People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-05-05

MIR. WEIGH stated in his privat
letter to Judge Ray (bear in mind i
Was not written for the press, bu
direct to the Judge that he haC
written at the Judges request to Mr.
Raymond, the court stenOgrapher al
Winfield; that Mr.. Raymond haC
replied that it was the custom
throughout the state with the
possible exception of this district, fol
stenOgraphers to drlw pay for every
day that court was IN session; that
the letter was either shown 10 the
Judge or stated in substance anC
that after that date his bills were
made out on that theory and certified
by the Judge. Now the Judge say,
this is false and appeals to hi,
certificates TO sustain him. The
next bill filed by Mr.. WEIGH after
this was for the April term voucher
42Sl for S4l4. 1t was duly made out
by Mr.. WEIGH, designating so many
days in each month. Judge Ray
certified to it as follows:
This is to certify that Chas. E.
WEIGH has attended the Dist. CT. OF
Sumner Co. KanS.. as official
stenOgrapher during the months OF
January, February, March and up tC
the 9th day of April, 1892, Sixty-nine
1851 days. JAMES A. RAY, Judge.
This corrObOrates Mr.. Welch',
statement exactly and proves that
Judge Ray has either Intentionally
or unintentiOnally prevaricated
Now let US follow the matter up and
see how his future bills show. The
next session of the Board was in July
1892, and Mr.. Welch's bill called fol-
1852, itemizeG as before, which was
promptly allowed, without Judge
Rays certificate, the Judge having
gone to New Orleans on a trip and
Mr.. WEIGH having gone to California
The next bill, at the October term,
was allowed for STA, without the us
ual certificate, but as it was filled out
Oct. 3 and allowed the same day, it is
more than pr liable that Mr.. WEIGH
had forgotten his bill until the last
moment and that Judge Ray had left
for the woods" to make one of his
grandiloquent political speeches and
was not ''get-at-able" else his certif.
cate would have been appended. The
county clerk had overlooked this bill
without the Judges certificate,
which accounts for our claiming last
week that there was only one instance
in which Mr.. WEIGH had filed a bill
without a certificate. These two are
the only exceptions, however.
The next bill was for s96 and was
made out on exactly the same basis
and was duly certified by James A.
Ray, Judge"
This was Mr.. Welch's last bill and
it will be seen that he stated the eX-
act truth concerning them, and that
without being here to run over the
files and doctor his statements ac-
cOrdingly. They tally exactly, and
this is the best proof that could be
adduced as to Mr.. Welch's scrupulOus
veracity, and We must call the atten.
ton of our jury to the fact that it is
in sad contrast to that Of Judge Ray
Now a word as to the law. The
VOICE has not offered a word as to
the proper construction that should
be placed on the law, as the Judge
makes believe, nor do we intend to.
We call attention to the fact that all
other Judges in the state cOnstrue it
to mean that the stenographer is sac
tually employed" when he is in at
tendance upon court, this is undis,
puted;l Judge Herrick always con.
Strued it so in this county. Whether
this construction is right or not we
do not pretend to say, but when the
prepOnderance is so heavy on that
side, coupled with the fact that Judge
Ray himself certified on that basis, ii
would seem that man with the dig
nifty that judge of the district court
ought to have, would 90 a little slow
about charging a young man with
taking illegal fees. In equity, we
suspect if one should employ a scar
penter, brick mason and plasterer" and
order them to be on hand at his
building every morning until it was
completed, that Judge Ray would
come pretty near giving them judg-
ment for every day they claimed I'M
der such orders. Some may claim
that this is too much compensation
for stenOgrapher. Perhaps it is.
Mr.. WEIGH was appointed in Septem-
Der, 1890, and served two years and
two months and drew total from
the county of sl764, a little less than
s6S per month. Judge Ray draws
s2OS.33 per month and never thinks of
turning anything into the conscience
fund to make up for fully half the time
he is not actually employed"