The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1878-04-19
rhe ..SaIarY crab,

/ Ma. EDITOR Judge Montgomery in
f his response to Mud Greek, in last
+ week COURIER, says
/ at is true the salary was two hundred
dollars when l took the office, County
Judge anil had the law not been changed
on me so as 20 impose nearly double the
amount of W ork on me. 1 expected to have
served out my term at the same, and TO
have lived on nv farm. The Act of 1876
comforting on Quarterly Courts jurisdic-
ton Of mi sdemeanors, necessitttcd my
moving to the county .aj the s:h section
of that Act reads thus, the Quarterly
Court Tor the purpose Of exercising the
jurisdiction hereby conferred shall be
deemed always open. except Sundays and
legal holidays. These are Common
wealth cases, and she pays no cost Iy
Quarterly Court under the old law, was
open every three months / had made
up my mind to resign. bat was nd yised by
friends TO lay the case before the Magis
trates, which did, telling them AT the
time they could raise 10 or that / would
resign, and they could order an election
They raised it s2OO-making IL SiuO-OH
account 81 the increased cork imposed on nee
By this dct
1t is true the act of March 18th, 1916,
has imposed duties on the Judges of the
Quarterly Courts, which previous to that
act they did no perform. but they are not
so arduOus.a as the Judge wishes the public
TO believe; and viii venture the assertion
that the yearly average in Fulton county
viii not exceed eight or ten cases which
would take up the time perhaps of tea or
fifteen days On account of this iucreas-
ed work imposed on him, he tells the
Magistrates his salary must be dou5Ld or
he would resign.
Tell it not in Gath. nor proclaim it on
the streets Of Askelon Al the very time
the Judges salary was doubled uo such
act imposing So much onerous work on
him was in existence Judge Moutgome-
~ = salary was raised at meeting of the
Court Of Claims ON the 18th day Of Jaau-
airy, 1876, and the Act TO confer on Quar-
ter!y Courts jurisdiction of misdemean-
ors in certain cases, did not become law
un.il March Is, Is75-dfty- day 5
after, the SALARY Grab was maIe, as
some people are pleased TO call il How
then can Judge Montgomery claim that
the passage of the ACT referred TO imp0s-
Ell double work on him, aud on tust aa-
count HE salary must be rails or he
would resign when such Act of the Leg
isiature hal No existence at alif Had be
a VISION prophetic vIsIon-0r Ike the
seers of old peepei into the legislative
head or down lis throat aud uIscJyert1
that % 50 DAYS after his salary was ra.s-
Ell be woull have Eule III r w"Jk 80
perform. Ihe Legi-lIture OF 1870 had
frls e.. IA H
on the lstA day of january, when the
Jud ze IS sslAgy was elevated 20 the four
hundred No such bill at that time had
passed either House of the Legislature.
Now Judge be candid, aad put yonr
salary raise on is true ground. You
were told By one of your predecessors,
four months before your election to the
Office of County Judge, that The office did
not pay more than four hand or four
hundred aud fifty dollars per anuum.
Yet you sought and obtained the office,
and in q short time you found it not to be
the good thing you anticipated, and then
il was you cried more money or 1 re-
sign" This is the true iuwarduess Of
this SALARY grab business.
The Commonwealth since the creation
OF tie State never pal l.the costs in pros
ecutiOns tor misdemean0rs; and MsgIs-
trate's courts as well as that of County
Judge, who acts IN the capacity of mag
istrate'in certain cases, have always been
and now are open for the trial of that
class of misdemeanors. Your exami ming
court, trial Of breaches of the peace, etc,
is open az all times. The only difference
between he old and the new law Is, that
the County Judge, for the purpose of re
Iieviug the county OF Jail expenses, after
notice is given by the jailor, that parties
arrested for certain mIsdemeanors cannot
give bail for their appearance at the Cir
cult Court may proceed with the trial.
This Is all aud nothing more.
Owing 10 the great stress wbich Judge
onigomery puts upon Office rent and
furnishing his own stationery, it might be
supposed It was something new. AIlt his
predecessors had to do the same thing
aud some Of them at a time when rents
aud costs OF paper we're almost double
what they now are, and received a salary
of only two hundred dollars.
JNo. ". WJNGATz.
HILLSIDE, April 18th, 1878.