Arizona republican., 1910-05-29
A PRECEDENT WILL BE SET
J. H. Fleming Has the Orange Association Be hind Him and Dr. Merrill is Backed By Attorney General Wright

The controversy between A. W. Nor Till. territorial entomolOgist, and J. H. Fleming, over the destruction Of large number of trees in the Fleming grove on account of alleged infection by the entomologist, assumed threatening proportions yesterday. One of the new features of the case was a petition. cir culated by MT Fleming among the citrus growers which was generously signed by many of the growers and characterizes pr. MorrilTs destruction of the trees as "a high handed pro- ceedng" On the other hand, Acting Governor George U. Young returned yesterday from Tucson, where he dis cussed the case to some extent with Attorney General Wright MT. Young procured a transcript of MT. Wrights opinion on the merits of the case and stated that it upheld pr. Morrill, abso- lutely and authorized him in the action he took MT. Fleming is represented by Kibbey & Bennett, who are quite sure that he has suffered uniustly at the hands of pr. Morrill,.
 There has been so much printed about the case that appears contra dictory that a statement was obtained yesterday from both MT. Fleming and Dr. Morrill,.
 While the two statements relate to the same incident-namely the raid on MT Fleming's orange grove by the entomologist, the versions are some what different.
 The matter is one of such deep in- terest to the residents and especially to the orange growers of this valley that particular care was taken to get the statements on both sides 0f the controversy and to preserve an un- biased attitude while doing so. It is stated by the friends of MT. Fleming that a dangerous precedent will have been set should the destruction of orange trees by the entOmolOgist with out warrant, as they claim, be per mitted to stand while the friends of pr. Morrill, assert that the wholesale importation and transplanting of in- fected trees in Arizona, if permitted will ultimately result in the destruction of many acres of orchard and cost the owners vast sums to control the pests
 Mir. Flemings statement is as fol- lows:
 T received a carload of young orange trees from Florida about April 8. Dr Morrill, started to inspect them and passed about one-third as clean. I then began making deliveries from the car On the following day he came down and said he would have to condemn the whole car lot. We talked over the matter in an effort to reach an amica- ble settlement. It was finally decided that might plant the trees in quaran- tee with the exception of some which were thrown out The trees were cut back and planted in my grove sub ject to future inspection. The horti- cultural commission consented to this measure and a telegram to this effect was sent to the nurseries at Winter haven, Florida, where the trees came from. Then, acting on this consent, which was entered into in good faith, Dr. Morrill, and myself and assistants, all pitched in to prepare the trees ac- cording to tlie agreement, in the pack ing house and send them out to the grove.
 "On the following day pr Morrill, said to me that the commission could find no provision in the horticultural nl antine measure and made the demand on me to return the trees sent out to the grove so he could destroy them. l refused on the ground that the agree ment had been partially carried out. Under the advice of counsel I took the balance of the shipment to the groves and planted them with the others. I followed minutely the instructions giv- en in the agreement. each stub being inspected by two expert nurserymen from Florida
 About April 25 Dr Morrill,, with four assistants and a delivery wagon. entered the property during my ab sence. and without formal notice, pro- ceeded to uproot and destroy the trees. He was forcibly deterred from carry ing out his plan by my foreman, Frank Stewart The foreman was arrested for resisting an officer and acquitted.
 "On Monday, the 23d, when I was out of the territory. pr. Morrill, again invaded the grove with four wagons and twelve men. He entered the prop erty over the protests of Stewart, to whom he said that resistance would be useless. We are ready for scrap he said. He then destroyed about 1000 trees worth in the spring at least a dollar each. Many of them were not