Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-03-24

|
of the wintow. with his feet and hands
still inside. They Immediately started
to the rescue. About this time Mayor
Hogg and two other gentlemen hap.
pened along, and hearing some one
talking above, looked up and saw Cam
erin hanging out of the window at full
length, holding to the sill with his
| hands. In less than a second or more,
and before the clerk and porter could
reach his room, he fell, and in falling
must have struck a window-sill of the
second or third story, which turned his
body, causing him to strike squarely
on the top of his head. Death resulted
instantly. His head was crushed al
most into pulp. Coroner DR.. j. Car
| ter was called and jury summoned,
who returned a verdict of death by &C
cident. j. NJ. Wood arrived from St.
Louis on 81, Tuesday, and returned on
the midnight train with the remains.
Cameron leaves q wife and one child.
The rebuke of a friend is better
than the commentator of an enemy"
so runs an old proverb. In this
light the REGISTER views the letter of
Judge Emerson concerning county
finances, which letter was published
in this paper last week; and we know
he will receive in the same spirit all
that we shall have to say in this con-
nectiOn. In the matter of inquests the
Judge is half-right only. The accounts
ought to be presented every year, and
the order of the court now enfOrces
their presentation within the twelve
month. When an inquest is held the
coroner submits the bill to the county
court, which passes upon it, and, if APP
proved, certifies it to the treasurer
for payment. The treasurer presents
the receipted bill to the county court
after the expiration of one year
and gets credit therefor. In times
past he held these bills longer than he
needed, knowing they were good to
him at any time; but the men serving
as jurors, etc, were promptly paid,
and no hardship was entailed upon any
one. Still it is right that these and
all other bills against the county should
be promptly presented so that we may
always know where we are at" fnan-
cially. But when the Judge intimates
that because Iron is a small and peace
able county, therefore inquests are use
less and unnecessary, he is certainly
surprising. The guarantee that the
life of no citizen can be taken by viO-
lence, or from unusual or uncertain
cause, without due inquiry thereintO,
is. we take it, worth to the community
even the princely sum of $50 a year.
The fee for conveying patient to the
lunatic asylum is set by law, and if the
Judge will see Sec. $40. r. S. 1899, he
can ..figger'' it out for himself. If his
researches show that the sheriff has
been Overdrawing for services official |
ly rendered, the public is entitled to
the knowledge, and we are satisfied
that official will make due PREPARATION.
But he has made no Overcharge. |
Warrants paid over and above |
amount issued" during the year, are
warrants issued in a previous year but
not presented for payment within that
year. But it is the road Overseer who |
receives the Judges chiefest attention, |
and with the limited facts in his pos
session-that is, knowledge of Re-
suits but not of causes-he argues |
fairly enough. The roads in this dis |
trict are not in as good condition as
we have known them, and we will not |
say that they could not be improved |
even under present circumstances; yet |
there is good excuse for their iapsing |
from their excellence attained during |
the supervision of Russell and Begley. |
In the first place, with two large hub |
10,o,- Of Ioo
log teams traversing them daily, the |
roads are more severely taxed than |
ever before; and, secondly, the money |
available for road purposes has dimin- |
ished to little, if any, over One-half at |
the command of the Overseer in the |
years mentioned. When Pilot Knob |
mine was in Operation-'80 to 'S6-the |
poll-tax collected at the COmpany's |
office alone yielded 81, 900 to POO a |
year. Now, not $50 comes from the |
that contributed that sum. |
In 1884 the property tax in this dis
trict yielded $685.; now, 1882. In 1884, |
and other years. about 5000 appropri- |
ations for the district were made from |
the county revenue fund; but these ap-
shut off in 1888, and none |
have been made since that year. So |
we don't think the road Overseer is to |
be held wholly responsible for the al |
tered condition of his thoroughfare-I
unless, indeed, he were to carry the |
Judges philanthropic idea to its legit- |
innate conclusion and not only work |
salary himself, but also hire |
all the men and teams necessary and |
pay the bills out of his own pocket |
We have been a resident of the Valley |
for over forty years. and we have some |
recollection of the good old times" to |
which the Judge refers-the good old |
times when, we are assured, Overseers |
served without pay, and road-making |
went on, like salvation, without money |
and without price. We also remem- |
Der something of the roads in those |
good old times; and if they are to re-
turn with the self-sacrifcing Overseer, |
we pray God let things bide even as
they are during the brief remainder of
our stay in this vale of tears. We'd |
rather sit down patient in the twilight
of the present than return striving to |
the midnight blackness of the past. |
To the times when the newest track |
was the best road; when wagons mired |
empty; when the fence turned the |
road whithersoever it would; when it
was either coon the log or wade the
creek. o, memory is rich with the |
times that were!
And ever and anon we sing,