The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1882-03-16
A Bit Of History.

"A Bit Of History.
About ak years ago Chase was CouiI-
ty seat of Lake county. Baldwin, the
present county seat then Il small place
of about dozen hamlets, had always
aspire,i To get il away from Chase either
Ly fair or foul means. Their support
being weak, and standing no pOssible
show Of getting II 10y fair, they re-
solved OH foul means. 80 one 'iay the
people of Chase were somewhat SUR
priscd to see an army of men, number.
Ing about 100 marching To the Court
House, and seizing the books, papers,
and safe and carrying them away 10y
force and arms. The party Of men
were Baldwinites, who, when the
hooks were once up there, proclaimed
Baldwin the County seat. Since thcu
no effort has been made to regain IL
until last January, although bitter
feeling has ieeu manifested between
tile people If that section and this, |. e.
the east and the west. Last January
money WAS subscribed ia this place fr
tU raise funds To get IL back again. n
meeting was he'll here 10y the citizens,
aiI,i ~ committee Ofthr,e were appoiht-
ell to 20 to Baldwin and work for that
point. We next find the committee
In Baldwin with the Board in session,
u move was madc to remove the co,iii-
ty scat to Cl,as,., and AZ nplnly knew
ANYTHING about Ii, the motion was lost.
This made some of Our people feel kind
OF sore, AMI they said they would have
nothing more To do witt. IL ami We he-
lieve them, for rs yet no move has
been made to see who " III bc the Su
pervisors in the nciglilmring towns,
much worse, our own. IL there Is ever
to bc anything going Ia hc done about
il, il will have to l,c done the coming
summer, and we advise the people OF
our town to look we'll Into the nattcr,
and get Ia work witu harmony an
unity IL they ever intend 10 do any
thing about it.
.\sour re:ricrs have probably, a!ready
Surmisc,l, the a,s,vc istakci, from our
neighbor paper at Chase. IL HAS not
been our desire; nor is II now to revive
the glitter feeling" which has unfortu.
natcly existed between inrti0ns Of the
people Uf this county; but we do not
ielieve II Is Justice TO either side In the
county y seat controversy to allow s'cn
AN article Ia that above to pass un-
a,,swercd: for the reason that there are
many in our county To-day who were
not here seven years ago, AMI might,
possibly, bc mislcd 10y it. In the first
place, tire Board of Supervisors ,lcsig-
mated Baldwin US the county seat; not
~ vote being recorded against Ii. Ii
WIS submitted n the people, and n
majority of tifry-fhir obtained f'r re-
mOval. Strenuous eff0rts-were made
on both si'les Of the question to p,ll
every available vote. Ii there were
any "fOul means" usc,l on this si'le, II
was AN net Of Il few, aud not Of the
people collectively. OF course, IL fol-
lows that If any one Is To he branded
ns criminal 1t should be those whO
committed Illegal acts, and not the
mass Of the people who favored the re-
n,Ovai Of the county seat, and WHO
were IN every wny innocent OF the
charge Of criminality; having simply
gone to the polls AMI east their ballot
for what they considered to bc the
right. The iilsinuation ofillegal voting
on one side might as well be- made as
To the other, also; for the writer Ills
tinctly remembers assisting In making
"a copy Of the poll list of II certain cas
side town, IN 1875, and the discovery
Of the occurrence Of tl.e same name
twice, wien tliosc well informed Ill,
not hesitate to declare that only o"'
,erson of the name resided i'm the town
The vote on removal WIS dul,
cnnv vassed and declared In due form q
law; aud the Of Supervisors declare'
Baldwin the county seat aud T'lere'
the removal Of the county prOpert.
there, appointing ns u committee
perform the service, the four count.
officers who Ivy law are required To hOl'
their offices ut the countyiscat. Now
it seems that II hab gotten into tn
heads Of some that the Board Of super
visors had discretionary powers In re
gard to declaring thc county sent re-
moved; whereas, the truth WINS tile la'
made II obligatory upon the Supervisor
to declare tile county seat removed
and To remove the county property "
soon ~ practicable, after the people ha
voted and their vote canvssscd AMI d'
clared In favor Of removal. This wa
tile position held by the Supervisor
and they were sustained by the Judg
of the Circuit Court and also, by I'll
Supreme Court Of the State. Froi
first to last, the removal, SO far as
relates to the people rs q wlloIo, WI
entirely fair and opcnhanded. If ce
tain indiyi.luals, either on the east
west sides of the county, coilnived
Illegal voting or voted iIlegally, the
are answerable, and not the Mass
, legal voters who knew nothing abo'
: Irregularities. From the fact that y
D correct move has ever been made
I panIsI, illegal voting, and also, TO pr
) vent the removal Of the county seat 9
]. the grounds Of Illegal voting II is sou'
: reason to assume that there Is no gos
: ground for such acts; consequently
> while there might exist strong rcaso'
!. fol. believing that Illegal voting too