The Ottawa free trader., 1890-01-11
4 CHANGE DESIRABLE.

The announcement was made in the
County Court Monday, when the
Williamson case came on, by states
Attorney Blake, through his steno-
grapher, that he was afflicted with
La Grippe" and could not be pres
cnt He asked, however, that, a>
Messrs. RicholSon & Sccley had been
retained TO assist in the prosecution,
the case go on, as he hoped to be
present next yesterday morning. a
jury was, thcreupon, selected by MI
Seelcy Monday. Yesterday, however,
when the taking Of testimony should
bcgin Mr. Blake still did not show up
still had "La Grippe McssrN,
Nicholson Il Scclcy, when his absence
became certain, announced their re-
fusa TO go into the trial Of the case,
being totally unprcparcd TO 90 so,
since they had been engaged merely as
counsel in the prosecution. lhc
Court, thcrcupOn, after adjourning
court for one hour to enable Mr..
Blake TO be present notifying him Of
the adjournment, at 10 o'clock ap-
pointed Mr.. -. +. TrainOr to take
charge Of the prosecution in the alb
scncc Of the States Attorney. The
case procccdcd-aftcr "A fashion. The
witnesses for the prosecution were
not all on hand, the material wit
ncsscS, in fact, not being present at
|all. There had been, in fact, no
preparation made at all by the States
Attorney for the trial Of the caSc-a
chargcof riot at Norway villagc-and
when the state had presented such
evidence as was at hand, the Court
ruled it all out, and instructed the
jury to return "A verdict Of acquittal'
1t is no doubt true that for the past
few days States Attorney Blake has
been laid up with LA Grippe, which
is a sufficient excuse for the condition
Of affairs in his Office at this immc-
diatc present. Unfortunately, how
ever, his Office, 50 far as he himself is
concerned, has been running for scV-
cral months past as badly as it now is,
and no excuse can be offered by the
states attorney for that period of
time that he had ''thc grip" AS IA
matter Of fact, he seems to have
lost it entirely. Mr. Blake had prac-
tically abandoned his Office so long as
Mr.. Daniel +. Trainor remained
in it as assistant to do the work for
him. Since Dan has refused to do all
the work and "hnd himself" the
Office has pretty much run itself,
1t is about time States Attorney
Blake began attending to his business.
This, the Sth day Of January, is not
far from New Years, and it is not too
late to "swear Off" now. The grand
Jury will meet again in Il few days,
and with Mr.. Trainor absent there
will be no one to attend for him to the
business before that body, which re-
uuircs the constant attendance of the
prosecutor. Not only that, but the
actual work OF prosecuting indict-
ments already found is beingncglcctcd.
The office has, i'm fact, been run in a
simply disgracefully slack manner, so
far as the prosecutor is concerned, for
excepting the work done by Mr..
TrainOr, who has drawn nearly every
Indictment of the past year, and pre-
pared nearly every case for trial, moth
ing virtually has been done in the
Office. With Trainor out of the Office,
il threatens to be totally abandoned.
The public business cannot tolerate
this sort of nonsense much longer and
there is no reason why it should. If
Mr. Blake cannot redeem his promise
to his party and to the people who
elected him, somewhat under protest,
because no able man was offered cleo
tors as "A choice, he had better resign,
and at once.
Mr. Blake has the right stun in him
to be a good prosecutor. 1t is not too
late for him to become such now, if he
turns a sharp corner. The FREE
TRADER expects him to turn that
corner Immediately or in the interests
of the democratic party and of the
people whose confidence he is abuS-
ing. il will demand his impeachment
and dismissal from Office in the man
ner provided by law for such cases.
RACE HOSTILITY.