Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1902-02-27
To The Public.
The following article appeared in
the Meade County Globe of recent

date:
1.-The Meade Globe says an estimable lady
visited that town recently and now says that
she never visited town in which there was
so much drunkenness. That is a deplorable
condition. Those joints should be closed,
and they can be if the county attorney and
sheriff do their duty.-Ex.
The Globe has sort O. been of this opinion
for some time, still, you know it's almost sec
ond nature for an officer to want some other
fellow to do that which the oath of his Office
requires that he himself should do."-Meade
| Globe
The above article, that is, the lat
ter part of it, appears to be intend
ed to make the public believe that 1,
as county Attorney, am mdisregarding
my oath of Office, A serious charge
if true; but is it true?
Asyou have the public ear, through
the columns of the Globe, would it
not have been fa1rer to the public to
have stated the facts and the law,
that the people might judge betwixt
me and thee? You gave your ver-
dict as if you had the law and the
facts before you, and it may be that
you had and that you had given both
law and facts due consideration be-
fore you gave your verdict. But
are you sure that every man would
have rendered the same verdict on
the law and facts that you did? Be-
sides, it is fair to presume that not
one in ten of your readers know eth
er the law or the facts. If the facts
stated by the lady are true, we are
confronted by condition and not
theory, and if the conclusions of the
Globe are true in law and fact, we
are confronted by worse condition.
But, as one desirous for the en-
forcement of the laws of the state
and jealous of the good name of the
community 1 waive all purely per-
sonal considerations and address
myself to the conditions suggested
by the Globe article; and do this
with the utmost charity for the opin
ions of those who differ from me as
to the duties of county attorney.
would like to quote the sections
or parts of sections, defining the
duties of county attorneys, under
the prohibitory liquor laws, but this
would swell this article to three or
four columns of newspaper, hence,
for the present, will confne myself
to short quotations and to my un-
derstanding of my duties, and at the
same time suggest what 1 understand
to be the duties of good citizenship.
My understanding is that coun-
ty attorney is the attorney employ
ed and paid by the state to prose-
cute all criminal cases before any
and all the courts of his county.
That he R2dy, as any other individ
ual, file original complaints, if the
facts constituting the offense are
within his own personal knowledge
so that he can swear positively to
them. 1 believe that there is a moral
obligation resting on every citizen of
a community, where the facts are
within his personal knowledge, to
either go before justice of the peace
and make the necessary affidavit, or
go before the county attorney and
communicate to him the facts and
take his judgment as to whether the
evidence is such that a conviction
ought to be secured. While admit
that the individual who at the time
happens to be county attorney may,
if the facts are within his personal
knowledge, make original complaints
in criminal actions. 1 further be-
lieve that it would be bad practice
for any man to constitute himself a
public prosecuting witness. Such a
thing as a general prosecuting wit
ness is unknown to the law. And l
further believe that it would be ex-
tremely bad practice for the citizen
tSelvidge to make a custom of filing
original complaints, for the Prose
cutting Attorney Selvidge to prose-
cute. And I further believe that
such a combination of citizen and
prosecuting attorney who would do
such a thing, would be a combina-
ton of citizen desiring noteriety
and of a prosecuting attorney desir-
ing practice, at the expense of the
people.
I intended, in this communica-
ton to state briefly, by quotations
from the statutes, the duties, special
and general, of the county attorney,
under the prohibitory liquor law,
but find 1 will not have time to do
so for this issue of the paper. But
will state that the latch string to
this Office is on the outside, and that