St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-04-17
SUIT TO AllNlIJL. DIVISION
ELECTION IS FILED
GncenstifutIOlaIlty o. Ass and IFFeguIarIiy of
Election II Bgaaa ii Petition.
The GOVERNOR Is CITED
TagesaeF Hflk the Board ol EIeatIeB COmInIs
sagRsss, Is Clledto Answer Peaiion..
NeK Points Are Made.

herefore, the premises conaid
cred, petitioners pray that Hon
aJared \. Sanders Governor Of the
State Of Louisiana, and the Board 81
Supervisors Of election for this par
ish composed Of Dr, julius j. Stage
Henry Lastrapes, Jr., and Edward i.
Loeb, be duly cited 10 answer this
petition. and that after due proceed
ings that said Act No. So of the Gen
eral Assembly of this State, approved
June 22, 1903, be dsclared unconsts
tutional, null and void, and that tase
election held hereunder iii this par.
ish On April 18th, 1909, be decresd
to have been illegal, null and void
and of NO force and effect: that the
promulgation .8f The result of aaia
election made or to be maid asy said
Board of Supervisors of Election be
declared Illegal null and void, and
that The proclamation al Che result
OF said election required 20 be made
By tee Governor By Section no Of
said act declaring that the ganish Of
Evangs has been created wheBher
already made or ID be made 1y him,
be declared mil and poid and gf 10
force aad effect.
Such Is the prayer Of d lengthy
petitSoa addressed TO the Judge Of
The Siyteenth Judicial District Court.
aled EEiaay, April is, 1903 sign
ed BY Lewis & Lewis, Gilbert IS.
Dupre and E. B. DHbu5soa, attorneys
for Leonce Sandoz, Joseph Eaaasalie,
Jno. E Boagni and Joseph e. ST. iC,yr,
petitioners.
tt is aal action contes5ag the cleo
tion for the division of ae parish Of
Se. Landry and the cSeati0n a the
western portion of the parish the.
parish Of EVangeline, on the grounds
of the unconstitutionality of the act
of the General Assembly calling for.
the election and irregularities In the
manner of conducting The election.
The act and election are unc0nsti-
tutional, null and void for the rea-|
sons, epitonized, to-Wit.
That The Constitution requires q
tWo-thirds vote instead Of a ma5erity
vote.
That neither can the total number
of represent entatiVea nor the number
allotted to any parish or Representa-
tive District be changed until The !
first regular session of the General
Assembly after The taking Of the j
next United States Census; that even
If apportionment could be made be-
tween two parishes resulting from
the division Of one entitled 10 two 81
more representatives on the basis of
the last apportionment, this can not
be done in the case Of the parish Of
EVangeline because the line Of divi-
sion is not such d one as was recog-
nized BY said census and it is impos-
sible to ascertain from said census
what was the population Of the par
ish of st. Landry east and west Of /
said line when said census was taken;
that even if it were possible for the
General Assembly 10 arbitrarily as
sign to d new parish one or more
representatives, the parish of Evan
geIine could not be- entitled to theI
one assigned because the act Great
ing the parish of Lassalle was ap-
proved subsequent to the act for the
parish of Eyangeline and repealed
such of the provisions of the latter
as were in conflict with those De the
former, and that the election for the
creation of Lassalle was held in 0c-H
tober, 1903, and the election for its
representative, which will fill the
Legislative quota, will be held in No i
vember of this year, and the repre-
sentative will enter upon the duties
Of bis Office on January 1st, 1910
That no provision ii the act was
made to carry out Article go of the
Constitution providing that when
ever a parish shall be enlarged or
created from territory contiguous
it shall Be entitled to d just
Of the property and assets.
and be liable for a just proportion Of
The existing debts or liabilities Of the
parish or parishes from which such
territory shall have been taken Z
That the Act fails to show that
sither the proposed new parish or
what would be left Of the existing
parish would contain after the pro-
posed division not less than 625 square
niles nor more than 1000 as re-
luired BIZ Art, 277 Of the Constitu-
ion of 1898, and that the act fails to
make provisions for ascertaining that
act before it takes effect.
That no new parish can be created
% long as Article 289 of the Con
be not amended SO as to
permit the General Assembly to as
tGonfinued on page aver