The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-18
WARSAW'S LIVELY POLITICS.
THE LITTLE CITY BY THE SEA HAS
TROUBLES OF ITS OWN.

Superior Court 10 Be Called Upon to
Decide Which Is the Legal Gov
ernment-QuO WarrantO Proceed
ings Instituted TO Gust the Present
Commissioners Some Important
Amendments Made to the Towns
Charter Recently The Recent
Election for New Commissioners
May Not Hold.
The fight for the control of the city
government of Thunderbolt is likely 10
prove quite a lively and interesting one.
Quo warranto proceedings have been in
stituted in the Superior Court by the OPP
ponents of the old board to require them
to show by what authority they hold Of
flee. This applies 10 Messrs. NJ. ]. Des-
vergers and E. V. Toomer, who with Mr..
j. f. Cler now constitute the old board.
NIessrs. DesveTgers and Toomer were
elected to fill vacancies caused by resig-
nations of dissatisfied members, and it is
claimed that this election by the board was
ILLEGAL.
The case was to have come before the Su-
perior Court to-day, but has been post
poned until Wednesday. The papers are
not on record with the clerk of the Super
ior Court however. and that official had
no knowledge of them when approached
on the matter yesterday.
The discussions in the Town Council of
Thunderbolt are not of recent origin, but
have been going on for some time past
The trouble begun when an ordinance pro-
viding for the enforcement of the Sunday
closing law was adopted. AS Thunderbolt's
chief income is from saloon licenses and
as the chief income of the saloons is from
their Sunday business, the proposition to
enforce Sunday closing met with pro-
test, 1t was objected that the attractive
ness of Thunderbolt as a Sunday resort
would be destroyed. Mr.. l.. w. Nelson,
VINO was at that time chairman of Coun-
eli, and eX-offlcio Mayor. took the latter
view. He held that there had been no diff
hcuity in preserving order in Thunderbolt
on Sundays, and that the order was uh-
necessary. lie threatened 10 resign if the
step was taken and when the ordinance
was adopted he did resign
Commissioner Gray was then elected
chairman. 1t was found that there was
llttle money in the treasury pretty much
all of The income of the town about 81 500
having been expended earlier i'm the wear
There was considera BILE work that needed
to be done, and there was the marshars
salary 10 pay. Mr.. Gray thought the pros
pect of running the town without money
a rather unsatisfactory one, and so he re-
signed Then Commissioner Reftz resign
ed. Marshal Herman Lentz did not like
the prospect OF working without salary
ana handed in his resignation. 1t was at
TINS crisis of affairs that Mr.. NJ. ]. Des-
Vergers was called to the helm by the re-
naming members of the board. Mr.. Des-
vefsers was formerly the civil head of
lHuhuerhoIt Tor number of years pre-
Vlous 10 Mayor Nelson's administration.
Ihere was s1.65 in the treasury when Mr..
Desvergers took charge. The board
Struggled along the best it could until the
beginning of the new year when it ex-
pected TO collect the license taxes unon
which the town depends for revenue The
opposition had been laying its pans in
the meanwhile however, and the tax paw
ers mad been informed that the town gov
eminent was not legally constituted and
mat If taxes were paid to il they might
nave TO be paid again when a legally con-
sututed board took charge The exist
ing government demanded that the taxes
De pald and threatened to take summary
steps 10 enforce payment. 1t then de-
Ve-oped that several of the leading tax
payers had formed a combine and daoos-
lted their money in bank as a guarantee
that their taxes should be paid when a
legally elected Council took charge. This
would nave kept the board Out of revenue
until May, when the annual election IS
held. The old board being determined to
enforce collection of the taxes the oDpo-
| shlon saw that something must be done
at once and so an election was ordered To
HI the vacancies In The board, which il
was claimed had been illegally filed. The
Old charter of Thunderbot provides thar
an election can be called by anv three
citizens, or lot owners only lot owners
being entitled to vote. The election was
held and Messrs. Nelson, Grimm and
Sawyer elected.
II is claimed, however, that this cleo
ton is of no effect Some amendments
to the charter of The town were secured
by Mr. Desvergers at the last session Of
the legislature which do not seem to have
attracted attention until recently. Here
totore any lot owner, whether a resident
or the town or not was eligible TO vote
The amended charter limits the franchise
TO resident lot owners. This would shut
out the Doyles, who are now residing In
! Savannah, though large property owners
at Thunderbo.t and Mr. Nelson himself
who is now temporarily residing in Sa-
vannah since the destruction of his resi-
dence There are other features about
the amendment which may prove of in
terest. In fact, the amendment IS So
much longer than the original charter thar
it is said to look like a case of The tail
wagging the dog. Thunderbolt's nopu-
lation is only about $50, but the political
pot boils just as well as if it had Is 600
-S-e-s