St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-04-17
The Court House Question.

lNgtOn nave Decn inakluS HloSil it'.h"t
of late over the question OF the reno
val of the courthouse to their town
They, possibly, made some people at a
distance believe that this was serious
question in the minds OF st. Landry
people but recent Developments have
caused many of the people OF wash
ington to admit that their is nothing
serious ir the proposal, and if there
ever was any substantial grounA for
sucI. proposal it now no longx' ex-
lists. A mass meeting was calFM, to
meet at Washington at p. m. eAprll
18th, to devise the proper means u: Sc
cure the removal OF the corrA house
from Opelousas to Washington. All
persons "favoring the rebuilding OF
the courthouse at Washington were
! invited to be present Oh sad occasion.
Some seven or eight citizens OF Ope-
lousas were present at Washington as
spectators of the proceedings or the
proposed mass meeting. All these
gentlemen report that there were not
over fifty two or tifty-three persons at
the meeting. That of these persons
only nine were from the country, the
balance being Washington people and
the spectators from Opelonsas. or
the committee of twenty-five appoint
ed to get up the ssmeeting six were
from the town of Washington and the
balance were from the country. Ut the
nineteen appointed from the country
not over three, we were informed, were
present. There were fifteen precincts
or wards from which committee men
were appointed outside of Washington.
We are informed that of these fifteen
precincts only two were represented
at the mass meeting. Our Washington
friends say that this very insignificant
response t" their call for maSs-meet-
ing was due to the short and lmper-
feet notice given. We cannot agree
with them on this point. They have
been industriously agitatiug this ques-
t on since the 2od OF march, the day
upon which tie courthouse was burnt.
They have sought 10y every means in
their power to create Il public opinion
10 favor of the removal Of the court
house. They have sent committees on
two different occasions to the extreme
limits of st. Landry parish to stir up
popular feeling in their favor. Several
days before the time appointed for the
mass meeting they sent some of their
most popular and influential citizens to
different points in the parish to solicit
citizens to attend the mass meeting.
On Saturday, the 10Th, they 'eissued
the Washington Argus solely i'll the in
terest of the removal of the courthouse
to their town and mailed copies con-
tanning the notice of the mass meeting
to every leading point in the parish so
that by Sunday or Monday morning,
with the present facilities for trans
porting the mail, the notice of the
mass meeting was spread throughout
the parish of St. Landry. The result
of all this mighty endeavor to enlist
the public in their behalf is the atten-
dance of not more than nine or ten per-
sons from beyond the corporate limits
of the town of Washington. The only
reasonable conclusion is that the people
of the country outside of Washington
and Opelousas take no interest in this
scheme to move the county seat.
OF course the Washington mass meet
ing with no backing from the country
could do nothing, and it did nothing
except to appoint Il committee to call a
mass-meeting. Our neighbors will have
to explain the anomoly of a mass
meeting called to call mass meeting.
The gentleman who seemed to be the
spokesman at the meeting at Washing
ton stated, as we are informed, that it
was not polite to bring out candidate
for the Senate in opposition to Hon. E.
T. Lewis, and nothing was done by the
meeting beyond the appointment of a
committee to get up a mass-meeting
When that meeting is to be held, if
ever, We are not informed.
Our neighbors in our sister town
have never known this journal to give
utterance to any but friendly and
neighborly sentiments toward them
We shall not now depart from this rule
Of conduct Notwithstanding that they
propose to take to- themselves an ad
vantage which many OF them have ad
, mitted would destroy the material pros
, perity of Opelousas. We cannot, how