The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-08
THE SHELBY INCIDENT
COURT HOUSE ACT BEFORE A
 CONVENTION CoMMITTEE.
Columbiana Making . Fight to Have Removal Law NulliAsd-sev-
 eral Witnesses Examined
 Under Oath by Lawyers.

For the past two days the Committee on State and County Boundaries of the Constitutional Convention has been in- vesrigating the charges made in con- nection with the manner of the pass age of the bill removing the Court House from Columbiana to Calera in Shelby County. The Committee sat in the Convention Hall yesterday after noon and last night and many citizens of shelby County were present.
 The Committee considered the matter of Jurisdiction and decided that 1t would take up the case and hear both sides and base its action upon the mer" its of the matter. Attorneys have been engaged on both sides and every effort is made to get at the facts as far as possible in the premises.
 The Committee held a meeting Wed nesday and two meetings were held yesterday at which witnesses were ex- amined and cross-examined and every possible light obtainable was thrown upon the route of the bill through the two houses of the General Assembly. There have been charges of fraud and deception. It has also been intimated that the cover of the bill was changed and the Calera land bill substituted. when the bill was shown to the mem bers of the Committee to which 1t was referred, and then before returning 1t to the Clerk the Court House removal bill was put back into the cover.
 Representative W. E. Striplin of FL more, testified before the Committee yesterday afternoon that he was shown the Calera land bill under the cover of the Court House bill. After 1t was shown him, 1t was shown that the cover was removed and put on the oth- CT bill. Pin points are to be seen in the original papers. MT. Striplin said he had made an agreement with Sem ator Oliver to pass his bills through the House if he would pass his (Mr. Striplin's) bills through the Senate He was paying some attention to El- more legislation and never heard Of an;. Court House bill until he saw that it had become a law.
 Mfr. A. c. Sexton, Clerk in the Sec- retary of States office. Judge A. P. LonEshore. J. R. White and D. R.. McMillan of Columbiana, gave testi- mony all going to show circumstantt- ally that all was not right in the pass age of the bill. They said there was no movement for such legislation and they never heard of any such bill until 1t had been approved by the Governor or had passed the Senate and its final passage was printed in the proceedings of that body.
 MT. J. C. Adams. Clerk of the House of Representatives. and Mir. Ed Jones, a sub-clerk who handled the bill in the House, testified that they knew of nothing wrong in regard,to it and that it was treated the same as other bills.
 At the session of the Committee last night, State Senator Oliver reviewed his entire connection with the bill. He said that he knew nothing wrong in its passage. and that he had favored the bill because he had been informed that the Commissioners of Shelby Coun- ty were going to build a new Court House at Columbiana without giving the people the right to vote on 1t. He wanted to stop this proceeding. He told how the bill passed the Senate. which was in every way regular and open, and no effort was made to con- ceal his action from any one. He said he called up the bill from the Cal endar and had it passed just like other bills were pasesd. When he, first ar- rived here he was without experience in legislation and when he found two elements in Fillmore County on bridge question he and MT. Striplin conferred about it and agreed that they would act together and look after the bills of each other in the respective houses. MT. Oliver said that for some reason he alone kept the agreement. This was before any Court House bill had
 been proposed, of which he knew nothing until toward the last of the ses- sion. He had not discussed the Court House question but favored the bill that became a law because he had heard that a Court House was to be built at Columbiana and work was to commence in April.
 MT. W. R. Browne said that he had never heard of any movement to re- move the Court House and did not know anything about such bill pending un- til the final passage of the bill in the House and how 1t had appeared from the papers that the covers had been changed the bills substituted. He said the pin points were there to sustain the suspicion.
 The Committee then adjourned until today on account of the illness of Rep resentative Deans of Shelby County, who was taken suddenly sick yester- day afternoon. His physician testified that he would not be able to appear before today.
 MT. Deans will give his statement to the Committee today and after the argument of counsel the Committee will decide what action 1t will take in the matter.