Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-12-19
BELLAIRE'S HOPE.
A HISTORY OF HER EFFORTS TO CAP
p TURE THE C0UNTy-SEAT 4
ofBelmont-The REMOVAL Questio9Started
IN f5s8-Another Bill to be lntrodtced
in the Next General AssembIy-The
Work osthe legislature-Con-
test For the Speakershp.
TEE USUAL FIGHT FOR OFFICES,

SpscSul Correspondence ofEhe Register.
CoLUuyvs, December 1S.-The incoming
General Assembly of Ohio will begin its
work on Monday, January 2, 1882. Nearly
all the nsmbers have been here to secure
quarters and'look over the ground. The
usual scramble for the ofsces has been IN
progress fer some time and is becoming
more and lore like a Kilkenny cat fight
as the time approaches foT the session TO
commence. The contest for
TEse spesAersllp
Of the House Of Representatives, is lively
and bitter. pT. James Scott of Warren
county; Hon. j. Hodge, of Cuyahoga,
and Gen. J. $. Jones, OF Delaware, are the
leading candidates. Hodge claims that he
has secured the votes of all the
Republican Representatives, from Ham
ilton county, as we&i as the votes
of the Republican members, from northern
Ohio, and that he has enough pledged to
nominate him. There are seventy Repub-
licans in the House, and it will require
thirty-six votes 20 nominatein the caucus.
Scott and Jones deny, that Hodge has as
many votes as he claims. be has formed
a combination which included Pugsley, OF
Highland for Speaker pro tsHa>, and John l..
GUY. a one-armed,ex-soldier,. OF GallipoilS,
for Chief Clerk, against d. J. Edwards, the
present incumbent, who expected to he re-
elected without opposition. DIR. Scott has
served nearly twenty years aB the repreSen-
tative from Warren, and knows more about
parliamentary, law and usage than any
other member. He is also a
Shrewd Party Leader.
He feels that his election to. the Speaker
shin would be handsome compliment and
a lust recognition of his past services. II
he plays his cards Alright, he will be elected.
General Jones has been q member OF
Congress, and represented Delaware coun-
ty in the last General Assembly. He is
strong candidate. There are several dark
horses in training. ready to- come on the
track the moment the leading candidates
kill one another off. For the subordinate
positions in both houses the candidates are
numerous and aggressive, and the fight IS
bitter.
The session promises to be a lively one.
I am informed that Hon. David Wagner,
the Representative from Belmont county,
will at an early day introduce bill pro-
yiding for the removal of the county seat
from
st. CIairsyiIle TO Rellaire.
The question is not new one. Ithas been
before more than one General Assembly.
1t was started in the Fiftyrthird, which
was organized on the 4th OF January, 1898,
when the late Hon. Isaac Welch was the Rep
resentative from Belmont, and Hon. Isaac
Holloway, the Senator from, the Belmont
Harrison District, Bellaire, was then an
infant, and now it has become thriving
city. The Belmont Representative and the
Senator from the District were then both
for removal, but the effort failed.
The next move for removal was made In
the Fifty-ninth General Assembly, which
was organized on the Sd of January, 1870,
when DR.. John A. Meyer was the represent
ative from Belmont, and Hon. James B.
Jamison the Senator from the Belmont
Harrison District. The Representative was
for removal and the Senator, | think, was
on the othe side. The effort failed, as be-
fore.
No Farther Effort
for removal was made in the Legislature
until the Sth of March, 1879, when Hon.
Harvey Danfozd one of the Representa-
tives from Belmont, introduced into the
House a bill, of which the following was
the title:
ITO provide for the removal of the
county seat of Belmont county from the
village OF ST. Clairsville to the city OF
Bellaire, in said county, and to authorize
the County Commissioners to erect court
house and county buildings, in case OF such
removal"
Said bill passed through all the stages Of
legislation in the House, until the queS-
ton was on ordering it TO be engrosSed for
third reading. The House refused to make
this order, by a vote of yeas AZ, nays 49,
This was on the 18th of April, 1879. Hon.
RossJ. Alexander, the other Representa-
tive from Belmont. was opposed to the
bill.
Hon. David Wagner. who was the Sena-
tor from the district, introduced the same
bill into the Senate on the Goth OF April,
1879, and it was passed in that body on the
Sd of June, 1870. 1t went to the House,
and was referred to the Committee on New
Counties and County Affairs, where 1t
Was Strangled.
In the last General Assembly the effort
| TO remove the county seat of Belmont
county failed, as it had in former General
Assemblys Hon. e.. K. Atkinson, the rep
| resentative from that county, introduced a
| bill providing for removal to Bellaire, on
| the 9th of January, 1850. Itwas read the
second time on the 10Th of January, 1880,
| and referred to the committee on counties
| and county affairs. On the 10th of March,
| 1880, that committee reported 1t back with
| out recommendation. 1t was engroSSed for
| third reading, but received no further
attention during that session. The follow
ing session, on January ~, 1881, II was put
upon its passage and lost The vote where
| by it was lost was afterward reconsidered,
and the bill referred to Mr.. Atkinson,
Who Has II Yet.
Such. in brief, is the history of the effort
to remove the county seat from st. Clairs-
| vile to Bellaire.
Belmont county now has representative
elected on the removal issue, and the peo-
pie OF Bcllaire are inspired by new hope.
ALAYM.