The Butler Weekly Times Newspaper, April 11, 1888, Page 2

-such as it was, was made upon the umn THE LOCAL OPTION DECISION. | mayor is given authority to call We have here also decisions of the \ spe- highest court of Texas upon their } The Points Which Knocked it out in | cial meeting a legal meeting, there | local option , must be the authority to call it—that | must be done to give the law force Clinton. | In the case of the state against Schroth, defendant's objection to the introductionof the city records was | sustained by Judge DeArmond up- | on grounds which we give below: | “Several questions have arisen in | this trial upon which there may well | be two opinons. Thus far, those | questions have been so disposed of j as to admit for the consideration of | the jury all material testimony offered by the prosecution. The most serious question yet passed is that in rela- tion to the sufficiency of the petition for an election upon the local option | law. This petition does not give | the slightest information concerning the signers. We cannot learn from it whether they are males or females; of aye or under age; voters or not voters; citizens oraliens; residents of Henry county, or of Missouri, or of the United States. I have resolved the serious doubts that arise upon the question of admitting this peti tion in evidence by allowing the State to prove by parole the facts which must be found to authorize a | submission to the people of the is- sue presented by the local option Jaw. Iam far from being satisfied | that I did not err in admitting the | petition. Now, it must be determined wheth- er the order the | order declaring its result, as found in the city records, shall jury as evidence. were offered shortly before adjourn- for election, and go to the Tnese records ment yesterday, and time hes been taken that court and counsel might search the books and gain what in formation may be accessible touch ing the point upon which the case now hinges. The election, as the records show, was ordered at a special mecting of the council of Clinton, were present the mayor and five out of eight councilmen. The city clerk ee not ap pear from the record that there was any formal call for this special meet ing, or that any notice of it, or if its object, was given. which | nt does Here, again, as with the petition, extrinsic evidence was admitted, over defendant's jection, and with grave doubts upon my part of its being admissible, to supply the ommissions in the record But this outside evidence does not supply any material fact. It still appears that one of the absent councilman had no notices or knowl- edge of the meeting. Another had no notice or information concerning it, except that which a private citi- zen brought him; while the third seems to have received some sort of notice, the sufficiency of which ean- not be very satisfactorily determin ed. The mayor does not recollect whether his cali for the meeting written or verbal, or when it w: made, or whether notice to members of the council was ordered, or whether the notice, if any, was written or verbal. It is reasonably clear, how- ever, that there was no written call or written notice, and that the call, ob | | day on which the meeting was held. | Now, by the law governing city . = | councils, all members are charged eing sufficient in number to consti- ‘tutea quorum—the business of the meeting; and a majority of the quo-| counties, were used in this sub-| leading bloody-shirt senator.—New special meetings. To make a | existed in this case—and there must | in a given locality. law. deciding what These decisions be the call and legal notice to the | are directly in point. and are strong members of the body to be convened. | authority for the ruling which I feel If there be not such notice. there can be no legal meet- ing. In addition to this, the object | of the meeting must be stated in the call, and no business can be trans- acted except that thus stated. It would seem, then, that the call ought to be in writing, that it may be re- corded and preserved, to show for itself at any and all times. Nor should the notice, and evidence of its service, rest alone in the uncer- tain memories of men. The books teach us that when special meetings of the governing bodies of munici- palities are held without compliance with these necessary pre-requisites, their proceedings are void. The reasons for the distinction between regular and special meetings is clear: the one is legal upon its face, for eall and such | bound to in this case. to rd this and the general principles wh make jag authori | were disreg Lh | govern in these cases, the higher court to which this case would go g would not do so. The view I take of the matter now to be passed upon disposes of this case. Of course I could hold against the courts, i e court and court of appeals,and against the reputable text writers whose works have been consulted. but I will not do it. It is the province of a court to declare and apply the law as it uding our suprem the safety of individuals depend up- on this. haps, be fo: d to carry this case to compelled to do that when this court the law has fixed and called it; the | believes his objections to the records other is legal only when the steps offered ought to be sustained. There prescribed by law tomake it so have} might be great or little hardship taken. The distinction is equally plain. presumed to know when r been reason of the | inflicted if I were to rule against my ure | Judgment, but this act, were I capa gular | ble of it, would secure my own con- meetings are to be held, and that | tempt and merit the contempt of all at them muy be done anything other persons. Assuming as an out- which the law permits or authorizes | side fact, thatthe people of this city, the body to do. No one is pre-|actingin good faith and accord 38 sumed to know anything about a | to their judgment individually, as to special meeting, unless specially no- | What would be tor the public good, tified. tains seventy-five members. Thirty eight make a quorum; twenty is a} mit this case to pass off on w hat may majority of thirty-eight. = solite members attenda regular meeting, a | Cait? quorum is presen and twenty member: be dispatched; vote. Here thirty-seven members, who knew the meeting was to be held and that it could dispose of any matters within the general jurisdic- tion of the body, may remain away when th y should be present ;but their absence sannot impede the body in the dispatch of its business. They are presumed to consent to, and ap- prove,the action of a majority of the quorum present. But it is altoveth- er different with a special meeti If a forma! eall, the « ting t ineetir due of the propos and notice to those composin; the body to be assembled, may be dispe with, thirty-eight of seven councilmen may be brought to; er, the other thirty-seyen not be notified, and the votes of twenty of the thirty-eight can xccomplish al- most anything. Eighteen of the thirty eight present, and every one of the thirty-seven who are away, may be opposed to a measure. and yet the measure may be carried,in a mecting called, ostensibly, for some other This will not do. A sufli- cient petition for an election and a purpose. legal order for an election are indis- pensible. Councilmen met other- wise than as a legal representative | body are mere citizens, and if every citizen in Clinton had united in call- ing the election and every legal voter in the city had voted against the sale here by reason of such action. t,and business may | COW: => | are sufficient, ordinarily, to carry or | ¢ defeat any proposition submitted to | No good « | Suppose a city council con- | declared by their votes in favor of | local option, Iam reluctant to per- | Now if 38 | seem to many to be a mere techni- But there isno other proper Cowardiceand disregard of duty alone could dictate action by a ld ever How from such a course, and much evil might result fron. it. i result of this view. the one to which every authority that counsel Lave presented or I have found points, is that the defendant's objec- tion is su fered exclude Bronchitis. Billard’s Horehound Syrup cures Bron throat stant reliet tis diseases of the es in cough y truth in the rumor rbout a If there is which was fly at short time ago that senator Ingalls was Mr. Blaine’s choice for the presidential ion, the senator himself has the slate His speech in the senate has removed him hopelessly from the field. The blackguardly passage in it refering to the president was damaging enough, but what he said about Me- Clellan, Hancock and Greeley was far worse He has already had strong evidences of the blunder he ashed vulgar tests are pouring in upon him from nificant comes froma Grand Army post in Philadelphia, which has the hall and ex- tending “the thanks of the post to Penal statutes are strictly constru- | senator Blackburn, of Kentucky, for with notice of the times and places | ed, and to put this law in force ina|so ably defending the memory of of the regular or stated meetings of | particular locality, the prescribed | Gen. George B. McClellan and Gen. the body, and it is their duty to at- | course must first be pursued. The | Winfield Scott Hancock.” This is a tend such meetings. Those who re- | difference in the wording, expressive | most interesting development—a main away from the regular meet-| of what is to be submitted, as found | post of Union veterans thanking a ings entrust to those who attend— | in sections one and two of the local | confederate brigadier for coming to option act, is also urged. The | the defence of two dead Union gen- words of section one applying to erals against the brutal insults of a um can decide all questions voted! mission. But I pass that for the | York Post. -upon, unless by special provision a| time. It may be observed that de- ——_—_________. appears. The welfare of society and | The defendant might. per | a higher court, but he should not be | to its best Judgment. | ed and the records of- | the worst | has committed, for indignant pro- | every quarter. One of the most sig-| adopted a resolution regretting that | the “memory of brave and loyal vet- | of liquor in the city, still the local | erans is publicly insulted int option law would not be in force] of the national congres larger number is required. The regu- lar meeting are provided for in the éharter of the corporation or by or- | sdinance. They are therefore legal “meetings, the meetings appcinted by | the law. On the other hand, spe- | cial meetings spring out of exigen- cies. THEY OWE THEIR EXISTENCE. First, to the provision of the law, | whatever it may be, for calling them; | and, next to the fact of their being called and those entitled to take part | in them, assembled, or notified to | assemble, in manner as by law re-| quired. ; In this city, and generally, to the ‘ to each councilman personally. or by fendant has offered an ordinance of | the city of Clinton, passed in the fall | ductor Stillwell, who was in charge of 1886, in which it is ordained that | of the ill-fated train that was wreck- the object of a special meeting shall }ed and burned near Chatsworth, Il, be stated in the warrant calling the | and whose hair turned gray from the same, and that notice shall be given | shock of the disaster. is still in the service of the road. His hair is now } leaving the same, in writing. at his | as white as snow. place of residence or business. This ordinance seems to have been passed Bucklen’s Arnica Salve. But the order ; + The Best Salve SL cereal -_ | Bruises, Cuts, Ulcers Salt Rheum, Fever for this election is not helped by this Sores, Gancers, Piles, Ci lains, Corns fact. Teter, Chapped Hands, and all skin erup- tions,and postively cures piles, or no pay at a special meeting. The Texas statue, is beforeme and the loeal option law of that state is | S4tistaction, or money refnnded. Prive z i cae {per box, 25 cts For sal 1 = inf many particulars similar to ours. | a 2 Sen eee The curious story is told that con- | in the world for Cnts, o | Tequired. Itis guaranteed to give pertect | AN EXPLOSION TALK. Judge Gantt Will Defend Keith Perry. & Judge J. B. Gantt was in th city to-day on his way from to Rich Hill. Heis the attorney for Keith & Perry u resulting from the recent explosions. (4inton complications “The coroner’s inquest was ad- journed over Sunday, and I am _ go- ing back to attend the resumption | of the work.” said Judge Gantt to a representative of the Mail. al days more will probably be neces- sary to complete the testimony. From the facts developed I do not believe the explosions resulted from natural gas. “Sever- It is the custom to fire = noon and the shots at the mine until the smoke is dissipat- ed. While the smoke was still dense and the air filled with dust from the blasts, a man whose name, I believe, was Mobley. fired a loose blast. The power of that shot did not break down the coal as intended, the force was sj This ad- rendered from retire but ditional smoke and the air infammab ed probably from the hat miner. Tam not hut the hypothesis which T have giv- , en seems the only natural one. The only unjust tl | have noticed in connection with matter is the abuse of } tor Wolfe. was to be so severely cons L cannot s miners had made no ce searcity of fresh air. | ception of the fire. which was attrib- uted to an incindi: has ine japparently been in uni nly good cond From the condition of bodies |T persume those inen who died in | : ithe mine were as hyxiat ient to | burns were not s | rintendent Sweeney was badly i burned, but will recover. His face is ina very bad condition, and it v | | Saturday to prevent | | ing open the him from Ts I was informed by Dr. around his Allen ving Sat- woun | eyes. | that all the men who we j urday morning would recover. T heard th orning that two ore bodies } been found in the e, but I ha lieve the report. IT presume there wiil be damage | suits, but upon that point I am not authoritively informed.” vada | Mail. Miss Johns on ingalls. One of the lightest physical and heaviest intellectual weights of the council, is a uinety-five pound litile body from Kansas. Her |name is Miss Johns, and she spoke women’s Friday night on the success of mu- | nicipal suffrage in her state. Her speech has been somewhat reported | but the best has not been told. It j relates to Senator Ingalls, who has got the women of Kansas down upon him for making certain sarcastic re- | marks about them and their cause. | They have sworn to have his scalp, and Miss Johns described the situa-| tion by comparmg Ingalls to St. Baztholomew. 1 she: | In one of the darkest corners of the great cathedral at Milan there is a statue which is one of the won- ders of the art world. It represents St. Bartholomew, and it depits him in the horrible condition of having been flayed alive and having over his quivering right arm the skin which has just been taken from. The saint seems to quiver in the marble as he stands there. On the pedestal of the statue is the inscrip- jtion, ‘Not Praxiteles but Marcus | Agratemade me.’ And, continued Miss Johns, “when inthe not far fu- | ture, Senator Ingalls shall have left | the United States capitol and when | |in the seclusien of his private life in } | Kansas he stands sad, solitary and | alone and quivering sat his j ad been mer litical skin, which ly cut from him, he will mutter! {something hke the words of this | | pedestal: did thi “The women of Kansas | —New York World. | Washington, March 29.—It is es- timated that the decrease in the | | public debt for the month of March j Will amount to nearly $10,000,000. | it was ignit- | of a) well acquainted with the origin of such explosions, | which Ij the! »| Adjusts itself to any Horse’s Neck, found necessary to tie his hands on | tear- | FOR THIRTY DAYS 200 TON OF OLD IRON WANTED. —— ALSO—— x ONLY Rags, Old Rubber, Copper and Brass, WANTED FOR WHICH I WILL PAY YOU IN i SPOT CASH. | LEWIS HOFFMAN | NORTH MAIN STREET, BUTLER, MO. March 30, MW FARLAND BROS. Keep the Largest Stock, Atthe Lowest Prices in, Harness and Saddlery, “Spooner Patent Collar! PREVENTS CIIAKING GAN NOT CHOKE A HORSE has two rows ot stitching, will hold Hames in place better than any other collar. AAAI Prevents braking at end of clip, and loops USE from tearing out. UN ALL GF OUR HARNESS. SOUTH SIDE SQUARE BULLER MO. Ty Ly uW NOT | SUY YOUR Dry Goods BOOTS AND SHOES GENTS FURNISHING GOODS. Where you can get them asrepresented. A large stock omsrs to select from. Good quality, low prices, a call will convince you of the fact. RESPECTFULLY, J, M. McKIBBEN.