The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-10-12
For Coroner,

Inc M0nne AeUtetO Oh last week mas
column article in relation to candidates
from the style Of which it is plain that tht
Revie,o will not feel very bad if all the In
dependent Reform candidates shall b.
elected. A large number of Republican,
feel the same way, some Of whom will vot.
the whole Independent Reform ticket
while others will refrain from voting atall
Here is all the Review says Of G. b. Knox
the Republican candidate for coroner,v viz
Although the profession followed BY MT KNOB
may not be looked upon with pleasure ]! must Dc
regarded as one OF The necessary evils. AZ coronel
Mr.. Knox has done faithful service Tor the county
Mr.. Knox has no profession His oc
cupation or business is that of an under
taker-but what that has to do with the
duties of coroner is more than we can per-
ceive. 1t has nothing whatever to do with
the duties of the Office of coroner. The
duties of corner are, when sudden or
mysterious deaths occur to call jury and
ascertain the cause. When accidents or
murders occur to ascertain who are GEN.
surable or guilty But the coroners Office
in this county is run upon the idea that all
the coroner has to do is to summon several
Knox boys and employees on jury, EN-
ploy Coroner Knox to bury the body, make
up big bill against the county and pocket
the money.
The Reriew, after noticing Mr.. Knox's
private business, actually deyotes two lines
to an allusion to the coroner's office. 1t
says: Gas coroner MIR. Knox has done
faithful service to the county," Please,
MIR. Rerie,o, tell the people what service he
has rendered them as coroner. As under
taker, he has buried good many bodies
at the peoples expense--but as coroner,
we fail to see any faithful service. Has he
brought any murderers to justice? Has
he shown any capacity whatever for fer
retng out aud bringing to punishment the
guilty? Take the case Of poor Felix Dew
lin, who was murdered on the most public
street 10 Rock Island on the night of the
9th of last month, with dozen wit
nesses standing near What service did
our coroner render the people? He called
a jury, held post mortem, and learned
that the man was killed with knife--just
what everybody knew before. Coroner c.
B. Knox then employed Undertaken c. B.
Knox to bury the body and bring in bill
against the people for the whole job. What
more should he have done? Why, he
should have kept that jury week, if nee
essary, and summoned every man who was
at that lunch party, one by one, and ex
amined them privately, and little by little
got hold of the names of all who were in
that party. For ought he knows the man
who murdered Devlin may meet our coro-
ner on the streets every day. Mr.. Knox
showed neither energy or aptitude for the
position. five had such coroner as they
have over the river, the murderer of Felix
Devlin would now be in custody-perhaps
under sentence.
Another thing: When a railroad, or
steamboat, or MILL or mining or other ac
,ident occurs, we want u coroner who will
60 to the bottom of it without fear or favor,
aud learn who is to blame and bring the
guilty parties to punishment-not get up a
verdict for the purpose of
preventing the unfortunate from recover
ing damages for the wrong acts OF those
whose duty it was to protect them.
Mr.. Oekerberg is the better man, and
ought to be elected,