Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-09-23
THE GAZETTE AND DIR. n. WEST


THE GAZETTE AND DIR. n. WEST.
There is scarcely decent man in the
Democratic party in this Senatorial Dis
trict who has not openly condemned
the low, personal attacks of the whisky
ring organ-the st. ClairsvilIe Gazette
upon the Republican candidate for the
State Senate. DR.. West stood so high
in this community that before he was
nominated for the Senate, he was elect
ed Mayor of the Incorporated Village of
st. Clairsville, although there is clear
Democratic majority of FoRTY-FIvE
within tho corporation. This fact alone
should be sufficient answer to all the
low personal abuse of the Gazette. 1t
does not seem to think, however, that
the Democrats of st. Clairsville, who
have elected DIR. West Mayor because of
his sterling integrity and his well-known
impartiality and fearlessness in the dis
charge of dtuy, are either competent
judges or honest witnesses, and in the
face of nearly unanimous public senti-
ment, he is seeking by the lowest and
basest Misrepresentation and false
hoods to deceive the people living out
side of st. Clairsville. There is scarcely
a man living inside of the corporation
who does not denounce the mean attack
he is making as to the character and ca
pscity of tue Doctor. Personal cam
paigns are beneath the dignity of an
honest editor or politician, and always,
unless sustained by incontrovertable ev-
dence, operate in favor of the person at
tackled, We r-opose that this unfair,
false attack shall so result, and only re-
view it now to show how false and un-
fair it is. @
after DIR. West was elected Mayor
the citizens of St. Clairsville almost
unanimously petitioned the Town
Council-every member of which was q
Democrat-to pass an ordinance prohio.
iting Ale and Beer shops and tippling
houses within the limits of the village.
The Council passed the ordinance with
out opposition and the Mayorhas faith
fully executcd it. The Gazette, in the
interest Of the whiskey-ring and tip
playhouse keepers has persistently
denounced the Mayor for enforcing this
ordinance. Before Mayor West was
elected, unruiy boys and drunken men
were permitted to do about-as they pleas
ed. Since he was elected the disturb
ers of the peace have been arrested and
punished without reference to their po-
sition, politics or previous character, but
the Gazette meaniy attempts to create
the impression that Democrats only are
arrested and Republicans are permitted
to do as they please. This the editor of
the Gazette knows is an infamous lie,
and whether he writes the articles CON-
tanning the falsehoods or not, he is the
responsible party
The severest sentence passed by May
or West since his election, was upon q
young man who is.a Republican and
whose father is one of the most honora.
BILE, heightened gentleman In the com.
munity, and the question of their poll.
ties was never thought of. A great dea
has been said by this same 'sorgan'
about theseverity with which the May,
or has enforced the. ordinance against
Mr.. King, for keeping an ale and beef
shop, and this severity has been attrib.
uted 10 the fact that Mr.. King is Dem.
ocrat. Mr.. Fink, Republican. was ar.
rested and fined by the Mayor for the
same offence, and he, on the advice o.
his attorney, at once ceased keeping an
ale or beer" house, but Mr.. King re-
fused to do so, although advised thai
the ordinance could not be resisted; and
he was arrested three different time fol-
violating it, and not until the third
time was he imprisoned for the offence
1t is possible that more Democrats than
Republicans have been arrested-we
have never examined into that propesi
ton and don't intend to now-but if il
is true it is because more Democrat.
have violated the town ordinances, and
throw. themselves liable to arrest.
The fustian about the arrest of slit
tie boy" and his imprisonment with
felons and murderers" simply because h,
tcas Democrat, is only the overdrawr
picture of a man who is incensed at the
Mayor because he has ceased to adver
tise in the "organ," and who takes thi.
method of venting his spleen. TIL,
little boy" was guilty of a contempt
BILE outrage in knocking down or push
ing over, "little girl" upon the street
and whether the girl was white or blacl
makes no difference in the eyes of tn,
law-for which he was arrested. A fin,
could not be collected off of him and hi
parent was not liable to pay it. Their,
was no way by which he could be pun
ished but by Imprisonment, and he wa
sent to jail, and if he was imprisoned
with "felons" and "murderers," tn,
Democratic Sheriff vast TO blame anC
not the Mayor, for the Sheriff had NJ
right to put him in the cells with sucf
offenders. We do not wish to convey th,
impression, however, that the Sheriff
did so imprison the boy, for it was (
sheer fabrication of the Gazette, the bo,
never was in the cells with the felon
and murderers. except as he chose to g
there on errands for the Sheriff or hi
deputy; and all the time he was in jai
he was treated more as an officer of tn,
Jail than as a prisoner. The charg,
made in connection with this case tha
another boy had been guilty of a simila
offence in the sight of the Mayor anC
was not arrested because he was the sol
of the editor of the CHRONICLE, is
malicious Misrepresentation, and hae
for its foundation this fact: The boy o
the editor of the CHRONICLE was poins