Why Suffolk County voters elect a clerk for the state's highest court

CommonWealth Beacon answers the local political question of the year: Why is one of the Supreme Judicial Court's two clerks elected by voters in Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop?

It's a fascinating historical story involving voter anger over the way the SJC back in the day refused to stand in the way of a fugitive slave being re-captured in Boston to be sent back into slavery down south in 1850. Doesn't explain why the post is still elected, but then again, this is Massachusetts, where if we did something once, we are often compelled to do it forever and ever.