Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1900 — UNDER FIRE. [ARTICLE]

UNDER FIRE.

The Apologist Man and the CowPuncher In Close Quarters. As promised, we will give our readers the “proceedings” bofore the board of commissioners last week when they took up the matter of “examining” The Democrat’s bill for printing the ballots for the late election, or, rather, went through the form, as the whole thing was a farce. They intended to cut it in the middle, anyway, so that in order to get a reasonable price for the printing. -we-would tatnssin pell eel to take the j matter into the courts. Of course. I this would cost Jasper county considerable and she would lose in the end, but the dear people paid the bill and—anything to make trouble for The Democrat.

Well, the Apologist editor and his pard, the Old Man of the Sea, were o*ts hand. We showed the difference in the work over former years and what other’ counties charged for the same work. We were interrupted several times by the Apologist man who showed by his every action that nothing wohIM please him better than to haw the claim refused altogether, simply because it was presented by a democrat We stated that two years ago, when the county bafilot was owe-half smaller and the township ballot of scarcely no importance whatever, that this selfsame Apologist man charged and was paid $72 for the work. Here Marshall broke in and said we were mistaken, that the publishing o<f the notioe of election was included in that bill. We questioned him a little here: Q. Are you sure of this, Mr. Marshall? A. Yes. Q. Will you make oath that it was? A I will.

“Well,” re remarked, “this is easily settled,” and we called for the original claim as filled. This was brought in as was aiko his ’96 dinim. We tread off aloud the ’9B claim and found it as we had stated. (Tfee Journal published the notice of election that year.) Then we stated the amount of Marshall’s election printing bill for '96, when no township ballots were used at all, SB4. Here Marshall broke in again by saying that not all of this was for ballots, that he printed some instruction cards. We knew this and it was that particular item in the bill which we wished to show up, so we read off the bill aloud. The item referred to was “500 instruction cards, English and German, Bc. each, $40.” We again Questioned Mr. Marshall: Q. Did you print those instruction cards Mr. Marshall? A: Y es. Q. Are you positive that you printed them? A. \Y-ell,e-er, no, not exactly. Q As a matter of fact you simply bought them already printed, did youqafc? A. \ -es. (fie was becoming quite nervous.) Q And sold them to Jasper county? A. I DECLINE TO ANSWER ANY MORE QUESTIONS THAT DO NOT APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE PRINTING OF THE 1900 BALLOTS. What we wanted to show was this: These big instruction cards were probably bought by the magnanimous Mr. Marshnll for about 5c each, or sls for the whole 500 lie being in the printing trade anti therefore being given the usual discount allowed by the big stationery houses “the trade”— nnd the extra $25 was his charges for acting as purchasing agent. This year when paper was much higher than in 1896* these cards were bought direct from W. B. Burford, who never forgets to charge counties the top figure, and they cost but sc. each or $25 for the whole 500. There were also several other charges of Marshall's we wished to expose.

Two or three times Marshall had attempted to switch off attention to himself by pushing the cowpuncher forward, and remarked that he would like to hear from the sage of the Barnacle, or words to that effect. The whole proceeding was amusing, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. You have no doubt seen in vaudeville plays a couple of old duffers who were about to do something which they were n little timid about attempting, for fear they would get the worst of it, and each trying to get the other rt) tnke the lead. This was about the condition of Marshall and his j>ard. The cow-puncher did not open his mouth until Marshall closed up like an oy—lobster and declined to be interviewed further, when he was questioned as follows: , , Air. Hal leek: Well, we are ready to listen to what Mr. McEwan has > say. What do you think it was

worth to print those ballots, Mr. McEwan ? The cow-puncher (pompously and with an air, of much learning) “I think that SSO would be a good big price. Had I been asked to print them I had intended to make tin l price $50.” This was amusing as every person present knew that McEwan could no more have done the job than could the man in the moon. Perhaps, though, his old pard, Marshall, ejected to do the work for him. Here wo broke in: Mr. Mc-Ewau,-havo-you ever printed any j since the taking effect of I the Australian ballot system, j A. “No, but in 1852 (it might have been 1492; we won’t be posi- | five about this. But it was one of j those two dates) I printed”— -

(The audiblesmiles of the august commissioners and the two or three spectatorsdrowned a part of the cow-puncher’s reply, and only the latter part whs caught) “but 1 think that the county ought to be treated exactly as we treat our business men in the way of public printing.” The writer: We cordially agree with you in the latter statement, Mr. McEwan, hut one question further: 111 1892, when the Australian ballot law first took effect in this state, the law required the publication of the tickets in the two party papers at the county seat, did it not? A. Yes.

Q. You made one of the publications in this county, did you not? A. Y-es. Q. Now regarding the publication of these ballots, did you “set up” the form of the state and national ballot? A. I think I did. Q. Are you sure you did? A. Quite p-positive Q. Will you make oath that you set up the former? A. N-o, but think I did. Q. Well, Mr McEwan, we ex- ! amined one of your papers only this morning in which the publica- • tion was made and find that it was "•plates.” No denial from the cow-puncher. Now, Mr. McEwan, those plates did not cost you to exceed $1.50 did they? A. Don’t re member. The witness was becoming very ! nervous. Q. Now, Mr. McEwan, you ! could place those plates in your I “forms” in ten minutes, could you not? Silence.

Q. Then, for the “form” of the county ballot you simply walked down the street a few steps (about 50 feet) to the office of your great and good friend, Mr. Marshall, of the Rensselaer Republican, who had the “form” all set up to print the ballots from and to “run” in his own paper, and borrowed his “form,” did you not? More silence, but a nervous twitching of the body. Q. You carried this “form" back to your den— )we wilfnot dignify it by using the word office) “locked’ the “form” up in your “chases,” with the state and national plate “form,” the whole proceeding not occupying more than twenty minutes, and "run” your papers off The next week you borrowed your good friend Marshall’s “form” of the county ticket again, locked it up in your forms and again run your “papers” off. Did the actual work on the publication of that complete ticket, require a halfhour's time? A. 1-1 don't know, (voice very weak, while Mr. Marshall’s creepy ! eyes were shifting uneasily.) Q. Do you remember what you charged Jasper county for making that publication two weeks, Mr. Me E wa it ?

A. X-o, I-I don’t remember. I (\ oice very weak and the witness about on the verge of collapse Murshnll paces to aud fro very nervously) , Q. \N ell, Mr. McEwan, you ! charged Jasper county and was paid $286.50. (More than his whole blamed outfit was worth.) You was not thinking then about treating the county the same as you would treat “our business men,” were you Mr. McEwan? Here his old {yard Marshall could contain himself no longer, and broke in wrathfully that the “publication referred to had nothing to dd with the printing of the 1900 ballots.”

We smiled, nnd cheerfully admitted that it had not except that we desired to show the old fraud’s love for Jasper county in treating it the same as he would treat “our business men.” As n matter of fact he would have jumped at the chance of Imposing of the G or 7 columns of “space” to any of “our business men” for as many dollars, no would have taken it nil “on in trade,” too. But his love foi J - per county was so strong I, charged it full legal rates ai. i $286,501 ,

In this connection we wish tc state that we have since learned from reliable sources that tdte “plates ’of the state and nations*! 1 ballot were furnished him free by the state central committee, so hcwns not out a dollar, everr. fr>B' what he charged Jasper county $286.00 for. A nice specimen, this, to attempt to beat another out of an honest claim in which $25 h«l been expended for material aadl the services of paid printers for: three weeks!

The above allowance can b&’ found by any interested taxpayer" in Jasper county by referring to Commissioners’ Record No. page 502. in the auditor’s otfice. His old pard. Marshall, published! the notice of election, we believe,. in connection with the ballot publication in his paper, nnd he got* $515.50. A precious pair of old frauds these to go before the board of commissioners and tht*’ people of Jasper county and s»y that we want to rob the tn 'ayersby charging less for the v k ctf* printing the election ballots for" 1900 than almost anyother printer* in the whole charged* The “sour grapes” in their ease igaltogether too prominently shown? to need further comment, nnd had either one of them gotten the job the bill would have been muds heavier than was The Dem< >« uayV. We wanted to ask him about ft little notice that he published in '9B of graduation, which tin* other papers charged but $1.50 f<>r hut which lie charged nnd was paid >8.25 for. Also, about a lit.ib 1 ews notice that was mailed to aft the pnpprs in the county last s[ ring and which they volrntarilly published, and tint the cowpuncher put in a hill and was paid for said publication, somethings:' that no other paper in Rensselaer * did.

And right here we wish to state that the cow-puncher came mighty near violating the law when be filed a claim for voluntary set vices,. and the commissioners DID violate the law when they paid suefrt claim. „ Jim, the cow-puncher, wai*'. thoroughly exhausted nnd used* ap:, and we do not remember ot feist recovering during the entire examination. Nothing more of importance* was said and the needing fresh air badly, hi» odt pard asked that they be excn*« «. which Mr. Hnlleck gladly consented to, and they departed, After a few moments Vvt» al > ft t , room and returned to oui *k