Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-29
THE CIRCUIT CLERKS DUTIES
some Easy Questions Readily An
swered- Superior Ability OF Bert
Casteel over Gamble Acknowledged.


In communication half colu mn in
ength appearing in yesterd avs Union. an
correspondent writing under
the headline of ''Casteels Competency"
asks the ARGUS a good many very silly |
questions as to what peculiar qualifca>
lions Casteel possesses for the Office of |
circuit clerk. Practically acknowledging
the natural incapability of Gamble, the |
raises the question of mex
this particular office Casteel is
q candidate for, as an offset for the estab-
lshed incompetency Of Geo. W. Gamble.
The correspondent in comparing the in
Of Casteel with the incompe>
tency of Gamble, expresses his realization
of the fact that the office is that of the clerk
of the highest court and the most I'M.
portant one in the county. "In fact, so
far IS the business interests of the people
Of the county 60. the most important
office in it." Continuing. the correspond
ent says: l.
In order to bring the matter to the at
tention of thinking people of this county,
| will state some of the necessary oualiti-
cations. A CLERK should know and have on
his tongues end ready for instant use: A
dozen or more different forms of oath and
recognizsnces, and venture to say Mr..
Casteel does not know a single one. He
should have a pretty fair knowledge of
statute lsw-should be familiar with the
rules OF court and the statutes on practice
would wager any amount that Mr. Cas-
teel does not know a single one. He
should be familiar with all manner of
forms for records Of criminal. common
law and chancery proceedings-should
fully understand the minutes of proceed
ings shown upon the Judges dockets in sll
their illegibilty and brevity, and know
how to properly understand them and
| write a compete legal and Ineligible
recor1 from them. Does Mr. Casteel
know how to do these2 venture to say
he don't, and has lot the least idea in the
world what they are. He should be well and
thoroughly posted in regard to costs and
| fees; know how to make up bills of costs
| and fee bills. know how to issue fee bills
| and executions-should know how to is
sue over one hundred different kinds Of
writs- should know the difference between
a judgment on a veldict-s Judgment by
default or a judgment by confession. All
these and thousand more all of which
Mr.. Casteel is as ignorant Of as Al amy
mule" Why then should Mr.. Casteel ask
the people of this county to elect him 10
an office that he does not possess single
necessary qualification for fillingf WHY
should the people vote for or elect such {
man to such an important office? Of
course people have right to vote fol
whom they please, and if the majority
want to elect man utterly ignorant OF
any of the duties of the office, they car
do so. and the people will have to sufel
for it. Will the ARGUS please answer the
conundrum and inform the people o.
what great qualifications their candidate
possesses that he should aspire to such al
Officer
1t is keen realization OF the impor
lance of the Office of circuit clerk and o.
the very numerous, srduous and exactint
duties devolving upon the incumbent
that has more than anything else com
PEELED the ARGUS to urge with force an,
pride the election of Mr. CasteeI. Tn
ARGUS does not claim that he has had ex
perience in the office, but it may ask i
all csndor what particular advantage
does Gamble possesses IN this regard
What does Gamble know about the NOR
responsible duties of the Office. In tn
three years and half that he was in tn
office. he was not required to undertak
a single duty further than the routin
, business of recording deeds. He was nc
trusted single minute in charge of tn
,, court room duties of the clerk, where a
, this familiarity with the various forms G
oaths, recogniZsnces, rules of court
statutes on practice, judges dockt
minutes, legal points, come in and "
q dare wager the army mule" that Il
e correspondent speaks about, against 9
j that Gamble knows, that Casteel is toda
as familiar with the responsible duties c
= the Office as Gamble is. Circuit Clel
!. Bowman knew better than to trust Gan
e BILE with any of the office duties
9 yond these that he himself could wat,
. over and keep track Of CANDLES duti,
u were limited to the recording-copyi
!, upon docket-deeds and other instr
n ments filed for record This was all
:, was required to do, and he 80 failed
II this that Mr.. Bowman was obliged
IS discharge him for inccmpetency sevel
e months ago and put his son in, so ii
- the accumulated mass of unrecorded mi
e ter mig bit be cleared up by December
1t Young Bowman was a little over a mon
Or in getting CANDLES desk in the shape
" was when the latter took it, and
,r young man is today, after five mont
u, experience, more familiar with
ct duties of the circuit clerks Of
than Gamble was in year and a-hi
ne Experience is good thing,
IS. without the ordinary allotment of
IN man intellect. the opportunities
lis acquire it are lost. Mr.. Casteel laugh
ed when he read the communication fr
e. which the above extracts are ma
he There is certain little book" he s,
or "the study of which will famiiiarize
~ with the duties of the office of cirt
nv clerk in q very short time. and if
He elected, l will be fully equipped "
,y knowledge of the duties of the office
,sd take charge when the time comes
ird 90 so. 1t is not my opinion that the of
he Of circuit clerk would have to be abb
AN doned if all the men who had ever OF
N pied it or had worked in 1t should d
Of One Of the last paragraphs of the C
rem municstion slluded to is very sppre
'ea Of the present candidates. 1t shows
"a the correspondent is on the right tr
lis, though he don't know it. He says:
ny. True, several incompetent clerks
zen been elected to the Office, and in e
IN instance the county has suffered fo
mas and have had to pay large bills for d
|arx, | l. sI.& l.