USA > Illinois > Cass County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Cass County, Volume II > Part 8
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Sec. 4. The owner or owners of the land where said county seat shall be located, shall donate and convey to said county of Cass, at least fifteen acres of land at the place where said seat shall be located, which may be dis- posed of in the manner the county commission- ers court of said county shall deem proper, the proceeds whereof shall be applied to the crec- tion of the courthouse and jail, and clerk's office of said county, but if the county scat aforesaid shall be located at Beardstown in said county, the corporation of said town shall, within one year from the said location, pay into the county treasury of said county, not less than ten thousand dollars to be applied in the erection of said public buildings.
Scc. 5. Said county shall vote with the county of Morgan for senators and representa- tives until the next apportionment. and said county shall make a part of the first judicial cir- cuit, and so soon as said county shall be organ- ized. the clerk of the county commissioners court of said county shall notify the judge of said circuit, and it shall be his duty to appoint a clerk and hold a court in said county at such times as said judge shall appoint. The seat of justice of said judge shall be located at Beards- town until the public buildings are erected. But if the county scat shall be located at Beards- town, and said corporation shall not pay to the treasurer of said county, said ten thousand dol- lars for the purpose of erecting said public
buildings within one year after the location of said county scat, then the county commis- sioners court of said county shall locate the county seat at some other point near the center of said county. when the quantity of land mell- tioned in the fourth section of this act shall be denoted as therein provided.
Sec. G. The school funds belonging to the several townships in said county, and all notes and mortgages pertaining to the same, shall be paid and delivered over to the school commis- sioners of said Cass County by the school com- missioners of the county of Morgan, as soon as the said county shall be organized. and the commissioners of school lands shall be appointed and qualified according to law, together with all interest arising out of said money, that has not been heretofore expended for schools within that part of Morgan County now proposed to be set off into the county of Cass. This act shall take effect according to the conditions thereof from and after its passage.
Sec. 7. In case said county of Cass shall be created under the provisions of this act, then until the next apportionment of senators and representatives to the General Assembly, the said county shall be entitled to one representa- tive to the General Assembly, and shall at the next election vote with the county of Morgan for one senator, also at every succeeding clec- tion for said senator, and the county of Morgan shall be entitled to five representatives and two senators. Approved March 3rd, 1837."
Pursuant to the law enacted by the legisla- ture of 1837, and set out in the above quoted Act, an election was held on the third Monday of April, 1837, to determine by the votes whether the new county of Cass should be cre- ated or not. Governor Joseph L. Duncan, who signed the bill after it passed both houses of the assembly, lived at Jacksonville, in Morgan, from which was to be taken, if the voters so directed, a very large and valuable tract of land. It is wondered how the bill for the new county ever got out of the committee or passed either house against the well known influence the members from Morgan possessed. As there was some prospect, at least, of the location at Jacksonville of the state capital, it would seem reasonable that all interests of Jacksonville and Morgan County, would be directed in the di- rection of retaining as much territory as pos- sible, and as many voters who, presumably
Eng by E & Williams & Bre. N.Y
Albert C. Baxter
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would have local pride sufficient to cause them to vote for the locating of the seat of state government in their own county.
The legislature had, at the session of 1833, passed an act providing that when the limit of twenty years expired, during which time the capital should remain at Vandalia, the people should vote for the state capital to be at one of the following places :
"The geographical center of the state, Jack- sonville, Springfield, Alton, Vandalia or Peoria." The one receiving the highest number of votes should be the permanent seat of government, but it seems that the politicians knew that the legislature would ignore that law or repeal it, and gave little attention to the voters. There was much dissatisfaction on the part of the voters living in the northern part of Morgan on account of the fact that the strip three miles wide on the south had been left within the boundaries of Morgan County. This strip contained about eighty square miles, most of it excellent prairie, and while if left with Morgan County, would make that county one of the best in the state, by depriving Cass County of that amount of good land, it reduced it to one of the smallest and weakest territorially in the state, and according to the popular estimate of the value of the lands of Cass County, as proposed to be created, after deducting the inundated lands bordering on the Illinois and Sangamon rivers, the sand ridges and bluffs by which they were skirted, and the waste and untillable lands in the interior, it was said that Cass would contain less productive land than any other county in the state. So, notwithstanding the further fact, that the north end voters were much incensed against the "political ring" at Jacksonville, and very much desired a new county, yet the vote was against the organiza- tion. The canvassing board at Jacksonville, however, when they met to canvass the returns, threw out the votes of the entire precinct of Meredosia, the southwest corner of the county, and Lucas Precinct, in the extreme northeast part of the county, which were against the crea- tion of the new county, and thus declared the proposition carried, and so certified to the secre- tary of state, and the county of Cass as created by the aforementioned act, became one of the counties of Illinois.
ACT TO REMOVE STATE CAPITAL PASSED,
The legislature which passed the act creating Cass County, and at the same session, but a few days earlier, passed an act for the removal of the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield, was elected in August of the year previous, or to be exact, August 6, 1836, included some of. the holdover senators, and was for mental strength and ability of its members, the most remarkable of any yet chosen in Illinois. No previous General Assembly of our state, and very few since, has comprised such an array of brainy, talented men ; or as many who sub- sequently gained such eminence in the annals of the state and nation. In the senate were : Orville H. Browning, Cyrus Edwards, William J. Gatewood, John S. Hacker, Robert K. Mc- Laughlin, Henry I. Mills, William Thomas, John D. Whiteside and John D. Weed; and in the house were Edward D. Baker, John Hogan, Milton Carpenter, Newton Cloud, Richard M. Cullom, father of the late United States Senator Shelby M. Cullom, John Dement, John Dough- erty, Stephen A. Douglas, Jesse K. Duboise, Ninian W. Edwards, William L. D. Ewing, Augustus C. French, John J. Hardin, Abraham Lincoln, Usher F. Linder, Dr. John Logan, father of General John A. Logan, John A. McClernand, James Semple, John Moore, William A. Richardson, James H. Ralston and Robert Smith. In this list are found one president of the United States, six who later occupied seats in the United States senate, eight congressmen, three governors, three lieu- tenant governors, two attorney generals, five state treasurers, two state auditors, one super- intendent of public instruction, and several supreme and circuit court judges. Comment is made by Dr. J. F. Snyder in one of his historical papers that "it was this same body of learned and distinguished statesmen who committed at that session, the supreme folly of exacting the famous Internal Improvement measures that in three years placed the state on the verge of bankruptcy burdened with a public debt of over $14.000,000." The results of that legislation fully justify the comment, and illustrate what effect and influence public clamor will have upon legislative bodies. History sometimes re- peats itself. Morgan County, which then included Cass and Scott, had in that assembly three senators, and seven representatives, as follows : William Thomas, William O'Rear and
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William Weatherford, senators, and Newton Cloud, Stephen A. Douglas, William W. Happy, John J. Hardin, Joseph Morton, Richard S. Walker and John Wyatt, representatives.
The people of the new county of Cass, though much chagriued at the loss, as they be- lieved, by trickery and unfair dealing, of the valuable three mile strip, accepted the result philosophically aud proceeded to call au election for officers to organize the couuty government. The election was held August 7, 1837, and as there were but three election precincts, it needed but little election machinery. At Beards- town the election was held at the house of Moses Perkins. In Virginia Precinct at the house of John DeWeber, aud in Lucas or Rich- mond Precinct at the house of John Lucas. The election officers at Beardstown were: Thomas Beard, James Arnold and John Schaeffer, judges, and C. W. Clarke and T. W. Webb, clerks. At Virginia, Isaiah Paschal, William M. Clarke and James Daniels were judges, and William Blair and M. H. Beadles, clerks. Johu Taylor, Mathew Lownsbury and Robert Leeper were judges at Richmond, and Robert B. Taylor and Cyrus Wright were clerks. A list of the voters at that election is here copied aud is interesting, as these men were the first to exer- cise the right of franchise in Cass County. At that time the law permitted residents of the county to vote at either precinct where he might be on election day, and thus it happened that the names of some persons appear as voting in a precinct in which they did not reside.
LIST OF VOTERS.
Beardstown .- Jno. F. Bailey, Alex. King, Ben. Beasley, Christ. Shanks, Jerem. Wilson, Jordan Marshall, Jos. Britton, Geo. Bryant, Jas. King, Geo. Mckay, John C. Linsley, Elizur Anderson, Edmund Ensly, Evan Jenkins, T. C. Mills, Wm. Turkymire, J. W. Crewdson, ' Thos. Haskins, Andr. Keltner, Ammasa Reeves, C. F. Kandage, Elisha Marshall, John Marshall, Jos. Seaman, Isham Revis, Nich. Parsons, Lewis G. Lambert, Wm. Cox, Frankl. Stewart, Sam. Hunt, Jas. Pounds, Fredy White, Landerick Kale, Nich. Rheim, Moses Derby, Jas. Benuett, Curtis Hager, Dan. Wells, Hy. P. Ross, Hy. Kemble, Chr. Boyd, Jos. Haskins, Milton Parmele. John Quail, Bernard Beist, Ben. Britton, Geo. Cowan, J. N. Jenkins, Dan. Britton, Sam. Groshong, John Kettelly, Wm. Quig, Marcus Chandler,
Leander Brown, Jas. Carlick, Dan'l Boyne, Thos. Proctor, Richard Graves, Richrd. Wells, George Brown, Edw. Saunders, Adolph Shupong, G. Kuhl, 2d, Henry T. Foster, Wm. Bryant, Dave Marshall, Bluford Haines, Hy. Shaffer, Thos. Pierce, Jacob J. Brown, Jackson Stewart, Jos. Cauby, Geo. Garlick, Jas. Dickinson, Wes- ley Peyton, Isaac Short, Amasa Warren, Geo. Shaffer, Asa Street, Jas. Roach, Ben. Horrom, Jos. H. Clemens, Jas. Neeper, Jackson Scott, Stepheu Buck, Ww. Shuteman, Edward Salley, Demsey Boyce, Aarou Powell, Jerm. Bowen, Jas. Case, A. Philippi, P. Philippi, W. W. Gor- don, Hy. Havekluft, Jac. Fisal, Johu Newman, Johu Yokes, Orin Hicks, John Wagoner, Thomas Cowan, Johu Hicks, Dav. Newman, G. A. Bonny, Jas. A. Carr, John Horrom, Zack. Bridgewater, Wm. Moore, Wm. R. Parks, John P. Dick, Joshua Morris, Wm. W. Clemmons, J. Philippi, Jas. Scott, Jas. Cook, Johu Gutliff Berger, Fred Krohe, Aug. Krohe, Fred Inkle, Louis Sudbrink, Adam Krough, Moutela Rich- ardson, Rucy Richardson, W. Moody, Sam. Fletcher, L. H. Treadway, John Price, Reuben Alexander, J. M. Quate, Wm. Miller, Hy. Whit- tick, J. C. Spence, Hy. Wedeking, T. Graham, Jr., John W. Pratt, J. Arnold, Jno. Miller, Lewis Haines, Phil. Shaffer, Gottlieb Jokisch, Jn. H .. Treadway, John Richardson, Chrtst'n Kuhl, John Holtman, Seymour Coffren, Wm. Holmes, Thos. C. Black, Owen Clemens, Bradford Rew, Lewis Cowan, Nich. Coteral, Juo. Cuppy, God- frey Gullet, John C. Scott, Wm. H. McKanley, Alex. Ratcliff, Mat. McBride, John Burns, John Bridgewater, John A. Thomas, Jou. Buck, Wm. R. White, Jn. W. Auderson, Henry Collins, Hy. Rohn, Wm. Bassett, Jas. Davidson, Robert Lindsey, Wm. Cross, Jno. Wilbouru, Johu Mc- Kean, Jas. Logan, Jos. Baker, Christ. Newman, Thos. Stokes, Jasper Buck, Jas. Davis, Jas. Bell, E. R. Gilett, J. B. Pierce, Harmon Byrnes, Joshua Alexander, Jn. W. Gillis, Christ. Trone, Carlton Logan, Nich. Kelly, Dan. Riggle, Lemuel Plasters, John Bull, N. B. Thompson, Edw'd Treadway, Chs. Chandler, Peter Light, Wm. B. Gaines, Fred Krohe, Caleb Lee, Thos. Carroll, Phil. Kuhn, G. Kuhl, John Rohn, Jac. Downing, Dav. Tureman, Dav. Speuce, Moritz Halleubach, Hy. Boemler, Dave Emerich, L. H. Wilkey, Thos. J. Mosely, Joel K. Bowman, Win. W. Gillett, Wm. W. Hemminghouse, Fred Kors, John Decker, Chs. Garland, John Brackle, Chr. Hell, Elisha Olcott, Absolom Spence, Wm. Ritchie, Hy. Miller, M. Kemper, Wm. Moore, Sam. Shaw,
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Jos. McClure, Win. Dougall, Wm. Holmes, Lewis Nolte, Wm. Clark, B. W. Schneider, Francis Rice, Aug. Knapp, Dan. Scott, Martin F. Higgins, Dudley Green, Thos. Wilbonrn, Hy. Bracker, O. Long, John Schaeffer, Dav. Jones, Jesse Ankrom, Wm. Butler, Wm. W. Bolt, G. F. Miller, Jae. Anderson, Lewis Stoner, A. Batoage, T. U. Webb, J. Blackman, Pete T. Bell, Morgan Kemper, Thos. Bryant, Otto Wells, J. W. Lippincott, Wm. Shepard, Sam. Thompson, Hy, Hendricker, Rob. Moore, Wm. Sewell, Sam. McKee, T. A. Hoffman, Reuben Hager, John Duehardt, Wm. L. Felix, John Ayres, Hammer Oatman, Thos. Sannders, A. Williams, J. B. Wil- son, Thos. Payne, Wm. B. Ulside, Dan. Sheldon, John McLane, Lewis Kloker, F. Arenz, Moses Perkins, Hy. Phoebe, Butler Arnold, Isaac Plasters, Z. P. Harvey, Wm. H. Williams, Ralph Morgan, J. P. Crow, Austin Chittenden, C. W. Clark, John Cushman, J. S. Wilbonrne, Wm. Scott, Edw. Collins, John Pierson, Lewis Piper, Jno. Steele, Arn. Arenz, Peter Douglas, Hy. Kashner, Jos. W. Hardy, Jolin Mckown, H. Smith, Win. DeHaven, C. J. Nerbury, Hy. McKean, Thos. Beard, Dave White.
Richmond .- Mat'w Lounsberry, Wm. T. Ker- ick, Azariah Lewis, Gibson Carter, John Fancier, Jaeob Bixler, Oliver Logue, Aaron Wright, Standley Lockerman, Robert Nance, Mathew Lounsberry, John Leeper, Geo. Fancier, Cyrus Elmore, Henry D. Wilson, Henry Taylor, Marcus' Cooper, Eaton Nance, John Pratt, Syl- vester Sutton, Amos Bonny, Cyrus Wright, Obadiah Morgan, Jerry W. Davis, John Cheshire, Al ner Foster, Cary Nance, Enoch Wheelock, Charles Scaggs, Riley Claxton, John Cook, Henry McHenry, Amos Diek, Jonathan Loge, Colman Gaines, Daniel Robinson, Robert Leeper, Robert B. Taylor, Willis Daniels, Robert Carter, Washington Daniels, James Hickey, Ashley Hickey, John Hillis, Thos. Lockermond, Levi. Dick, David Pratt, Henry Nichols, John Wil- SON, Wm. Lueas, John Pryor, Henry S. Dutch, Wm. Meyers, Fredrick McDonald, Pleasant Rose, James Bonnet, Thomas Jones, John L. Witty, Alfred Daniels, John B. Thompson, James Hawthorn, H. W. Libbeen, Robert G. Gaines, James Roles, Horatio Purdy, John Roberts, Thomas Plasters, Peter Diek, Win. I inn, Calvin Wilson, Win. P. Morgan, Zachariah Ilash, Clinton Wilson, John Johnson, Henry Dick, John Hathorn, John Davis, John Lucas, John Taylor, James B. Conner, Win. S. Clemons,
James Wing, Eli Cox, - John Baldin, John B. Witty.
Virginia .- Lonis Thornberry, Win. Graves, P. S. Onten, Benj. Corby, P. Underwood, Jr., Thos. J. Joy, Wmn. B. Kirk, Jos. McDaniles, Robt. Davidson, Benediet Cameron, Zeb. Wood, Wm. Craig, L. Carpenter, Geo. Cunningham, Green H. Paschal, John McDonald, Charles Brady, W. P. Johnstone, John Carpenter, Thos. G. Howard, Green Garner, C. H. Oliver, Jas. Ross, Sr., A. Bowen, Evan Warren, Jas. Holland, John Slack, Young Phelps, L. B. Ross, Alex. Bain, John Beadles, H. H. Hall, A. S. West, WVm. Blain, Jas. Williams, Thos. Boicourt, George Shaw, Pleas. Scott, J. T. Powell, Archi- bald Job, B. Stribling, S. Stevens, James B. Davis, Elias Mathew, Daniel Cauby, J. M. Mc- Lean, Jos. Jump, Amos L. Benny, John Peirce, Jas. Berry, Isaiah Paschal, John DeWeber, Wm. Paton, Levi Springer, Thos. Plasters, Sr., John Glover, Perry G. Price, John Daniels, Jeremiah Northern, Felix Cameron, H. Osborne, Ander- son Phelps, Jesse Spicer, Jas. Bland, John Clark, Michael Reed, Onslow Watson, Joel Home, Wm. Daniels, W. P. Finch, Thos. Lee, Joshna Price, Aaron Bonny, Ephraim Mosely, T. S. Berry, John Long, John Cunningham, L. Clark, Ezra Dutch, John Craig, Wm. Fields, Jas. Garner, Philip Cochrane, A. Elder, Wm. M. Clark, Titus Phelps, Henry Hopkins, John Robinson, J. M. Ross, Jas. Beadles, Reddick Horn, George Beggs, Chas. P. Anderson, Jas. Daniels, John Redman, Thos. Finn, L. B. Free- man, B. A. Blantin, Alex Huffman, James Mc- Donald, John Biddlecome, M. O'Brien, M. H. Beadles.
FIRST OFFICIALS.
The necessary offieers to be elected for the purpose of forming the legal county machinery, were a probate justice of the peace, a sheriff, a coroner, recorder, surveyor, treasurer, three county commissioners whose deliberations were called a connty commissioners court, and a clerk of that body, or as now designated, county clerk. Though the Democratic party was in control of the national government, yet political sentiment was pretty evenly divided at that time in this part of Illinois between that party and the Whig party. The first election for offieers in Cass County did not turn upon party lines. There was no nominating conven- tion ; each candidate announced himself and
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took his chances. At the first election, when the voters whose names are above given, voted, there were several candidates for each of the required offices, as follows : for probate justice -J. S. Wilbourn, William Scott and James Berry; for county commissioner-A. Bonny, Joshua P. Crow, George F. Miller, Benjamin Stribling, Henry McKean and Henry McHenry ; for sheriff-Lemon Plasters, John B. Bueb and Martin F. Higgins; for county clerk-Robert G. Gaines and John W. Pratt; for recorder-N. B. Thompson, O. M. Long, Alfred Elder, and Thomas Graham, Jr .; for surveyor-William Clark and William Holmes; for treasurer-I. C. Spence and Thomas Wilbourn; for coroner-Ephraim Rew, Jacob Anderson and Halsey Smith. The following were the successful candidates: Pro- bate justice, John S. Wilbourn. Recorder, N. B. Thompson. Sheriff, Lemon Plasters. Treasurer, Thomas Wilbourn. County clerk, John W. Pratt. Surveyor, William Holmes. Coroner, Halsey Smith. County commissioners, Joshua P. Crow, Amos Bonny and George F. Miller.
With these sturdy pioneers at the wheels, the county of Cass started on its eventful journey. On August 14 of that same year, the county commissioners met and divided the county into six precincts named as follows: Beardstown, Monroe, Virginia, Sugar Grove, Richmond and Bowens. The first general election in the county was held one year later on August 6, 183S. Nominating conventions had come into vogue, and the Democratic party held its first conven- tion at Vandalia, presenting a ticket to be voted at that election, with Thomas Carlin as candi- date for governor. Joseph L. Duncan was not a candidate to succeed himself for the reason that by terms of the constitution, a governor was not eligible "for more than four years in a term of eight years." The election in Cass County was conducted on party lines, and the Whigs proved to be in the majority, Edwards the Whig candidate receiving 335 votes to 11S for Carlin, while William Holmes, who had the year previous been elected surveyor for Cass County, now received 208 votes as a Whig can- didate for representative against 198 votes for Thomas Beard, and 114 for Henry Mckean, both Democratic candidates. Thus it happened that Mr. Holmes was the first representative for the new county.
In the meantime the vote to locate the county seat had been taken the first Monday of May, 1837, as required by law creating the county of
Cass, and had resulted in the selection of Beardstown for that honor. The seat of justice had already been, by said law, established at Beardstown, but some doubt as to the legality of the election on the question of the county seat having arisen, and the legislature being in special session in July of that same year, passed an additional act, or one supplementary to the original one, erecting the county, wherein it was provided that the county of Cass as desig- nated and bounded in said original act, was declared to be one of the counties of the state, and that the county seat should be at Beards- town, provided, however the corporation of Beardstown should comply with the provisions of said act relating to the raising of the sum of ten thousand dollars for the purpose of erecting the public buildings for said county, but extending the time to one, two and three years for the payment of said sum, and further providing that the county commissioners should make their contracts for the erection of said buildings so as to make their payments thereon when the installments of said ten thousand dollars should become due. Said act further provided that the courthouse should be erected upon the public square in Beardstown. This little sentence in the act caused much dissen- sion among the residents of Beardstown later on, and the courthouse was not built upon the public square. Thanks to the good judgment of the dissenters, and their persistence in standing by it, no public buildings of any kind were ever erected on the public square, and it has remained as it was originally intended, a public park, now beautifully ornamented with walks and splendid shade trees.
In spite of all this legislation, a peaceful and acceptable solution of the county seat ques- tion had not yet appeared, so interested parties lied themselves to the General Assembly for another act of the legislature, that panacea for all troubles, and on March 2, 1839, the legis- lature, by preambling the doubts, and whereas- ing the cause, again undertook to construe the loose and ambiguous act of March 3, 1837, creating the county of Cass. In the preamble of the last act it was noted that Beardstown had failed to comply with the provisions of either the original or second acts, concerning the erection of public buildings, and that the county commissioners had under the provisions of the original act, contracted for the erection of a courthouse at Virginia, and had located the
Ena by E. G Williams & Bro N.
Ethel J. Baxter
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
county seat at that point, and followed with Section 1, of the act.
"Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in The General As- sembly, That the county seat of Cass Connty shall be and remain at Virginia, and the courts of said connty shall hereafter be held at that place ; and the several county officers, who are required to keep their offices at the connty seat, are required to remove their respective offices, and all bonds, documents, books and papers pertaining to the same to Virginia, on or before the first day of May next, and there- after hold and keep their respective offices at that place, and in case one or more of said officers shall fail or refnse to comply with the provisions of this act, such officer shall forfeit his office."
The latter clause seems to have had the de- sired effect, and the public paraphernalia was removed to Virginia. Indeed the officers would rather have moved the Illinois River to Vir- ginia than to give np the offices. The citizens of Virginia had accepted the conditions prece- dent to the establishing of the county seat there, and Dr. Henry Hall had donated the fif- teen acres of land as required by the original law. That law provided that the land so do- nated "may be disposed of in the manner the county commissioners conrt of said connty shall deem proper, and the proceeds whereof shall be applied to the erection of the courthouse and jail and clerk's office." Dr. Hall proposed to the commissioners that if they wonld reconvey the fifteen acres to him which he had donated he would build the conrthonse and jail. Realiz- ing the liberality of the offer, the commissioners accepted it, and that summer a substantial two- story brick building was erected which accom- modated the connty amply for court room and offices until the county seat was again removed to Beardstown some years later.
COUNTY SEAT RETURNED TO BEARDSTOWN.
The people of Beardstown and vicinity were still nursing their ill feeling towards Virginia over the loss of the connty seat, characterizing the manner in which the removal had been made as a highhanded outrage, althongh as a matter of fact the people of Virginia were not charg- able with reprehensible conduct in the matter,
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