The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-08-11
C|BS0N'S FIGHT
Dexheimer and He Said to
Be Joining Forces.
LET THEM CONE, SAYS LENTz
The Essex County Reorganiza-
ton Occupies a Great
Deal of Attention.

I
political circles that Something is doing
in the way of movement for coalition
of the Gibson and Dexheimer forces as
against Major Lentz. AS is well known,
John S. Gibson is candidate for Con-
gress against r. Wayne Parker and John
p Dexheimer just naturally wants to be
elected county register for full term, to
which office he was appointed by Cover
nor VOORHEES,.
| Major uentz, as chairman of the County
Committee, has been outspoken in his ad-
vocacy of the denomination of Mr. Parker
! and he has taken no pains to conceal the
: fact that he is using all the influence of
/ his position to forestall the selection Of
MIR. Dexheimer Both Gibson and Dex-
heimer, however, have been making their
plans, despite the antipathy of the county
! chairman and, although they have been
working along practically the same lines,
/ there has been no formal agreement be-
! tween them, it is said, that they should
pool their issues and make war Jointly
upon the common enemy.
During the last day or two it has been
! asserted that the Gibson people have held
several conferences, about which more or
less mystery prevails. suggestion that,
perhaps, MIR. Gibson was contemplating
withdrawing from the race was met with
! emphatic denials from his friends, who
declare that as the situation stands at
present the former Comptroller is as much
in the race as ever. Mr.. Gibson is at his
country home and will not be back until
! next week, but one of his most enthus.as-
tic supporters in speaking of the Congress
! sional fight said to a reporter yesterday
4 .'Mr. Gibson has no intention of with
drawing, but, on the contrary, his friends
are preparing to make most determined
| fight for him. General Sewell has said
that he would not put straw in Gibson's
way, and the latter's friends will unite
with the friends. of John P. Dexheimer, I
expect. Don't be surprised if you see one
of the hottest old fights that ever came
off in Essex
In the Dexheimer camp it was said that
no formal proposition for uniting of
| forces had been received, but MIR. Dex-
| heimers friends are counting upon the
Gibson people for support, and expect to
reciprocate in such an event by throwing
their strength to the Eighth warder.
ssAdajor Lentz, in speaking of the rumors.
! said that he had no knowledge of any
formal agreement between the Gibson and
Dexheimer people. He rather expected
such turn of affairs, he said, and added:
Let them come: we want them to
make their fight SO that we can beat them
good and properly in the convention
| The major doesn't believe that Gibson
has a chance, and as for Dexheimer, the
county chairman predicts that he will be
beaten by George E. DeCamp, of Living
ston, on the first ballot.
| The fact taht the Klein, act, known as
ian act to reorganize the government of
counties of the first Glass; will go into
effect next December isc ausing much in
teresf to be injected into the Freeholder
elections. Not only will an entire new
county board be chosen at the November
| elections, but new official-a county SUI
pervisor-will be brought into life. The
number of reeholders will be cut down
| from tflirty-three to thirty-one and,
| though the supervisor will be elected in
depently of the members of the board.
i he will have supervision over their ac-
| tions.
| In short, the sup ervisor will be as Mayor
! of the county, but incorporated in the
authority conferred by the act is a power
Of removal which Newarks Mayor does
not enjoy. The language of the statute
! reads
"It shall be the duty of the 'county
supervisor to exercise a constant super
vision over the conduct of all subordinate
| officers and to examine into all complaints
| made against any of them for violation or
neglect of duty, and if it is found that any
| officer is guilty of the charges brought
/ against him, the county supervisor may
suspend or remove him as the case may
seem to require; and, generally, to per-
! form all such duties as may be required of
him by law or ordinance"
| Politicians who are interested argue
| that the above clause proposes to clothe
| the supervisor with unusual power.
Violation or neglect of duty it is con-
| tended, admits of a very broad interpre-
| tation and as the supervisor is the one
| who is to s'examine into the charges and
| determine the guilt or innocence of theac-
| cused, the claim is made that the pro-
| posed official could have all the subordin-
| ate officers of the board practically at his
| mercy.
David H Johnson, now freeholder
from the Fifteenth Ward, seems to be
| making most of the running for the new.
office There have been other names
| suggested among them John w. Wese-
| man, but johnson, 1t is said by the party
| leaders, appears to be in the van The
position will pay $500 a year, and the
term is two years
Another interesting feature of the new
law upon which stress is being placed is
the claim that it will take from Sheriff
Virtue the custody and control of the
county Jail. Mr.. Virtue. when he was
| firmly ensconced in office, asserted his
/ prerogative under "a State law and took
charge of the Jail. Warden Underhill
was removed and Ferdinand J. Hosp took
his place. and various other changes were
made. Though the freeholders submitted
to the inevitable, some of the members
have never quite forgiven the sheriff
for his action, as the loss of the control
of the Jail deprived the freeholders of a
certain amount of patronage.
Now the Klein act is interpreted to pro-
vide for the reinkuishnent of the sher-
iffs's hold on thecounty prison. and it is