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Franklin Repository: August 07, 1867 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Biography of Judge Henry W. Williams
(Column 5)

Summary: The article provides a brief biographical sketch of the Republican candidate for Supreme Judge, which was delivered at a rally in Pittsburg.

Can A Republican Vote For Judge Sharswood?
(Column 1)

Summary: The editors dismiss the Democrats' attempts to woo support from Republican rank-and-file members for Judge Sharswood's candidacy, and express doubt over the Democrats' sudden change of heart toward him. They question the motives behind the Democrats' decision to field Sharswood a candidate now and not ten or fifteen years earlier. What, they ask, has changed?

Full Text of Article:

We think not. A concerted and persistent effort is made, however, by Democratic prints, to press his name upon Republican voters on the score of abstract fitness for office as a Judge.

It is possible to concede to the friends of this eminent citizen of our Commonwealth all that they claim for him, without finding any sufficient reason for forsaking the man whom we have ourselves named, because we deemed him also worthy, or for opposing, in behalf of individual merit, the principles we have vowed to maintain. The selection of a good man for their candidate is a novelty in Democratic tactics. It is, accordingly, a suspicious circumstance, and gives fair cause for doubts as to motives in so presenting him, and good reason for hesitation in supporting him.

The veteran wirepuller of the Harrisburg Convention declared that for fifteen years, Judge Sharswood had deserved this nomination. In that interval the people have filled six vacancies on the Supreme Bench. Why, in no one case, was Sharswood presented for election? Less able men, but bitter partisans, were preferred to him. Those years are divisible into two periods--in the first the Democracy ruled the State with absolute sway, but in the second, in common with their friends and allies of the South, they suffered the mortifications of an astounding opposition and overwhelming and righteous defeat. Why, when a nomination was an election, was the present nominee never heard of--why, when disaster followed disaster and the party sorely needed the succor of a pure name was not the integrity, with the ability, of Sharswood called in aid? The answers to these questions are not complimentary to the wisdom, the sincerity, honesty or good sense of the Democratic party. Sharswood was neglected, in their day of power, because he was distasteful to the party. Taking their policy from their Southern friends, this miscalled Democracy valued, highest, the smartness which is akin to roguery, and the facility which borders on deceit, and took as their model of a public man, him who was able, with abundant professions for the public good, to lead the masses in the interests of a clique. Those ante-bellum years were the millennium of demagogues. If the present Democratic estimate of Judge Sharswood is to be taken, he could not, of course, flourish in that era. His peculiar talents were not marketable. Contempt for the people and that audacity which prosperous imposture always breeds, led the Democratic party in its impatience to overcome an impudent opposition to try force in 1860 to gain a cherished end. They began with winning Bull Run. It has proved to be their last victory. For seven years the nation, enlightened at last and indignant, has fought this false Democracy in the field and at home, has completely overthrown it: unmasked all its shame, and we hope, resolved never to trust it again. In these years of unvarying loss, of repeated humiliation, the Democracy exhibited the consistency of effrontery and defiance, but set up in succession, their most radical and virulent leaders, with the hope that the frankness and boldness of despair might win for them back that power which, gained for them at first by a league for evil, they had maintained by hypocrisy and lost by treason. They, happily, failed in every attempt. The people had learned to know a public enemy, even in disguise, and repudiated in Pennsylvania the tricksters whose manlier allies they shot in Virginia. In such times, a man like Sharswood is worse than useless as a leader. If upright, his purity is a rebuke and a foil to his followers foulness--if able, he cannot be blinded to their aims--if firm, he cannot be bent--if patriotic, he cannot be used at all. It is little wonder, that, though for fifteen years he has been known by his friends to be fit, he has yet been left upon the District Bench. How comes it, then, that, at last, this moribund faction essays to honor themselves by placing him at the head of their column? Have they repented of the evil they have done, recanted their errors, made public confession of their wrong doing and openly resolved to seek hereafter only the best methods of promoting the public welfare? Their platform contains nothing of the kind.

Their resolutions are either unmeaning platitudes or re-affirmations of old abominations. They have learned nothing, even from the war. They do not seem to know that they have made the very name of Democrat offensive to patriotic ears, but, sitting in solemn councils, they promulgate, to a disdainful people, propositions which must fail in credence as well because of their intrinsic absurdity as of the ill repute of their advocates. Holding, thus, to their former tenets and practice, exhibiting, in curious admixture, the hypocrisy and the frankness which, singly, served and failed them, by turns, they of right ought to be doubly obnoxious to popular rebuke. To avert this renewal of censure, they have humbled themselves before a man whom they first neglected and then feared. His availability is accepted as the antidote to his integrity, and success, through him, is prayed for as the reward of their humility. No regard for the man or jurist has prompted this nomination. Proffered now it is almost an insult. The nominee has, however, seen fit to accept it, and has, by so doing, redeemed the contest, in some measure, from its, of late years, disgraceful features. Since '61, there has been little honor in beating back, periodically, the incursions of these Sioux and Cheyennes of our politics--it has been a necessary but irksome labor to suspend progress to attend to them. With a respectable leader, although the subordinates and the rank and file are unchanged, the captive will be a nobler one, though the fight is no harder. Having become their leader, which gives character to the other, the commander or the army? Can the one reform the many or be rendered powerless by the determination of the multitude? Is the Democracy, temporarily, elevated to the sublimity of common honesty or will Judge Sharswood sink, for the campaign, to a simple of charlatans and humbugs? The latter is the more probable, when we remember the terrible intensity shown by the party since it avowedly called on evil to be its good. As such, as the voluntary head of all that is reactionary in our national progress; as the willing exponent of a party, which, by its one wing, endeavored to overturn the temple of our freedom, preferring to worship strange gods amidst its ruins to serving as less than high priest within its walls; which, by its other wing, fostered, instigated and promised to support all the violence as well as the aims of the first, and is answerable for all the blood shed, misery, and despair, wrought by the accursed war their joint machinations brought on; as the intended means by which these ousted conspirators seek to regain the power they deliberately abused; as a stepping stone, only, meant and valued as such, can a Republican, who believes his creed, who detests Democracy for its teachings and its fruits, be led for a moment to weigh the possibility of voting--not for Sharswood--but through him, for the return to power of all that has ever a clog and a hindrance to our good? To help a Republican to such a vote, however, the snuffy old collocutors of the Harrisburg Convention prate of the distinction between law and politics and affect to deprecate their confusion. When, pray, did they first learn this lesson? When, it suiting his party aims, has a Democratic Judge, deciding a question bordering upon politics, ever failed to follow his party proclivities and decide for the wrong? Was it when Taney uttered an infamous lie and sought to damn living and unborn millions to a Democratic hell on earth; when Woodward decided the draft unconstitutional, the disfranchisement of deserters ex post facto, or when this immaculate Sharswood pronounced legal tenders an impossibility? The first dictum was, directly and avowedly, in the interests of slavery, then an existing institution--the last were meant to impede, to break down, a war, which was fast destroying slavery, and, with it, Democratic hopes and voters. In every such case, hitherto, in practice, a Democratic judiciary had dragged party politics into law. Now, forsooth, the doctrine is a strict severance! Who believes them? Who doubts but that it is a bait to catch fools with--that being, now, "outs," they laud a virtue they never practised, and that if, by the aid of simpletons, they become "ins," they will, at once, lapse into traditionary beliefs and practices?

In choosing a judge, he should be estimated by the school he adopts. But the Democratic school is an obsolete one. Its opinions date from the antiquity of ten years ago. The earth, when Noah left Ararat, was not more changed from the earth the antediluvian beheld, than the America of to-day is unlike that of 1860. A deluge of blood has washed it, and new men and new beliefs now occupy and possess it. Woodward and Clymer and Sharswood, as thinkers, are as truly of a forgotten age as if their tombs were moss-grown and sunken. We have no need for them--they linger superfluous on the stage as would be politicians. To the first two, cards of dismissal have been given by the people--they have agreed to go into retirement accordingly, but they pray, like resigned Lord Chancellors, for Sharswood's success, that they may, some day, come back.

But, it is useless--beyond the Styx of defeat the three ghosts will soon roam in company, lamenting the days when they moved in the regions of the upper air of unmerited success. In Sharswood's stead who will have place? At this moment, for ourselves, we have a nominee, also a District Judge, who as a man, a scholar, and a jurist need yield precedency to no Democrat. As a patriot his record is a brilliant one--his tongue and pen have done good service for the national cause in her time of peril, his time, money and influence have been lavishly given when every contribution was of value. Unlike his adversary, whose voice was silent during all that varying conflict--judicial reserve the convenient pretext--but whose associations were with and whose endorsement, now comes from, them who attained the worst eminence in tory opposition, there is and has been no concealment of opinion or sympathy. In ability, integrity, legal attainments, and in experience the Republican candidate is as fit as his competitor to occupy the Supreme Bench. In sympathy with the great movement in favor of human rights--the stumbling block of faction, but the glory of the age--comparison cannot be instituted between them. The voter, accordingly, who can forget his principles, and, by aiding a man to place, recall his bitterest antagonists to power, is either insincere or bewitched.

The Member From Franklin
(Column 5)

Summary: In the letter, "Antrim" endorses Col. Theodore McGowan, of Fayetteville, to replace Col. Stumbaugh in the Legislature. In addition to possessing an excellent military record, McGowan has numerous "scholarly attainments, spotless integrity, and independence of character" and is a Radical Republican.

Trailer: Antrim

Assembly
(Column 6)

Summary: The letter asserts that the Republicans of Lurgan endorse W. S. Everett, a "man of tried integrity" and "unswerving fidelity to the interests of our great Commonwealth," for the Assembly.
(Names in announcement: William S. Everett)

Trailer: Lurgan

The Associate Judgeship
(Column 6)

Summary: The writer of the letter nominates Thomas Carlisle for Associate Judge, "the most popular and available man" for the position.
(Names in announcement: Thomas Carlisle)

Trailer: Letterkenny

Associate Judge
(Column 6)

Summary: "North Ward" recommends P. Hamman as "the most suitable person for the office of Associate Judge."
(Names in announcement: P. Hamman)

Trailer: North Ward

Associate Judge
(Column 6)

Summary: "Antrim" endorses Samuel Myers, the Chairman of the Republican County Committee for Associate Judge.
(Names in announcement: Samuel Myers)

Trailer: Antrim

Local Items--Our Public Schools
(Column 1)

Summary: The article contains information drawn from the annual statement from Directors of the Chambersburg School District. According to the report, total receipts from taxes and other sources amounted to $10,839 and expenditures for salaries and other costs totaled $10,641 leaving a balance of $198. During the past term there were 606 male pupils and 635 females, and average daily attendance was 468 and 466 respectively. The report also includes a list of those students who missed less than nine days of the term.
(Names in announcement: Alice Reynolds, Sallie Barber, Helen Reynolds, Fanny Zent, Annie Jeffries, Charles A. Suesserott, Andrew J. Brand, Margaret Ross, Catharine Oyster, James Dyson, Edward Foreman, Emma Wagner, Mary Marx, Virginia Welsh, Bettie Houser, Maggie Berry, E. Bender, Alma Cassel, Lottie Henneberger, Emma Kelier, Louisa Rader, Charles Lippy, Ida Henderson, Mollie Stumbaugh, Sallie Finefrock, Thomas Bray, Annie Banks, William Croft, G. Brown, Anderson Foreman, John Beitler, George Korman, Clinton Bickley, Edward Grove, Edward Lewis, John Miller, S. W. Smith, Charles Dyson, Emma Burghart, Kate Finefrock, Mary Burkhart, Fannie Gray, Emma Ludwig, Annie Auxer)

Local Items--A New Map Of Our County
(Column 1)

Summary: Announces that the firm of Pomeroy and Beers, "well known map publishers of Philadelphia," are currently in the process of designing a new atlas of Franklin county. The new design will include plans of each township, village, and borough in the county on a large scale, detailing all the roads, streams, houses, and mills located therein as well as the owners of property.

Local Items--The Canada Thistles Law
(Column 1)

Summary: Warns readers that any individuals or corporations that allow Canada thistles to ripen on his or their premises shall be liable to a fine of ten dollars, as called for by an act of the legislature.

Local Items--Free To All
(Column 1)

Summary: Notes that Dr. Brown will provide free treatment to all diseased persons for one week, beginning August 12th. Brown is among a group of 500 doctors participating in the program.
(Names in announcement: Dr. Brown)

Local Items--I. O. G. T.
(Column 2)

Summary: The article reports that officers were installed at the last meeting of the McMurray Lodge, No. 119, I. O. G. T., by Lodge Deputy William S. Roney last Monday.
(Names in announcement: William H. Wanamaker, Cordes Forbes, Barnet Earley, Edward Eyster, D. B. Kirby, John Russell, George Wood, Mary Eyster, Lyde P. Welsh, Daniel Jones)

Local Items--Accident
(Column 1)

Summary: David Croft was seriously injured in an accident last Wednesday. Croft's left leg was crushed when he dropped a heavy beam he was lifting while unloading lumber at his new blacksmith shop.
(Names in announcement: David Croft)

Local Items--Gone To England
(Column 1)

Summary: Notes that Nicholas Uglow departed last Thursday for a visit to England--his birthplace. Uglow emigrated to the U. S. fifty-three years ago, and has lived in Chambersburg for fifty of those years.
(Names in announcement: Nicholas Uglow)

Local Items--Destructive Fire
(Column 2)

Summary: Reports that a fire destroyed the carriage and coach establishment of Stouffer and Kenaga and the wagonmaker shop of Henry Stouffer. It is believed the fire was the work of an incendiary.
(Names in announcement: Henry Stouffer, Kenaga)

Local Items--Fire
(Column 2)

Summary: A fire destroyed Mr. Hite's house, near Spring Run, last Thursday, including all the furniture. In addition to their lives, the family was able to save a trunk containing important papers.
(Names in announcement: Hite)

Local Items--Laying of a Cornerstone
(Column 2)

Summary: Announces that the ceremony to mark the laying of the cornerstone of the new Lutheran Church in Orrstown will take place on August 17th.

Local Items--Contract Awarded
(Column 2)

Summary: The article says that Theodore Atkinson, Superintendent of the Woolen Mills in Chambersburg, has contracted with the Antietam Manufacturing Company of Hagerstown, to provide plans for a new woolen mill in that city.
(Names in announcement: Theodore Atkinson)

Local Items--District Commander
(Column 2)

Summary: Relates that the Grand Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic of Pennsylvania has selected Col. James G. Elder, of Post No. 24, of Chambersburg, as District Commander of Franklin county.
(Names in announcement: Col. James G. Elder)

Local Items--New Church
(Column 2)

Summary: The old Presbyterian church in Greencastle is being torn down to make way for the erection of a new, "more modern edifice," says the article.

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On July 17th, Thompson McGowan, formerly of Chambersburg, and S. E. Roland, of Hancock, Md., were married by Rev. Dr. Highland.
(Names in announcement: Thompson McGowan, S. E. Roland, Rev. Dr. Highland)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On March 30th, Jacob Kline and Nannie Patterson were married by Rev. John Ault.
(Names in announcement: Jacob Kline, Nannie Patterson, Rev John Ault)

Married
(Column 3)

Summary: On July 30th, Benjamin Shatzer and Maria Ann Miller were married by Rev. P. S. Davis.
(Names in announcement: Benjamin Shatzer, Maria Ann Miller, Rev. P. S. Davis)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On July 30th, George Kyner died in Southampton township. He was 90 years old.
(Names in announcement: George Kyner)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On July 24th, Anna, wife of John Stamy and formerly of Waynesboro, died at Dry Creek, Iowa. She was 36 years old.
(Names in announcement: Anna Stamy, John Stamy)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On July 27th, Adam and Eve, children of Isaac Shank died. They were 3 months old.
(Names in announcement: Adam Shank, Eve Shank, Rev. Isaac Shank)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On July 25th, David Laidig, Sr., formerly of St. Thomas, died in Fulton county. He was 66 years old.
(Names in announcement: David Laidig)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On July 16th, Catharine Mosser died near Mercersburg. She was 44 years old.
(Names in announcement: Catharine Mosser)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On July 19th, Charles W. Werdebaugh died in Mercersburg. He was 3 years old.
(Names in announcement: Charles W. Werdebaugh)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On July 29th, Viola May, infant daughter of H. J. and L. E. Renfrew, died near Fayetteville. She was 3 months old.
(Names in announcement: Viola May Renfrew, H. J. Renfrew, L. E. Renfrew)

Died
(Column 3)

Summary: On July 8th, Cora, daughter of Daniel and Amanda Ward, died. She was 3 months old.
(Names in announcement: Cora Ward, Daniel Ward, Amanda Ward)