Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-07-08
County Ticket.


RxpprsxSrAr1yE-lAME Il. DRENNEN.
PROBATE JupGE-C. W. CARROLL-
TREAsURER-BARKLEY GOOPEh-
CONN MIssIoSER-DkNNlS kEMP.
SuRvEYoR-NOBLE CARIEk. 1,o>-poIv
INTIRMARY DIRECToR-ALbERTC CONhom
MORE PLAIN TALK.
At the close of the March term OF the
Court of Common Pleas We criticised
pretty severely what we considered the
aceoknees of. Judge Way. His political
friends thanked US for our plain oenun-
citation of his self-imposed imbecility,
and at the commencement Of the pres
ent term assured US that our criticism
had produced good effect. The aceo6-
ness, we regret 10 say, has not been
abandoned, and each day of the term OF
Court Just closed, its influence became
more apparent, and during the last week
it became clear that an adjournment
would become necessary long before the
time to W hich the docket had been set.
On Saturday the Court adjourned hav-
ing scarcely reached the middle of the
docket.
1t was not our purpose when We COM
menced this article 10 say anything
about the drinking habits, or weakness
of Judge Way, as this community are
thoroughly conversant with them. We
purposed looking after another matter
which we shall designate the naeasaness
Of Judge Way. A Judge may, through
the influence of a pernicious habit, be
come an imbecile or nuisance; and yet
be entitled to the sympathy of charita-
BILE public, but, when he disgraces his
ermine by becoming a mere political
trickster to aid contemplate clique OF
treasury thieves and eleemosynary pau
pers, and by virtue of his high office
compels the opposite political party to
pay tribute for the support of such hun
CRY cermorants, he falls too low for SYM
pathy to reach him and becomes an OBJ
jsct Of contempt.
When Judge Way, through the trick
cry of a packed convention, was nomin-
ated to fill the seat made vacant by the
resignation of Judge Kennon, there
wasn't lawyer in the district who did
MT feel humiiiated at the contemplated
change in the character, dignity, legal
ability, and fairness of the bench. But
in contemplating the great change i'll
the character of the Court in these re-
spects, they did not dream VI the lower
depths to which the ermine would fall
on the shoulders of this unworthy sue
cessor of the many honorable and able
men who have with distinguished fair
ness and ability worn its sacred folds
At the very commencement of his term
he was surrounded, when in this county,
by a class Of men whose principal quail
fication was their ability to worm them
selves into the inner soul of a weak ma
ture through the potent charm OF a.
whisky bottle, and whose low cunning
and selfish character never dictated or
aided in the contamination of an honor
able action. Under the advice of such
men he has been welding the power of
his position in the interest, not of the
Democratic party, but of the dirtiest and
most unprincipled clique that ever dis
graced any party.
At the instance of these cone-tops who
constitute the clique, he removed r. ].
Esq, as Master Commits
sioner, and appointed g. 81. Umstead.
one of the Know Nothing junto. The
of the bar disgusted with this
appointment sought to evade reference
of their cases to him, by securing the ap-
pointment of special Masters. AT the |
last term of Court Judge Way agreed to
these appointments where all the At
torneys interested were willing. 1t was
found that this rule would cut Umstead
out of nearly all the business, and the
Gazette out of most of the Masters adj
vertising, as more than three-fourth of
the Masters cases were in the hands of
Republican Attorneys. This did not
suit either the clique, Umstead or the
Gazette, and shortly after the commence
ment of the June term Judge Way re-
marked that he had been letting Um-
stead row his ewn boat, bnt he intended
hereafter to help him row it. When,
near the close of the term, the Republi- |
can Attorneys began to make their jour
nal entries appointing special Masters,
they were no little surprised to find the
Court engaged in erasing these entries
after they had been entered on the jour-
nal, SO as to give the business to Um-
stead and the Gazette. When this sly
game was discovered, applications were
made in open Court for the appoint
ment of special Masters and the Judge
asked one of the Attorneys to give his
reasons for wanting such special refer |
ance. The Attorney answered that it |
was his right to have it under the long
continued and unvariabie custom of the
Court his clients and all the Attorneys
desired it, and he wanted it published
in paper that was read by his clients,
and circulated in the neighborheod
where the parties resided. The Judge
replied: "Ah! you want TO publish it
in the CHRONICLE and refused to allow
the reference. Other applications were
made by Republican Attorneys with
the same result.
For the first time in the history of this
county has a Judge on the bench per-
mitted himself to become a political
trickster-a tool in the hands of WIRE
working clique, to compel an opposite
party to pay tribute for the support of a
political organ, and to keep up men by