Editing Grover Cleveland (section)

===Sheriff of Erie County===
[[Image:DSCN4468 buffaloclevelandstatue e.jpg|upright|thumb|A statue of Grover Cleveland outside [[Buffalo City Hall|City Hall]] in [[Buffalo, New York]]]]
From his earliest involvement in politics, Cleveland aligned with the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]].<ref>Nevins, 44–45</ref> He had a decided aversion to Republicans [[John Fremont]] and [[Abraham Lincoln]], and the heads of the Rogers law firm were solid Democrats.<ref>Tugwell, 32</ref> In 1865, he ran for [[District Attorney]], losing narrowly to his friend and roommate, [[Lyman K. Bass]], the Republican nominee.<ref name="nevins52" />

In 1870, with the help of friend Oscar Folsom, Cleveland secured the Democratic nomination for [[sheriff of Erie County, New York]].<ref name="nevins58">Nevins, 58</ref> He won the election by a 303-vote margin and took office on January 1, 1871, at age 33.<ref>Jeffers, 33</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Nelson |first=Julie |date=2003 |title=American Presidents Year by Year |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uf8TBwAAQBAJ |publisher=Routledge |page=334 |isbn=978-0-7656-8046-4}}</ref> While this new career took him away from the practice of law, it was rewarding in other ways: the fees were said to yield up to $40,000, {{Inflation|US|40000|1871|fmt=eq}}, over the two-year term.<ref name="nevins58" />

Cleveland's service as sheriff was unremarkable. Biographer [[Rexford Tugwell]] described the time in office as a waste for Cleveland politically. Cleveland was aware of graft in the sheriff's office during his tenure and chose not to confront it.<ref>Tugwell, 36</ref> A notable incident of his term took place on September 6, 1872, when Patrick Morrissey was executed. He had been convicted of murdering his mother.<ref name="morrisey">Jeffers, 34; Nevins, 61–62</ref> As sheriff, Cleveland was responsible for either personally carrying out the execution or paying a deputy $10 to perform the task.<ref name="morrisey" /> In spite of reservations about the hanging, Cleveland executed Morrissey himself.<ref name="morrisey" /> He hanged another murderer, [[List of people executed in New York|John Gaffney]], on February 14, 1873.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.buffalonian.com/history/articles/1851-1900/gaffneyhanging/gaffneyhanging.html|title=The Execution of John Gaffney|access-date=March 27, 2008|website=The Buffalonian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006162510/http://www.buffalonian.com/history/articles/1851-1900/gaffneyhanging/gaffneyhanging.html|archive-date=October 6, 2017}}</ref>

After his term as sheriff ended, Cleveland returned to his law practice, opening a firm with his friends Lyman K. Bass and [[Wilson S. Bissell]].<ref>Jeffers, 36; Nevins, 64</ref> Bass was later replaced by [[George J. Sicard]].<ref name="locTimeline">{{cite web |title=Timeline {{!}} Articles and Essays {{!}} Grover Cleveland Papers {{!}} Digital Collections |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/grover-cleveland-papers/articles-and-essays/timeline/ |website=www.loc.gov |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=December 12, 2023}}</ref> Elected to Congress in 1872, Bass did not spend much time at the firm, but Cleveland and Bissell soon rose to the top of Buffalo's legal community.<ref>Nevins, 66–71</ref> Up to that point, Cleveland's political career had been honorable and unexceptional. As biographer [[Allan Nevins]] wrote, "Probably no man in the country, on March 4, 1881, had less thought than this limited, simple, sturdy attorney of Buffalo that four years later he would be standing in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] and taking the oath as President of the United States."<ref>Nevins, 78</ref>

It was during this period that Cleveland began courting a widow, [[Maria Halpin]]. She later accused him of raping her.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/how-many-presidents-have-been-accused-sexual-assault-692766|title=Sexual misconduct allegations against presidents have a long history; George H.W. Bush is latest|date=October 25, 2017|website=Newsweek}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Jamie Lauren |last=Keiles |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/grover-cleveland-a-rapist-president/|title=Grover Cleveland, a Rapist President|date=August 26, 2015|website=[[vice.com|Vice]]}}</ref><ref name=SmithsonianProblemChild>{{cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/president-clevelands-problem-child-100800/ |title=President Cleveland's Problem Child |first=Angela |last=Serratore |magazine=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |date=September 26, 2013}}</ref> It is unclear if Halpin was actually raped by Cleveland as some early reports stated or if their relationship was consensual.<ref name=":0">Huck, C., 2017. "[https://www.wittenberg.edu/sites/default/files/media/history/2017HistoryJournal.pdf The Halpin Affair: How Cleveland went from Scandal to Success]". ''Wittenberg History Journal'', vol. 46, p. 5, 8.</ref> In March 1876, Cleveland accused Halpin of being an alcoholic and had her child removed from her custody. The child was taken to the Protestant Orphan Asylum, and Cleveland paid for his stay there.<ref name=":0" /> Cleveland had Halpin admitted to the Providence Asylum. Halpin was only kept at the asylum for five days because she was deemed not to be insane.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Lachman|first=Charles|date=May 23, 2011|title=Grover Cleveland's Sex Scandal: The Most Despicable in American Political History|work=The Daily Beast|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/05/23/grover-clevelands-sex-scandal-the-most-despicable-in-american-political-history|access-date=July 3, 2020}}</ref> Cleveland later provided financial support for her to begin her own business outside of Buffalo.<ref name=":0" /> Although lacking irrefutable evidence that Cleveland was the father,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Neil A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfbt5NXvF64C&pg=PA183 |title=Presidents: A Biographical Dictionary |date=2005 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-0816-2 |pages=183}}</ref> the child became a campaign issue for the [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] in Cleveland's first presidential campaign, where they smeared him by claiming that he was "immoral" and for allegedly acting cruelly by not raising the child himself.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="Henry F. Graff 2002 61–63">{{cite book|author=Henry F. Graff|title=Grover Cleveland: The American Presidents Series: The 22nd and 24th President, 1885–1889 and 1893–1897|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjE7XsSQxmAC&pg=PA61|year=2002|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|pages=60–63|isbn=978-0-8050-6923-5}}</ref>