People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-04-28
WELLINGTON, KANSAS, FRIDAY. APRIL 2S 1893

all day listening to arguments, ETC.,
having to be always on hand when
court was in session. Not being ac-
quainted with any Of the court re-
pOrters Of the state, | did not know
what the custom was, and, Of course,
did not have very much to say on the
subject. AS time went on, however,
| learned that it was the custom in
nearly all the courts in the state to
allow the per diem for every day court
was in session. Some time in Decem-
Der, 1891, | called your attention to
this. We had some little talk about
the matter, and my recollection is
that you wanted me to find out posi-
lively about it, and write to the diff
ferent courts and ascertain what the
practice was. | accordingly wrote,
under date Of January l, 1892, to f.
X. Raymond, court reporter in Win
field. lone Of the oldest stenographerS
in the state and probably better ac-
quainted with court reporting than
any other man in the state), to find
out what the practice was In his
court and what he knew as to the
practice In the other courts OF the
state. Under date Of January 9th he
replied as follows:
Referring to your inquiry Of January lst
would say that In this district, the 18th, am
allowed per diem for every day court Is in
session irrespective OF whether do any work
or not. As far as my information goes. and
the subject Was brought up incidentally al
our Wichita convention two years ago, that
is the custom throughout the state with the
possible exception OF your own district"
The convention" referred to WIS
that Of the Kansas Court Reporters,
held in Wichita December 27.2S, 1889.
This letter was shown you, or it was
stated in substance; and as, after
that, made out my bills on this the.
Ory, and they were certified by James
A. Ray, Judge" | supposed that the
general custom of the state was TO be
followed thereafter. But it seems
now that this is not the case; and ref
erence is made to the collection OF
illegal fees" and about having I'm.
DUCED" the county commissioners tC
allow bills, etc. All of which | hard.
ly understand. / wish to state, how.
ever, most emphatically, that / never
did appear before the county commits.
SiOnerS, or any one else. to advocate
the allowance of any of my bills by SAID
commissioners. Theref IRE, any state.
ment that | induced the commits
siOners" to allow them isquite wide Of
the mark. And last summer, at the
time it is alleged that induced the
commissioners" to allow one Of my
bills, | was in California; | coulC
not get the Judges certificate to thi,
bill because the Judge had, as | wrote
you under date of May 20, 1892, very
suddenly and Unexpectedly, to me
left for New Orleans. As to whether
the bill was made out correctly o.
not can be easily determined.
Exception is taken to my conduct
in regard to getting out couple O
speeches last fall. As these eXcep
tiOnS are taken nearly three month,
after the time they should have beer
taken, | apprehend they will be ig
nOred by the appellate court as being
improperly inserted in the record
| However, the fact is, | aimed to wOrl
on your speech and John Martins al
ternately until | saw that you cOulC
not get yours out that week, and ther
rushed on the other. My idea was Il
work this way on both of them so
could have copy for the printers on
each speech. The Democratic cen
tral committee paid me $40 to report
and transcribe Martins speech.
understood that / was reporting anC
transcribing your speech as persona
favor to yourself. But it is now stat
ed in your letter that it was for the
county central committee. II this il
50, $40 this includes railroad fare II
and from Corbin and lodging) would
be very acceptable mot from you. but
from said committee for doing sale
work, as | am not in the habit of re
porting and transcribing speeches
without compensation for any polit
ical party's central committee.
| / now come to the last, but moi
least" part of the letter-the VERY
MUCH DIsGUsTED" part Of it. AS Il
my being recommended as Republi
can when / was appointed, / know
nothing Of. have no recollection Of
having political discussion with yOl
or that you ever asked me what my
politics were or if | had any. And
| for this reason always had the ides
that | was appointed, not as a parti
san, but AS A sTENOGRAPHER, having
shown my qualifications to act as sucf
by competitive examination. How
ever, as all my family relations OF
both sides, as far as | knew. had al
ways been Republicans, | confes,
that my preludices were in favor O
that party. But to cut this matter
short will assume, for the sake o.
| the argument, the indictment that i!
made against me is unqualifedll
true: that j was recommended as Re
publican, that | always represented
myself as a Republican, that | wa!
believed to be a Republican. And
have no apologies or explanations t
make when / say that | voted las
November the ticket that was headed
JAMES b. WEAVER. During the vaca
tion last summer / had some spar,
time. Q Realizing that | would hav,
an opportunity, in few months, 70
the FIRST TIME to vote for a candi
date for president Of the United
States, utilized that time in inves
tigating the political situation from
an independent standpoint, lone O
those self disfranchised fools" yOl
will remember Geo. T. Anthony tOlC
us about last May in the court room
and | came 10 the conclusion TO vOt,
as | did vote without consulting an
lOf nv folks, or even the JITDGF Ol