Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1873-09-23

: that the Board of Supervisors {
} this county were called togethe
: about the time this great exploi
| was to take place, and that the or
: ly business presented at this meet
ing was the presenting and allow
ing of bills, and among them wa
one of $500 for the purpose of fin
ishing the fire business. And tn
way the $500 job was got through
was that the Board was told tina
the job was in such shape that tn
parties who set the big fire wer
known, and that HOWE d Co. coult
lay their hands on them any mo
ment; that $500 would be suficien
to close up the whole thing. The
Supervisors, thinking it would be
bad to allow the parties to escape,
and the money that was already
expended lost, voted the required
amount and placed it in the hands
of the sheriff, for their disposal
The Board of Supervisors met on
Saturday, and on the Monday fol-
lowing this complaint was made I;
HOWE starts for Bay City, the sher-
if and a private deputy named J.
r. Beach, go up the lake. HOWE
is gone few days, and returns
The sheriff and assistant are gone
about a week, and return also, but
they bring with them no incendiary
ruihans. The people are dissatis-
fed, and individuals begin to in
quire for the victims. At first
HOWE d Co. are very reticent, car
ny the idea that they had not been
after anybody yet, but inquiries
continue until at last it was evident
that something must be done to ex-
plain matters, so that HOWE d Co.
might not be in the fault. Then it
was discovered that owing to the
knowledge of that complaint be-
coming public, the detective associ-
alton had failed to gobble their in
This is the way the
natter looks to me, from my pres
mt light upon the subject.
Let us look for moment at the
,oint which HOWE makes, and see,
ven if true, what there is in it.
'he point he makes is this, that be-
ause it became known that a war
ant had been taken out for these
arties, they got word of it and
lmped him. The main man that
ley were after, and the one of all I
hers they wanted, is man that !
icy have been after for two or /
Iree months. IIowie told me him
If that he had followed this one
L long time, and that he got
close on to him once or twice,
at the man just barely escaped ,
m, that he knew of his getting
80 from parties for jumping and {
seping away. Then this man has
lown all summer that they were =
ter him. He has been on the
ok out, has been on the alert, and
fact, to such degree has this !
zen the case that HOWE himself, c
e grand mogul of the company,
ID not been able to get him. Is it
IT reasonable that this man was
st al much on the look out the
ny this warrant was taken out as
9 had been before? Then l would
TX, how could the knowledge Of
lat warrant add anything to his
lmping qualities! He had shown
mself sufficiently sharp to elude
lie officers before, and he had just
le same chance now. The simple
'ct of warrant being taken out
id not add anything to Howie's
qualities. Hence, as far as
his man was concerned it would
ave made no difference if all the
eople in Alpena had known it. Any
lch ilimsy, childish excuse as that
) too thin. Any person with half
n eye can see through the whole
hing. HOWE has held out to the
PARTIES that have been paying him,
hat he would have the parties on
rand at the next term of court,
hat set the big fire on the 18th Of
July, 1872. Court time is almost
iere; he is not going to he able to
produce the parties according to
he is preparing for an
excuse, and this is his first step.
Is it not time that the citizens of
this county should begin to enquire
and know what this man is doing
for them! If he is really detecting
crime, ferreting out wrong doors,
and bringing the guilty to punish
ment, your money is profitably cX-
pended. But if he is really shield
ing some of the worst ones, and by
using these bad men as witnesses,
conyicting innocent men, he is do
ing work that this county will re-
pent of in sack cloth and ashes it
some future day. Is it necessary
to convict the guilty that such men
as Tom Ryan should be paid eight
dollars day 2 that such cattle as
Patrick O'Neil, Kennedy, Blaney,
and others, should be kept in idle
ness, and this county pay the board
all summer, in order that they shall
swear to the truth This, in my
opinion, is an unusual way to convict
the guilty, and very unsafe. Socie-
ty receives greater injury by con-
men in this way than it
would if the guilty should go free.
The moral effect of all such con-
victions is lost. If we cannot pun
ish crime in this county without