Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-09-23

JUDGE FRAZIER - JOHN NJ.
COOK, OF STEUBENvILLE, AND
JAMES NJ. REES, OF ST. GLARS
VILE, HAVE ANNOUNCED
THEMSELVES = OTHER POSI-
BILITIES.
Although more than year. is to
elapse before the voters over the river
will be called upon to choose a successor
to Judge VIM. H. Frazier, who now oc-
cupies a place upon the circuit bench,
yet there is no little stir already upon
the part of aspirants for this conspicu-
GUS honor Judge Frazier has an
nounced that he will not be a candidate
for reelection, since which time num-
erous prominent attorneys have turned
a covetous eye toward the place. The
district is largely Republican, and nat
urally candidates of that political faith
are first to come to the front. Within
the past week several booms have been
launched, and CT those which have been
worked most assiduously, that of Hon.
John NJ Cook, of Steubenville, stands
first. He has written to all the mem
bers Of the Belmont county bar, as well
as to prominent politicians outside the
legal profession, announcing his candi-
dacy and soliciting support The fact
that ]. j. Gill, who is also Jefferson
county man, carried eff the nomination
for Congress has not done Cooks cam
paign any good in Belmont county, as
might be supposed. The circuit judg-
ship, is not only a good paying office,
but is looked upon as lifetime job,
and it is not likely Cook will be per-
mitted to capture the nomination with
out contest. Jefferson county is look
ed upon as having received her full
share of honor in securing the Congress
sional plum, and there is tendency to
knock" on Cook. However, if Gill
should be defeated the aspect would be
materially changed, and John MS
chances would be greatly enhanced.
Belmont county though, is not slow
in coming to the front. She has plenty
of good judicial timber and there are
rumblings already that bode no good
to the Steubenyille man. James M.
Rees, Esq, of st. Clairsville, is the first
of the Belmont lawyers to shy his cas-
tor into the ring. Rees is looked upon
as one of the best read men at the Bel
mont bar, and eXcells as a practitioner
known among his fellow lawyers as a
keen fellow with a two-edged legal
acumen which will no doubt come in
good play in his present campaign. The
Rees boom, when once under Roadway,
will be expected to gain considerable
impetus, but again it may be brought up
short by opposition in his own county.
In this connection, it is stated Judge
Jesse w. Hollingsworth, of the Belmont
Common Pleas bench, may be urged to
become candidate This play would
likely meet with favor among the
politicians, for the reason that it would
leave an Office open for some other
Belmont county lawyer. Those who
are in position to know something of
Judge Hollingsworth's preferences in
the matter say he is very well pleased
with the Common Pleas bench and
would not care to enter upon the
scramble necessary to secure the other
place.
Some say the scheme is to have Judge
Hollingsworth stand for the nomination
for the circuit judgeship, and in case he
is successful the Hon c.. L. Weems
will succeed him as Common Pleas
judge. But in this the politicians are
possibly reckoning without their host,
for Weems' tastes are not for judicial
ermine but for the toga OF a Congress
man. His recent defeat in the Martins
Ferry convention may have sorely
blighted his ambition but it could hard
~ have slain it, and no one expects
that he has been removed as a quan-e
tity to be considered in future Congress
sional conventions in the Sixteenth dis
trict.