The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-16

Ntf@e Legislature that ever heard of. l am here to state in my place that do not believe that such bill ever passed.
 MT. Thompson (Bibb)-In the first place I shall ask the Convention to pardon me for again appearing before you; and were 1t not for the fact that was 8 member of this Committee that spent from ten days to two weeks in considering this question, I would not now be before you. But by some means my mind has run through a diff ferent channel and by a different course than that of the distinguished gentleman ffom Crenshaw. The con- version of the distinguished gentleman tp the opinion he now defends, has been as sudden as that of Saul of Tarsus. It came about in night. After hearing the evidence in this case. gentlemen, it was my thought and it was so ex- pressed. that my wish was that ever one of the 155 members of this Conven- tion could hear that evidence as We heard it. l submit, gentlemen, had you heard 1t. that you would not have hesitated one moment, any man who was unprejudiced and unbiased in this matter. could not keep from being forced to the conclusion that wrong was done the people of Shelby County. And. gentlemen of the Convention, in the first place as to the evidence ad- duced before us, it was not dependent upon the statement of any witness up- on the stand. the physical evidence was before us. The actual bill itself. as 1t purported to have been passed through the General Assembly. was presented and parts of another bill-the back of another bill and the body of another bill were presented; and 1t showed con- clusively to our minds, gentlemen, that when that bill was introduced, 1t was one measure. When it got to the Jour- nal Clerks office 1t was another meas ure. When it was being read from the Clerks desk. 1t was bill to reduce the corporate area of the town of Ca- lera. When 1t got to the Journal Clerks office it was a bill to remove the county site of Shelby County. When 1t went to the Committee on County and County Boundaries. it was a bill to reduce the corporate area of the town of Calera. That evidence was brought before us in the shape of the Acting Chairman of that Committee, who swore to us positively, as dis interested man. so far as we knew, that he examined the bill, that he read the first page of it, practically the body of the first page. and was positive that it was a bill to reduce the corporate area of the town of Calera. That Chairman was MT. W. F.. Stripling of Fillmore County. When this bill was in troduced, If ever 1t was. the author failed to comply with the rule of the General Assembly. which required that the title of all bills be endorsed on the back. That was not done in this case. Your Committee failed to find ,11 ar1 lr1 y,xy other Instance. and 1t was conclusively proven that 1t was a physical impossi- bility for that cover to have been on the court house bill when 1t was in the hands of that Committee. for in mak- ing the holes through the body of the bill in attaching the cover to it when attached to the court house bill, sev- eral letters in the names of the mem bers of the Committee were entirely punched out. Gentlemen, that was a badge of fraud that had to be explain ed. I submit to you that 1t was never explained. There was a statement made that the cover was once on the Calera Incorporation bill, but that was before 1t was ever introduced in the House. If that was a fact, how came those names punched out? How was 1t possible for that change to have
 
 poration bill, the body of it I mean, and the back of the court house bill fit in every particular. And then the holes where they were pinned together fit precisely the crease in the paper fit exactly, and didn't fit anything of the kind in the court house bill. Now as to the question of fraud. I don't believe any fairminded man can doubt it. Now the only question, it seems to me. here that has moved the minds of the members or delegates, Is the question of expediency. As to that my only reply would be to quote the words of distinguished member of our Supreme Court in the case of Mor- ris vs. The Elyton Land Company where they say that principle should never be sacrificed at the altar of ex- pediency. As to the form we offer this relief as a part of the Constitution, would say that we have followed .pRe- cedents as adopted in all other Consti- tutions as to that; and I shall refer the Convention to the Constitution oi me State of Arkansas as found in Vol ! tf A1,clican Constitutions. page lS6 not in the schedule of separate ordi- nances. but in Section In the body of the Constitution. as follows: lr the formation of new counties no line thereof shall run within ten miles oi the county seat of the county proposed to be divided. except the county seat of Lafayette County"
 Sec. 5. Sebastian County may have two districts and two county seats, al which County. Probate and Circuit
 Courts shall be held as may be pro- vided by law. each district paying its own expenses"
 In the Constitution of the State oi Illinois. found in the same work, page 542. and in the 2d Volume, same work pages AS, 449 and 450. in the Constitu- ton of the State of Tennessee are numerous exceptions of this kind. In every instance a loca
 measure like this. it was always embraced in a Section of the Consti' tuition. Now then I wish the members of this Convention could see that Shel' by County Court House Bill. To use slang phrase, gentlemen, 1t was "dand, ." It places a fine of $1,0o0 up on each member of the Commissioners failed to comply with the terms of 1t or if they failed to levy a tax to pay the bonds issued. It saddled absolute ly a debt of $30000 upon the people of Shelby County, placed there by a board not selected by the people oi Shelby County, but absolutely named in this measure, who could spend this money without accounting to any per son on earth and didn't have to render an account to anybody. They could absolutely spend every cent of 1t fol attorneys fees. and never be held ac- countable anywhere on earth. Beside;
 the $30,000 they were authorizd tc draw warrants upon the County Treas