The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-01
CULLMAN COUNTY
 STILL UNSETTLED.
County Executive Committee
 Will Meet Tomorrow
VACANCY TO BE FILLED
Part of the Committee Favor a Pri- mary, Others Do Not-Pointed Opinions From Judge Slmp-
 son and Chairman Mallory.

1 Cullman, April S0.--(Special) )-Fhe va- cancy on. the Cullman county democratic | ticket caused by the death of s. ". Her rim. nominee for clerk of the circuit court, has caused quite commotion in local political circles. l. II. Hipp, chairman of the county democratic executive committee has call- ed meeting of the committee for. next Monday for the purpose of deciding upon a plan of supplying the vacancy. The circuit clerk of the court, O. s. Roden, was MT Herrins only opponent and is again in the race. Asa B. Fuller. son of Judge Sutton L. Fuller, who was defeat ed for renomination as probate judge. Is, also a candiiat MT, Fuller Is asking the committee to make the nomination. without referring the matter to the peo- pie in a primary and every means possi- hle is being taken to induce them to do. this. ., .
 Mir. Roden and his friends demand a primary and will accept .'he nomination no other way The committee are divid- ed in their opinion of how the nomina- tion should be made Some of them favor the contention of one candidate and some the other. What the committee will do is matter of great speculation. I ne' people of the county are making clamorous demands for primary and 1t is believed by some that their wish will be granted, though the committee Is being powerfully influenced otherwise The opinions of several attorneys and judges have been secured and all agree that vote of the people IS necessary to answer the demands of the law. Since the state has another case similar to this-the vacancy caused by the death of Judge John Moore, of the Fourth judi cial circuit-these opinions are of state wide interest.
 Following are letters from Hon. IT. s. D. Mallory, chairman of the state exec utive committee, and Judge w. H. Simp- son, chancellor of the northern chancery division of Alabama:
 Letters on the Subject.
 Selma, Ala. April 2S, 1904 MT. S. J. Griffin, Cullman, Ala.
 Dear Sir-I have your letter of the 27th. l think it is thes duty of your county executive committee to call county primary for the nomination of a candidate Of the party for the office of circuit clerk, the candidate nominated at the late pri- mary having since died There is ample time to call the primary, giving the notice required by the primary law The pri- mary should be held under the rules pre- scribed by the state committee for the April primary. Yours truly,
 H. s. D. MALLORY,
 Chairman, etc.
 New Decatur, Ala, April 2S, 1904. Northern Chancery Division of Alabama,
 w. H. Simpson, chancellor
 Hon. J. B. Brown, Cullman. Ala:
 Dear Sir-I am in receipt of your favor Of yesterday requesting my construction of the primary election law with refer ence to filling vacancies in nominations. In the enactment of this law the great underlying legislative intent was to take the nomination out of the hands of the few and place them in the hands of the people. And to provide against just such sad and unfortunate emergencies as that caused by the death of Judge s. H.. Her Tin, the act declares that vacancies shall be filled and certified in the same man. ner as originally made and certified" This seems to be the rule if the vacancy occurs after the certificate of nomination has been filed with the probate judge or secretary of state
 If it occurred before the certificate was filed but after the elections was held. take that it would be the duty of the executive committee of the territory in  which the vacancy occurs to issue the certificate to the candidate receiving the next highest vote. To further show that the legislature did not intend that any committee should name a candidate for the party the act further provides for pastors to be sent to the inspectors In the event the time is too short to have the nomination made and certified before the printing of the ballots for the general election.
 Beyond all doubt the vacancy in the nomination for circuit clerk in Culman should be filled by primary election This would not only be in accordance with the law. but would be conducive to party harmony and success Yours truly, w. II. SIMPSON. It Is not expected that the Cullman county executive committee will take the matter of filling this vacancy in their own hands in the face of such opinions as these, but as stated above the committee is divided. Interesting developments are expected at the meeting next Monday. Judge s. T. Fullers contest is also to come up at this meeting