Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1902-03-20

counties formed the 18th Judicial Dis
trict of the state, and Norman Martin
and Aaron L. Hazen were our Judges
Martin having been appointed by Coy.
Pattison to act in place of John Nc
Michael. deceased. until the place could
be filled by election.
In the early Spring of 1892 four mem
bers of the Butler Bars. F. Bowser,
James NJ. Galbreath, H II. Goucher
and John NJ. Greer -aspired for the Re
publican nomination for Judge.
Messrs Bowser, Goucher and Gal
breath were then and are now lawyers
in good practice. and were considered
fit persons in every respect for the office.
while as Greer had been in Office and
in politics all his life his qualifica tions
were doubted, and one of his friends ar
gued for him that it was ''the duty of
Bar to instruct the Bench" as to the
law.
But Greer was the politician OF the
crowd and he induced the others to
stand aside for him by promising to never
be in their way again-his argument
at that time was something like this
Now you fellows stand aside for me this
time and I'll never be in your way
again, and I'll get the district nomina-
ton, and be elected; and not only that
but / stand in with Quay and the State
Committee, and I'll get on the State
ticket, and on the Supreme Bench; and
the county is getting so big that we'll
soon need two Judges, and well all be
Judges"
And one after another they all did
give way to him. which gave him the
county without opposition; and Wal
lace of New Castle gave up after quite
contest, and Greer had the district
nomination.
The summer passed, and with the
Fall came word from Lawrence county
that that county was going strongly for
Martin, the Democratic nominee Gust
az it had for Hazen and McMichaeD,
which meant Martins election. Then
Greer and his friends (the chief OF
whom at that time was w. 81. d.
Riddle) plead with everybody for help,
and men here who owed him nothing
personally or politically turned in and
helped him.
One of the men who had stood aside
for him helped us to edit the paper, and
we said everything we could think of in
his favor, and mailed Thousand copies
a week for several weeks to addresses,
furnished by Greer, in Lawrence coun-
ty-and all that that cost Greer was
the actual cost of the paper, printing
and postage-he had our time and space
for nothing.
The election came off and Greer had
the usual Republican majority of this
county at that time, while Lawrence
county was very near ''stand-off " He
took his seat, and since then has been
an applicant for nearly every vacancy
that has occurred on the Supreme and
Superior benches, and failing there has
for the past few years been electioneer-
ing for second term on the Bench
here, thereby violating the pledges that
secured him both his nomination and
election.
One of the men who stood aside for
him took him to task for this some
months ago, and Greer's answer was
that no young man could afford to take
this Office for but one term"-which
coming from man Of about sixty, and
who probably never made a thousand
dollars in any one year practicing law
was about as ridiculous as saying that
he did not want the Office for himself,
but for the sake Of his sons.
Ten years at "a. 900 year means $40,-
600; the law allows extras to the extent
of $500 year, also milage, which is
clear gain to men with passes in their
pockets; and Greer should end his term
with at least geo, 900 in his pocket, and
live up to the pledges that secured it
for him. And besides this he had been
in Office for about seventeen years pre-
vious, or about twenty-seven years in
all, and the total amount he has drawn
from the county and state treasures
will aggregate the best part Of hun
dred thousand dollars.
All his life he has been at the public
tit"-votes and dollars have always
meant the same thing for him-and it is
no wonder that be is now begging men
that he tried to ruin to vote Tor him and
that he il considered the best hand in
the county at ''blobbering over people.
There are other and much graver OBJ
jections to retaining this man in this
this Office than his double dealing with
his brother attorneys, Though this is an
index to ALI but our only purpose at
present is to call attention to this one
point, and ask the question, do you
want a. disEonorable man to administer
the laws of the Commonwealth for
your"