48G 



MICHIGAN. 



Lake Superior up the river some distance, and 

 then strike across in a southeasterly direction to 

 the Menorainee, which it follows to its mouth at 

 Green Bay. But the Montreal is formed by two 

 forks, the more easterly of which has been taken 

 for the main stream. It is now asserted that the 

 western fork is the larger of the two. The land 

 between the forks includes the town of Hurley 

 and valuable iron mines in the extension of the 

 Gogebic range. 



A Mysterious Wall. A great stone wall re- 

 cently discovered in Greenleaf township, Sanilac 

 County, 4 miles east and 1 south of Cass City, 

 has excited much curiosity. The upper part of 

 this mysterious structure was laid bare by the 

 forest fires, and it resembles, at a distance, a 

 huge white serpent lying in a swamp, through 

 which it passes. The wall is about 8 feet wide 

 at the top, and wider at the base. At one place 

 along the line of the wall a ditch has been made 

 to drain the swamp. This wall was cut through 

 in several places, but the bottom was not reached 

 in any case. 



Removal of State Officers. The Secretary 

 of State, State Treasurer, and Commissioner of 

 the Land Office, composing the State Board of 

 Canvassers, were charged with gross neglect of 

 duty in the canvass of the returns of votes in 

 April, 1893, for and against the adoption of the 

 proposed amendment relative to the salaries of 

 State officers. (See " Annual Cyclopaedia," 1893, 

 page 495.) They reported that the amendment 

 was carried, whereas it was asserted that an hon- 

 est canvass of the votes would show it to have 

 been defeated, and that these officers, instead of 

 making an examination of the returns, as was 

 their duty, accepted without verification the 

 work of 2 clerks in the office of the Secretary 

 of State. The Governor removed them from 

 office, Feb. 19. Indictments were found against 

 them, and also against the Attorney-General, 

 the 2 clerks, the sergeant at arms of 'the State 

 Senate, and 3 others, on charges of conspiring to 

 make a false record of the State vote. The At- 

 torney-General was held under 3 charges forg- 

 ing returns from Gogebic County, destroying 

 records of Wayne County, and conspiracy. It 

 was also charged that the vote on an amend- 

 ment in 1891 was fraudulently returned. 



The Secretary of State claimed that the order 

 of removal was void, because the Governor, un- 

 der the State Constitution, could remove him 

 only for malfeasance in his action as Secretary 

 of State, not as a member of the Board of Can- 

 vassers : that under the United States Constitu- 

 tion he could not be deprived of life, liberty, or 

 property without due process of law, etc. The 

 Supreme Court sustained the Governor, holding 

 that the duty of canvassing the returns was a 

 part of the official duty of the Secretary, since 

 without his office he would not act in that capa- 

 city ; and said further on this point : 



It appears to have been the design of lawmakers to 

 place the votes of the people in the keeping of the 

 most responsible officers of the State, and no argu- 

 ment ought to be necessary to show that it was not 

 expected that the returns would upon their arrival he 

 turned over to an irresponsible clerk in the Secretary 

 of State's office, having no official relation to the can- 

 vass, whose tabulation should be the canvass, and 

 that the mere signing of these 3 names to his pro- 



duction should constitute a full compliance on the 

 part of these officers with the law prescribing the 

 duties of the State canvassers. 



In reference to the claim that the Federal 

 Constitution was violated the opinion said : 



To sustain tins point it must appear that the re- 

 moval from office is a deprivation of property, and 

 that it was sought to be accomplished without due 

 process of law. A public office can not be called 

 property within the meaning of the Constitution. 

 Public offices are created for the purposes of govern- 

 ment. They are not the subjects of contract, but are 

 the agencies of the State, revocable at pleasure by the 

 authority creating them, unless such authority be 

 limited by the power which conferred it. 



The alleged frauds in the count of returns for 

 1891, which did not come to light until this year, 

 were on the constitutional amendment raising 

 the salary of the Attorney-General from $800 to 

 $2.500. The amendment was reported to have 

 had a majority of 1,287 in its favor. In January 

 of the present year a petition was filed by the 

 Governor asking that the board be reconvened 

 and be required to recanvass the votes cast, the 

 petition alleging that the board of 1891 failed 

 to do its duty, in that no canvass of the vote 

 cast in Gratiot County was made, and that Gra- 

 tiot County gave 1,316 negative votes on the 

 proposition and but 626 in its favor. The peti- 

 tion also alleges that the returns from Gogebic 

 County were fraudulently changed by adding 

 1,000 to the affirmative vote, so that, as a matter 

 of fact, the amendment was defeated in the State 

 by more than 400 votes. 



The decision of the Supreme Court in reference 

 to this was given in May. The court said there 

 could be no question that the returns from Goge- 

 bic County were falsified, and one of the most 

 flagrant frauds ever attempted in the history of 

 the State was successfully carried out. The court 

 directed that the present Board of State Can- 

 vassers convene and recanvass the vote of Gratiot 

 County and correct the vote of Gogebic County. 



The criminal proceedings under the indict- 

 ments as above began, in April, with the trial of 

 the Secretary of State. The Attorney-General 

 was tried in June. Both trials resulted in dis- 

 agreements of the jury. 



Soon after the new Secretary of State took of- 

 fice it was discovered that August W. Lindholm, 

 who had been deputy under the deposed Secre- 

 tary, was a defaulter to a considerable amount. 

 He was found to be in Sweden, was arrested un- 

 der extradition papers, and is bound over for 

 trial. 



Political. A Governor and other Stale offi- 

 cers and members of Congress were elected in 

 November. 



The Democratic State Convention was held at 

 Grand Rapids, June 28. The platform denounced 

 the principle of protection; reaffirmed the Chi- 

 cago platform of 1892 ; declared in favor of nom- 

 inating Senators by the State conventions; ap- 

 proved President 'Cleveland's administration : 

 demanded a free open water way from the Great 

 Lakes to the sea; recommended the curtailment 

 of immigration as the cure of Coxeyism, and 

 favored the settlement of labor disputes by ar- 

 bitration ; demanded the forfeiture of all un- 

 earned land grants ; and denounced trusts and 

 dishonest monopolies. 



