The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-02-12
If the Treasury is Locked
Against Capt. Day?
GOVERNOR OF KENTUCKY
SAID TO HAVE SET HIS NIBS
SUCH A PRECEDENT.
MATTERS TO BE PUSHED ALONG
uId Board Say They WIl Resign f the Courts
DECIDE That The New Board are
tnled 10 sit.


VIII Governor Daniel L. Russell
stretch the pardoning power to reaches
yet undreamed of in his clement past?
That is suggested by the penltenuary
situation.
Inc present General Assembly, which
is not exactly i'll mid mood on the
subject OF the State Prison, has bill.
before it, or before the Senate, rather
asIit has already passed the House, the
enactment of which into Il law would
have the effect of cutting off all supplies
from the penitentiary. As the treasury
of that institution is not only empty but
has a large oriflce in the bottom, it is
by no means in a position to hibernate
for a time on the surplus OF sunny
days. 1t has been living in a hand-to-
mouth fashion because the States credit
held. But if the State should with
draw its credit from it, except when ap-
preached through the new board of di-
rectors, whom Capt. Day and the old
Fusion board refused to recognize, then
the State prison would be la tx. There
would be no meals of feeding the con-
yiets Would Governor Daniel l.. Rus
sell pardon them all at once rather than
advise acquiescence in the wish of the
General Assembly?
Now they do say that on one occasion
the Governor of Kentucky, in fact and
not in the play, pardoned all the pris-
oners in the penitentiary Of that State
! because the Legislature did not see
things in the same light wish him. OF
this pre- ad"nt it is uni 4f,-t'l that 10th
Capt. Day End Governor Daniel r. Rus
sell are well advised. Indeed it may have
occurred to one or both as an ultimate
method of dealing with a legislature
that is in an obstreperous mood AMI holds
the keys to the treasury; and is persuad-
ed that thereby, and otherwise, it holds
the key to the situation. If the Ass. M
bly, refuses to feed the conyictS unGar
the superintendency of Capt. Day would
Governor Russell pardon them all at once
on the ground that they would starve
else? Fiamentous insiauati0ns, gOs-
samer bits of gossip lsht as air, have it
that he would do just thar. Would he?
Governor Daniel l.. Russell does some
queer things. And the ursine impress
of his hirsute paw is thought to be clear
ly traceable in the situation. To- be
sure, for Governor Daniel l.. Russell,
there are spectres in the dim vista-un-
pleasant even for Governor without
a party, and for the man who is well
down the sunset side of things-but
that is another story.
And what will be done about it all?
The bill is pending in the Senate, in fact
is on the Calendar for tomorrow. That
it, or some bill of equally sweeping pro-
visions, will pass is more than proba-
hility. The penitentiary has been a
thorn in the flesh of this legislature. 1t
has become, through mismanagement, if
not worse, an incubus on the State. The
end of the session is approaching and
the management of the institution for
the next two years must be settled. That
is the feeling that prevails among mem
bers of the Assembly and that urges
them TO speedy action.
Some of the members of the more inn
petuous sort even say that when the new
directors were on the inside they should
have staid there and held the fort. and
so have had the traditional nine points
of law to their credit. These are they
that do not like the laws delays" even
when there is an expressed willingness
to facilitate an adjudication"
Some do not believe that if there was
a disposition to accept the proposition to
agree on facts and have the case passed
on by the courts that it could be settled
that way. 1t is so hard to agree bn
facts at times, when interests differ so
widely.
One interesting and entirely novel
phase of the situation is the intimation
of the old board that if the courts decide
in favor of the Democratic contention
they will not remain on the board but
will resign. A member of the old board
says that is the agreement Fusion
ist voluntarily turn loose an office? That
surely is what no man had dreamed of.