The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-06-18

prepare his reasons. The next day
purity much the whole town was on
hand to hear the reasons. But the
widows lawyer moved that judgment
be recorded at once, an as soon as that
was done, he got up on a wagon in
front of the courthouse and made o
powerful speech. He said the reason
judgment was rendered agin the widow
was on account of bribery. All the
Town Council, the Mayor, the Judge
and his family had free passes. He
called on any one present to deny the
fact. But nobody was fool enough to
say word.
I saw at once how the poplar mind
was goin'. l knew eff the widow had
been poor nobody would have cared a
gnat's heel for her :; she might have lost
her last pullet an nobody'd loaned her a
patent egg for fresh start. Thinks I,
now is the time to let fly at great
abuse. So L writ the matter up that
night. Said 1 in my colyums
"The current of popular sentiment
has been stirred to its depths by the
recent decision in the case of Klingen-
felter versus the Goosetown and Huckle-
berry Flat Railway Company. It is
not because the widow Klingenfelter's
cows head was really towards the new
or her tail switching near the old settle
mept that public sentiment sides with
her; it is because of the wholesale
bribery practiced by the railway COM
pany. The company gives truck for
truck. 1t don't SOW courtesies of this
kind broadcast for nothing. Every
free pass is framed in a consideration,
eff we could only get at the facts, an
the consideration is mostly in favor of
the company. 1t is q 'well-known fact
that drink of whisky will go ten times
as far to'ards infuencin' mans vote as
ten times the whisky's moneys worth
would go. On precisely the same
principle railroad pass has forty-hoss
corruptin' power. We cannot take time
to explain the principle more fully in
this issue. We simply ask, shell the
the people of Goosetown be content to
let this system of pass bribery to obtain,
institutions ? We trust not We hope
public sentiment will eventooally
crystalline inter a law forbiddin' all
city officers an judges to accept passes
from railways, steamboats,, canal boats,
and RATS.
That was about the heft of my edi-
torial. Thinks I, thatll draw like
poor mans plaster. The people will
rally round me, mebbe send me to the
Legislature But to make sure of it,
I threw in lot of stuff bout the tre-
MENUS infooence of the independent
press in freein' the people from the
corruptin' an overmasterin' power of
the railway corporations.
When / met Jim Shakleford next day
he looked sort o. short grained. Said
I, Chow do you like my editorial :?
1t ought to save the company q heap of
money. I've made little calculation.
Ell everybody pays, the company will
make more than twenty thousand dol
lars of savin'."
81 reckon everybody will pay their
fare, incloodin' the ass what edits the
Streamer Of Liberty" said he, jest like
that.
An they did. 1t shet down the hull
business. Consequence was, everybody
in office and everybody that wanted to
get Office (an' that inclooded pretty
much the whole town. came down on
the paper heavy. Suit. Consequence
was, couldn't get credit for soap to
wash my hands after that, let alone buy
whole ream of paper twict month, SO
the Streaner Of Liberty suspended.
WRIT SUrTREDGE.