The Sweetwater enterprise. (Sweetwater, Tenn.) 1869-187?, 1871-06-29
Letter from Hon. ]. T. Owen.

- 1H'N
read severd' artieles Of a personal char
aster, written from Monroe and McMinn
10 the Knox Nllo Daily Ch,oni.
Gle, which | deemed Of such inslgnlfcance
as to be unworthy Of notice by ne. But,
the correspondents seemed 70 be ia great
trouble over the removal Of the Chaneery
Court from Monroe to MeMinn county.
AS they gave but their version Of the mat.
ter, | deem it but due to the public, as
we'll as to myself, to state the whole truth
in regard to the said removal Of the Cham
Gerry Court,
Tn the first place, VIC had a good Clerk
& Master, S. P. Hale, who gave general
satisfaction. AT least, fcur.ifths Of the
people wanted him TO remain, he s%uiting
the people and the office suiting him-be-
ing a cripple. And | feel safe in saying
that Mr.. Temple received a much larger
vote In this county than lie would if it
bad not been for Mr.. IIale-all expecting
him to be retained in office, us he was
Temples own appointeo. But after Mr.,
Temple secured his election, thinking
proper, under the protest Of a largo num-
Der Of his constituents, and all, or nearly
all, Of the opposite party, he appoints one
Mr.. I. W. Burge, a resident Of McMinn
county, and not in Temples Chaucery
Division, whO,b law, and loug established
custom, was required to give bond iu the
sum of thirty thousand dollars for the
faithful performance of the duties Of the
office. And, after diligent search through
MeMinn, Monroe aud Loudon counties,
he succeeded in getting some sixteen per-
sons to sign the bond, and upon the in.
vestiga ton by the Grand Jury of the
Circuit Court following, thOy found the
bond to be worth only fourteen thousand
dollars, showing a deficiency Of sixteen
thousand dollars, in which condition he
was allowed to handle the peoples mon.
ey /; and, owing to the great distance from
jacksonville to Athens, "l25 miles, ac-
cording to tho Chronicles correspondent,
had not sufficient time to attend to the
business Of Monroe.
Judge Temple, acting under the advice
Of u few such mon as his oppUintec, who
had little or nc interest with the people
Of this county, seemed to think FROM their
acts that Monroe could not take care Of
her own interest, aud that she must have
u guardian. | determined 20 show them
aud the World that the good people of
MouroG county did not deserve such a
stigma. My only recourse was to abol-
ish the Court at jacksonville and detach
the county from the Second and attach it
to tho Third Chancery Division; aud |
am proud 10 know that l carried out my
plans, and that my action in the matter
meets the unqualified approval Of the peo-
pie OF my county.
The Chronicles correspondent also
states that "some Of the members Of the
Legislature, in looking over the report Of
the State Geol0gist, learned the fact that
in the neighborbOod of jacksonville,
Sweetwater aud Philadelphia there was u
wild section of mountain waste lauds, to
some extent inhabited, and over which
tue State had a right to exercise jnrisd C.
ton. Mr.. Owen, the nearest member to
that locality, was sworn, aud gave oral
proof of the fact that such u ueck Of woods
actually existed"
1t is presumed that tho Legislature had
sufficient grounds for their opinion, as
Chancellor Temple bad appointed u mis-.
%siouary from McMinn county to look uf-
ter this "wild neck Of woods !" and he,
being inadequate to the task, and not be-
ing abs to find a man of suitable ability
in this dark ''nCck Of woods" was con.
strained to send to LoudOn county for
help, and, as | understand, wrote hume,
TO Ohio, for ono more Of his brothers.
When / was examined by tie Legisla-
ture, in regard to the matter, | stated
that such u body Of land did not exist,
and that the people wcro sufficiently en-
lightened to conduct the affairs Of their
own county, aud after some debate tue
Legislature took us in on probation, and
we now have some assurance that We will
be received into full fellowship this fall.
The Chronicles correspondent, i'll au-
other communication, from Monroe, Nc
MINI, Ohio, or elsewhere, states that
"some of the citizens, in company with j..
+. Owen, who introduced the bill, were
down during the sitting Of the Chancory
Court to sec their mighty work, and, FROM
their down-cast looks, they thought no
more of it than We do"
So We were and all with one accord
pronounced it good-very good. | will
state here that there was not u man III
Athens with me from this couu,y that
knew such a bill was III contemplation un-
til it was introduced. So our "down-ca,t
looks' must have been from the fact that
we felt our benigbted condition, in his
(corrospondeut's] august presence, while
he was SO lucidly dispensing law and
knowledge. But let him have it as he
will. ! had rather be u good tool in the
hands of skilliul workmen than to be a
cur, prowlipg from one neishborhood to
another, trying to get my snoot in my
neighbours dish. Such nuisauces are gen.
orally kicked out, making a wiser, if not
a better sdorg." j. f. OWEN.
" . 4
The Washington correspondent oftho
Louisville Ledger writes June %: "a
change in the Office Of Commissioner Of
Internal Revenue in the next ten days is
confidently predicted tonight, but the
crisis may pass over. The causes arc
partly anterior to the decision in respect
to the New York Central railroad. Grant
wants the office worked as a political ma
chine, and this is not Gone 10 his salts
faction. If Pleasanton goes out he will
probably be assigned to some other duty,
where his want Of political tact will be
less hurtful. The Executive Committee
of the New York Central railroad have
written here denying the reports that
they received any information in ad-
vance of Commissioner Pleasanton's de-