Waterbury Democrat., 1901-12-05
WA1ERBURY'S SENSATION.
Judge Cowell Condemned By
 His Own Party.

Perhaps Long Drawn Out--Old Time 1 Friends of the Judge Express Their Feelings Every Fair Minded Per son Admits There Was No Attempt to Doctor the Ballots, That It Was an Accident, Pure and simple. It is surprising how quickly the public changes it's opinion of a man once he does something which his friends did not expect of him. Until Judge Cowell decided to go to the courts oyer the result of the last city election, thousands Of people were willing to swear by him, while today the same people are kicking him hard- CT than others. There is nothing new in this Everybody knows that it takes years 10 build np q good reputa- ton, but that it can be frittered away ill a moment. It looks i.ow as if that's what ,Iudge Cowell has douc. some of the old settlers of the town, who deserted their own party last October to vote fer the judge and shut out our evening contemporary from their homes because tiIev thought it had used him unfairly, don't know what ; to say for themselves now. One man whose faith in Cowells respect for the will of the eonlmonaIty received ] rude shock when ne heard that lie had appealed to the courts was asked last night what he had to say for his friend CoWell now. said he never re- garded the judge as incapable of mak- ing a blunder and contended that he was willing to wager all the equity
 he has ill his little home that he did not go into this thing of his own voli- tion. But even so he very reluctantly admitted that the judge had taken d drop in his estimation and that if he could recall the vote he cast for him
 last October he'd turn it over to. May
 or kilduff. He said that there are
 two republicans whom he always
 voted for when their names were on the ticket. One is Charles W. Gill 1 lette, ex-judge of probate, aud Judge Cowell. He had no apologies to offer for the support lie gave to Gillette and would be out for him again to- morrow if he We're uD for an Office but he had had all he wanted of Cow ell and confessed that he was sorry that he had not made wiser disposi-
 tion of the votes he had given him on and off since lie became an elector
 Considerable interest is centered i'll the contest and many are planning to
 be present at the preliminary bout. but it seems the scene of the Dattlc
 ground has not vet been agreed upon.
 All effort is being made to have the
 hearing held ill Waterbury. and if
 sfYah on oap 6n Y.,aJ.
 would be I great accommodation to many who wish to see it and may find it inconveniemt to attend in case it
 takes place ill the Park City. The
 O'Neills have been retained as counsel
 for the mayor and commonalty of
 Waterbury, and no doubt other legal
 talent will assist. Whatever the re
 suit of the tussle may be, if is certain
 that the litigation just started is q
 serious blow to the town and city, for
 while people may say things will go
 on as though nothing of the Kind had
 happened. everybody knows that this
 is not true. Ii is the most natural
 thing in the world to believe that pub-
 lie interests will suffer to some extent
 on account of the litigation. There
 never was q time ill the history of
 Waterbury when the undivided attcn- ton of public officials to the duties of
 their offices was needed more than
 now. There are large interests at
 stake and the public expected that
 they would receive due attention, and
 it is safe to predict that ill this no one
 would have been disappointed if noth-
 ing had occurred to divert attention
 from them. While most people feel
 confident that i'll the end the will of
 the people as expressed by the votes shall be supreme and those whom [ they selected as their servants for the i next two years left undisturbed in l
 their respective positions. still it must 1 bc admitted where there is a contest l
 there always exists an element of | doubt as to the etiual outcome, conse- quently public interests are bound 70 suffer more or less on account of the 1 TOW Chat has beeu precipitated upon i
 US
 Republicans don't care to be quoted ! on this question and it is not reason l able to suppose that they would be. 1 but all the same they make no bones ] of stating in private that they look l upon Judge Cowell's action as some thing to be deplored by Ill good cifi- i Zens and deeply regret that trouble { has been raised out of something { which all honest minds admit to have | been purely accidental Why said ! T republican to few friends in Ex [ change place to-day. if the letter of i the law was insisted upon in all things | we couldn't live. The first officer who | should happen along would haul us in
 for standing here and the owner of | every horse i'll the center at this time l who has not his horse llitched would 1 he ill court i'll the morning The end | sought by this official ballot and other
 acts passed by the legislature regard
 ing elections was not to defeat the | will of the people. but rather to throw
 safeguards about it. No one charges
 that there was method or all intention
 to deceive the voters by the alleged il-
 legal ballot and so long as they don't
 it seems to me that no offense has been committed and no interests. pri-
 vate or public. have suffered, and the right of these men to fill the offices | to which they have been elected never
 should have been questioned We all l knew it at the time. but when the
 handsome majorities the people gave
 thp present administration were made i