The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1871-10-05
FRANK ID. COLLINS, sTANDUp

- Aeh ~ n Ne OOAAIAtsct . u nv - OFs
You are the Democratic candidate for
State Senator, and as such the people
want to know, and have right to know.
just what kind of man you are, so that
they may be able to judge whether You
will be likely to honor or to disgrace the
honorable position which you ask at their
hands. Mr.. Collins, we are going to
charge upon you grave and serious mis-.
demeanors, and we do this not because Of
any i'll feeling toward you, but as duty
we owe to the public. You have placed
yourself in position which makes it i'm.
peratively necessary that you be exposed
so that you may not have an opportunity
to betray still greater trusts than you have
done in the past.
Frank d. Collins For about two years
you have occupied the position of District
Attorney of the Mayors Court of the city
of Scranton, and during that time YOU
have used that Office, not for the purpose.
for which the Office was created, but you
haze used 1t for the purpose Of making
money for yonrsey. We charge it upon.
you, in the name Of the outraged people,.
(aud especially ihe taz-payers) Of tbe'city
and district, that you have pros.ituted
the Office of District Attorney to the vilest
corruption and venality, for your own pro.
fit and aggrandizement. You and your
time-serving friends may say to us prore
1t. This we propose to do as follows:
The other day, when Judge Ward.
while the Mayors Court was in session,
took up the criminal docket, what did
he discover? ? lie foumd that an hun.
dreas Of cases, wherein parties hare been
indicted for ctenses against the lav, the
guilty hare neUer been brought before the
Court for trial Judge Ward found, fur-
ther that in scores Of cases, where prosecu-
tors were returned by the grand jury to
pay the costs in bills reported igDoramus,
such prosecutors have never been brought
into court to be sentenced. We do not
wonder that Judge Ward, and the people
who understood the nature Of the circum-
stances, were staggered when they found
how things had been going on, but even
more astounding revelations have been
made since. When it was discovered
how Frank Collins, the late District At
torney, had been doing the work, the
court issued the following order:
Now, Sept. Is, 1871, Court order and
direct the Clerk Of the Court, to issue
bench warrants for all persons on whom
costs were imposed by the Grand aud
Traverse Jurors at any proceeding Term
Of this Court, who have not been SEN
fenced by the court or have not paid such
costs, and in which no rule is pending"
The Clerk of the Court, in compliance
with the above order, has already issued
about three hundred capiases in the or
der. The execution by the Marshal of
these warrants is revealing the fact that
Frank ID. Collins has not only trifed with
the duties of the Office to which the peo-
pie elected him. but that he has also ap-
propriaied to his own use money which
belonged to- the city, and which an honest
official would have paid into the city treas
ury. Every person upon whom the Mar
shal has served a warrant in the above
cases, has refused to come into court, and
all alike assert that they paid the costs
IN their cases to Frank ID. Collins, the
District Attorney! Some of these par
ties say they paid Collins $50, others as
high as $50. Not cent Of this money
has .foaad ats aoay into the. treasury!
Frank d. Collins, stand up! What have
you doue with this, the peoples money?
Here are over three hundred cases of
persons indicted of crime. Did you as
sumo to yourself the functions of Court
and jury, and dispose of these cases p
There are, as we are in formed, several
hundred cases in which the Grand Jury
directed prosecutors to pay costs, agsre-
eating thousands of dollars These per-
SOUS claim that they paid tho costs into
your hands, yet the Court has no record
of it, and the Treasurer of the city has
no account Of having received such monies
from you. This money belonged to the
people. We might refer in detail to not
less than twenty of the cases above re-
ferred to. Your conduct, as city attor-
ney, needs au explanation, Mr.. Collins,
before the people will feel disposed to ad-
vance you to a position in which the op-
portunities for general stealing are on
more magnificent scale than in the Dis
trict Attorneys Office of this city.
Frank Collins has boasted that he made
$4,000 year out of the District Attor-
ney's office. When we take the above
facts into consideration, we do not doubt
it.. but the biggest portion of the money
belonged into the city treasury instead of
Frank Collins pocket. Aud now this
brazen faced young District Attorney,
who not only outraged the people of this
city by settling with indicted criminals,
instead of bringing them before the court
for trial, and of pocketing thousands of
dollars which belonged to the city, asks
the people to elect him to the State Sen
ate !! Frank Collins, you have had a trial
in public Office, and you have proved
yourself not only unfaithful in the dis
charge of the duties of the office, but you
have shown that Won are void of those