The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-01-28
a FEW loRDs Asol Oh colJRTs..

1slSi conc the bill pend
l ms before the egislat ure to$ abolish
tile informed late Court and establish
I'M its stead saS Criminal court. me
real ( object of the n Communication;
which fis seconded by the editorial,
seems to be to call attention to the
:act that out tof about sixty lawyers RI,
practlclng at this bar one, Harry
Shaw, mightbe made Judge Of theInew
court. The Times youches for its
correspondent by Introducing him, mot
by name, but as zone Of the most
prominent citizens Of the county, II
II be true that the correspondent OF
hci Times isl"prominentH why did he
not sign his name and give 10 his ar.
tlcle the weight Of his personal influ.
'cnce and. II known, 1t might appear
%hy he Is SO much Interested about
the welfare Of certain class Of cit.
liens" for whose business or protecc.
lion. in the event Mr.. Shaw should
be made judge he is so distressed.
Could 1t be possible that this most
prominent citizen has promised Ger.
tain5things to his Certain class OF cit.
liens" which, II Mr.. Shaw is the Judge.
he fears he would fall to deliver?
Now, If the prominent citizen'' be,
ny initial, Charles Powell, the Demo.
cratic prosecuting attorney, for the
past twelve years; and the prosecut.
Ing attorney in fact for the next four
Years 10 come, and he has certain ar.
engagements with his Certain class of
citizens which he cannot carry OUT
with Harry Shaw as judge, why does
ne not say 50 to the Times readers
over his own signature? 1t has been
whispered around quietly, that this
gentleman has fastened to Charles.
ION with roll OF the long green
hastily collected from his Certain
class of citizens" and with the use Of
Which he is somewhat famous. TO dc.
feat the bill and retain the Inter.
mediate Court.
This prominent citizen mentions
several reasons why the Intermediate
Court Is useful and should be main.
laincd by the tax payers, all of which
more forcibly apply to the new Grim.
.n"l Court This court will have all
the powers and duties Of the Inter.
mediate. and in addition thereto will
have the entire criminal business of
the county, including the grand Jury.
which Is taken from the Circuit
Court. This new court will have
more than three times the business of
ihe Intermediate. The Intermediate
Court is the only one of the kind in
'ne whole State. and the members
OF the bar have long discussed the
necessity for u change. The now
court simply brings our courts M to
Gaie with other counties in the State.
such as Ohio, Wood, kanawha. Fay.
cite, Mcdowell, Cabcll. Mercer, and
a number of others. The Inferno.
d'ate Court was established in 1893,
V hen the country was paralyZcd
with a Cleveland administration and
1t was then necessary 10 make the sal.
airy very small. The judge of the Cir.
Gil Court was then getting but three
hundred dollars more than was fixed
FOR the salary Of the Intermediate
Court. Since then the salary OF the
circuit judge has been Increased TO
uhirty.three hundred dollars. and the
salary of the judge of the Criminal
Court will be eight hundred dollars
;cas than that sum.
The salary OF the prosecuting nj.
i"rncy Is from two thousand 10 three
! honsand dollars, besides his fees.
which amount to perhaps twice or
hrec times that sum, and he Is cna.
bed to build up lucrative general
practice At the same time. The
''n:ge can receive nothing more than
I'is bare salary, is prohibited from
aracticinS law anywhere in The State,
Is, the Times and It's prominent ci,i.
zen really in earnest about reduc.
ing expenses? If so they would no
doubt approve move to reduce the
allowance to the prosecuting attorney
70 say, i've hundred dollars; the re.
manning twenty-five hundred hereto.
fore paid 10 him could then go 10 nav
TIE Judge of the new court, and The
TAX payers would be saved the fifteen
hundred dollars heretofore paid ia
lie judge of the Intermediate Court,
lhls would, in effect, as far as the tax
payers are concerned, amount TO the