Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-26
MARYlAND'S JUDGES,
A Bitter Fight Being Waged Over the
Vacant Seats.
WtcOmfcO County the Scene of War
Gov. Browns Appointments.
Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

Correspondence Of The Evening Star
BALTIMORE, August %, 1893
The most complicated and interesting sit
uation in Maryland politics this year is that
| In the first judicial circuit, composed of
Dorchester. Somerset Worcester and WI
comico counties. Under the judiciary svs-
! tenn Of Maryland there is a state court Of
appeals. consisting of a chief Judge and
| seven associates. a supreme bench for Bal-
timore city. consisting Of a chief Judge and
five associates. and seven circuit county
courts. embracing the twenty-three counties
Of the state. Each Of these circuit courts
has a chief judge and two associates. and
the chief judges make up the state court Of
appeals. with the exception of che judge
| who comes at large from Baltimore city.
Gov. Brown during the first year of his
administration had seven judges to appoint
| to fill vacancies caused by death and resig-
nation. All of these appointm ents were for
unexpired terms, and the appointees are
| candidates for nomination and election this
| year. Two Of them are in the first circuit
Judge and ex-Congressman Henry Page Of
Somerset. who was appointed chief Judge
while member of the last Congress to sue
coed the late Judge Levin T. H. Irving. and
| chester. appointed associate judge TO sue
coed the late Judge Charles F. .ioldsbor-
ough. In addition to these two candidates
each Of the other counties has one. Asso-
ciate Judge Charles F. Holland If Wicomico
being candidate for the chief Judgeshp
against Judge Page. and Clayton ]. Pur-
Judge against Judge Lloyd. Thus there are
four candidates for three judgashins. all Of
whom. unless there is some change before
until the last horn blows.
Three Of them. Page. Lloyd and Holland.
1t is seen, are already on the bench. The
yI-t1l ha hal sn<.a
Wednesday. September g. and as matters
now stand 1t will meet with a deadlock.
There will be sixteen votes m the conven-
ton, four from each county. Page and
Lloyd have made a combination in Somer-
set and Dorchester, with eight votes, bound
by the unit rule. while the eight votes Of
worcester and Wicomico will go to Hol-
land and Purnell. Both sides are playing
Tor big stakes. and apart from politics there
are personalities entering into the fight.
which have engendered a great deal Of bit
| terness and make 1t more difficult to fore
cast the result
wicomico county is the disturbing ele-
opportunity to settle number Of old scores
with Judge Page ant Gov. Brown, and is
making open warfare upon both Of them.
The casus belli against Judge Page arc cer-
tain alleged political shortcomings while a
member of Congress la nes giving the
proper attention to the claims OF W ;con,ico
with regard to the distribution of pa tronage
and because he did n)t give the vote Of
Somerset to State Senator Toadvln Of
mated Pages successor in Congress a:teI he
had been appointed to the bench. This
Wicomico claims. 1t had a right to expect.
as 1t was by the vote of the Wicomico
delegation that Page was nominated for
Congress over Gibson in the memorable
| convention which shattered Senator Glib
sons hopes and when he never dreamed
that the higher elevation to the Senate
was 30 soon to be within his grasp. Had
pase given his county to Toadvn in the
that he would have gone to Congress In
stead OF Robert +. Brattan.
WicomicO County.
For these reasons Wicomico people say
they owe Page nothing. That they have
aided him in his ambitions several times
and when the opportunity came he failed
to return 1t. These things. they say, are
remembered now and there is no reason
why Wicomico should give up its own can
didate and support Page But ii is never
theless true that Holland would never have
been INTERCEPTED into this fight as a candi-
date for cnief Judge ana would have never
aspired beyond the associate judgeship,
which he now holds, had il not been for a
| suddenly developed desire for revenge at
one and the same time upon Judge Page
ana Governor Brown. The quarrel with
Governor Brown Is because of policies and
appointments unsa tisfactory to the county
which find their beginning shortly after
his inauguration. When Governor Jack
son went out of office his brother-in-law j.
Granville Rider Of Wicomico, was one of
the hsh commissioners for Maryland by
ms Jackson 81 appointment Jackson ex-
pecteu that Governor Brown would retain
MIN. but instead he appointed a Somerset
county man, Sudler. jackson, sore to the
9uick with the party leaders for being
twice defeated in his senatorial aspirations
has nurtured this. along with his other
wrongs. either real or imaginary and has
waited an opportunity to strike back. In
aooiuon to this, after Governor Brown
had vetoed the assessment bill passed by
the last legislature Judge Holland made
some severe structures upon his action,
which, in view of his own position on the
pench ana the position Of the governor
and because of the further fact that the
friends OF Holland had unsuccessfuIly
nor to NIL out the unexpired term of Judge
irving, instead of Page, were generally
commented upon. Brown in a brief but
tort that silenced Hollands criticisms bur
shortly thereafter Hollands friends brought
MIN out as candidate before the people
drawn and thus has the feeling in WIcom-
leo been intensified against Governor Brown
ana his appointee. Judge Page.
Worcester Position.
Worcester county is hardly to be blamed
for her position. She has no score to settle
no debts to pay against anybody, but is
simply. most naturally endeavoring 20 Sc
cure resident judge. To attain this end
the Worcester delegation is willing to make
Purnen An alliance with Somerset or
Dorchester being impossible, Worcester is
forced to join forces with Wicomico Wor-
cester Is Isolated from the rest of the cir
cunt, ana cannot get judge from one of
the other counties however urgent the me-
cessity. in less than two days This fight
has brought together again Ex-Governor
jackson and State Senator John Walter
Smith. who head the Wicomico and worces-
ter delegations respectively. Senator Smith
was one or the most jealous supporters of
Governor jackson in his canvass for the
governorship. but was compelled 10 20
aglnst him each time that he was a candi-
date for the United States Senate the firsr
Time MS support going to the late Senator
wilson, who was from his own county and
the second time he was a candidate himself
II the Page-Lloyd combination wins the
bench will remain as II is-Page chief
Judge; Lloyd and Holland associates: and IL
the opposition Is successful Ii will be Hol-
iahd, chief judge; Lloyd and Purnell assoc
clates. 1t Is certain that IL the present
bench Is renominated there will be no re-
puolican opposition, while, on the other
hand, any change by the convention Will
insure republican nominations and a yigor-
Gus fight -e'A
The interests of Page and LLOYD are SO
thoroughly united that they must hold to-
gcther and both of them repudiate all over
lures or proposed combinations looking to-
ward the advancement Of either one at the
expense OF the other. Judge Lloyd refuses