The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1905-02-03
ANOTHER DISTRICT.
Prom Tax Payers and Farmer s
Standpoint.

for special law court a
Obion. The only argument | hev,
heard IN favor of the court is fo
the convenience of a part of tn,
citizens Of the lower part of til,
5ountY and because Uuioa City haC
a special court ia former years. ans
0bion should have a special cour
now
iii reply to the above / dom
think a court is established as I
convenience; / consider any couri
a NECESSARY evil it never make,
meg any better, but 1t keeps mer
frog Nloing worse.
N less court and the less law
.-yefs we have the better it is for the
general public. As a rule, mer
who have suits in court from one
time to another are not considered
the best citizens. Our best citizens
have little or no business in circuit
court.
It'd regard TO the special court
which had been established in the
late sixties or early seventies,
think it was mistake Of the Legis.
IatuEe to establish the court at that
time OF any time since. am one
81 the old-timed, and can give my
reasons why say it was great
mistake.
Before the establishment of this
special court we had three good old
lawyers in Union City: Z. N. Gibbs,
Nv b Gibbs and Capt. Dave Bell.
These three good old lawyers de-
Tended all the citizens lin the upper
part of the county in their rights
and wrongs; in Troy there were
three lawyers of great reputation,
Major James Smith, Judge Cochran
and Major Enloe. These six law
yers constituted the bar Of Obion
county; but as soon as the special
court at Union City was establish
ed there drifted a lot of young law
yers to Union City. The new ele-
ment consisted Of Chas. Ford,
Henry Bently, Nath. Edwards,
James Brooks, Peter Mills, Lucius
Cardwell, and | don't know how
many more.
The little streets were full of
10xl4 signs Of new lawyers, and IN
less than two years after the court
had been established we had more
lawsuits in this district in twelve
months than we had ia the five
years before its establishment
Our taxes had to be raised from
wear to wear on account of more
court, and say the more court you
have the more suits you have aud
the more taxes you will have to
pay to carry on this extra unneces-
sary expense.
Uncle Billy Wilson, OF Obion, Is
the originator aud main promoter
of this newly proposed court.
Numbers of the best citizens and
large taxpayers near Obion, Glass
and Elbridge are bitterly opposed
to the establishing of this special
court at Obion am informed by
reliable sources that the petition
presented to the Legislature was
gotten up by Uncle Billy employing
lot of men who were out of en-
pioyment and paying them ten
cents for every name they could
get on it, / have also been inform
ed that there were names of men
on the petition who are dead and
others who have never been born.
The first time | recollect hearing
the name Of Uncle Billy Wilson
was in connection with lawsuit.
lie has the reputation OF having
more suits before the court than
any other man III the county. /
honestly believe il every citizen Of
the county would have as many
lawsuits as Uncle Billy we would
ueed al many courthouses as we
have shoolhouses. AS Uncle Billy
III getting old like great many Of
us, why doesn't he change and ii
anything comes up leave 1t to arbi-
tration.
Now, il Uncle Billy needs
court for his own convenience, let
I'LL persuade him to move to Union
City close to the courthouse. 1t
would cost him but little and would
not cost the taxpayers anything.
We need less court, more justice
aud less expense.
Now, my farmer friends, look
over your neighborhood, take twen-
ty Of your good neighbors and see
how many Of them have had suit |
iii circuit court the last ten or if-
teen years. You may or you may
not find one out OF one hundred |
good citizens who has had a suit in
circuit court ia the past fifteen
years. And then more than likely
he was dragged in by some unscru-
pnlous fellow
AS a rule the best citizens have
little business in court. and why |
should we raise taxes to establish
new courts for men who are hunt
ing trouble and making trouble?
Consider, if we vote in favor Of a
special court it will be permanent
fixture, and we would be voting a
heavy tax on ourselves and orr
children which cannot be lowered /
or abolished. because the costs and
expenses OF court will be yearly
increased.
Last week while in Union City
was talking to one of my friends
- Il. 4.