Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 October 1884 — The Legal Status of the Case. [ARTICLE]

The Legal Status of the Case.

A Republican paper speaking of Calkins’ school fund loan says . “He “ did borrow money from the school “ fund and gave a mortgage on some “ land for security, but he transferred “ the land, subject to the mortgage, “ and it has passed through the hands “ of several owners who are abundant“ly able to pay the debt. Calkins “ says if he owes anything and the “ Auditor will present the bill he will “ pay it.” This seems to be in substance what Calkins has said at vari-

Ous times and places about the matter, and in some quarters it seems to be regarded as a sufficient answer to the charge that Calkins has- practically defrauded the school fund of its just dues. It will be seen that the debt is admitted, but the.claim is tacitly made that other parties should pay it, because the transfer was made “subject to the] mortgage.” Major Calkins ,knows, and every lawyer in Indiana knows, that no man but Calkins is responsible for the paymentiof this debt. Where can the law be found that makes any other man liable? It is not in the statutes of Indiana, and it is a deliberate deception to even intimate that such a law exists. The Auditor “presented the bill” to Mr. Calkins in the legal advertisment for the sale of the land, and in repeated personal conversations urging him to pay the debt. For the satisfaction of those who desire to make a legal investigation of the status of the case, we cite the following authorities: Hull vs. Alexander, 26 lowa, 569, Belmont vs. Cornan,22 N. Y. 438, Trotter vs. Hughes, 12 N. Y. 74, Comstock vs.' Hilt, 37 111. 542, Strong vs. Converse, 8 Allen, 587. If the grantee of the mortgagor agrees to pay the debt he then becomes the principal debtor, and the mortgagor a surety, but not otherwise. Buying land “subject to a certain mortgage” is not an agreement to pay the debt, as these cases will abundantly prove. —LaPorte Argus.

The South Bend Tribune holds Mr. Calkins up as a poor man. The Tribune, however, should remember that he has been getting five thousand dollars per annum, which income should certainly have enabled him to pay the three hundred dollars school fund. Many a man whose income is not onetenth of five thousand dollars a year is compelled to pay his debts, and the fact that he mortgaged a piece of land that cannot be sold to make good the debt, by no means exonerates Mr. Calkins for his neglect and refusal to return the money with interest into the LaPorte county school fund.' The property with which the debt is secured, if not worthless altogether, is unavailable, and might just as well not exist as far as any benefits to the school fund are concerned. The plain facts are, Calkins borrowed three hundred dollars out of the LaPorte county school fund, secured it by a worthless piece of land for which he had no use except to mortgage for school money, and now evidently means to force the land upon the State and thus square off inasmuch as the land cannot be sold for the appraised value, which is two hundred dollars.— Warsaw Union.

The Republican orators all over Indiana are talking glibly about the great friendship their party has for the Irish, but they forget to tell the Irishmen that in the whole history of the Republican party in Indiana they have never elected an Irishman to an office on the State ticket. Since 1860 the Republicans have held the Governorship 16 years, and Hie Democrats have had it eight years. The other State officers have been divided about equally between the two parties; the Republicans controlling them twelve years and the Democrats twelve. The Democrats elected in that time four gentlemen born in Ireland to responsible positions, three of them to the State Treasurer’s office, but the Republicans have not elected a single Irishman, nor have they ever had one on their ticket in all these years. Governor Porter is now„proclaiming himself as especially fond of the Irish, but the record shows that he has made 81 appointments to office and there is not one Irishman among them.

Read Jap. Turpen’s letter from LaPorte, in another column, and our readers can get some sort of an idea of the land upon which Calkins borrowed money from the school fund. The land is described as being situated in the center of an absolutely valueless district except for hunting and fishing. There is no bottom to the mud, and even horse swimming is hazardous. Calkins pulled the wool over Jap. Turpen’s eyes a few weeks ago, and persuaded him that he was a much injured man. The latter, to even up matters, wrote a letter to the news combatting the charge that Calkins had acted improperly regarding the school fund transaction. Mr. Turpen recently visited LaPorte and has had his eyes opened very widely concerning it.— This letter gives the entire history of the affair, and it shows Mr. Calkins in no enviable light. Calkins will not do. —[lndianapolis Sentinel. A. P. Andrew, a well-known banker of LaPorte and a man of the highest standing in society, writes a public letter in which he says: “Major Calkins is a politician of the lower type.” Ex-Postmaster 8. D. Fraser, Rev. Jacob Vining, cashier of the Savings bank, and J. D. Stewart, for many years chairman of the Republican county committee, all of the same place, are out in public letters in which they speak of Calkins in similar terms but in stronger language, for he is freely designated as an associate of “bummers” and it is charged that it is in the worst element in the party that he finds his best friends. These men are all exemplary citizens and responsible for what they say.