The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1920-10-22
THE OFFICE OF SHERIFF


county. His duties are manifold,
foremost of which is maintenance Of
peace and order. To this end he is
clothed with power to arrest those
who are unlawabiding and is entrust-
ed with their safe-keeping until such
time as disposition of their cases
have passed thru the regular and
legal processes. Corresponding with
the legal obligations of the sheriff
there are certain moral obligations,
perhaps the chief one of which is
economy. These, we say, are the
outstanding duties and obligations of
a man who accepts the position of
sheriff. To properly fulfill the res
possibilities of this Office, the incum-
bent should be man of dependable
courage, one who regards the Gus
tody of prisoners as sacred trust
and against the escape of which
every reasonable safeguard is thrown.
The man who has served the
people of Medina county for the
greater part of the last two years is
Parke c. Bigelow. Before his cleo
tion, to the Office, Mr.. Bigelow, in
published statements to the elector-
ate, said: eff am elected, my great
est ambition shall be to so fulfill the
requirements of the office that when
my term shall have expired the great
er part of the people of Medina
county may say: You did your work
well and we now have even higher
respect and greater confidence in you
than we did when we elected YOU
Efficiency shall be my watchword, and
shall practice economy so far as
consistent with good work"
Certainly Mr.. Bigelow's avowed
ambition was laudable, and in deter
mining his eligibility to reelection
the voters Of the county have only to
ascertain the relative weight of MIR.
Bigelow's record in Office and his pre-
election promises.
1t is not the purpose of the SEN
tinel to make a selfish and unwar-
ranted attack on Mr.. Bigelow, any
more than it is on any any other can
didate for office. But the people of .
the county have right to know /
whether their ofice-holders have
measured up in efficiency to what was /
promised when they took office and
to what the voters have every right
to expect that they shall have done.
AS a custodian of prisoners Mr..
Bigelow has fallen down. No less
than FIVE have escaped during his first
term. Truely, three of these were
recaptured, but thru no credit to the
sheriff, as the fellows practically re-
turned of their own accord after get.
ting lost in an attempt to reach a
more distant point. Hunger drove
the boys to a farm house, where they
voluntarily told where they had come
from and peaceably awaited the ar
rival of the sheriff. These prisoners
at the time of their escape were un- {
der indictments for first degree muir
der, in the shooting to death of Con-
stable Way Knapp of Lodi. On the
occasion of the apprehension of the
boys during which Constable Knapp
met his death, the conduct of Sheriff {
Bigelow was openly criticised as un-
valorous, to the extent that many cit
izens of his own political faith in that
section of the county threatened pc |
tition asking his removal from office. i
In June of this year, two young
men were arrested in Sharon town |
ship for the theft of horse and |
buggy. When arrested the boys had {
a second rig in their possession which {
they admitted having stolen. They {
also admitted being deserters from !
the U. s. Navy Thus they were p,
not only thieves, but deserters, both ]
offenses. Soon after
their arrest Sheriff Bigelow took the t
boys out to his farm to plant po- I
tatoes. The trust reposed in the /
youths by Sheriff Bigelow when he I
sent them some distance away to OBJ ]
tain his automobile, proved rather '
misplaced, as the boys promptly stole
the car and made off. They were j
never recaptured.
On such a record can Mr.. Bige-
low expect the voters Of Medina
county to say to him, "You have done
your work well, and we now have
greater confidence in you than we did
when we elected you?" +,
X AS to economy, the sheriff's Of
flee under Mr.. Bigelow will not
stand comparison with his predeces-
sors, particularly R. L. Gehman, DEM
ocrat, whose record in both terms
showed the most economical admins
tration Of the sherfff's office since the
Salary law was passed. And Mr..
Bigelow's promise Of ECONOMY com
sistent With good work. goes the way 1
y u 4