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Staunton Spectator: March 30, 1869 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Set a Rogue to Catch a Rogue
(Column 01)

Summary: Reports that the State governor and a Clerk of the Circuit Court are charged with feloniously opening and tampering with a letter. Believes this reveals the true character of the Radical party, who fight endlessly with each other.

Full Text of Article:

The truth of the familiar saying -- "Set a rogue to catch a rogue" -- is now being exemplified by the leaders of the Radicals in this State. Gov. H. H. Wells, Judge H. L. Bond, Registrar in Bankruptcy, and L. E. Dudley, Clerk of the Circuit Court in Richmond, are on trial in Richmond before United States Commissioner, Mayor Chahoon, charged by W. H. Samuels and Edgar H. Allen with feloniously obtaining and opening, contrary to the postal laws of the United States, a letter written by Samuels to Allen and directed to the latter at Farmville. These are all Radicals and being well acquainted with each other, each thinks the other should be in the penitentiary, and that there should be no Governor to pardon. This trial is a canine feast in which dog eats dog, and the dogs belong to that class which deserve to have their tails cut off just behind their ears.

The accused do not seem to be at all chop-fallen by the grave accusations alleged against them, but rather to rejoice, as they anticipate it will add to their popularity with their wing of their party. The accused threaten to establish that their accusers deserve the ignominiously punishment which the latter are trying to have inflected on the former. We concur in the judgements of both parties. The verdicts are right -- let the sentence be pronounced, and the penalty inflicted. Let justice do its perfect work. Fiat justitia.

"The lame and impotent conclusion," we predict, will be -- "nobody hurt." What is to be apprehended is, that the stolen letter will prove such a letter of recommendation of Wells and his party that they will triumphantly elect him. In his opinion, doubtless, it accelerates his speed in the Gubernatorial race to such a velocipedic degree that it is not only folly to expect a Walker to beat him, but evenWithers (,) the hope of the Conservatives.

Appointments
(Column 01)

Summary: Reports the appointment of several local Judges. One man was unable to take the oath of loyalty, and as a consequence resigned his position.
(Names in announcement: David Fultz, Judge H. W. Sheffey, Samuel A. East, William A. Burnett, Samuel Cline, Robert D. Sears, Joseph N. Ryan, Samuel J. Baird, James F. Patterson)

Full Text of Article:

David Fultz, Esq. of this place, has been appointed Judge, vice Judge H. W. Sheffey removed. On the same evening on which he received his Commission, he qualified by taking the necessary oath, and the next morning was on his way to Amherst county to hold Court. -- This promptness of decision would seem to indicate that he possesses in an eminent degree one of the chief requisites of a judge. He is the only lawyer of this place who could qualify, and his appointment is more acceptable to our people that would have been that of any other person within or without the circuit who would consent to take the iron-clad oath. He has had a good practice at the bar for many years, and has devoted his studies assiduously and almost exclusively to his profession.

We published the fact last week that Sam'l A. East had been appointed Clerk of the County Court of Augusta, vice Wm. A Burnett removed. Mr. East declined to qualify, and resigned his commission.

The appointment was then conferred upon Mr. Sam'l Cline, who, we suppose, will be able to qualify. Mr. Cline is one of the most worthy citizens of this county. It would be fortunate for the State if all the appointments could be conferred upon citizens as worthy as Mr. Cline. We suppose that he will engage the services of the late faithful, capable and efficient Clerk, Wm. A. Burnett, as Mr. Robert D. Sears, appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court, engaged those of Mr. Jos. N. Ryan, his worthy and popular predecessor.

Rev. Dr. Sam'l J. Baird has been appointed Clerk of the Hustings Court of Staunton, vice Mr. Jas. F. Patterson. The services of Mr. Patterson will, of course, be retained, for that Court to do business without having Mr. Patterson to record its proceedings would be like enacting the play of Hamlet with the character of Hamlet omitted.

Making Treason Odious
(Column 02)

Summary: Claims that the treatment of the South by the North makes the latter more odious than the treason of the former.

Full Text of Article:

The treatment by the North of the South since the war has not had the effect to "render treason odious," but to render the conduct of the North odious. To have rendered treason by their acts, says the Petersburg Index, "that we had revolted against the best, and wisest, the most benignant government on earth, and not by their acts have strengthened our convictions that it is the meanest, basest, most malignant and narrow-minded upon which the sun shines."

"Make it so by removing those vile test-oaths which are a snare to the soul and a solicitation to perjury, and which have only made loyalty a drag net for rascality, which passes over the old conscientious Union man and catches those who have no conscience and will swear to anything. Let them apply the moral of the fable of the South and the Wind to their treatment of the South. Let them cease to act the part of the father who sets steel traps and spring guns for the returning prodigal.

Never will there be, never ought there to be, a real peace so long as the South is treated as a reprobate -- and never thus can "treason be made odious."

Outrage Near Chambersburg, PA.--Excitement and Attempted Lynching
(Column 03)

Summary: A freedman is accused of ravishing three women in Chambersburg. A lynch mob nearly broke him out of jail to hang him but were stopped by the insistence of prominent citizens.

Full Text of Article:

Chambersburg, Pa., March 21, -- On Thursday afternoon last a girl thirteen years old, and two young ladies, all white, and the daughters of farmers living within two miles of this place, were ravished by a negro. On Friday, a negro, nineteen years old, named Norris, a native of Chambersburg, was arrested, and is now in jail, as the perpetrator of these outrages.-- There seems but little doubt of his being the guilty party. The excitement in the community is intense.

On Friday night an effort was made to take Norris from the jail with the intention of hanging him. No lest than eight hundred people gathered about the building, but a number of prominent citizens made speeches and induced the mob to disperse. The prison has since been guarded by a posse comitatus summoned by the sheriff. The young ladies outraged are daughters of three of our most respectable farmers.

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The paper reassures readers that the remains of the soldiers buried in the small pox cemetery have not been forgotten. The soldiers died of that disease, and they will be moved to the soldiers' cemetery once it is "thought safe to do so." In the meantime, these graves have also been decorated with flowers on memorial day.

Married
(Column 03)

Summary: William A. Harrell and Miss Nancy F. Odor, both of Augusta, were married on March 11th at Mossy Creek by the Rev. Thomas E. Carson.
(Names in announcement: William A. Harrell, Nancy F. Odor, Rev. Thomas E. Carson)

Deaths
(Column 03)

Summary: Edward B. Dull died suddenly in Covington on March 18th. He was 37 years old.
(Names in announcement: Edward B. Dull)

Deaths
(Column 03)

Summary: Lucy Ellen Lawrence, daughter of Thomas and Sarah J. Lawrence, died near Staunton on March 24th. She was 17 days old.
(Names in announcement: Lucy Ellen Lawrence, Thomas Lawrence, Sarah J. Lawrence)

Deaths
(Column 03)

Summary: Miss Almira Wheat, daughter of the Rev. J. C. Wheat, died in Staunton on March 12th. "Bearing the stamp of serenity upon her brow, her generous heart and gentle influence, being ever ready to relieve the oppressed, and comfort the afflicted, causes the announcement of this sad event to keenly cut its way to every heart that knew her."