Jamestown alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1878-1882, 1881-08-26
THE La BOURE COUNTY ORGANIZA.
TION.


Mr.. Wells, not having volunteered
any reply to the communication in
yesterdays Alert regarding the sit
uation in La Moure county, was
called upon this forenoon and asked
if he had anything to say on the
subject, or any reason to give,
why he should not be condemned
and shot on the spot. Mr.. Wells
replied that it was not his inten-
ton to notice the boyish arraign.
ment referred to, but that when
any man, resident of La Moure
county, felt sufficient interest in the
matter to call at his office he would
show him proof that the premises
and conclusions of our Grand Rap
ids correspondent were both false
and unjust, and that instead Of
hindering the organization Of that
county he has been from the outset
the most active friend of organiza-
tion, and the only man who has so
much as lifted . finger toward that
end.
That Mr.. w. prepared and passed
a special act enabling the county to
organize, at time when their pop
ulation was insufficient to permit
them to do so under the general
laws, is fact with which the read
ers of the Alert are familiar. Gov.
Ordway stated when here that h e
had received several communica-
tions from Mr.. Wells during the
months of April, May and June, all
urging the immediate appointmnt
of commissioners for that county,
and that he, the Governor, was pre-.
vented from making these appoint
ments by his continued and un-
avoidable absence from the terrific
ry during that entire period.
Mr.. Wells states that it is true
that the commissions are now in his
safe, that they were handed him by
the Governor on the 2Gth day of
July, not more than Is minutes be-
fore himself and the Governor took
the train east together; that he
put them in his safe at that time,
and without opening, to deliver as
requested by the Governor, on his
return from the east. That on his
returnhe examined the commissions
preparat ory to delivering, and then
discovered a fatal error, they hav-
ing been made to expire at the elec-
tion of 1881, whereas the law re.
quires that they expire at the. cleo
tion Of 1882. And, that he wrote
the Governor at once of this fact
asking if he should change the date
Or return them to the executive Of
flee for that purpose, and that ow.
ing presumably to the Governors
absence in the east he has received
no response to his letter:
Now it would seem to the Alert
that while it may be very unpleas-
ant for the good people Of La Moure
county to have to wait so long for
the perfection Of an organizati' n
they are 50 much in need of, they
have no grounds whatever upon
which to Justly criticise the course
Mr.. Wells has taken. It is appar-
ent that Mr.. Wells has ever been
a true friend to La Moure county
and her people and desires to see
them prosper: Had Mr.. Wells de-
livered the commissions to the COM
missinners Of La Moure county as
they read to-day, every act commit
ted by the commissioners holding
them would have been Illegal, as
the bill creating the organization of
the county says plainly that three
commissioners shah be appointed by
Governor, and that they shall re-
main in office until the election of
1882. On the other hand the COM
missions which are now in the hands
of Mr.. Wells say that the commits.
sioners shall remain in Office until
1881. Our correspondent can see
clearly that it would be very
wrong for Mr.. Wells to deliver the
commissions as they now read, as
such an act would greatly jeopar-
die the best interests of the county.