The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1902-04-12

mer the faculty and students invited
their friend. Col. j. L. Power-my|
father-to, tell them something of the
history that centered in Aud Lang
Syne" around the old Capitol. The
following is a copy of his address, de-
livered on July 4 in the college chapel.
In Difference to the oft-repeated re-
quest for its publication, and because
we think it only right that we should
follow his example and share his best
gifts with the people of the State he
loved so well and served so Loyalty,
we give it to these columns, through
which he spoke, with such great pleas
rue to his readers and his friends dur
ing recent years. X. NJ. p.
Prior to the Constitutional Conven-
ton of 1917 the town of Washington,
in Adams county, Vas the seat of ter
~ritorial government. That convention
provided that the Legislature should
hold its next session-October II, 1917
in Natchez, and thereafter as might
be determined.
At the fourth session, in Natchez,
an act was passed changing the seat
of government TO Columbia, Marion
county. Natchez, Liberty and Column
bia were voted for. Columbia carried
by a vote of II to 10.
The sessions at Columbia were: No
vember, 1921; February, 1922; June,
1922. At the February session a bill
was introduced changing the seat of
government to Monticello for the next
ensuing June session. 1t passed the
-.y1w. ~. I- -,aAr nf AN
The Senate would doubtless have
passed 1t, but the rule requiring all
bills to be read on three several days
could not be dispensed with; besides,
the Legislature had agreed to adjourn
before the third day could be reached.
In February, 1921, a commission was
created consisting of Thomas Kinds,
James Patton and William baltimore
ito locate two sections of land in the
country lately coded to the United
States by the Choctaw Indians, as soon
as the same may be surveyed, for the
purpose of a seat of government of
this State, the same to be within
twenty miles Of the true center of the
State, embracing the whole extent Of
the State as we'll as that part which
is now in the jurisdiction of the State
as that part now occupied by Indian
tribes" etc.
The commissioners reported in No
vember, 1921, to the Legislature then
in Columbia, recommending that the
Capitol be located at LeFleur's Bluff,
on Pearl river, N the report was
adopted. Letleur's Bluff was thirty
five miles in excess of the twenty-mile
limit, but with this exception it met
all other conditions. Subsequently a
strip was added to the northern bound
airy Of the State, making Kosciusko
very nearly the geographical center,
The act creating the commission had
been so amended that when the selec
ton was made the place should be
named Jackson, in honor of Maj.-Gen
Andrew Jackson. And it may be ap
propriate here to note that Kinds
county, created February II, 1921, was
named in honor of the chairman Of the
Capitol Commission, Gen. Thoma:
Kinds. He commanded the Jefferson
troop at the battle of New Orleans
and Gen. Jackson, in speaking of
brilliant dash made by THIS command
upon an %intrenched position of the
enemy, said: The Jefferson troop
commanded by Col. Thomas Kinds
was the terror Of one army and the
admiration OF the other
The General Assembly that met a
Columbia in June, 1922, adjourned t
meet in the town of Jackson on De
cember %, 1922. A temporary State
House had been erected or Capito
street (where the Harding building
now stands). It was a two-story brick
40x30, and cost S35, 900. Thirteer
counties sent twenty-one representa-
ts,,o. al tLA-1 xvAr1 .a,vA 1N,a+0rto
districts.
AS an inducement to settlement IL
Jackson, the first ten settlers were Il
have presumption rights to ten lots
Y provided a neat log or frame house
not less than thirty feet in length
was erected on each lot. The lots wer,
promptly pre-empted and improved.
Gov. Walter Deake thus congratu
e lated the members of the Legislature
on their new environments:
h Before | close this communication
n permit me to congratulate you on you
first meeting at the place determined
IN as the permanent seat of govern
ment, where for the first time you
deliberations may be conducted in
y house the property of the State, an
IS erected exclusively for the purpose o
legislation; and also on the prospec
e of comfortable accommodations at
r. place where so little could "reasonabl.
1. have been expected. l am fully pei
suaded that if your accommodation
will not be equal to the wishes of thos
IL who provide them, they will at leas
1t exceed the expectations of those VIII,
T. partake of them. When we reflec
st that this town was, but a short tim
" since, entirely in the woods, in tn
midst Of a wilderness, the forme
abode of untutored savages, who draw
/, a scanty support from the beasts o
- the forest and not by agricultural pull
suits; that but little more than 81
d months have passed since the town o
Jackson was laid off; that but few pei
sons have as yet been authorized t
occupy lots therein; the great distanc
&C 1t lies from whence all necessary SUI
- plies are to be transported-through
,' country, too, where no persons resid
NJ to keep the roads in repair; and abov
e. all, when we view the number, dinner
It, sions and style of the buildings erecte
d, in the town of Jackson, we cannot bu
~ admire the enterprise. industry an