Birmingham age-herald., 1894-07-13
Passed Some Anti Military Reso-
 lutions.
ANSWERED BY THE GOVERNOR
Who Explains Why He Sent the Soldiers, and Why it Was
 the Thing to Do.

The AGE HERALD has received the fol- lowing from Bocton with a request to publish:
 BLoCToN, July 10, 1894.
 At a mass meeting of the citizens Of this place, held this afternoon, the followin g resolutions were unanimously adopted: | Whereas, On the 9th day of July, 1894 Thomas G. Jones, governor of Alabama, did, through false represen tation, and af- ter protest against the same by civil off cer of Blocton, did send a detachment ol troops into said town on the pretext of pre- serving the peace and protecting property thereby causing the impression to be sent abroad that the people of Blocton were a lawless set of people; and
 Whereas, The press of Alabama has been asking for information from here in regard to a demonstration against the persons of a negrofireman and a "dead head" porter, said to have occurred here Sunday, July 8, and to broadcast over Alabama in regard to the alleged occurrence, therefore be it re- solved by the citizens of Blocton in mass meeting assembled:
 1. That no such demonstration ever oc- cured here, as Governor Jones well knew after he made inquiry.
 2. That the citizens of Blocton denounce in unmeasured terms as an outrage on the Blocton people the above action of Gov ernor Jones.
 8. We denounce the action of the Louis- vile and Nashville Rsilroad company and persons for their malicious misrepresenta- tions of our people. We regard the action of these parties as particularly deserving of our condemnation, after their long resi- dence here and knowing the people to be opposed to any and all lawlessness and guarantee them protection.
 4. That we call upon the conservative and liberty loving citizens of Alabama to unite with us in some action to restrain this military mad governor in his unwarranted usurpation of authority ill thus throwing troops into the midst of peaceable and law-abiding people, for no other purpose than to harass and annoy its citizens.
 5. We hereby announce to the people of Alabama that we have implicit confidence in the ability of Sheriff Latham to preserve the peace in Bibb county, and cali atten- tion to the fact that our mining population has been out on a strike since April IA without solitary breach of the peace, and that the people of Bibb county are ready to a man at any time to answer the call of Sheriff Latham to continue his efforts to keep the peace and good order inviolate.
 6. That the thanks of this community are due to Lieutenant Irwin and the sol diers under his command while on duty in our midst for their soldierly and gentle manly conduct toward all.
 z. That we hereby instruct the chairman and secretary of this meeting to request the newspapers which have asked for informa- tion as to the alleged demonstration men, tioned above to publish these resolutions. and we further ask the local press to assist us in counteracting these vile and mali oin ra iEr mi tof tft.Il submitted THos. WILSON,
 ANDREW BRYsoN,
 R. B. WRIGHT,
 J. M. RAY, JR.,
 c. s. SMITH (col.),
 Committee.
 REV. r. M. WooDs, Chairman.
 J. NJ. RAY, JR., Secretary.
 A reporter showed the governor the above resolutions. The governor said:
 have not much time to devote to such by reverend gentleman, who, l am in- formed, forgets his duty to his divine mas- ter in his zeal to misrepresent political opponents.
 There is not a word of truth in the state- ment that any civil officer of Blocton or dering troops there. No one there knew of such a purpose. The sheriff was miles away, and the only other civil officer I could learn of was Justice Wilson. tele- graphed him in the forenoon of the 9th, and at o'clock received his reply sent that evening at 3:12 and delivered here after the departure of the troops at 3:42 that even- ing, in which he stated he did not know anything of the terrorizing of the fireman and porter, that no complaint had been made to him about 1t, that everything was peaceable as far as he knew and he antici- pated no trouble.
 l had myself examined credible eye-wit- nesses, who stated that the fireman and lives. Reliable information left no doubt depot and tbat there was good reason to apprehend that further interference would be attempted with the running of trains on their next trip. Were the authorities to wait and let that happen because no answer had been received from the justice? That somebody terrorized these two men is now an admitted fact, and one of them is yet afraid to resume his duties.
 1 have great confidence in Sheriff Latham, and directed him by special messenger to report to Blocton, to look after the peace there, if there were any need for it, and to advise me. The troops left Blocton the next morning, before his arrival.
 The malice of the author of these resolu- tions is well displayed by the assertion that there was tan unwarranted usurpation of authority" in sending the troops to Bloc- ton.
 Section AHA of the code of Alabama en- acts that ''the governor may, when the urgency is great, order out troops without any certificate from either of the officers mentioned in this section.'' The law would be entirely poWerless if the governor