Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1877-07-05

of III. Psrsoesr election to the of|ice o
Comnissicner 10 myself. Indeed, he
has hid many thasgs from which one
wou9 infer that BE ms forgotten the
numeSiesl force - Ne Republican par
y, - - uhsf nave Just quosed. Il
is.vofy eIessiy shown thsl Ne loss sight
OF he fiet slta seber. and snsgines that
there Is but one man m that party and
that d myself believe the Republi-
cans Of 81 Mays endorsed Mr.. Far
sons for Commissioner. not because he
was Repsblican. bat because they con-
sidered him . practical business man.
and because they have ever shown .
disposition 10 give their political opPo-
nsnts . fair repFesent.kseo in all the
public departments. Can the Demo-
crstic party boast of sch magnanimitys
Perhaps NY 6isnd can inform Us. Mr..
Parsoos Is heavy taxpayer and though
not 30 heavy Is my friend, yet he 10 =
large real estate owner and bis interest
ought to be fully identified with the
material interest Of the county" If
he really desires none but taxpayers to
Gil the Office Of Commissioner, those
who pay the large amounts certainly
should be preferred BY him. lfso, /
think j. probable thsk Mr. Parsons, as q
ts1-peyer. win eompsre favorably with
either Mr.. Fenwick or Alvey. But
don't wish it understood that am urg-
ing Mr.. Parsons for that position. make
these remarks simply to compare my
friends theory with his practice. I shall
now pass on to his crowning effort on
behalf Of the material interest Of the
county. ! humbly confess to the charge
Of erroring in the years in which the
large sum was received by MI. Wilson,
but that defect cannot seriously inter-
fere with the facts. NV friend saws
that / was false" However, that
does not matter. 1t may Offset the
charge against me Of impxgning lis no
fires. shall preface my remarks upon
this subject by saying that I Law no
charge at the door Of Mr.. Wilson for
having received $1.270 % for 1867.
He charged perhaps what he considered
his services were worth. compared
the two accounts for the benefit ofthose
who have been "harping" on the exor-
bltant amount paid by the county to
Mr.. John N. Graves. Now, il the pub
lie will bear with me, will endeavor
to explain Mr.. Graves connection with
the Commissioners Court and the con.
dition upon which he received that
$945, alluded to by my friend and my
self. MIR. Jno. N. Graves was appoint
ed Clerk to the Commissioners on the
Goth day Of March. 1876, to serve out
the unexpired term of Mr.. Durant, late
Clerk. During Mr.. Durant's illness,
Mr.. Thos. Camaiier was employed by
the County Commissioners-or in fact,
as they say. they "found him in charge
of the Office" On the day Mr.. Graves
took possession Of the Office, Mr.. Cam.
alier made out and presented an ac-
count for his services. This amount
was $293.SO. The Commissioners
evinced disposition to defer any action
on this bill until the next regular meet
ing, but Mr.. Camalier was very pressing
and insisted that the Court should adj
Just the matter there. After some dis.
cussion, one of the Democratic members
favored its passage. The account was
then taken up and passed. Shortly az
ter this meeting-say the next meeting
of the Court-the representative Of Mr..
Durant presented an account OF $157.11
tor his services from Nov. 1875 to the
time Of his death. 1t was claimed that
Mr.. Camalier had engaged to attend to
the Office Of Mr.. Durant. This startling
development to the Commissioners re-
allied to them the faur pas they had
made. But it could not be remed,ed.
as Mr.. Durant was under no bond for
the faithful performance Of his office.
On the day that the Commissioners
closed the levy for the year 1876, MIR.
Jno. N. Graves made out and presented
an account for the sum Of $945 for ser
vices already performed, and for servi-
ees which he had obligated himself to
perform for the fiscal year ending March
Goth, 1877, under forfeiture Of 81 900.
On - day Of Nov. 1876, Mr.. Jno. N.
Graves resigned the Clerkship, but be-
fore doing SO, however. he arranged
with Mr.. George A. Simms the pres
ent Clerk by and with the consent Of
the Board, to execute such service as
might devolve upon the Clerk till March
Goth, 1877, SO that St. Mary's county
was at no further expense for Clerk
hire to that date. If my friend really
believed that the Commissioners al
lowed Mr.. Jno. ". Graves the sum of
$945 for eight months service, and that
Mr.. Geo. A. Simms was appointed to
serve the remainder of the year. with
additional salary, he is very lax in his
duty Is taxpayer in not making the
matter known to the public before. And
since he says that he does not attack
the Commissioners and that the increas-
ed rate OF taxation was necessary, he
certainly evinces 4 willingness to con-
done fraud and bad management. But
I will plead with the public on his be-.
half. He does not believe that the
Commissioners allowed $1,395.91 for
one year. But with all his scholarly
attainment,, perceive he is something
Of q sensationalist and a. it was a SEN
sation he wanted, q sensation he would
have. My friend says that I have inn
pugned his motives because he is a
Democrat. Really. his article was SO
mixed up with politics and interest
that must acknowledge that my per-
ceptions were so dull that could not
tell to which his best energies were de-
voted.
]. N. G.
P. s. Since writing the above, have
examined the records and / find that
Mr.. Wilson received Sl,24O instead of