Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-06-30
THE FACTS OF The CASE.

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the Assistant Assessor at this place last
fail, that &C have concluded to give a
correct afcoHnt,of the whole affair.
in the latter part Of last August VIC
were informed that oho. person then
holding the office was ahout to resign
On aeeoJtt Of iii-hoaith, and were ad-
viscd to apply for the office fo. the benefit
ofthe REPUBLICAN, Eho application
was made through third person to Mr..
Hopkins, who assured him that the
plan qact his bearticst approval, and
that he would pledge his whole influ-
in its favor, x few DAYS after
We met Mr.. Hopkins at the Congress.
lenal Convention, in. this city, and of
his own accord, he stated that he had
seea>een. Harnden, and he also heart
II approved the arrangement, and that,
in case Of vacancy, the appointment
should be made for the, benefit Of the
REPUBLICAN Office. He desired as to
keep quiet and obtain no eudorsers, as
he understood the position of affairs
t6oroRghly, and Bished nothing of the
kind: But about this time General
Harnden so arranged II that the AS
statant Assessor was enabled to- retain
the office and attend to its lighter du-
ties, which he did till the time of his
death in the latter part of September.
il few days after that event, we re.
ceiyed a letter from Mr.. Hopkins on
business, and at ita close he alluded to
she vacancy in the assessorsAip. and
said: "Gen. Harnden will be at your
place in a few days aaa arrange the
asaeasossAip as we talked when I was
there"
But the bell of the funeral had
scarcely stopped telling Before it was
announced On the street that another
person was a candidate. His petition
was circulated and obtained names
rapidly, as it was not generally known
that there was any opposition, and
where it was known no means were
left untried to obtain signatures. The
petition vas taken to Madison, and
Hopkins stated that be vas pledged to
the REPUBLICAN,, which had the effect
of checking,the movement for the time.
But our opponent and three or four Of
his friends haa so poor an opinion of
Hopkins that they believed he could
be made to violate his pledge, and,
bringing all the pressure that they
could to bear u pom him, at last sue
| ceeded. We have every reason to be-
lieve that he yielded early in the day
and thereafter engineered the cam
palgn against his own virtas, directing
how to procure an endorsement which
he might afterwards say was too strong
to be overlooked, though he had told
US he did not care for any endorsement.
During this time we were repeatedly
told by our friends that We ought to
do something to counteract what was
beng done, but VIC knew we'll that, if
the assurances we already had were
not sufficient, nothing VIC could do
would add to their strength, and CON
tinued to devote our entire attention to
the duties OF the campaign.
Fhe affair remained IN statss quo IN.
til just before, Mr. Hopkins started for
Washington, when We saw him, and
be said he gould not decide the oucs-
ton till he had arrived there and seen
II be could not find somethssg else
which would satisfy our opponent, and
If not lie would..then make decision.
lie Afterwards admitted in lester to US
that he decided the question with Gen.
Harnden shat very same night before
leaving Madison. There was all along
an attempt to throw the responsibility
of the decision upon Harnden, but We
have in our possession letter which
fixes this responsibility Upon Hopkins
beyond the possibility of denial.
The ease, then, is just this: Hop
kins positively promised that the Re-
PUBLICAN should have the Office in
question; he had the entire aowes Of its
disposal; he placed US in a position
which be afterwards Used as an argu-
ment against Us, ana at lat gave the
fiImslest OF all excuses for going contra,
ryt to his agreement. These are the
plain factaof the case ard ". hare tie
documents to substantiate them in every
particular.
We had not purposed to make pub
lie the details Of this unpleasant affair,
but We could not consent to rest under
the false and. malicious imputations
which it vas sought last week to i'm
pose upon us, so long aa nlaia state