Iowa
Old Press
Jackson Sentinel
Maquoketa, Jackson co. Iowa
October 2, 1879
Thomas Hood Davis
In regard to the candidacy of Thomas Hood Davis for Sheriff, we
have one charge to make that with us, and we are certain also
with the people of Jackson County, weighs more than anything
else. We say nothing of the personal stories that are in every
mouth regarding Davis. We leave him to explain them and leave
them out of print. But we make the charge, open and above board,
and without fear of successful contradiction, that Thomas Hood
Davis is absolutely and positively unqualified, for want of
sufficient education or ability to fill the Sheriff’s
office.
People must bear in mind that it takes an able man to make a good
sheriff. There is no office in the county where the business
abilities of a man are more seriously taxed, where more judgment
and discretion is required, than in the office of sheriff.
Attorneys will all agree that the very best man that can be found
is required for that position. A mistaken notion seems to prevail
that all the requirements a sheriff needs is to be a strong
able-bodied man, that can walk up to a criminal, take him by his
collar, and then trot off with him under his arm. The truth is,
that the making of arrests is but the smallest and most
insignificant portion of the sheriff’s duty, and is most
frequently delegated to a deputy. The Marshall of Maquoketa makes
more arrests in any one month than the Sheriff of Jackson County
makes during his whole term. It is the careful management of
foreclosures, the ability to attend to court business properly,
the judgment to know how to act in different cases, the
competency to keep entangled affairs straight, for the fact that
the sheriff has anything to do with matters is sufficient
evidence that they are tangled, and the honest management of
other people’s money are among the requirements of a good
sheriff.
It is not every man that is able to fill the position acceptably,
and among the rest is Davis. He is not a good enough businessman
to be sheriff of Jackson county, lacking not only the ability but
the requisite education. There are several letters in existence
and one of which we publish today, that are fearfully and
wonderfully made, and if, as sheriff of Jackson county he were to
get up his papers in the same style, he would be the laughing
stock of the county. It is the quintessence of cheek for a man
not better acquainted than Davis to ask for such a responsible
office as sheriff, and we are slow to believe that the people of
Jackson county are ready to elect a man to such a position that
is so utterly unqualified.
It is a matter of surprise that he should succeed in getting even
a renomination for the office, and we can account for it only on
the ground that the convention that nominated him was unaware of
his unfitness for the position. Mr. Davis is not to blame for his
lack of education and illiteracy is not a crime, though it is to
be deplored, but he is to blame for presuming to aspire a second
time to an office that he ought to know that he has not the
qualifications to fill properly.
The fact is, Hood Davis is fully aware of his incompetency or he
would not trust everything to his deputy’s hands, and absent
himself weeks at a time from the county seat. He again thinks
that with Dorsey, who is an old court house rat, that he can run
the office another two years; but the people do not want to elect
men who are obliged to depend on deputies, and who are living and
continue to live twenty miles from their place of business. With
letters of Davis’ in existence, passing from hand to hand,
and creating lots of sport, his candidacy for the office he wants
two years longer, is a farce and if he should accidently be
elected by buying up a township again (which we rather think he
can’t do) his papers. If he should attempt to draw them up
himself (in Dorsey’s absence) would be the laughing stock of
judge and jury. We cannot believe that the people of Jackson
county will, if they thoroughly understand that Davis is so
utterly lacking in the necessary qualifications, re-elect him to
office.
[Transcribed by K.W., September 2010]