Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-05-10
A Fair, Impartial and Brief State.
ment of the County Seat
Contaat

ent location Of their Seat Of Justice at Bowling
Green, md desiring thata new and impartial
vote be taken On the question. II is already
we'll known that petitions have been widely cir
eulated and numorously signed praying for an
other vote on the subject of removal from
Bowling Green to Perrysburg Almost $500
legal voters and tax payers Of Wood county
signed these petitions. The petitions so signed
properly certified, and the genuineness Of the
signatures proved by the oaths of good and cred
ibe citizens were paoed 10 the hands If com
mtce consisting of Henry Thornton and James
Il. Pierce who took them u Columbus and placed
themiu the hands Of Mr.. Norris, Representative
from this county, in March last.
On the 2i Of April last, another committee, Of
which the writer Of this communication was a
member visited Columbus and Immediately
sought Mr.. Norris. As soon as we saw himhe
Informed us ttase very serious legal question
bad been raised, which threatened to defeat us
at the start. There is" said he, "a law which
forbids petitions of this kind to be received at
all, unless nntIcs is hrst given at least thirty
days in advance Of the session. "Now," said
he :" do you claim that ynu gave any such no.
,ice ?" We toid him we did not, and did not CON
slider that there was any snch law now in force.
/" Well" said he 3" AIN no lawyer, and don't
consider myself competent to decide legal ques-
tions when lawyers disagree, but | understood
that some Of the best lawyers have said that
your petitions would be ruled ont. | tnld your
other committee 50, and proposed to let the Ju-
d cary Committee settle that question on the
start. Your committee agreed to it. and 50
sent your petitions before them. Whatever tho
Judiciary Committee say ON the law shall be-
lieve to be right. If they say your petitions
must be thrown out, that ends your case. You
have notl ing to do but 60 home, and wait ill
the next session You can't expect me to bring
IN bill without any petitions IN back it. But II
your petitions are received and come before the
Hnuse, will, as your representative, obtain q
fair helting Of them. Whatever my personal
feelings are I shall then consider it my duty to
nbey the wishes Of the people who sent me here
I shall lay my own wishes and interests entirely
aside and be governed BY the will of the major
itv."
These were almost the precise words Of Mr.
Narrs as taken down by us in few moments
IL ter he conversation. On our part we assured
him that his course ought to, and would, COM
nand tie approval Of every man whose respect
" ts worth the having. We understand your
D lsitian," we sal | tn him, 'to be ilst this: We
must get over this puint -; law about the notice,
or it that is found against us, we must back at
and go home or yuu will oppose us AT every step.
Blu; if our petitions come before the House and
are cnusidere |, then YOU will make fair
count and as you fad the minority Ut names on
those petitions SO will your course be deter
mined" 70 this he asseute1 ami we vent ,o
look up the judiciary Committee. These We
found to be unanimous in favor Of receiving our
petitions but averse to mak King a report so long
as there vas no bill before the House We
therefore prera "a Ii which Mr.. Norris intro
duced had it read a second time. and then refer
red TO the Committee on New Counties and
county affairs. This reference was proper
enough in itself, but so long as the petitions had
be n referred to the Judiciary Committee, com
mon courtesy reqnired that the bill also should
b. in the first instance placed in their hands.
they would, after reporting upon the law ques-
ton which had oeen specially committed 10
them, have recommended i reference of tho bill
to the same Committee on Counties. All that
was then left for the Judiciary Committee to do
was tn bring the petitions into the House and ask
t. have them sent TO the Committee GU C1und4s.
This. they did.
cif cumstance transpired, while our petitions
were before the Judiciary Committee. which sur
prised us and should have satisfied US az t, the
justice and fair play we were 10 exn'et Of VI
N mis- we found hat he had sent to that Com
',lttee II rnmmunictti N designed t. di,credt
oar petitions, stating thatthe petitions from Per-
ry burg had rearlg 500 si-ners, whereas Per-
rySburg only hai some 700 voters
The Judiciary COMMITTEES were very much sur
prised at this communication. They had before
Law, tO-wit: whether notice was required be-
fore presenting the petitions. Here was our
Fl Inoraole Represen i've asking them t. turn
a lie from their plain manfes' duty. to treat the
pstltt!ous il thr question had De deci ted ~
II the uetitions hal already been c-iVed and
were before the committee for consideration nr
their merits. And so lie wanted them tn CON
msuce taking census Of PerrYsburg tnwnshi
Having heard ni this underhanded, unfair at
tempt to prejudice our case before it was -aiure
the House at all, we entertained serious doubts at
the proprietv or safety of leaving our bill in tn,
| hands nf Mr.. Norris. Mr.. Cnuk, however
| thought that he was an honest man, and il we
could get from him square pledge IN deal Just
| ly bY us, we might trust him. The question was
| therefore, earnestly ard emphatjcaliy rut tn Mr.
| Norris by Nr. Cook in tue presence of the Com
! mltee, whether, nOtwthstan ling his personal
| l. rest, he elt that he could, in case our leti
tinus were received, act imp4rthtly IN the prem
! srs and carry ont the will Of the people as
| shown by the petitions Mr.. Norris said that he
| could and would. The COMMITTEES entertain ne
| doubt but what Mr.. Norris believed. at thi.
| time, that our petitions wOnld be thrown out by
| the Committee, and hence that he would not be
| called upon 10 act in the premises. The receD-
| tian of the petitions, however, seemed to com
| pleely upset all Of his plans. From the time
| that the bill and petitions were sent to the Com
mittee on Counties, we found Mr.. Norris cou-
stanty Iaboring "a defea! US, and not always by
| oppositiou-mueh more frequ, n:ly, by "wal
| that were dark and BY arts that are vain"
| The number OF names on the petitions from
| Perrysburg was grossly exaggerated, while the
| voting population ot the town WIS underrdtsd
| 1t was said that cast 800 votes aginst re-
| m0val in 1855 and 60asted that we would doubt
our vote next time. Fraud, which the closest
| scrutiny in the contest of the former County
| Seat vote tailed To show trace or culor Of was
m ST shamelessly charged against US Mr. Nor
| ris tailed to remember that the contest in S66
diminished the apparent vote III favoc Of removal
over 200 leaving ma jority of only lis for re-
| moval He was willing to take the remonstrances
from Bowling Green against our BILL just as
thev stood, without scrutiny or examination; but
when We showed him that the number of patj-
IL ners names from Perrysbufg was only ,050
that our real voting population was in sx-
cess Of that, he st II Insisted and represented
that our petitions were fraudulent. The oaths
o! his fellow clizen' attesliug the gauuupness
OF the signatures went for nothing. From every
quarter we heard of atalemlnts AMI decMmt =
tons made by Mr., Norris hostile 10 our bill. lie
said that two thirds Of our people preferred
| Bowling Green as a Seat of Justice, aud iu the
next breath would tell ot the hardship which
would result tn individuals there, il a vote were
taken and a removal followed. On the one hand
they were not in the least afraid OF vote and
o. the other vote would drsuIt in loss 10 thnse
who had subscribed 10 erect the buildings at
Bowling Green. The effect of this b ter husii il.
ity ON the part of Mr. Norris -fudl, resulted in
causing the Committee on County affairs tn place
the bill in the hands nf Mr.. Peckuraugh, with
| Instructions to lay II before the House without
any recommendation either way from the Com
mittee. Our committee lahOred necessarily
from the time the bill was 81 placed To procure a
vote upon 1t in the House. There was, how
ever, 50 severe pressure Of business, all strug
CLING precedence, in the closing hours OF the
session thst we finally despdred Of success
Shortly before the close Of Saturdays session,
we learned that plot was on foot to wait until
a bare quorum was left in the House. and then
put our bill upun its passage. A such time
two or three adverse votes would have been
sufficient to defeat it. We knew that Mr.. Peck
lnpaugh wo nd not counenance any such pros
ceedug, bu,f course he might have Deen com
PEELED to report. To provide against all such
contingencies we applied to Mr. Howard, one of
the Senators from this District, and he intro
duced similar bill for us into the Senate Thus,
we have reason TO think, was spoiled a very
pretty little conspiracy on the part of Bowling
Green. Our bill now stands ready to be taken
ay,g,, ,.C a.. II