Amador ledger., 1902-08-22
WE ALSO APPEAL TO RECORD.

Had the editor of the Ledger de-
sired to be fair and just, he could
have said that ever since 1883 to the
time he went upon the judicial bench,
Judge Rust had been an attorney
upon one side or the other of nearly
every important case tried in ANA
dor county. He could have said
that during his incumbency of the
Office of Judge of the superior court
of this county he has, besides con-
Quoting the business of his own court,
presided at the trial of important
cases, both civil and criminal, in the
counties of Calaveras, Modoc, Mono,
Glenn, Placer, Ell Dorado and Sac
ramento. That only six of his de-
cisions in cases tried in this county
were appealed to the supreme court,
and in none of them was he reversed.
And in eleven appeals taken from
his decisions to the supreme court,
he has been reversed in only one,
that being very close question in
case tried in Placer county. This,
in brief, is the official record of the
Judge of our superior court, whom
the Ledger, in its editorial columns,
has attempted to belittle. We leave
it to the people of the county to say
whether or not he possesses the
qualifications necessary to entitle
him to denomination and reelection
at their hands.-DiSpatch.
The above we take from an edit
orial in the Dispatch of two weeks
ago. We have neither the time nor
inclination to discuss immaterial
points touched upon in the first part
of the article, and hence have not
reproduced it. Inasmuch as our
cotemporary appeals to the official
record of the present occupant of
the superior judgeship to support
his claim to another six-year term,
we shall deem it our duty to call
attention to few facts which tend
To mar the effect of the pioturing
above given. In passing we might
say that if the Dispatch were dis
posed to be fair" it would have
stated that the editor of that paper
is brother of the superior Judge,
and is therefore hardly in a position
to view the situation with impair
tiality. With the ties of blood and
kindred, in addition to the demands
of partisanship and self-interest, all
tending to bias the Judgment, it
comes with questionable taste for
that paper to twit about lack of
fairness. The deficiency in this re-
spect is far more apt to gravitate to
the side of relationship and allied
interests.
1t is not our business at this time
to look into the correctness or other
wise of the above epitome of the Of
fetal record of Judge Rust, so far
as his legal decisions are concerned.
We may take up that subject here
after. There are errors of omission
as well as of commission. 1t is often
difficult to tell which of these two
evils is the greater. 1t is above all
things the business of public ser
want to stand by his duty under all
circumstances. This duty becomes
more imperative, if possible, in the
presence of calamity or peril. Two
years ago Jackson was in the throes
of an epidemic of smallpox-the
worst visitation of pestilence the
county has ever known. Its exist
ence was discovered the second week
in July, and the epidemic lasted
until September. AS is always the
case, the presence of this dreaded
contagion caused an exodus from
Jackson. We blame no one in
private life who seeks safety in
fight; we have no word of censure
even for an official who takes the
precaution to send his family beyond
bHc uduSSI 1lLuIOS. we WOulQ uOG
blame an official for leaving if he
could discharge his duties at dis
tance just as well as he could at
home. The year 1900, however, was
presidential election year. From
July to September the pestilence
was raging, and August was the
last day upon which a person could
be naturalized in order to enable him
to vote at the presidential election,
and the superior judge was the only
officer in Amador county empowered
to admit person to citizenship.
The sacred right of suffrage, there,
fore, was dependent upon the su-
perior Judge remaining at his post
of duty. True, there was no super
Tor judge, no set of county officers.
to be elected that year. It was only
the policy of the national admins
tration that was trembling in the
balance. Now We find from the
records that from July 20 to septem-
Der 25 not person was admitted to
citizenship in Amador county. The
minutes Of the court show. that