Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-11-26
TO SUE CONVENTION.
MR.. WISE PLANS NOVEL METHOD
OF ATTACKING THE con-
sTITUTroN.
THE GOVERNOR ALSO A PARTY
State Board of C.nva..ers and Reg
istrntion Boards Brought In.
ONLY AFTER THE PRoCLA1MERs.
The Suit is Brought in the Name OF
Every Bisfranchined Negro in the
State. and $4,000 is the Amount of
Damage. Alleged In Every Case
Some Digging CALCULATIONS SuE-
Eested.
Eested.

Mr.. John S. Wise and his conferres
who are attacking the validity OF the
Virginia Constitution in general. and
the registration and suffrage clauses In
particular, are sharpening their axes for
further assaults in the way OF damage
suits against certain members OF the
Constitutional Convention the Governor
Of Virginia. the three members OF each
| registration board in each district, anu
the three judges of election at every
voting precinct The plaintiffs-and by
this term is meant the disfranchised ne
| groes of the State-will demand Juds-
| ments against the defendants named
| Jointly and severally for the sum OF
| s.. 600, together with the costs of the ac-
| tions.
| Nothing SO omnibus in it's scope has
| ever been attempted in the legal annals
| of a State, and the petitions, If they are
| filed, will jam the dockets of every United
| States Circuit Court having jurisdic-
! ton in Virginia for many moons to come.
| There will be g harvest of court fees and
| mileage items for United States marshals
| that will run up into thousands OF dollars,
| foot up into the millions.
The preliminary costs In the legal pro-
ceedings anticipated by Captain Wise. and
| his associate, James Is. Hayes, the negro
| lawyer, will require a small fortune
| When Mr.. Wises plan was made known
yesterday morning, there was any
| amount Of gossip as to how this tuna
| would be raised. Some thought that
| there would be a levy made on all the
/ Iiefr
| fund, somewhat in the manner that many
| negroes throughout the South have been
| taxed to defray the expenses of getting
| through Congress a bill to pension all
| the cx-slaves. Some had opinions suff1-
| GENTLY fixed as to say that the pro-
| posed damage suits would be as success
| full as the ex-slave pension dream Some
| thought that the 5000 damage Ell Dorado
| would be the wil-o'-the-wisp that would
lure the subscriptions from the negroes.
The Initial Steps.
Whatever be the purpose or the result
| Of the plan that Mr.. Wise and his asso-
| ciates have in mind the first steps have
been taken in the form of an unlimited
| number Of petitions in blank that have
| been printed in this city to be distributed
| throughout the State in every registration
district where applicants have been de-
MED registration. These petitions, when
1
| plaintiff are to be filed in the United
| States Circuit Court having jurisdiction,
| and upon the allegations made in the
! petition. damages to the extent OF $1,000
| will be prayed for against the defendants
| jointly and severally named above
| Proofs of the petition have been sent
| to Mr. Wise in New York for his exam
| ination. They have not been given out to
the public in this city. but their contents
| are known. The grounds upon which the
| damages are to be claimed are substan-
! TALLY the same as those presented in the
| case against the State Board of Canvass
| ers to be heard before Chief Justice
| Fuller on Friday in the Federal Court
| in this city.
| The defendants named are the follow
| ing members of the Constitutional Con-
| vention: Rufus A. Ayers, John S. Bar
| bour, John L. Barham, William H. Boan,
| Thomas H. Barnes, Allen Caperton Bra~-
! ton, John Thompson Brown, Preston w.
| Campbell w. L. Cobb Hill Carter, VIII
| liam F. Dunaway. D. @. Eggleston. Albert
Fletcher, G. Taylor Garnett, F. Gordon,
r. Lindsay Gordon. James w. Gordon.
| Bergman Green. Roger Gregory, l.. A.
| Hardy, Goodrich Hatton. John n In
gram, G. W. Jones, Claggett B. Jones.
Gilmour Kendall. John w. Lawson. ]. H.
| Lindsay. E. n. Lowell. Richard Nc
| Ilwaine, c. v. Meredith. James Mundy.
| James w. Orr, r. S. Parks John Gar
| land Pollard, ]. NJ. Quarles, ]. B. Rich
! mond Joseph Stebbins, G. P. Tarry,
| J. B. Thornton, Robert Turnbull, G. H.
| Walker, a. c. Walker, J. M. Willis.
Eugene Withers, Jonathan Woodhouse,
| w. T. Yancey. and John Goode, and Gov
| ernor a. J. Montague.
Blank spaces are reserved for the names
of additional defendants, who are to be
| three judges at the plaintiffs voting pre-
cinct and the three members of the reg
istration board which refused to register
the plaintiff. 1t will be noted that the
members of the convention named as de-
PENDANTS are those who voted for procla-
nation.
The bill alleges conspiracy on the part
Of these convention members to deprive
the plaintiff Of his right to vote. They
are referred to as "conspirators," and
Governor Montague is named as party
to the conspiracy, in that he called upon
the people of Virginia to obey and re-
spect the Constitution. Hence he is made
a party to the suit. and 5000 is asked of
him It has been impossible to figure out
except by transcendente1 mathematics
lust how much each member of the con-
vertion. Governor Montague and the reg
istrars and judges will have to pay when
the last case has been adjudicated. Ger
tainly the debt Of Virginia will be moth
ing more than pin-money when compared
with it. One of the State officials said
yesterday that the plaintiffs might go
further, and make all the legitimate vot-
ers in the State parties to the suits. and
the question of damages would then be
matter Of geo1netrical progression.
After specifying the defendants, the pc
tition states that the plaintiff was SUBJ
ject to no disqualification at the Congress