Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-07-26
Msw Judge Nsr.A c.. IA. Seat.

Hew Judge NoFfh Get His Seat.
In answer to the Wanting defiance Of
Judge North, daring the press "to the
ISSUE" the EataPriss Of this morning has
scathing article concerning that Judge,
and an expose of the manner in which he
obtained his seat upon the bench. We
were in possession of the facts as stated
BY our contemporary, and should have
made them the subject Of an article this
very day, had we not been anticipated.
We consequently shall do no more than
extract that portion of the EHs1prIss's ar
ticle which relates to the purchase OF the
Judges seat repeating that the facts as
stated coincide in every essential particu-
lar with those stated to US by those who
profess to speak from the card;
"Jud0e North pretends to invite the public
scrutiny of his conduct as Judge. A very
CUNNING limitation be would fain impose
unou this investigation. We propose to COM
nenee a little back Of the suspicious hour
when the ermine was donned and the quartz
mill started, and explain to the people how
il was that Judge North came to rule over
them. We assert that his place on the bench
was bought for him. The price paid was
TWENTY-FIVE thousand dollars. The payee
was G.. N. Mott. The person paying it was
John II. Atchison. The parties for whom it
was paid were John II. Atehison and the
Po.osi Gold and Silver Mining Company.
The reasons for buying Mott off and North
on were these: The Potosi Company had
litigation involving the title to valuable
mine. Mott as ,lG1ge had shown himself
hostile to the Potos. Company. Mott could
not be bought to decide in favor Of the Potosi
Company, but he got twenty-five thousand
dollars to make room for North. We believe
there was some himsy pretext Of railroad
business which CLOSED over the payment of
this money to Mott, but il will not be pre-
tended that the object Of paying Mott was
any other than 10 get North on the bench.
Motifs hostility to the Potosi Company suth-
GENTLY explains that Company's anxiety to
get him off the bench, and the following were
the reasons for having John w. North to
succeed him:
In the old Chollar and Potosi litigation,
North was notorious sympathiEer with the
latter company. It has been stated to us
that he was SUD rosa an attorney Of that Com
pany. At any rate he was VIGOROUSLY friend
" to it. and was attorney for Rice Il Atchl-
SON, stockholders, and interested in it. Judge
Turner has frequently stated, and it is fact,
that while petition for a re-hearing was
pending in the Supreme Court in the old case
Of Chollar rs. Potosi, Judge then GeneraD
North urged Turner to grant the Potosi Com
pany hearing. Since his accession to the
bench, Judge North has been at Risi prIttS,
in the Supreme Court, in good health and i'll,
the true and staunch friend Of the Potosi
Company.
Another reason for casting the Judicial
ermine about the limbs of North was this:
In the District Court Of the First Judicial
District, Mr.. Atchison had little case Of
his own, involving some two hundred feet of
Potosi ground. With regard to the merits
Of this case, General (soon to be Judge)
North had been consulted by Atchison, or
Rice, his partner. From what followed it is
not unfair to infer that General North's
opinion as to the merits Of this controversy
was not adverse to Atchison 4 Rice's claim.
In the District Court and in the Supreme
Court, Judge North by solemn judgment an
nouneed his adhesion as Judge to the opinion
formed while attorney. Let this, then, con-
clude one count against Judge North: His
place upon the bench was bought for him.
The ermine he wears was bought second
hand, like an old coat from Cheap John
shop. Not only this but twenty-five thous-
and dollars was paid to get him on the bench
to decide cases in particular way. He has
decided those cases in which he had previous
ly given opinions or expressed preferences,
and decided them in favor of the parties who
paid this money.