American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-05-31
From the Greenville, Miss. Times
The TranSa clio IS and Termination Of
our late Term Of Circuit Court.

THIS term of court, so attended
and fraughr with interest aud i'm
pOrtance closed OH Saturday the
10th inst, after a session of four
weeks.
There is a sanctity attending the
actions aud dicta Of a court of just
ice and it's grand jury which ordiua-
rlly commands immunity from CON-
ment or criticism, favorable or un-
favorable and the occasiOne are
rare when a publication of its incl
dents aud motives is justified by
public policy, and is not pro-
nOuncedIy improper. as we will now
relate our late term was one of those
exceptional occasions.
For several years past the admin
istration of our county affairs has
been characterized by a culpable
and ruinous loOseness; this manner
Of mismanagement had been thor
oughly fixed upon US. and our tax
payers had become oallOus to its ef-
fects; this engendered rare oppor-
tunities of fraud, which were detect
ed aud seized by one j. p. Ball; a
shrewd, bold intelligent mulattO
from Cincinnati; who became q
member of the board of supervisors
at our last county election; aud in
stituted a series aud u system of
bold robberies, which would have
ruined this county irretriev ably.
had he not been checked: az it was,
our condition became such as We
were fearful to dwell upon, Or make
public; for wrongs had gone out of
reach of any correction save an am
mediate and vigorous interpositiOn
of the strong arm of law; ali manner
of county securities had been de-
preciated to absolute rorthlessness!
Property was in jeopardy, and every
public enterprise paraly zed. Re-
mOnstrances from a plundcred peo-
pie were unheeded, OF laughed at !;
aud scant courtesy afforded those
who appeared before the board of
Supervisors to appeal for protect
ion of their rights of property, to
/ beg immunity from plumber. Petty
rascallities more oppressive, and
more vlolative of right and law,
then the mighty wrongs which have
excited nations to revolt, attended
every meeting of this board of SUI
pervisors; some OF whose members
were in willing suppIiance to the su
perior Intelligence of this man Ball,
| others Quaiied before his brazen IA
pacity; backed as it was by the va
grant iuffians of the community.
| We are indulgiDg i'll no fancy
sketch; the meagre truth of what
we write is attested by the records
of the board of supervisors, by the
intensity with which the entire
community watched and hung up
Oh the proceedings of Judge Shack
Chords court last week; it was this
which so enlisted the feelings of
black and white property owner
and pauper, that the probable action
of the grand jury, absoI bod all 9th
er interest, banished all other dis
cussiOn, centered the attention of
every.
This feeling became intensified
when it became known that Ball, the
Tweed Of all this rascality, aud his
son, (the acting Circuit Clerk) and
equal in rapacity, had been arrested
nnder various indictments and ar
raigned for trial. And nOtwith-
standing the persistence with which
Ball Senior was defended, his con-
viction was consummated, his pun
ishment awarded, the law vindlcat-
ed, and the public interest. which
had been SO ruthlessly outraged,
protected. The case of Ball the
younger was called for trial the
next day; but warned by the shad
ow of coming events, and by the
downfall Of the head of the family
he failed to appear when called; and
to satisfy the puzzled court, MIR. L..
b, Valiant one of the counsel for
axpayers' League arose and stated,
that sowing to your hOnOr's adverse
ruling in Ball SeDiOr's application
for change of venue, Ball Junior
applied to the ferryDs0n, for a
change to Arkansas; which applica-
ton am Informed bias been grant
ed.
We have thus related the incl
dents of this case; and shown the
origin and motives of the ex-
IRENE interest it occasiOned.
Suit by TaxPayers' League, has
been instituted against members of
the board of supervisors for the
misapprOpriatious of the past year;
and certain property and county
scrip of J. T.. Ball attached; Ball, Jr.
surrendered some $1,000 OF scrip be,
tore he fled: (although chanccry
clerk Winslow pays as little at'en-
| ton to our notices of his intractiOns
of duty as did the late Ball family.
! We direct to his considerations, the
circumstances under which young
Ball surrendered a portion of this
scrip; it was scrip allowed for sta
tionary account, and was surrender
ed because the account had not
been approved by the Circuit Judge,
as required by law; at the same
time, scrip was issued for an account
of over $1,000 to saId chance,y clerk;
although an act of the recent Legis-
lature, which we published Il few
weeks prior to this meeting cf the
board of supervisors, expressly re