USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 49
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Under the administration of William R. Coates an assignment system was inaugurated and its direction placed in the hands of V. A. E. Dustin. This has been improved in its operation and is now a separate department under the growing needs of the county courts. With Mr. Dustin from the start has been Mr. Charles L. Stevens, who is still active with him in the assignment room. Some years later a criminal assignment depart- ment was established and placed under the direction of Archie Kennel, who is now in charge. The two heads of the assignment system of the courts are also acting as jury commissioners, Mr. Dustin and Mr. Kennel providing names for the wheel from which the names of jurymen and jurywomen are drawn.
The office of sheriff was filled by appointment of the Common Pleas Court until about 1834. Those serving by appointment in the order named were: Smith S. Baldwin, Harry Murray, Cleveland ; Eben Hosmer, Newburgh; Enoch Murray, Cleveland; Seth Doan, Cleveland, and James S. Clark, Euclid. Those chosen by election, and down through the years there have been many sharp contests as party lines have been drawn for county officers, have been A. S. Barnum, Rockport; Seth S. Henderson, Newburgh; Madison Miller, Huron Beebe and Elias Root, Cleveland ; Alva H. Brainard, Bedford; Seth A. Abbey, Miller M. Spangler, Cleve- land; David L. Wightman, Warrensville; James A. Craw, Edgar H. Lewis, Felix Nicola, John N. Frazee, Pardon B. Smith and John M. Wil- cox, Cleveland. Among those who have filled that office in more recent years have been Hugh Buckley, Edwin Sawyer, Charles C. Dewstoe, Wil- liam Ryan, Ferdinand Leek, Edwin Barry, George Mulhern, Joseph Mc- Gorray, A. J. Hirstius, William Smith, Ed Henratty and Charles B. Stan- nard, the present sheriff.
There were four treasurers appointed by the county commissioners before the office became elective. They were Asa Dille, Cleveland; Eras- tus Miles, Newburgh; David Long and Daniel Kelley, Cleveland. Gaius Burke of Newburgh was the first county treasurer elected by the people. Then came Edward Baldwin, DeWitt C. Baldwin, Melancton Barnett, George C. Dodge, William Waterman, of Cleveland; Harvey Burke, of Newburgh; A. M. Burke, of Newburgh; Henry S. Whittlesey, Cleve- land; Joseph Turney, Newburgh, afterwards state treasurer; Frank Lynch, F. W. Pelton and Moses Watterson, of Cleveland. Among those in more recent memory are H. N. Whitbeck, of Berea; Joseph Shields, David Kimberley, R. S. Hubbard, John I. Nunn, Albert Spencer, J. P. Madigan, George Myers, P. C. O'Brien and John Boyle. The present treasurer is Ralph McBride.
The county recorders were first appointed by the Court of Common Pleas. Those so appointed were John Walworth and Horace Perry. From 1834 the recorders were elected and, like all the county officers, it involved a political battle to gain the position. Those chosen in the order of their service for the first forty years or thereabouts were Joseph B. Bartlett, James B. Finney, William Richards, Charles Winslow, John
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Packard and James Brokenshire, of Cleveland; Benjamin Lamson, of Bedford; Edward H. Bohm, of Cleveland, and Asa M. Vansickle, of Independence. In more recent memory are A. T. Anderson, Crist Sie- grist, E. J. Kennedy (by appointment), Morris Maschke (by appoint- ment), Paul Schreiner, Herman Baehr and Hosea Paul. The present recorder is Lyman Newell.
The county surveyors were at first appointed by the Court of Common Pleas and there were three appointed before the office became elective, Samuel S. Baldwin of Newburgh, Edwin Foote of Brooklyn and Ahaz Merchant of Cleveland. At the first election Ahaz Merchant was chosen to succeed himself, then came William R. Coon of Dover, William H. Knapp of Independence, J. C. Saxton of East Cleveland, Aaron Merchant of Cleveland, John M. Ackley of Brooklyn, and C. H. Burgess of Cleve- land. J. D. Varney, J. T. Brown, Samuel J. Baker, William H. Evers, A. B. Lee, Frank A. Lander and William A. Stinchcomb, who served four terms. The present surveyor is Frank A. Lander, who is again serving, having been chosen after Mr. Stinchcomb had completed his fourth term; Mr. Lander is now on the second term of his new adminis- tration. The office is now more generally designated as that of County Engineer, the engineering work occupying the bulk of time of the office force. Road building, bridge building, and at times the construction of county buildings is the major part of the work. The laying out and con- struction of county ditches is a small item now.
The office of county commissioner has been an elective one from the organization of the county. For many years the pay was small and men served as a public duty. In the list of those who have served the county are men of ability and standing in the community. Of recent years the compensation has been sufficient to attract men who might leave their business to devote their whole time to the work. When the first effort was made in the Legislature to increase the pay of county commissioners there was much opposition. One member declared that all anyone re- ceived over a dollar a day was robbery. In a great county like Cuyahoga the office has become a very important one. The road and bridge con- struction, aside from public buildings, involves the expenditure of millions of dollars. The first county commissioners of Cuyahoga County were Jabez Wright, Nathaniel Doan and Erastus Miles. Then in the order of their service for the first seventy years were Philo Taylor, Samuel S. Baldwin, Samuel Dodge, Jared Pritchard, Theodore Miles, Samuel Wil- liamson, Thomas Card, Datus Kelley, John Shaw, Isaac M. Morgan, Lemuel Hoadley, Simon Fuller, David Long, Noah Crocker, Jonathan Fisher, Philo Scovill, Leverett Johnson, Job Doan, John B. Stewart, Samuel McIlrath, Seth S. Henderson, David Harvey, Diodate Clark, Moses Jewett, Vespasian Stearns, Theodore Breck, Ezra Eddy, Alva H. Brainard, Jason Bradley, John Welsh, Melancton Barnett, Francis Branch, William W. Richards, Azariah Everett, John Barnum, David Hoege, Randall Crawford, Charles Force, Marius Moore, Charles Jackson, John Geisendorfer, George A. Schlatterbeck, P. B. Gardner, and Josiah N. Hurst. In the '80s and later there were P. B. Gardner, E. J. Kennedy, Benjamin F. Phinney, A. A. Jerome, Wilbur Bentley, J. C. Alexander, George A. Bennett, Patrick Kenney, T. D. Brown, Charles Harms, H. M. Case, T. C. Mattison, William H. King, John E. Asling, Fred R. Mathews, R. J. McKenzie, John Vevera, William F. Eirick, John G. Fischer, Harry L. Vail, Joseph Menning, Frank T. Andrews, James T. Kelly and Fred Kohler. The present commissioners are John F. Goldenbogen, Jerry R. Zmunt and A. R. Dittrich. Mr. Goldenbogen was clerk of the Cleveland School Board before acting as clerk to the county commissioners.
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The clerk to the county commissioners, appointed by them, performed the duties now devolving upon the county auditor in addition to other duties connected with the work of the board. The clerks so appointed were Jabez Wright of Cleveland, the first, then Erastus Miles, Newburgh; Nathaniel Doan, Cleveland; Samuel S. Baldwin, Newburgh; Theodore Miles, Newburgh; Samuel Dodge, Cleveland; L. B. Lee, Cleveland ; John Shaw of Euclid, and Leonard Case of Cleveland. At the first election for county auditor Leonard Case was elected, the only change being that his title was changed from clerk to county auditor. Then came John W.
MOSES KELLEY
Willey, Cleveland; Orvill B. Skinner, Cleveland; Arvin S. Chapman, Samuel Williamson, James A. Briggs, D. R. Whipple, Albert Clark, Charles Winslow, William Fuller, Henry C. Hawkins, Ansel Roberts, William S. Jones, L. D. Benedict and Levi F. Bauder. The other audi- tors of more recent memory were William H. Brew, Charles Schellen- trager, Albert Akins, Robert C. Wright, W. E. Craig and Charles Prestien. The present auditor is John A. Zangerle, who has served through several terms and has made an enviable record through his efforts to systemize the listing of property for taxation.
As the county grew and the volume of business increased, the old office of clerk to the county commissioners was restored and the county auditor relieved from the duties. The first clerk under the new order was Julius Dorn. Then in order William. F. Black, R. Y. McCray, John F.
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Goldenbogen and Ed. G. Krause. The present clerk is A. J. Hieber, who began his duties under the present board.
The office of county coroner was established by the constitution of 1803, but until the county grew to nearly its present magnitude was not looked upon as a very important office. The authority for holding inquests having been conferred upon justices of the peace, and the other principal duty of the coroner, that of serving writs, where the sheriff was an interested party, or acting in his stead under certain emergencies, was so little exercised that there was discussion for some years of abolishing the office, but the presence of a dense population, the advent of complicated machinery in the factory and the increasing use of trucks and automobiles on the street has increased the number of deaths by violence to such an extent that the office is one of great usefulness and thus plays an im- portant part in the civic administration of the county. The present coroner is Dr. A. P. Hammond, who is serving his first term.
REUBEN WOOD
In 1897 a court of insolvency was established in Cuyahoga County and later a juvenile court associated with it, but with one judge over both courts. The first judge of this court was Joseph C. Bloch. He was suc- ceeded by Thomas Callaghan, who died in office, and Thomas Bushnell was appointed and served during the remainder of the term. He was followed in 1905 by Judge George F. Adams, the present judge, who has been continuously reelected until, like Judge Hadden of the Probate Court, he has in later years had no opponent at election time and is virtually appointed by the people. The Juvenile Court is "The Children's Police Court." Its work is identical with that of those styled "courts of domestic relations." The work is painstaking and often involves minute investigation into families where crime is reported.
Of the long list of those who have served the county in the State Senate, there are many who deserve especial mention. There was Samuel Huntington, who was governor; Alfred Kelley of canal fame, Jabez Wright, Reuben Wood, who was also governor and who failed of the presidency by falling into bad company. It is related of him that at the democratic convention of 1852 to nominate a candidate for President he appeared as a popular choice and it only required the votes of the dele- gates from his own state to make his nomination sure. J. W. Gray, of
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the Plain Dealer, and Gen. H. H. Dodge, both of Cuyahoga, held out against him, and being from his own town their influence prevented his nomination, and Franklin Pierce was chosen. Years later Mr. Gray ex- plained that the reason for their opposition to their own townsman in that convention was that he trained with an element in the party called "Hunkers," a democratic faction in New York that was distasteful to the better element of the party. There was John W. Willey, afterwards mayor, Frederick Whittlesey, John W. Allen, Richard Lord, of Ohio City, Moses Kelley, Franklin T. Backus, Henry B. Payne, afterwards United States senator, Harvey Rice, the founder of the public school system of Ohio, whose monument stands in Wade Park, John A. Foote, Theodore Breck, Samuel Williamson, David A. Dangler, Allan T. Brins- made and H. W. Curtiss of Chagrin Falls. Many of these also served in the lower house in the early days. Among the state representatives may be named Amos Spafford, James Kingsbury, Samuel S. Baldwin, John H. Strong, Lewis Dille of Euclid, Josiah Barber, Brooklyn; Elias Lee and William Coleman, Euclid; Leonard Case, Cleveland; Josiah A. Harris, Job Doan, Philo Scovill, John A. Foote, Leverett Johnson, William B. Lloyd, J. H. Vincent, Chagrin Falls ; Thomas M. Kelley, Samuel McIlrath, Cleveland; David Harvey, Strongsville; John W. Woolsey, Franklin T. Backus, John Gill, Arthur Hughes, Cleveland ; George T. Barnum, Rock- port ; James Tousley, Royalton ; Erasmus D. Burton, Euclid; Isaac Bray- ton, Newburgh; Richard C. Parsons, who was speaker of the House and later member of Congress. It is related of him that he was given to elaborate toilets and that in his last campaign for Congress he was de- feated by the emphasis given to the fact that he wore patent leather shoes, a fact which alienated the labor vote. One story that went the rounds had to do with a reception that Mr. Parsons attended in Cincinnati. It was an evening affair and Parsons was dressed in immaculate white linen. An acquaintance at the reception whose mind and eyes were blurred by too frequent potations of liquor, ambled over to his locality and in a hoarse whisper said : "Why, Dick Parsons, ain't you ashamed of yourself ? Go home and put on your clothes." Just the same, Mr. Parsons, besides being a handsome figure on the lawn, was a very able representative. There was C. T. Blakeslee of Chagrin Falls, Franklin J. Dickman, afterwards judge of the Supreme Court; Charles H. Babcock of Brooklyn, one time speaker pro tem of the House of Representatives; Seneca O. Griswold, afterwards judge, and in the latter years of his life burgomaster in the little town in New England where he was born; Charles B. Lockwood, Morris E. Gallup, N. B. Sherwin, George A. Hubbard, William N. Hudson, William C. McFarland, George Noakes, Henry M. Chapman, John M. Cooley, Joseph M. Poe, John P. Holt, Orlando J. Hodge, speaker of the House of Representatives, civic leader, author, etc .; John Fehren- bach, Harry Sorter of Mayfield, Marshall L. Dempsey, Warrensville; John C. Covert, for many years editor of The Cleveland Leader and afterwards Consul to France; George H. Foster, L. A. Palmer of Rock- port. Of more recent memory were C. C. Burnett, J. J. Stranahan, James Mooney, E. J. Kennedy, Dwight Palmer, the blind orator ; John P. Haley. Prominent in the Knights of Labor, once a powerful labor organization, Jere A. Brown, Milan Gallagher, Joseph C. Bloch, William T. Clark, M. S. Haynes, Morris Porter, Martin Dodge, E. W. Doty, Joseph H. Breck, William H. Clifford, O. D. Miller, J. W. S. Webb, H. C. Smith, H. C. Mason, who became speaker of the House; Charles W. Snider, Levi E. Meacham, Charles W. Parker, T. W. Roberts, Evan H. Davis, M. F. Bramley and others. Before the number increased to so large a quota it was possible in the space allotted to name them all. The present
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representatives are John Fischer, R. F. Edwards, L. L. Marshall, Dudley S. Blossom, John B. Dempsey, Mrs. Nettie Clapp, Gilbert Morgan, Henry C. Beck, Horace R. Sanborne, Albert Snow, Richard R. Hawkins, Dr. A. S. Cooley, Harry E. Davis, Charles Brenner and Walter C. Cole. Mrs. Clapp has the distinction of being the first woman to serve in the General Assembly of Ohio from this county and one of the first in the state.
Of the state senators in addition to those already named, there have been Ferdinand H. Eggers, George H. Ely, David Morison, Vincent A. Taylor of Bedford, afterwards congressman; Charles Herrman, Wilbur Parker, Frank O. Spencer, Elroy M. Avery, H. W. Wolcott, and we may add John J. Sullivan, who served from Trumbull County but soon made his permanent residence in Cleveland, was United States attorney and is now judge of the Court of Appeals. We have not named all but
PRESENT COUNTY COURTHOUSE
will add the present senators, who are Joseph J. Rowe, George H. Bender, Maude C. Waitt, L. C. Colliater, Chester C. Bolton and L. L. Marshall. Miss Waitt is the first woman to serve in the state Senate from this county and it may be said of her and Mrs. Clapp, who served in the House, that they were active capable representatives. While it has not been possible to make this list complete, mention should be made of the serv- ices of Senator E. C. Hopple, whose service in the Senate of Ohio was of the highest order.
In connection with this reference to the civil list of the county in its legislative history mention should be made of John Bourke, who is president of the Press Correspondents' Association of the capital. He has been for many years political writer for the News and Leader. It should be noted also that David Abbott of Willoughby and Samuel Hunt- ington of Cleveland represented this county, which was then Trumbull, in the constitutional convention of 1802, and that Sherlock J. Andrews was the representative in the constitutional convention of 1850. In the con- stitutional convention of 1873 we had a larger number of delegates, to wit, Sherlock J. Andrews, Martin A. Foran, Seneca O. Griswold, Jacob Mueller and Amos Townsend. This constitution was never ratified and the work of the convention went for naught.
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THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
In connection with an outline of the city and its growth and develop- ment from a struggling settlement to the great cosmopolitan municipality, with a million inhabitants, some threads that have not been woven into the history of the county may be gathered up. It is somewhat difficult to draw the line. In the matter of public improvements, the county and its municipalities are one and yet have separate functions. Cuyahoga County has at the present time 400 miles of improved roadway. This does not include the streets of Cleveland but does include some 100 or more miles in villages of the county. The passion for forming villages has been permitted to have its way with very little restraint, and these struggling villages have depended to quite an extent on the county at large for the
HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE, SHOWING FLATS AND CUYAHOGA RIVER
improvement of the main roadways traversing them. This county has been more liberal in this respect than others. In some counties the county commissioners in constructing roadways stop at a village line. In the matter of bridge construction the question of the authority of the county and the city is often one that must be defined by the courts.
Cuyahoga County in its 113 years of existence has much to show in the way of public improvements. The fourth courthouse, built at a cost of $6,000,000, is in keeping with the progress of events. Situated on the lake front, it commands a view of the shipping and port of Cleveland and accommodates the county offices and courts engaged in civil procedure. The third and fourth courthouses combined in one are still in use, accom- modating the grand jury, the Juvenile and Court of Insolvency, the county prosecutor's office and the sheriff's office. Here also is the jail, which is too small for the present needs, but at the last election the proposition for a hall of justice which would include a jail and criminal courtrooms was voted down. In the old building or buildings is housed also the
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county superintendent of schools, Mr. Yawberg, and the county board of education, of whom we have spoken.
In the matter of bridges great advance has been made over the days when Cleveland and Ohio City built, half and half, a float bridge over the river. The high level concrete and steel bridge crossing at about the same place is equipped with a subway for street car traffic and is still high enough to permit the passage of lake vessels up the river without the necessity of a drawbridge. It replaced the Superior Viaduct, a structure built by the City of Cleveland, but which in the greatly increased traffic became inadequate, its drawbridge causing much delay. It is still standing, once the pride of the city but now condemned and out of use. The con- struction of the county bridge by its side was first proposed by W. F. Eirick, when county commissioner, and to him the credit belongs for bringing forth the proposition that it was within the province of the county to build it. The courts decided in favor of the position maintained by Mr. Eirick and the beautiful structure costing $4,000,000 came into being. The original plans were drawn by County Engineer Frank R. Lander, but the bridge was built when Mr. W. A. Stinchcomb was county engineer and under his direction and under the plans approved by him. Other county bridges of note are the Denison-Harvard bridge and the Brooklyn bridge and the Rocky River bridge already referred to in a previous chapter. A bridge at West Seventy-third Street is now under construction by the county, which will cost when completed $800,000.
CHAPTER XXVII THE CITY OF CLEVELAND
EARLY HISTORY MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT
As a municipality, prior to the organization as a city, Cleveland had nine chief magistrates. They were called presidents and had the powers afterwards conferred upon mayors. They were Alfred Kelley, Daniel Kelley, Horace Perry, Leonard Case, E. Waterman, Samuel Cowles; D. Long, Richard Hilliard, and J. W. Allen. These were the village heads. The police department at first consisted of John A. Ackley, who was the first marshal. Later on some deputy marshals were appointed to assist in preserving order, but the township government was efficient, and its part in the peace programme was quite general. The population of the munici- pality was a little over 1,000, being on a par with Columbus and Dayton. Each of these cities in 1830 had about the same number of inhabitants. Cleveland had the advantage of being a lake port, and the populace, as Dooley would put it, were progressive. The tax duplicate was small and there was little to do with, but the New England thrift was much in evi- dence. Connecticut led in the very early residents of the town, but Massachusetts and New York were a good second. We can mention a few of the Connecticut men connected with this first attempt at municipal government, J. W. Allen, Sherlock J. Andrews, E. I. Baldwin, Alva Brad- ley, Francis Branch, Caius Burk, Ahira Cobb, Edwin Cowles, John Crowell, John H. Devereaux, Seneca O. Griswold, and Benjamin Har- rington. This first form of government continued until 1836. The lake traffic received the first attention. The sandbar at the mouth of the river was a serious hindrance to lake traffic. The Hamlet of Brooklyn, across the river, was, although smaller, actively interested, but with an intense spirit of rivalry. Although small, it was full of enterprise. It is related that when H. Pelton opened a store over there in competition with that of J. Barber, the townspeople were so interested that it became an im- portant event of the town. This spirit of rivalry, especially with the larger town across the river, continued for long and down to a time much later than the union of Ohio City and Cleveland.
In 1825 Congress, being importuned by citizens from both sides of the Cuyahoga, the east side and the west side, appropriated $5,000 for harbor improvements. The money was given to the collector of the port, Ashbel Walworth, without any survey being made and without any instructions as to how it should be used. Mr. Walworth was not an engineer and had no practical knowledge along those lines. He had some theory in his mind and was free to carry it out. He noticed that the sand piled up when the wind blew from the east, and concluded to build a pier out into the lake from the east side of the mouth of the river. This, he assumed, would remedy the trouble, as the sand would then be carried out into the lake by the force of the water of the river, and the channel be kept clear. He built a pier in accordance with this theory 600 feet out into the lake. He
Vol. 1-12
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THE PERRY DAY PARADE
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was not an expert, thus it was suggested that he was using common sense methods. The pier when constructed produced no satisfactory results. The sand piled up at the mouth of the river as before, and there was no increase in the depth of the water in the channel. In the fall of 1825 a mass meeting of citizens was held and the matter discussed. The town meeting was brought to the West from New England and often called into action. At. this meeting $150 was raised to defray expenses, and Mr. Walworth was authorized to go to Washington to secure, if possible, another appropriation. Congress was not favorably inclined towards the proposition. They did not consider the location of sufficient importance to warrant the expenditure. Only thirty or forty vessels came to this port in the course of a year. Hon. Elisha Whittlesey was then a member of Congress from the district of which Cuyahoga County was a part. He immediately began working, in season and out, to secure the appropriation asked for. After a long struggle he got through a measure carrying an appropriation of $10,000, but too late for active work that year. The Government now decided to take charge of the work. In 1827 Maj. T. W. Morris, at the head of the United States Engineering Corps, came to Cleveland and made a survey and reported a plan which was adopted by the Government. His plan provided for changing the course of the river, for building a pier east of the pier built by Mr. Walworth and thus com- pelling the river to flow between these piers out into the lake. He built a dam across the river opposite the south end of the Walworth pier. This dam was not closed until fall, but for the time being, it interfered with the passage of boats up the river. The lake captains were very angry. They thought the plan absurd, and abused all connected with it in regula- tion lake captain language. Their epithets were applied to the workmen and the works in equal volume. The schooner Lake Serpent entered the river and when ready for a voyage out, found itself shut in between the dam and a sandbar at the river mouth. The captain hired men to dig through the bar before he made the voyage. More profanity! When the fall rains came the river rose, the dam was closed, and teams of oxen with scrapers, and men with pick and shovel assisted it in clearing the new channel. When a small opening was made the river broke through and the rest was easy. When the Lake Serpent came back it entered the river by the new route and the channel was constantly deepening and enlarging. By this feat of engineering several acres of the Township of Cleveland were left on the west side of the river. The corporate limits of the city, however, only extended to the river. Major Maurice's plan was a success. The next year he began the eastern pier. Both piers were carried back through the sandy shore to the river and out into the lake, but not for $10,000. Successive appropriations were made until by 1840, $70,000 had been expended. The opening of the canal in 1827, the throwing up of so much malarial soil in its construction, caused an epidemic of bilious fever and an increase of fever and ague. Thus the progress of civilization often carries with it elements of disaster. The lake traffic, so very essential to this struggling settlement, took many lives before the construction of harbors and the later safeguard of the weather bureau; the canals, another great advance, brought disease and death in another way. The toll of the single track railroads as at first constructed was very great, and the advent of the motor vehicle, in its death dealing capacity, has led all the rest.
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