82
Directory of Ogden City and Weber County.
until the latter part of 1869. (He died in January, 1870.) During the above-named periods the postoffice in Ogden was only fourth-class, and the first postmaster only received from eight dollars to twelve dollars per annum. On the retirement of Mr. West, Mr. Isaac Moore was appointed postmaster, and the institution became a third- class office and the appointment was by the President of the United States. In 1872, the office was reduced to that of fourth-class, with, of course, a corresponding decrease in salary. In the summer of that year Mr. Moore resigned, and on the 10th of August Mr. Joseph Hall was appointed postmaster, by the Postmaster General. His assistant was his daughter, Miss Thirza A.Hall. Hon. Lorin Farr and Charles Woodmansee, Esq., became Mr. Hall's sureties. By October of the same year the business and patronage of the office had increased so rapidly and to such an amount that Mr. Hall obtained a special readjustment, (the office was raised to that of third class) and in December he was re-appointed by President U. S. Grant and confirmed by the Senate to be the incumbent of the new office. At the next regular biennial adjustment the office was raised to second-class. Then commenced the fight of politicians for appointment as postmaster in Ogden City. They fought Mr. Hall for about one year, being assisted by the Congressional delegations of Nebraska and Iowa. All sorts of complaints were trumped up against him which can best be explained by the following article on the subject which was published, some time after, in the Omaha Bee:
That doctors do not like to take their own medicine holds good with the members of the Gopher Ring of Nebraska. They do not want Newman punished for holding back funds belonging to the Government. Look at another case, one Sharp was a postal clerk on the Union Pacific, and he wanted to be postmaster of Ogden. He was unfit to hold any office, and a fit tool and associate for the mem-