The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-10
! rogGER PLAYS LAW MAKER.
n~s,RKABLE CASE IN THE
III CAROLINA LEGISLATURE.

.-, ~.,er Before the senate Sent
,he secretary of state Duly
iced and signed by the Speaker
-. HouSe AID President of the
.,e-Ty4o Clerks of the Legis-
,.,nre Now Before the Criminal
court.
r,.f.fgl, y. c., Jan. 9.-The trial OF
reuarizable case began here to-day
+,tes back TO the last legislature. OF
W. Brown was enrolling clerk
s p. satterheld principal clerk OF the
a. House. A bill was introduced at the
.1-.sr,e Of a lawyer named Smith, who
no dictated it, The bill was in these
sl-. ..-Tbat all conditional sales, assign
mortgages or deeds of trust which
.vecuted to secure an debt, obligation,
@ mr. bond, which gives preferences to
~ creditor of the maker. shall be aoso-
,...slv void as TO existing creditors except
---.s GIVEN to secure cash advanced at the
-. of the execution of the same, or to
sivancements for farming purpos-
D. Tho committee struck out all after the
- creditors" and reported the bill IA
r,b1v It is stamped tabled in the
'1a,sa March u. 1885, The bill never was
l-afore the Senate at ALL yet when the Sec
,,+orv of State began to copy the acts for
-.1lf.ation. after the legislature adjourn
"a he found this act duly ratlhed ana
nod Inv the speaker Of the House ana
PRESIDENT Of the Senate. a prodigious SEN
-, resulted. as the act completely
sa,.g I.ad the giving of mortgages on crops
III thls prevented farmers from procur-
nc supplies from merchants. -. 49,.
Gov carr, acting as citizen, sued tne
.I~starv of state to compel the latter 10
syy,inate This fraudulent act from the
goiume of the acts or the leslSlatuIr q.
7bere was no denial or the tact that lhe
act was fraud. The question was now
% undo what had been illegally done.
The case went up to the supreme court,
which said the question presented was
ebsolutely new; that If the court dld not
iook behind the record, lobbyists and cor
1Tint men would feel safer in their at
tennis to prevent such laws, While on the
other hand If the court permitted every
act to be inquired into, the state Would
he plaglIed with pOnderouS tax OF evils.
The court further declared that this was
tbe first case on record in the world
u,bere a forger had tried to play law
maker Three of the justices OF the court
decided that there was no power to go be-
hind the ratification, but that this act
must he construed as given above IN It's
intirety. and not as amended. Two JUS
tees dissented, saying the court had
mower to go behind falsely obtained sig
natures of the president and speaker and
declare the act invalid
AZ the last term of Wake county criminal
court true bills We're found by the grand
Jury against Satterfield and Brown; that
against the former was for negligently
and wilfully failing to perform the duties
of his office in that he delivered to Brown
a bill entitled an assignment act and also
with corruptly procuring its enrolment
Brown was charged with wilfully and
negligently permitting the enrolment OF
the act. The first case, that against sat
terield. was taken up to-day. He had
four attorneys and several witnesses. The
state had summoned as witnesses Speaker
Walser, w. NJ. Smith, who dictated the
bill: r. L. Smith, the member who intro
duced it; the Washnton correspondent
of the Raleigh News and Observer; w
P Bachelor. chief clerk of the secretary
Of state, and J. @. Ellington, state libra
rian Enrolling Clerk Brown is also here
with four lawyers and several witnesses
The contention of the state is that the
bin enrolled is identical with the bill as
amended, and that this proves that the
original bill was the one from which the
enrolled bill was made. The defense con
tends that the original bill never left Sat
terield's hands, and a forged bill was the
one from which the enrolled bill was
made.