Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-07-08
MISSOURI STATE NEWS.
aEarhing a1Iasourl Ralots.


When the supreme court handed down
. decision in the case of Hope Us.
Fientge, from Cape Girardeau county,
it was q decision of great interest
The vital point in the case was upon tbs
marking Of certain votes. In his opinion Judge
CAN'T says: The law says he shall cross out
the groups he does not wish to vote, and directs
how he shall do it To hold such language mere
ly directory would Illustrate the essential prin-
ciple OF the Law. Contemporaneous construction
has been that the judges reject all ballots on
which two groups remain unscratched. and
such, in our opinion. is the evident meaning OF
the law. The force Of this contention is sought
10 be broken, however. by the fact that the In
dependent group in this case contained only
| one name. We hold that group In
this state consists as well as of one
name. under a distinct caption as it
would II there had been a name for each office
on the ballot and If we would reject the latter
we must the former. We hold that IS ballots,
upon which the independent and republican
groups remained uncrosSed erased were
properly rejected by the circuit court.
As already said the statute is per.
emptory. and the entire ballot is
rendered illegal and void when the plain posi-
tive requirements of the law are disregarded by
the Others as it was in the case of these 4s ball
lots, and its fllegality is not confined to the
office OF collector as contended for contestee."
Judges Brace Sherwood and Burgess concur
with Judge CAN'T, and Chief-Justice Barclay
filed dissenting opinion, which is concurred In
by Judge Maefarlane and Robinson.
Has Troubles i'm HIS Old Age.
Judge Charles Ford, a respected citi.
zen of Metz township, Vernon county,
Is charged with bigamy, and an appli-
cation made for his arrest.
Some three years ago the Judge married the
Widow Meeks, giving her deed to 40 acres OF
land as an inducement to marry him They
fnr hut -E@1 a.
brought suit to recall the deed claiming he
gave her by mistake 20 acres too much
land She then brought suit for divorce
but the suit was dismissed In the
trials Judge Ford testified that his wife
poured water in his boots at night while he
slept, and In other ways made his life burden.
She swore that he was in the habit of taking q
butcher knife to bed with him
Recently the judge was granted a decree of
divorce in the Bates circuit court and the
other day he returned from Car
lysle county, Kentucky, with
new wife, lady OF about 90 years In the
meantime the ST. Joseph wife applied to the
judge OF the Bates circuit court to have the
decree set aside, and the decree was set aside.
Application for the old gent1eman's arrest for
bigamy rather complicated affairs. The Judge
is about IS years age, and his ST. Joseph wife
is only about S.
To Teach Horticulture.
The state university summer school
has completed preparations for course
in horticulture for teachers only.
The course will begin July IL and close Au-
gust 81, and the experiment. If successful may
lead to the Introduction of horticulture ae,ri-
culture and handicraft in all the important
schools in Missouri, and will be watched with
interest by the educators of the state
Handicraft in the common schools has been
tried in many places in Europe notably in
Sweden, and agriculture has been tried on a
large scale, and with fair success. in the
schools of Canada and in Europe.
The Missouri university has splendid equip
ment for teaching horticulture. Within short
distance of the university is a large horti-
cultural farm, with abundant apparatus for the
experiments. Unlike other summer schools
this is not dependent upon fees, but is support
ed by the university. The instruction is given
tree of charge