The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1906-06-14
.RfMONSTRANCE WINS.
2,728 Voters on the RemonstranCe,
1850 on the Petition--County
Seat will Remain at Leon.

IsA ~ VUlCl . Uu luC NCulUuS u OuCC,
1850 on the Petition--C County
Seat will Remain at Leon.
The remonstrance wins and Leon will
remain the county seat. That is the re-
suit of the bitter fight which has been
waged in this county for the past four
months over the question of the re-loca-
tion of the county seat, and which has
been the principal topic of conversation
in every part OF the county since the
work of circulating the petition was
commenced by the Decatur City adj
vocates. q
The petition circulated by Decatur
City asking that the board of super
visors submit the question of re-locat-
ing the county seat to the voters at the
general election in November was filed
with the county auditor on March 9th,
and contained 2,6l2 names. Under the
law the petition was required to have a
majority of the legal voters of the
county according to the last census,
that of 1905, which gave the number Of
voters in Decatur county as 1850, so
that it was necessary for the petition to
have at least 2,34G names, The law also
provides that when a petition has been
filed asking that the question of re-lo-
eating the county seat be submitted to
vote, that sixty days time be given in
which to circulate a remonstrance to
the petition, and if more names appear
on the remonstrance than on the
petition, or enough of the names of
persons who signed the petition shall
also be found on the remonstrance to
reduce the number on the petition to
less than a majority of the voters, that
the petition shall be declared lost.
Where person signed both the petition
and remonstrance, their name must be
counted on the remonstrance and off the
petition.
AS soon as the Decatur City petition
was filed and found to contain more
names than the required majority, a
committee was organized in Leon for
the purpose of taking charge of the
work Of circulating a remonstrance, as
it was not thought possible that ma
jority of the voters of the county desir-
ed the county seat changed. They
went to work actively and made a
canvas of the county, and the result
was to sustain their position that no
change was desired. The remonstrance
was filed with the county auditor on
May 23d, and contained a total of 2729
names. and of which number it was
claimed more than 1000 were the names
and must therefore be counted off the
petition.
The board of supervisors fixed We'd
nesday June 9th, at a. NJ, as the time
for the hearing. but as Decatur City,s
principal attorney, Hugh NJ. Fry, of
! Creston, wired he had missed his train
and could not reach Leon until noon,
the hearing was continued without
objection on the part of the attorneys
for the emolstrance until 1 o'clock.
At the afternoon session of the board
on Wednesday Hugh M. Fry, of Creston,
and j. B. Sullivan, Of Des Moines, APP
peared as attorneys for Decatur City,
and Judge ]. W. Harvey, A. P. Olsen,
Geo. w. Baker and the entire bar of
Leon appeared as attorneys of record
on behalf of Icons remonstrance. The
board checked over the entire petition
and remonstrance, the work being done
in the presence of a committee from De-
catur City and also one from Leon, and
after this work was finished Friday
forenoon it was agreed by both sides
that all objections to both the petition
and remonstrance should be withdrawn
except as to a few names, and that the
board should make their finding from
the number of names appearing thereon.
From the petition which originally
contained 2,612 names the board de-
Quoted Z names for repetitions and il
legal names, and from the remonstrance
which contained 1929 names, one name
was deducted, leaving 2,72S on the re-
monstrance. The board also found that
l,O45 names appeared on the remon-
STRANGE which were also on the petition
which should be deducted from the
petition leaving total on the petition
of 1,56O while the total on the remon-
STRANGE was 2,72S, majority in favor of
the remonstrance of 1,168, and declared
the petition lost, so the matter is
settled, and will not be voted upon this
fall. Under the law another petition
can not be circulated in less than five
years, and after the decisive victory in
favor of Leon remaining the county seat
it is hardly likely that another petition
asking relocation will ever be circu-
lated in this county.
The hearing was carried on very
smoothly by the interested parties on
both sides, and every thing was entirely
4 harmonious. The Decatur City com
mittee were satisfied they had been
fairly beaten in numbers and gave up
the contest gracefully.
So far as this paper is concerned we
have never found fault with any person
for signing the petition or with any
resident Of Decatur City for agitating
the petition. 1t was their right and
privilege to do so, and it was the right
and privilege of every person who
favored Decatur City to sign the petit
tion, just as it was for those who favor
ed Leon to sign the remonstrance, and
we trust that the matter has now been
settled to the satisfaction of everyone.
Leon is the county seat, and the major
ity of the voters have said by signing
the remonstrance that they desire that
it remain the county seat. There is
only one more thing to do in this county
seat natter and that is for the voters