Martinsburg Gazette And Public Advertiser

[The Hagerstown (Md.) Torch Light, April 5.]

JOHN DEAN'S CASE.

Our Jackson rulers seem determined to show the people that 'some things can be done as well as others,' as Sam Patch used to say. They have accordingly commenced throwing away the public money in small sums as well as large ones, as made clear in the case of John Dean, who was appointed Marshall at Key West, in the place of Mr. H. Wilson, a most excellent officer, who was 'punished' so that Dean might be 'rewarded.' The report made to the Senate in this case divulges some extraordinary facts.—From it, it appears that something purporting to be a temporary bond was executed but without the forms prescribed by law, either as to the parties, phraseology, acknowledgment or approval. The Court and its jurisdiction are not correctly described, the date in the condition is left blank—it is not acknowledged before any judicial officer, nor approved by any person competent to approve it. It is given to the President and not to the United States, and 'accepted as a temporary compliance with the requirement of the law,' by Mr. Van Buren, whose title and office are left to be inferred. The effect of this illegal acceptance of this bond has been to enable Dean to draw $2,500 from the Treasury, upon sureties no better than the bond, two of these sureties out of three having conveyed their property to trustees—Independently of which, the bond is only given for $2,000 whilst the amount to be collected exceeds $3,000—and the 'expenses to be defrayed out of the $2,500 advanced, cannot exceed $200. So that $2,300 have been thrown away on Dean, with a reasonable prospect of the loss of all the money that may be collected.