The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-15
COFFEE COURT HOUSE
FACTIONS ARE TO HAVE HEAR
 ING TODAY.
Delegates From Elba and Enterprise Will Go Before Governor on Matter of App ing
 a Commission.

-sN ing to a number of, citizens of Coffee County interested Tn court house fight,
 who reached Montgomery last night. Elba, in the middle of the county, is the county seat,s but the court house is coveted by the people of Enterprise. a thriving little city in the extreme south eastern part of the county. -sa
 Since about, month ago when the peo- pie of Enterprise filed with the Governor 8 petition asking for the appointment of Commission to hold an election to de- eide the question of removing the Coffee County court house, the fight has waxed warm.
 The hearing before the Governor today is regarded as an important crisis in the fight.
 The action in filing a petition for the appointment of a commission to hold a county court house election was taken
 under q general act passed by the present Legislature. This act provides that the Governor may appoint such a commis- sion upon the receipt of a petition signed
 by majority of the qualified voters. if he
 believes the petition is made in good faith. - The Enterprise people claimed that the petition which they filed in the Governors s office Vas signed by owed 1,s0o of the qualified voters or many more than half,
 which is the legal requirement..
 The attorneys for Elba filed briefs at- tacking the constitutionaiity of the law. They claimed that the law was uncon- stitutional because 1t ainvisteds the Gov ernor with legislative authority. It was further contended that the law was a general act with penal provisions. and was. therefore, imperative until thirty days after the final adjournment of the Legislature.
 The Governor took the briefs filed by the Elba attorneys under consideration. He has notified the interested parties at Elba a hearing upon the petition. @' This notice Is taken to mean that the Governor has decided to overrule the l briefs His naming time for the hear ing is looked upon as a temporary victory for the Elba partisans. It is regarded as announcement from the Governor that
 he would go into the proofs on the peti- tions. In response to his notice, a strong dele- gation from both Enterprise and Elba came to Montgomery last night. Both towns will be ably, represented before the Governor at the hearing today. l The members of the Elba delega- ton are Mayor A. V. Buck. Editor M. s. Carmichael, W. P. Boyd, Dr.. c. s. All red, J. T. Law, F. P. sRainer. J. W. Duke, and Attorneys Claude Riley, J. w. Wilkerson, B. D. Armstrong, J. F. San- ders and Judge ]. M. Chiffon. The Enter prise delegation has brought along as | witnesses as to the voting qualifications
 of the men whose names are signed to the
 petition. Tax Collector B. F. Connor and
 Probate Clerk J. D. Lee.
 | In the Enterprise delegation are Mayor A. M. Owen, W. H. Halloway, w. S. Edwards, Lee Doster, J. P. Hawls, Editor
 T. J. Carlisle, Dr. w. c. Peacock, J. E Henderson, w. B. Finney, and Attorneys
 Sollie and Kirkland. W. o. Mulkey and | O. c. Doster. l In the fight today the representatives
 of Elba will attack the legality of the pe-
 tition which is before the Governor. They
 will claim that the petition does not con tain a majority of the voters of Coffee. | They will contend that, it does not con- | tain the names of one-fourth of the quail | fled electors of Coffee
 l In discussing the court house fight last
 night, Editor M. s. Carmichael of The
 Elba Clipper, said: "The Elba citizens | soon after 1t was filed, and have been al 1 work on 1t. several weeks. It contained labout 1,S00 names. The committee went deep into the investigation of the poll 1 lists, registration lists and other records Ito secure information as to the qua1ih-
 cation of the alleged voters whose names
 are signed to the petition. It has been | dSCcNlaiucu StlHt OAAy a. UdEC tlAtO Ol itN
 signatures are the signatures of qualified
 electors We expect to establish this by l the testimony of county officials. This
 will make the hearing a mere walk-over | for Elba. We are surprised that the En- terprise people should pin their faith to
 so weak a petit4on."
 On the other hand, the Enterprise people
 claim that there are nearly 5000 names signed to the petition and that many | more than half of them. are uualffed -vot.
 CTS. At any rate. the fight will be fought
 around the qualifications of the voters signing the petition. l The proceedings before the Governor
 will be novel. The law is a new one and there has never before been such a hear
 ing before the Governor. Some curiosity
 is felt as to whether the proceedings will be like those in law court or chan
 cery court.