Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1882-09-21
BEIGHAM'S RECORD
AS SHERIFF OF FULTON
COUNTY.
Facts for the Voters Of the
6tn District.
READ AND REFLECT.
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Glow we publish portion OF the rec
ord made by Col. Joseph II. Brigham, as
Sheriff of Fulton county, from January,
1859. TO January 1873. II Is but Q small
porrion of the record made by him en-
bracinR only the subpnn@s served, and
the charges made, but IL embraces all OF
these we could find in the files. In this
department OF his business we find that
during his term OF service he received
over $30O, 90 in illegal fees, and these in
sums OF from twelve to twenty cents
wether he did so in any other part OF
his business or not we are unable 70 state,
as we have not examined the records to
find out,
Before proceeding further in the dis
cussion of this matter, it may be well to
state that as the law of Ohio make 1t a
criminal offense, punishable by a fine and
imprisonment, for US to make false
charge of this kind, the best way to test
the Question as to whether we are lying
or not, is to have us arrested and test it
before the proper tribunals. IL we are
telling the truth, IL the law and the rec
ords constitute & truth and fact, then
il will he well for the people TO hesitate
before they again entrust their affairs IN
the hands OF Col. Brigham. II he, during
the four years of his term of service, pre-
sistently, in the service of the subp9n@s,
charged and took illegal fees from those
who were so unfortunate as TO get into
debt, and be sued, the question may well
be asked, is he q safe man for the people
to again entrust with the powers Of a
Sheriff?
We give names, and dates, and cases,
derived from the files in the Clerks Of
flee. They are there now and may be
examined, and the question as to wheth-
er we are telling the truth soon answered,
and this is much better way than to
take what may be said about the editor
of this paper as refutation.
THE LAW.
The law provides that the Sheriff of a
county may make service Of subpoena
by, first, reading the contents thereof;
second, by delivering witness copy
third, by leaving a copy at his residence.
The Sheriff may charge for either of
these services, but not for any two or all,
upon the some witness in the same SUBJ
poena. For service and return he is en-
titled to 10 cents for every issue served.
When a copy IS NECESSARY TO COMPLETE
A SERVICE, he may charge IS cents for
the copy, but that copy is the service,
and the additional charge for service,
otherwise, is illegal. In all these sub
poena, of which we speak. personal ser
vice was had, and the service might have
been made by reading the subpoena to
the witness, and therefore the copy was
unnecessary, anyway, but the Is cents for
service and return was legal and of this
we have said nothing. That the charge
Of 25 cents for copies was illegal in every
respect, there can be no doubt.
But there are other charges shown
here, which seem to have been made
spasmodically, which are clearly illegal,
and the manner and time of the making
of which seem to indicate that Col.
Brigham, at least had great doubts of
their legality, if he did not absolutely
know that they were palpably unlawful,
when he made them. We refer charges
for writing returns on the subpoenaes.
The law provides that the Sheriff may
charge Is cents for service and return Of
each witness In the subpoena. This Is
all the charge that can possibly, legally,
under the law, be made for returning a
subpoena. Col. Brigham seems to have
so understood, yet we find him, at odd
times, charging 10 cents for return, and
then at other odd times, charging 25 cents
for return. These facts, certainly, do
not indicate that he was absolutely Ger.
tain about his right to charge for ''re-
turns" or of the amount.
THE FACTS.
BY way of explanation, we would state
that the names following the title of the
various cases are the names of the wit
nesses subpoenaed. For instance RIDDLE
vs. CHEADLE. in small caps is the title oi
the case. Then will follow the name OF
witness, like this: III. Pritchard, / ser
vice, | copy, % cents, Illegal for copy
It means that Brigham charged 10 cents
for service one way, and % cents for ser.
vice another, and that the % cents Is il
legal.
OCTOBER TERM, 1869. s.