The age-herald., 1900-03-15
Democratic Executive Committee Will Meet in Montgomery.
THE APPEAL FROM AUTAUGA
Captain Frank $. White Answers-the Charge of the Montgomery Journal In Regard to His Purchase
 of Mineral Lands.

ton of a United States senator Notice of
 the appeal was received by Chairman R.
 J. Lowe several days ago, and yesterday
 he issued the following call for a meeting | of the committee:
 Birmingham, Ala, March If, 1900
 ''rhe state executive committee of the
 democratic and conservative party of Ala
 ibama is hereby called to meet in Mont
 gomery Friday, March 23, 19OO, at F
 o'clock, noon, for the purpose of consider | ing the appeal frcm Autauga county, and
 such other matters as may then be
 brought before it.
 ROBERT J. LOWE, Chairman.
 NATHAN L. MILLER, Secretary"
 The conditions that gave rise ito the ap-
 peal from Autauga county have been
 stated in tine Age-Herald The executive
 committee of that county is divided on the
 question of a primary eleoacn, and five
 of the members, who constitute the mi
 nority, appealed the matter to the state 1 committee.
 | NIT. Marshall's Letter
 | J. w. Marshall of Prattsvlle has written 1 the Age-iHerald letter. bearing on the | trouble that exists in that county The let
 ter is as follows:
 "In an article giving an account of the
 appeal of the minority of the democratic
 executive committee of Autauga county it | is stated that two meetings of the commit 1 tee were held. This is correct The commit
 tee met on Feb N and ordered primaries | on April If, the vote being seven to five | in favor of primaries. That was the only meeting of the committee. When this was dfsnua t1,a
 the minority in the interest of harmony not
 to bolt the action of the committee but to remain with them and give notice of an ap- | peal. Instead the minority left the room | and filled up their committee with men. | several of whom do not affiliate with the | party. It is now claimed that they have no | right to take an appeal as they have placrsl l themselves outside of the party The | minority base their only hope in an appeal | on resolution passed in a county conven- | tlon held two years ago, said resolution l stating that 'in holding beat meetings the | chairman of each beat be required to ascer- | tain the strength of each candidate" Two | conventions since have ignored the resolu- | tion. Should Chairman Lowe decide to call | the state committee together a majority | of the members of the convention which | passed the resolution will sign statement | to the committee that they did not under | stand the resolution to prevent the holding | of primaries which they considered the | fairest way to prorate the strength | of candidates. A petition will also | be presented to the committee signed by | at least three-fourths of the white demo- 1 cratic voters of this county asking the com | mittee to endorse the action of the county | executive committee in calling primaries | It is the general opinion in this county that | tin the face of these facts 1t is needless for | the state committee>t to be called together so | far as Autauga is concerned as it is un- reasonable to suppose that it woud rule against the wishes of the majority of every county convention which has been held here
 within the past three years and against the wishes of at least three fourths of the democrats of the county.
 "W J. MARSHALL" Prattsville, March fl, 1900.
 Charge Against Capt. White The Montgomery Journal has charged Captain Frank s. White, chairman of the
 Morgan campaign committee, with having bought certain mineral lands in Jefferson county, for which he paid $5,53O.75, and WHICH ne ildu gwen III VO lHc ldA dSSeSSOT at ,OOO. Captain White stated to an Age Herald reporter yesterday that "this prop erty was bought under a foreclosure sale | of mortgage where the debtors were ut- terly insolvent and the fact of the mort gage, together with the court cost, was bid at the sale, the property not being worth anything like the amount of the mortgage debt. As nothing could be made out of the debtors. bid the amount of It's face value without regard to the real value of the land. no money being paid except the court costs. "I only bought an undivided one-eHarter interest in the tract, my co-tenant owning the other three-quarters, which he assessed in 1S9S-'99 at $50, while assessed my one quarter interest at s1,0O0 My co-tenant as- sessed his land at s1 per acre, while gave mine in at s20. The land is worthless ex- cept for the iron ore in it, and the best iron experts say it is too high in silicon to be worked at this time, and may never be of any use. The governors back tax conn missioner, as we'll as his board of revenue. all appointed by him, were evidently satis- | fled with the assessment, as they made no attempt to raise 1t, whereas, the back tax commissioner for Walker county raised the | governors. The governors mineral lands were assessed at s10 per acre, and he claim l ed that they were highly improved and had | a valuable coal mine in operation He sold | the lands during the same year at $49.50 per acre.
 T would not sl1irk a comparison of my assessments with those of the governor. l The governor claimed that his lands. were highly improved and had a valuable mine I in operation, while mine arc undmproved and not susceptible of being worked. His were assessed at $10 per acre and mine at 20. have not been able to dispose of mine at any price, while the governor sold his ito @ New Jersey corporation at five times their assessed value, but attribute