The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1898-11-23
DIsFRANCHIsED THEMSELVES.

A rather ludicrous and amusing legal
state of affairs has grown out Of con-
test between the citizens of Bogue
Chitto over the public school question.
A brief history Of the controversy will
be necessary for the reader to fully
appreciate what follows.
To begin with, Bogue Chitto had an
excellent High School owned and man.
aged by few persons, conducted on
pay basis, except for four months, when
it was run as free public school, and
these people and some Of the other pa
irons of the school desired it to be so
continued indefinitely. Another por-
ton of the residents of the town, in
cluding a majority of the Board of
Mayor and Aldermen, wanted the town
declared separate school district and
a graded public school established
which would be run on a free basis to
all the children in the district for
term Of or months.
The Board of Mayor and Aldermen
therefore passed an ordinance in 1897
declaring the town separate school
district, which they had the authority
under the law to do, and at the same
time levied a tax of Al mills on all tax
able property within the district for its
maintenance. Thereupon, the friends
of the High School refused to pay
and enjoined the collection Of this tax
on the ground that the law governing
such levies had not been complied with
and that it was excessive. When the
injunction proceedings we're decided
in their favor by the Chancery Court
it was the end of Feb, 1898, and they
had all been advertised as delinquent
taxpayers and the decision barely
came in time to save their property
from being sold by the town marshal
for the delinquent taxes claimed. The
Board of Mayor and Aldermen ap-
pealed from the decision of the Chan
cellor to the Supreme Court, and that
tribunal affirmed the decision of the
court below
Now the school law (sec. 4014, Code
of 1892 distinctly provides that tax
of mills on the dollar may be levied
for school purposes under the state of
facts which existed when the Mayor
and Board of Aldermen of Bogue Chit
to made the AZ mill levy, but the de-
cision of the Supreme Court left it in
doubt whether the excess of mills
invalidated the whole levy or not. The
High School people contended that it
did and still refused to pay, and the
Free School people contended that the
Board of Mayor and Aldermen still
had the right to collect mills. An
other injunction followed, and when
the issue was tried at the September
term of the Lincoln Chancery Court,
Judge Miller, acting as special Chan
cellor, decided against the High School
people, and that mills of the original
levy is collectable under the law ;
whereupon the High School people
took an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Now comes the amusing feature of
the long litigation. 1t will be remem-
bered that section 24l of the new con-
stitution provides, among other things,
that before man can vote, he must
have paid on or before the first day of
February of the year in which he pro-
poses to vote, "all taxes that may
have been legally required of him, y
ETC.; so when the late congressional
election came on, every time one OF
the delinquent high school men pre-
sented himself at the polls he was
promptly challenged by some of the
other side and the election officers sus
tanned the challenge and refused to let
him vote.
| But this was not the worst of it for
the high school men. The next mu'
nicipal election, which takes place
December 18th, was fast approaching
and for a long time they had fondly
hoped that at this election they could
rally their forces for decisive strug
gle, elect a set of town officials in &C
cord with their views, abolish the sep
arate free school district and restore
things to the old status. But alas for
human hopes When they came to
register for the municipal election
they discovered that Free School
man had been appointed town regis
trar, and that he politely but firmly re-
fused to register any of the delin
auents, on the ground that no one
could participate in a municipal elec-
ton who was not qualified elector
under the Constitution and laws Of
the State. At this embarrassing juno
ture, not to be outdone, the High
School people petitioned Judge Powell
to issue writ of mandamus COMPEL
ing the town registrar to register them
A demurrer to this was filed by the