The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1863-01-15

other to he attended to. have found il con.
venient a, well as undoubtedly &c ,nomical.
to erpl,v an Attorney at stipulated sal.
CRY. The office has been filed the TWO mast
years by f. II. Stiles Esq. whose faithful
and able discharge Of the duties Of the posi-.
ton, have com nand,l the approval Of even
the Board Of Supervisors under whose su.
pervision he has acted. 20.
TIL, election If Attorney this year. mas.
much asst exhibits in clear light the ami.
mus Of som. Of the members of the r ,ard of
Supervisors, and the contemptible i,trigues
AMI manouvers to which they resurted to re.
ward partzan leaders at the expense of their
own consistency and official decency. and
the interests OF the county. that we are con
strained to mako note of it, IF ANYTHING
can be fund in all the action OF all the
,ard Of Su ,rrvsors thu. ever were, NOR.
subinelv rediculons, more glaringy inc,n-
s'stsnt or rn,re c,nte'n2tib'y m,,n, it Ia,
not come to our knowledge --.....
~ o'HSS, htsIt5 DuSitieSS enough ~ MS
own to attend to, AMI having no party claims
upon the majoity of the Board to prefer did
not propose te be candidate for reelection
and made his report with the in;cn ton of
returning to private life.
In the meantime, as subsequent events
show, tile little squa of spectators in poll.
tic. about Ottumwa. had their eyes apon
this petty office, and had their plans per.
iected to pounce upon and appropriate it for
the benefit of one of their hungry tools
30 certain were they of success, and so
habtually accustomed to subserye public to
private and party interests, that they went
deliberately to work early in the session To-
induce the Impression that the salary, espe-
clally for the ch'ning year, (when they in
tended to fill the Office, } whenthe amount of
business would he much greater than here.
tofare, was too small. and on ,ht to he in.
creased. These prelminaries being all sat.
isfactorily settled, as they supposed and the
prospect fiattering that the eminent mana
glng skill of Dresser, and the presumed sub
Serviancy to the interest Of the clique of the
Immortal eight, would carry it through, they
moved, in order to save Appearances, a rcSo
luton inviting sealed bids from thos. who
were willing to serve the county ia the ca
pacity of Attorney the coming year. The
resolution was adopted and the bids put in.
Henderson, & Burton hid $4,000. ST.
Clark, who in announcing himself candi.
date, was OF the opinion that 5000, would
he no more than reasonable compen sation
Tor him, thought he was making sure thing
of it by bidding $50, while modest G aston.
who has been a standing candidate for the
place every year since the Board was organ
lzet, would be content with 800. 90 in
County Orders. These were all the bids
except one. Some friend of Mr.. Stiles,
seeing how the thing was working, urged
him to bid, asking him what he was Willing
to serve another year for? He replied that
he had not designed being candidate again,
but lift would crafty his friends lie would
bid the same amount he had served the
preceding two terms for, $4,000, and &C.
cordingly wrote and sent in his bid to that
effect.
The bids were opened and the Board pro-
ceeded 10 select county Attorney from the
number. when To- and b.hold Mr.. Clark
was not elected, as the clique had resolved,
but Mr.. Stiles was Fatigucd by this labor
Gus piece Of business, the Board soon after
adjourned for dinner and the cliqre had
consultation, the result Of which was devel
opsd in Dresser speech Oh the re.asSem
bling of the Board in the afternoon. With
all the gravity and apparent honesty be-
coming model Pre- ident of a Board OF Su-
pervisors, Dresser said that great mistake
had been committed in the election of 4 tor
ney before dinner; that some of the men,
bers did not understand the question !; that
the election ought to be held over again &c.
and that somebody would do good thing
by moving reconsideration This eloquent
a ID feeling discourse had the desired effect
the motion was made aud carried, and the
Board proceeded to vote ever again. and
this ii ne by preconcertcd agreement, by
ballot, this mode being deemed safestto save
the consistency of som, who were expected
to change their votes. When the result was
ascertained. it appeared. strange to tell that
Mr. Stiles had . out Of IA votes The bal.
lance were divided as equally between II. &
B., Clark and Castor, a, could be divided
by 8.
Vel a person would naturally suppose,
under this state of fact that the greedy cor
morants would have been satisfied, AMI let
the matter rest, for this term at least But
not at all They had another consultation.
and actually persuaded one OF the new mem
bers, whose greenneSS made him ready
TOOL, to ge. up before the Board, and state
that, ina~much as there was but little york
for IN Attoraey tn d., and as the times
toere Arrd, and oat oftender regard far the
tar payers, Mr. Stiles he respectfully re-
quested to relinqnish his claim upon the
county, and they would do without An At
iorney, q e) employ Hendershott & Bur.
ton, s. +. Clark, or G lston at such fees a,
their tender regard for tax payers and the
treasury would permit What that would
be, is easy to form an opinion
Did the world ever hear Of such devlish
rascality? One election. held according TO