SHERIFF 



5349 



SHERMAN 



lowing year. Several memorable battles were 

 fought in this locality at the time of General 

 Sheridan's campaign against the Sioux confed- 

 eracy in 1876. The population in 1910 was 

 8,408; it was 12,713 (Federal estimate) in 1916. 

 The area is more than two square miles. 



SHERIFF, sher'ij, in the United States and 

 Canada a county officer empowered to exe- 

 cute civil and criminal process throughout the 

 county. Specifically, he is charged with the 

 safe keeping of prisoners and juries, and with 

 the prevention of breaches of the peace. He 

 attends courts as chief administrative officer 

 and executes their judgments. When a war- 

 rant of attachment is issued it is his duty to 

 seize the property attached. If judgment is 

 rendered against a debtor the sheriff is the offi- 

 cer empowered to seize his property and to sell 

 it to satisfy claims of creditors. He may per- 

 form these duties in person or through an au- 

 thorized deputy sheriff. 



In the United States the sheriff must be 

 twenty-one years of age, be a citizen of the 

 country, and reside in the county which he rep- 

 resents. In most states the office is elective, 

 and in some he may serve but two successive 

 terms, The name is derived from the Anglo- 

 Saxon word for shire reeve, the shire being a 

 political division in old England corresponding 

 to a modern county. The headman of the shire 

 was called reeve. 



In Canada. Every county or judicial district 

 in a province is represented by a sheriff, who 

 is appointed by the provincial lieutenant-gov- 

 ernor in council. The sheriffs in Canadian prov- 

 inces carry out the orders, sentences and judg- 

 ments of superior courts. They summon juries, 

 and have charge of jails and their keepers. 

 Each sheriff appoints his own deputies and is 

 responsible for their behavior as officials, and 

 he must give security for the performance of 

 his own duties. 



SHERMAN, JAMES SCHOOLCRAFT (1855-1912), 

 an American Congressman and Vice-President, 

 born at Utica, N. Y. He was graduated at 

 Hamilton College in 1878, was admitted to 

 the bar in 1880, and began practice in his na- 

 tive city. Not long after he became prominent 

 in Republican politics. In 1884 he was elected 

 mayor of Utica, and in 1887 he became a mem- 

 ber of Congress, serving until 1909, excepting 

 for the term of 1891-1893. He was elected Vice- 

 President on the Republican ticket in 1908, and 

 was'renominated with Mr. Taft in 1912, but he 

 died six days after the election in November. 

 His place on the ticket, as voted by the Elec- 



JOHN SHERMAN 

 Probably the most influen- 



toral College the next January, was filled by 

 Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia 

 University. 



SHERMAN, JOHN (1823-1900), an American 

 statesman, the author of the famous silver and 

 antitrust laws that bear his name. He was a 

 brother of the Union general, William T. Sher- 

 man, who was a Federal leader in the War of 

 Secession, and was 

 born at Lancas- 

 ter, Ohio. Dur- 

 ing the war John 

 Sherman was as 

 active in the fi- 

 nancial affairs of 

 the nation as his 

 distinguished 

 brother was in 

 the military af- 

 fairs. He entered 



the Senate as a tial statesman of his day. 

 Republican (from Ohio) in 1861, became chair- 

 man of the Finance Committee, and was a lead- 

 ing advocate of the bill which established the 

 national banking system (see BANKS AND BANK- 

 ING, subhead Banking in the United States) . In 

 1875, while still Senator, he secured the pas- 

 sage of the Resumption Act, which provided 

 for the redemption of outstanding United States 

 notes (see SPECIE PAYMENTS, RESUMPTION OF). 

 In 1877 President Hayes made Sherman Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury, and the duties of this 

 office he performed with high distinction. At 

 the close of the Presidential term Ohio again 

 sent him to the Senate, where he remained un- 

 til 1897. It was during this period that he se- 

 cured the enactment of the Antitrust Law (see 

 TRUSTS) and the Sherman Silver Act. Presi- 

 dent McKinley appointed him Secretary of 

 State in 1897, but the outbreak of the war with 

 Spain, in 1898, put too great a strain upon his 

 failing powers, and he retired to private life. 



Consult Bronson's Life and Public Services of 

 John Sherman. 



SHERMAN, ROGER (1721-1793), an American 

 statesman of the early national period who had 

 a prominent part in the drafting of the Dec- 

 laration of Independence and of the Articles 

 of Confederation, and in the ratification of the 

 Federal Constitution. He was a native of 

 Newton, Mass., but during his public career 

 was a citizen of Connecticut. Before the Revo- 

 lutionary War broke out he had served as a 

 member of the Connecticut legislature, as jus- 

 tice of the peace, judge of the court of com- 

 mon pleas, treasurer of Yale College, judge of 



