
that there is single County Commission
er in all this State SO poor lawyer, Sc
ignorant man, as not to know that th'
Governor has no power either to r,movc |
County Treasurer, or in case of vacanc,
created by death or otherwise, make al
appointment The Governor was awar,
that Col. Lane was speaking Of Mr.. Mcrkl'
as Treasurer or Agent for the sale fSwaml
Lands in Jasper county. and that TIN
Swamp Land Act of 1852 (see lst II. 8.
p. All, does place such an officer appa
rently under the control Of the Governo
that Gov. Wright construed the law t
give him such control. and therefore in 1885,
removed Mr. Merkle from his Office a
Swamp Land Treasurer, not as Count,
4 Treasurer. ~ r, go &C s
4 Governor Wright removed Mr.. Merkl
as Swamp Land Treasurer, and Col. Lam
approves the act But Gov. Willard seem
to think 1t was an act of great stupidit,
and ignorance. Well. perhaps Gov. VIII
lard has no confidence in ex-Governo
| Wright,s Swamp Land acts: but we ven
lture the opinion that even the Democrati
party, after an exhibition of Gov. Will
lard's skill in managing Swamp Lane
matters. would prefer ex-Gov. Wright'
"supervisorship" in connection with Re
Ipublicans; yet it must be confessed that ex
}, Governor Wright would hardly have hat
ingenuity sufficient to save $72. 900 to th'
county of Jasper, without the people o
this county knowing where the money was