The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-22
JONESBORO SCHOOL
 IS IN A MUODLE Superintendent Morris is Bone
 of Contention RESIGNATION Is WANTED Others Contend That He Has Been Regularly Elected and Should
 Hold the Pace-He Is
 Now Teaching.

Bessemer September 21.-(Special)- The Jonesboro school muddle still re- mains unsettled and the matter as it stands now needs Rufus Choate to un- ravel it.
 Everyone in the little township has a word to say about it, and what's more to the point, they say what they think. There are those that think Mir. Morris should get down and out, while on the other hand some of the citizens claim that inasmuch as Mir. Morris was elect ed at a regular meeting of the city coun- cll, he should be allowed to remain in office and serve out his term.
 They set forth the claim that he was elected in regular order and they can see no reason why he should be made to take back seat
 In the meantime. MT Morris is teaching school and he states that the school started off last Monday with a scholar ship of ninety-five, and this has been in creased to 121.
 MT. Morris was the principal of the school three years ago. when the trustees of the school were comprised of three members, namely, Chambers McAdory, Pinkny Scott and Dan Houston Some split arose regarding the length of the term and Mir Morris claimed that he should be paid for nine months service, as they stated that they did not think that the school could afford to have d nine months term.
 In the meantime MT Bradley was ap- pointed on the board of trustees to suc- Mp .Jo
 The views of Mr. Morris and the views held by the board of trustees did not CO., incide and for that reason Mir Morris de- cided that he would go on the outside and look around.
 A MT. Harris was then elected, but he absolutely refused to make good and he was handed a pink ribbon MT. Morris was then prevailed upon to finish out the uneXpired term of MT. Harris, which he did, but on account of some dissatsfac- tion, the usual closing exercises of the school were not indulged in. course this state of affairs brought about some talk, especially from the older residents
 The Last Term.
 Professor Ianley had charge of the schools during the last term and seems to have given fair satisfaction. Anyway, the schools held the annual closing eXer- cises.
 Now, when it came down to selecting a principal for the present session, there were several applications in, but in the absence of Mayor Martin from the city d caucus was held, and all five of the all dermen said that they would vote for MT. Morris as principal.
 This Was done as stated above in the absence of Mayor Martin, and when nc came back the City Council met ard Mr. Morris was elected by vote of three to two. Of course this action gave the Mayor no chance to have voice in the proceedings.
 The aldermen that voted to elect Mr. Morris were Rarden, Wilson and Ray Those that voted against him were Brad ley and Caughlin.
 Between the time that the caucus and the election were held petition had been circulated among the citizens, asking them to sign their names to it not to elect Morris as principal, but to elect some other man. This petition was signed by 13S citizens. However when the election was held, the petition was evil dently overlooked, inasmuch as it did not seem to have any effect on the aldermen that elecetd MT. Morris.
 Is Scott's Friend.
 It appears that just before the caucus, and up to the time that the first petition was circulated just after the caucus, when the people found out that Morris was slated to be principal, that Pinaney Scott was a great friend of Morris, but when he saw that public sentiment was so strong against Morris he simply sioc- stepped and went down and advised Mor- ris to withdraw from the race. Mr. scott stated that after he had talked with Mir Morris, MT. Morris told him that he would withdraw.
 MT. Scott stated the above at the mass meeting held last Wednesday evening.
 Judging from the election returns 1t Is very evident that MT. Morris did not with draw, inasmuch as he was elected.
 After the election a second petition was circulated, asking that the people that wanted Mir. Morris to resign to sign it. 1t was signed only by patrons of the school, and it was signed by twenty-six people.
 MT. Morris then wrote d note to MT. George Martin, who was circulating the petition, in which he stated that he would like to see MT. Martin personally. He told MT. Martin that when the mayor and marshall resigned that he would re- sign and not before
 Hold Mass Meetnq.
 The citizens then held d mass meeting and met with the Mayor and Board of Aldermen, and 1t was decided that peti- tion should be carried around by two dis interested parties and those that were in favor of having MT. Morris as principal should sign 1t and that those that were not in favor of having him as principal should also sign it. The petition wds car ried around, but was not carred around by dsinterested parties. It was carried around by MT. Wilson, one of the alder men that elected him. and the town marshall. J. 7. Houston. When the peti- ton wss made out and being signed it was found that the petition was not made out for those to vote against him, as principal, but as to his standing per sonally. At the meeting of the citizens and the Board of Mayor and Alderman it was supposed that the petition was to be signed regarding the fitness of MT. Morris to act as principal of the school. However when the petition was signed regarding the personality of MT. Morris 1t was found that there were four teen against him and fifteen or sixteen for him.
 The citizens of the town were not satis- fled with this and called d mass meeting, al an Ia