Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1890-01-17

.dn Idaho County Nan Rushes
to the Defense of Judge Street
and Makes a Bad Matter
Horse than Ecer.

great executive ability or a desire to
avoid expenses and mete ont speedy
Justice TO litigants? Assuredly Judge
Sweet cannot be held responsible for
the immense amount of business that
las been allowed to- collect in the filIer-
INT counties. And in addition to all this
the business before the y. s. side Of the
court required attention. Is 1t any won
der Judge Sweet was MT on time?
After making careful CO. sid, on he
believed he could reach Idaho county
Ivy December %, and accordingly named
that day, as IL was physical impOssi
bility for him to be there ON the 9th. by
reason of the date Of his apI O ntment.
lie did not get TO Idaho county on the
23rd.. but 10y almost unexanpled exer-
tons he did get TO this county t. begin
work on December %. 1t is not denied
that jurors and witnesses were ncon-
v-nienced; they were. but Judge Sweet
was not TO blame. An unexpected a.
mount of business in the U. S. court at
Moscow delayed him"
The foregoing is an extract
from a long winded defense of
Judge Sweet written from Mt.
Idaho and published in the
Lewiston Teller of Jan. 9. The
letter betrays a spiteful tone
towards Judge Logan, and a
labored effort is made to prove
that he alone is responsible for
the delay in holding the last
term of court in this county.
1t is, however, a half-hearted
and wholly unsuccessful effort.
and it is finally abandoned and
the blame is finally laid on the
unexpected amount of business IN
the u. s. court at Mosco,u."
This overshoots the mark
and proves altogether too
much. Before he was appoint
ed Judge, Mr.. Sweet was the
U. S. district attorney for Ida
no. lie resigned that Office to
acceptthe Judgeship. He must
therefore have been doubly
cognizant of the amount and
nature of the u. s. business to
have been tried before the U.
S. court at Moscow, inasmuch
as the U. S. district attorney is
the prosecutor in behalf Of the
government. AS a matter of
fact the U. S. grand jury was
only in session three. days. No
U. S. cases were tried. and the
U. S. trial jurors were not even
empanelcd during the entire
term. 1t follows, therefore, that
the "explanation" that Judge
Sweet was detained by extra
ordinary pressure of U. s. bus
mess is, in simple English, a
pure and unadulterated lie,
And furthermore, Judge Sweet
has been a practlcing lawyer
before the bar of this judicial
district for several years; he is
moreover, q resident of Mos
COW, and in all probability he
had been retained as counsel
in q majority of the cases Sc,
for trial before his elevation to
the bench. 1t is therefore g
natural and reasonable infer
ence that he was well acquain,
ted with the nature Of the civil
cases to be tried before him, Sc
that his defenders are debarreC
from making an extraordinary
pressure CT civil business a.
the scape- goat for his delay in
keeping his appointments il
this county, unless they plead
the baby act outright.
And after all, the worst tina
can be said against the Judg'
is that he made an error o
judgment making an appoint
ment which he did not keep
The FREE PRESS had no word O
censure because he was no
here on December 9, but whel
he failed to appear on the dat,
set by himself-Dccember q
knowing that every day o
delay was piling up costs a
gainst the county, we entered
a vigorous protest on behalf o
the tax-paying public agains
the proceedings. We though
then as we think now, tina
since Judge Sweet had resolved
not TO transact any civil bust
ness in this county, he nigh
just as we'll have notified GU
county authorities to that eff
feet, and had the trial juror
dismissed to their homes, sine,
1t was known that the cattle