Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1873-10-09
Vote for n. e. Day fol
Sheriff.
plIR, IsH BOTH SIDES

4
Noyes by the commissioners of
Hamilton county, for making out an
index. This is all right enough if
tie charge was exhorbitant, but will
he not also,as an honest editor pup
lish the several bills allowed by the
commissioners of Holmes county
for the same work? DR.. Enos was
the first to do this work in Holmes
county. His bill was $75. A few
years later. Mr.. Tanneyh.ll was al
lowed $500 for copying DR.. Enos'
report. At later period the same
job was again let out and still lar
ger price allowed, and the price has
gone On increasing until the sum re-
ceived by Gov. Noyes is compared
with that paid in our own county, ,as
one to ten, when we contrast the diff
ferance in the amount of work done.
Now we doubt not that our neighbor
is an honest man, and needs only to
have his attention called to corrupt
practices in his own county, to in
duce him to go to work to their ex-
position, and we shall be surprised
lif the columns of the next week s
Farmer are not filled with state
ments showing how this and that
man has collected exhorbitant bills
off the county for work done for it.
He also asks us to inform the peo
pie what we 'think of Governor
Noyes charging Hamilton county
$13, 3,525, 20 for indexing the records
in the Probate Office, service for
which { he says no probate judge in
the county ever received cent" "
For the truth of the latter clause we
refer him to the facts stated above.
We presume Gov.Noyes got enough
for his work, and if he got two much
the fault lies with the Commission
ers and with the county Auditor for
allowing an exhorbitant amount
AS the work extended over several
years, it was doubtless great labor.
We quote an article from the
Cleveland Herald as applicable to
this matter:
The whole is simply this, Gov
ernor Noyes was Judge of Probate in
1868, '69, and 10. Previous to the
occupancy the records of the Court
had been neglected and it became
necessary to prepare full indexes for
some years back. The County com
missioners made a contract with
Judge Noyes to do the work at a
certain rate. The work was done
and the money collected. AS to
whether the pay was too much or
too little nothing need now be said.
II was a contract deliberately enter
ed into by the County Commission
ers and there is no pretence that the
work was not honestly done or that
a single dollar was obtained which
was not strictly due under the con-
tract.
When Governor Noyes was nomi-
mated for his present position, the
first time, this indexing business was
brought up against him, but the
statement of the facts in the case
promptly disposed of that ground of
opposition, and the matter was drop
ped. Within the past fortnight the
Enquirer clique, finding the chan es
of Aliens election reduced to zero,
and casting about for some device
to aid their sinking cause, took up
the abandoned ''indexing" weapon
and commenced using it with re
newed vigor. The County Commits
sioners were bounded on to com
mence suit for the recovery of the
money alleged to have been illegal
iy" obtained, the whole ground for
the charge of illegality being the fact
that the contract was made without
having advertised for bids. If this
afforded ground for suit the proceed
Iings should have been against the
Commissioners who were guilty of
the illegality of making such con-
tract, and the Auditor who APPROX
ed the claim is possibly not wholly
without responsibility in the matter.
The Commissioners referred the
matter to the County Solicitor. who
returned written opinion that the
Commissioners had no case and
would be thrown out of Court. In
spite of this the Commissioners di-
rected suit to be brought, and pro-
ceedings have therefore been corr
menced.
Here we have the real nature of
the conspiracy exposed. The Com
missioners were instructed by their
own legal counsel that there was not
a shadow of case. There is not a
possibility of recovering a dollar of
the money, and the parties TO the
conspiracy know it. There is no
pretence that so far as Governor
Noyes was concerned the contract
was not honestly entered into. 1t
is admitted the terms of the contract
were strictly fulfilled by him and |
the work honestly done. Not even
the Enquirer ventures to assert. that
dollar of the money received was
not honestly earned under the con
tract. But in the face of all this
knowledge the money of the Hamil-
ton county taxpayers is to be ex-
pended by the County Commission
ers in an admitted fruitless suit sim
ply for the electloneering dodge in
behalf of the Democratic candidate
for Governor.
We shall be greatly mistaken if
this dis-eputable trick does not hurt
the devisers of it more than him
against whom it was concocted. A
device so sham eless as this will, if
there is any sense OF fairness among
Democrats, take votes from William
Allen and add them to E. F. Noyes.
Remember next Tuesday.
Two young Indians were recently
admitted as ministers to the Meth