Litchfield enquirer., 1872-03-28
WHlTEWAsH.

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 fused to confirm the nomination. The
 sheriff then offered to let the commission
 CTS take charge of the jail, providing they
 would give him a bond of indemnity, This they refused to do. As they would
 neither confirm jailor nor take the re. sponslblhty of running the iail, Sheriff
 Baldwin did the only thing that remained TOT him to do, which was to take charce oi the jail, as the law makes it his duty.
 The Instructions placed in the SherifSs way were for the purpose of making polit- ical capital An s.insinuating circular
 has been issued by the County Treasurer Just before election.
 The foregoing is the explanation offered by MT. 0. M. Woodruff, in last weeks Democratic county convention, of the course pursued by Sheriff Baldwin with reference to the jail. A man who means to tell the truth never had worse success than Mir. Woodruff on that memorable oc- caslon. His sources of information were evidently of most misleading description as will be seen by Q comparison of his statement with the facts.
 Mir. Woodruff affirms that the county commissioners would not confirm the ap- pointment of a jailor and so the Sheriff was obliged to take charge of the iail and run it by agent. The facts are these: Af- ter removing Mir. Gibbud the Sheriff nom- mated Messrs. Edward O. Peck and his son Oliver P. Peck, successively, for the jailorship. The commissioners refused to confirm either of these nominations. at the same time declaring that their ob- jections were personal and not political. Thereupon, Mir. Baldwin nominated Mir. Stiles A. Wheeler, democrat, the cou,- n'issioners coryfrnaed the appointment. and Mir. Wheeler had charge of the iail for nearly two years till removed by Mir. Baldwin. Then, without making any fur ther nomination to the county commits sioners, MT. Baldwin placed Mir. O. P. Peck, not as jailor but as his agent, ill charge of the jail. Is it true, then, that the county commissioners "placed ob- structions in the sheriff's way for the pur- pose of making political capital ?" Obvi- ously not.
 Is it true that Gan insinuating circular has been issued by the county treasurer just before electione'' The county treas urer has never issued circular of any kind, and the letter of the county con- missioners to which Mir. Woodruff's mis- leading informant probably had reference was sent out in July of last year. Our readers can see for themselves by reference to another article we publish this week whether that letter deserves to be called an ''insinuating circular"
 So far we have been dealing with mis- statements and misrepresentation. There is this further excuse given for MT. Bal dwin: s'He offered to let the commission CTS take charge of the jail providing they would give him bond of indemnity. This they refused to do." That offer sounds so like what we should expect from O shrewd trader like MT. Baldwin that we are inclined to think it was really made. None of the county commissioners reside in Litchfeld, and none of them could, therefore, give any personal attention to the management of the jail. The High Sheriff is er-o6fcio jailor, and the keeper of the jail is only his deputy, subject to his orders, and liable to removal by him. What our sheriff asked (no doubt ".with 8 smile that was childlike and bland'O was that the commissioners should make them selves liable for the acts of his deputy 1! Moreover the commissioners could not bind the county by any bond of indemni- ty. They could only make themselves personally liable in matter where they had no personal interest. Then, too, the sheriff always has it in his power to re- quire bond of indemnity from his depu- ty iailor that will make him perfectly se- cure against loss. And what, after all, is the sheriff's risk He is not liable for es- capes of criminals, nor for escapes of any kind through the insuffciency of the jail. His liability for the acts of his deputy iailor is confined to the single case of the escape, through the. negligence of that jailor, of persons imprisoned on civil pro- cess. We have never heard of case of the kind occurring in the county or state since the passage of the act exempting debtors from imprisonment. Had MT. Baldwin been sincere in this matter why did he not offer to let MT. Gibbud remain and pay his $45O into the county treasury, on giving him bond of indemnity?
 While we cannot commend Mir. Wood ruff's essay in the whitewashing business, as whole, we must not be understood as detracting from his merit as an artist. We attribute his want of success mainly to the indifferent quality of whitewash furnished him. In what he said he was very unlucky; but in what he did not say he showed eminent discretion. He did not read that "insinuating circular of the county treasurer" to the credulous audi ence there present. He did not cipher out in figures the precise amount the county treasury had gained by the election oi MT. Baldwin. He did not refer to the number of prisoners that had escaped un. der the agency system. But he did achieve MT. Baldwin's nomination by g
 coup that showed the hand of master
 Whatever may be his merit as white
 washer Mr., Woodruffs skill as ''parlia mentarian" is indubitable.
 April Monthiies, &c.
 PErERsoN's contains: Bernice Cudleigh't Nasty Word; An Experiment; The Island
 of Diamonds; Little Polly Lambert; All Allegory on Woman's Rights; ''Tchudy"