The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-14
Eaters totbe editor
The Plowman Case.

The, Plowman Case.
 Editor The Advertiser:
 \ e " has not been many years since
 Judge Of Probate in one of the more im-
 portant counties of Alabama was ordered
 70 jail by Circuit Judge and the trouble
 mnged entirely upon the decision or ine CIrcuit Judge, that an Associate Justlce
 or the Supreme Court of the. State was 4 usurper. The tale and all it's connections
 ls surcharged with political history or 1 great and permanent value to the stu- dent of free government in its beautiful sna complex situations. An. oligarcny IS snSs s n It's forms and positive N dnsrns ,in 1as | Hent or nature, is composed Of as many ,etm,s9,nts and as many agencies as the ,nseingence and virtue of the governed ! a@E capable of producing. v v i:
 George F. Plowman; Probate Judge of ailadesa County, was reelected in the EsneEel election of November 3. 1874, which | orpuSht in the great victory of the white people oYer hiiiitarism niihe election of | ,a custom on to be Governor by more than tv,uoO majority. But Plowman had not one of the beneficiaries of the military eiecuon, so-called. of 1868, and the samo ttiHnnsutMency tin, gave him the second cleo Lon. There was no doubt at all of his last election nor any dispute raised oyer
 w. H. Thornton. Democrat, was the 1874 and after oan Piowman had 'aH filed p his of F lSth. had received ed hS his aso commission from
 Lewis in ss as s1o, days S. nsM S lease of office. Thornton appealed to At s1rney- sy General John ". A. Sanford. just baecaed; bond L to know whether Plowman's gave the opinion that the bond had not peens properly approved and that the office vas thereby vacated. Upon this showing of Rufus K. Boyd, certified to Governor Honston that the office of Probate Judge s os Ialadega County was vacant because commissioned Thornton to that office papers and money of the county to
 sd that jndse Jrdersd him to jail until delivery. should be made. cPlowman appealed from the order of the reprf sdgdgs to new ssgrsme Thomas J. Judge and Amos R. Manning Associate, Justices. The Chief Justice an- dn,v mTHnGeq s the e&ptn9n & Meaning consurrlngg and annulied the order of Judge Hender- son and charged Thornton with the costs. Plowman took the office without further The opinion of the Attorney-General, upon which the action of the Secretary of State, the Governor and the, Circuit of office of Associate Justice Saffold had expired before November g, the date on which Plowman's official bond was all therefore, Saffold was without authority in the premises.
 The Chief Justice held that Saffold had been elected Associate Justice at the gen. ordinances of the Constitutional ConYen- tion. 1887; that while the Constitution pre- pared hy that convention and then Gan:: uaFy, lS75,) in force, limited the term of an Associate Justice to six years, tEe terms of all officers chosen at the gem eral' election in 1868 did not expire until fled; and that the Convention of 1867, by its .Ordinance,. Number B, had expressly provided for the, continuance of. terms of court held that Saffold having been ac- cepted' by the people, was de facto ct de 1ure in ofiiee on November g. 1874 because Brickell, Judge and Manning had not qualified as the successors of the retiring court at that date and did not qualify un- til Noyember 18th: Associate Justice Man n1on nl11g Hing qnalled e9 e99currsnee in the Constitution in fses, whether they were officers de iufe or only officers de faeto galfy efKectual. This is required by the. necessities of society, And I have, no douht that the Ordinance of the Copven-- constitutfon. referred to in operation aud extending the terms of those then put
 ntg Sfe gntii tasiE sucessorg ess should be Ssicl framed by the same Convention" (62 Ala. R. 569). t':"};.s:*s
 The feature of. historical inquiry in this intricate case Is second in importance to none which presents itself in the great and daring struggle of Alabama. by which
 Desmoeratie eeted pe% Constitution of 1875 made possible before the expiration of twelve polls. November 8, 1874, Alabaln- fans won immortality of fame at First Manassas, Alabamfans continued to de- fend that virtue of maiden martial fame throughout the series of more than two battles day. for four years, fought by the Confederacy. The valor, the tact, the endurance of the struggle led by Walter F. Bragg, in 1874; loses nothing in com parison with the deeds of heroism of the scenes from 1861 to 1865. phenomenally re- splendent as they were:
 The opinion in the case Plowman vs. Thornton says: At the election held un- der this ordinance in February, 1868. Judge Saffold was elected Associate Justice of the Supreme Court"
 Let us examine the political record. Did Judge Sanold ever at any time reach his office of Associate Justice by virtue of the election of February. 1888? Did the en- abling acts of Congress, to wit the act of March and the supplementary act March
 
 1867 was framed and under which the con Yention of 1867 ordained the election of February. 1868, ever put a constitution in- to effect in Alabama or put any govern ment elected in February, 1868, Into force In Alabama? Certainly those two acts of March, 1867. were killed as dead as Hec- tor by the result of the election of Feb ruary, 1S6S The Constitution of 1867 and each and all the ordinances of the con- vention fell with the result of the election of February, 1858.
 Judge Saffold never claimed election by any proceeding after the polls closed Feb ruary, 1888, where he was signally de- feated He was in fact defeated in 1868 by a majority only a fraction less than Ithe majority which defeated him in 1874 He never denied his defeat in 1874 and he 1S6S,' as that election was ordered and ex- ecuted, to the letter, under the elaborate provisions of the act of March 2, 1S67 and the act supplementary of March 2I
 We are citing the solemn record as 1t is transmitted to history, with the mar vicious changes in society developed in a third of century by resolute and en- at It's portals, The commanding General of Military District Number B. Georgia Alabama and Florida, was required by the act supplementary of March 27 to an- point the registrars of electors: to appoint 'ithe officers (military) or persons" t. con duct the election, "and the returns there of shall be made to the commanding gen. eral Of the the District! (U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. l5, D. 3.) The Commanding General, George G. Meade, having re ceived all the returns and counted them reported to his government that the en- tire scheme, the new constitution and the election Of a State government, had been