Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1899-01-03
MANDAMUS REFUSED.
Supreme court refuses to inter-
fere in the Taylor county
case.

Very unexpected ending Of the famous
case from Tayior-TwG men Will pre-
sent themselves to be seated-Why
the court would not interfere is
INTERPRETATIONS Ohley says that
the decision will have no effect on the
make up of the House.
CHARLESTON, w. Va, Jan. 3,-The
supreme court refused to grant the
writ of madamus applied for by w.
r. D. Dent, member-elect of the leg
islature from Taylor county. The
mandamus was asked for in order to
compel j. K Means, until recently a
member of the county court Of that
county, to certify to the secretary Of
state the result of the recount OF the
vote for members of the legislature in
that county The court came to this
decision after listening to arguments
part of the morning and nearly all the
afternoon. The court stood two to
one against granting the order, Judges
McWhorter and Brannon concurring
in the opinion, and Judge English dis
senting from them. Judge Dent, who
is brother of the petitioner, did not
sit in the case.
The arguments were opened by John
Fl. Holt, for the petitioner. Hon. J.
I'll. Gaines, and John w. Mason, of
Fairmont, followed for the respondent
and Mr.. Holt then concluded the ar
guments.
The history of the case is briefly
this: According to the face Of the re.
turns, in the vote cast for members OF
the legislature in Taylor county, II.
T. Brohard was elected over w. r. D.
Dent. The latter demanded recount
which was granted. The result Of
this made IL appear that Dent was
elected by a majority Of about thirty.
At supper time on the day the count
was completed, the court took recess.
1t appears that Means, the Republi-
can member of the court, did not re-
turn after this recess, but Curry, the
Democratic member, did. When
Means did not return, Curry. who was
president of the court, signed the rec
ord Of his own accord and issued certi-
ficates TO Dent and several others.
Curry then left the state, with the OBJ
ject, it is claimed, Of preventing a
further session of the court as long as
he and Means were members, and re-
manned away until after the eXpira-
tion of their terms. In the mean
time Means issued a certificate to Bro
hard, but refused to sign the record
in so far as the recount was concerned.
The supreme court was then applied
to for writ Of mandamus to compel
him to certify the result of the re-
count. which meant to make him sign
the certificate of election issued by
Curry to Dent, which he refused to
do.
The petition of Dent, in addition
to the allegations regarding Means
alleged conspiracy on the part of w.
M. O. Dawson, chairman of the Re-
publican state committee, to deprive
him of seat in the legislature. Mr..
Dawson denies these charges in an
affidavit which was filed yesterday by
Means attorneys.
CHAIRMAN OHLEY'S VIEWS
Asked what effect the refusal Of the
supreme court to grant the mandamus
will have on the Dent case, Chairman
William Ohley, of the Democratic
state committee, said:
cit will have no effect. The house
will decide who is eligible to the seat.
We thought the mandamus ought to
have been ordered. The merits of the
controversy were not before the court.
1t was only asked to compel Means to
sign Dents certificate OF election.