The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-01-30
REPUBLICAN PURITY.

PEl
there would be no necessity for a re-
of official salaries, leaving
the impression upor the mind of the
reader not familiar with Republican
rule in Ohio, that all the stealing has
been done by Democrats. Now, We
do not pretend that there are no dis
honest men connected with the Dem
ocratic party, but we do claim that
it can show as clean a record as the
Republican, and besides, when it
finds dishonesty among its officials,
it is prompt to make an example of
them by punishment, instead of re-
warding them by a bestowal of other
and more responsible positions, as
for example, in the case of the Pres
identiaI robbery. There is not a
case on record in Ohio, and we defy
any Republican organ to show it,
where a Democratic official was
known to be guilty of de~falcation,
in which he has not been prosecuted.
How is it with the Republican coun-
ties and their defaulting officers?
+Ganthe same thing be said of them?
Let us look over a small batch of
them, for which we are indebted to
the Cincinnati Enquirer of last Sep
TENDER, and which could be length
ened out almost to the number of
counties they control in the State.
1t is very easy for the editor of the
Register to make sweeping asser-
tions, but let him come forward and
compare notes:
Since the adoption of the present
Constitution there have just been two
State T~reasurers in default, one be-
ing for nearly 81, 000, 900, the other
for something less than $4,000.
Neither one YVES ever prosecuted in
any Court. Both were Republicans
then, and still are; one was a mem
Der of the Convention that nominal
ed Hayes, and the other stumped the
State for him.
Hamilton county has had some
experience in this business. A coun-
ty officer, about six or seven years
ago, was discovered to have drawn
about $500 for services for which
he was rot entitled to pay. A Grim.
inal suit was entered against him,
but afterward it was withdrawn.
The same officer afterward helped to
nominate Hayes in the National Con.
vention, and now enjoys the second
best diplomatic position in the gift
of the Administration.
Lucas county was made to suffer
five or six years ago. The county
Treasurer, a strong Republican, stole
some $4,000 from the treasury and
skipped off to Canada, and spent q
year or two there. Then he return.
ed home, a nole was entered in the
Courts, and that was the last of it.
Clark county had a little expert.
ence also. The County Treasurer
loaned out some $4,000 to some
wildcat bankers in Tennessee, and
when the time came to look for the
money to pass it over to his success
sor, he couldn't raise it. He was
prosecuted though, and convicted
and took his medicine like a man
serving a year in the Penitentiary.
Miami county also presents an il
lustration. About 1854, or perhaps
earlier, a county Treasurer was be
hind in his accounts some $4,000
when the time came to settle, anG
his bondsmen had to put up the
money for him. He was never pros
ecuted.
Logan county has had two or three
such experiences. Some five year:
ago the Clerk of the Court was dis
covered to be $1,000 behind in hi.
accounts. He had collected money
in the shape of fines and costs du'
the county and never paid it over
Then about the same time thei
county Treasurer was caught rob
bing the tax payers by means O
forged duplicates, and further violat
ing the law by leaving the county
money in a bank. 1t was believed
that he got out of the county witt
about $4,000 of the peoples none,
in his pockets. He is now a high
wayman somewhere in the Blacl
Hills region. Still another and ear
lier example in this county, was tina
of a County Recorder, who skipped
off with about $4,000 of money no
his own. After drifting around tn
country for a number of years, ther
was an attempt made to arrest hin
for his crime, but he blew out hi
brains rather than be taken back
Neither, of the others were ever pros
ecuted.
Muskingum county presents a,
illustration as we'll. Some fifteen O
twenty years back, her county Treas
urer handed over a package of mon
ey to the legal Examiner, which wa
found to be short some $3.50 DOC
There vas q big quarrel over it, an,
talk of a SANDER suit, but there wa
/ no attempt to prosecute the man VIII
stole the money. All parties wer
Republicans.
Scioto county had a little expert
ence in the same line not many year
since. When their county Treasure
came to turn over his office to a sue
cessor, it was found that lie was be
: hind $4,000. He was never prosecu
ted.
Athens county had a Sheriff VIII
, was sent to the penitentiary a fe,
| years ago, for forgery, but tn
amount of money he cribbed wa
, never definitely stated. At any rat
he was eve prosecuted.