The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-07-30
PROSECUTING ATTORNEY.
A Comparison.

didates to fill the various offices, among
others that of Prosecuting Attorney. Two
names are presented, that Of D. j. Nye,
the present incumbent, and A. r. Webber.
1t is urged in behalf of Mr.. Nye that he
has held the office but one term of three
years and should be endorsed according to
a time-honored custom. Whether Mr.. Nye
is, orsed or not depends not so much
on the custom as to whether his record has
been such as to merit the endorsement.
There is no office in the gift of the peo-
pie of the county where strict honesty, in
tegrity, fair dealing, ability and good
Judgment are called for as in the Office Of
Prosecuting Attorney, There is no office
in which the peoples money can be used
so much at the discretion of their public
official as this.
Lorain County has been exceptionally
favored with the best material the bar
could produce for this Office, with but few
exceptions. II has seemed TO be the fate
of Mr.. Nye to have everything he touched
fall to pieces. A few weeks ago mention
was made in the Elyria Republican that
his administration had not been success
whereupon he came out with an article
and demanded comparison of his record
with his predecessors and produced what
he claimed statistics and records 10 prove
his statements. The writer Of this, living
too far from the records, has not looked
that record up, but others have and a
showing made that proves the often re-
peated statement that he is signal failure
as public prosecutor.
Seeing he has asked to be Judged by
the record, few facts and figures are sub
mitted. We will take the record Of con-
tested cases In the past eleven years.
During Mr.. Nye's three years, eight men
have been tried under the liquor law.
Three have been acquitted outright and In
one case the verdict was set aside and the
case never tried again, the evidence not
being sufficient TO warrant a conviction.
Out of the:remaining four, one indictment
contained twenty-four charges and the de-
fendant was found guilty on one only and
acquitted on twenty.three. In another Of
the four the indictment contained fifteen
charges and the defendant was found
guilty on one and acquitted on fourteen I;
or, in other words, out Of eight cases the
State was sustained in two and substan-
TALLY lost six.
Again, the felony cases show that sew
enteen men were put on trial for high
crimes, nine were acquitted and one OF the
remaining eight was convicted of assault
and battery, while the indictment charged
him with assault with intent 10 kill, and
costing the county about $500, the de.
fendant admitting from the first that he
would plead guilty to assault and battery
If allowed. OF the remaining seven, two
were charged with murder in the first de-
gree and convicted of the second degree
In each Of these two cases the State was
beaten for they ought to have been hung
This leaves a record showing that out Of
seventeen felony cases brought, the State
sustained the charge in only five.
Again, look at the record Of the trial oi
the misdemeanor cases. OF these, seven
were tried, three were acquitted and after
the conviction Of one of the four the
court released the defendant on the
ground that the prosecuting attorney did
not properly draw the indictment, leaving
out of the seven tried, only three convic
tions and four acquittals Or, putting all
the trial cases together, we find that thir
ty-two cases were put on trial and the
State tailed to sustain It's charges twenty
two times and succeeded in ten.
But he has asked that record of hi
predecessors be compared with his, and 4
is no more than fair that II should be don,
so the record Of the eight years preced
ing his term Of Office Is presented
Whole number OF trials under liquo
law 1S; convicted, II; acquitted one
Whole number Of trials for felonies, Al
conviction, 80; acquittals, Q. Whole mum
ber Of trials for misdemeanors, 83; con
victions, 90; acquittals, A; or in othe
words, out Of 90 contested cases, IS were
convicted and 7 acquitted. Or by way o
comparison, under Mr.. Nye's administra
tion giving him the benefit of every cas-
tried whether the party was convicted Of
lower degree than the indictment charget
or not, he failed 7 times where his prede
cessor did once. A failure to convic
means one of two things, either sixteei
guilty men escaped merited punishment
or else 10 innocent men were disgraced b.
being publicly tried for crime. It mean
also that the TAX payers money
was lost by these failures
The records viii show that some o.