The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-20

one purpose or forming convention of
 ths two branches to count and declare his lelection and the election of state of-
 ficers who came in with him. He took
 the oath of office and soon as the com
 mittee from that convention made an-
 nouncement to him.
 He thereupou denied the legislature. He
 addressed an elaborate communication. not
 to the capitol legislature. but to Senator
 J. M. Martin of Tuscaloosa, chairman of
 the committee of notification. two days
 after the day of their notice to his ex- ieellency.
 The governor said instead of having the
 question of validity of the election of
 senators and representatives seated from
 Marengo and Barbour. determined by a
 contest for seats before the legislature or
 before the courts. he deemed 1t his duty
 U take up the evidence and 'to be guided
 by the principles of law applicable to the
 same"
 Having reached the purpose to take
 away from the legislature and the courts
 the power to determine the validity of the
 election Of the senators and represen-
 tatives from these two counties he
 telegraphed to the commander of the gar
 rison at Opelika for a detachment of
 the United States army. Captain Weir
 of the cavalry with 20 men dismounted reported promptly and pitched his tents on
 the square across the street from the
 capitol, now occupied by one of the pub
 lie schools.
 In order to understand the status of this 
 must recur to the theory of the system of state government. In his address to
 the committee the governor said: 'The
 right of citizen to a seat in the general assembly is derived from his having re- ceived the votes of a majority of the electors of the county or district which he claims to represent" True as it may
 be, that the election laws of Alabama did not then permit citizen who had not received a majority of the votes cast
 to enter the legislature. the election laws determined the claims of contesting candi- dates upon the ballots cast. There are no natural rights known to the premises.
 The election laws applied to Marengo county were obeyed to the letter Novem- Der 5, 1872, In the return of Messrs. Nor gan, McNeil and Kimbrough as repre- sentatives and of James Taylor ,ones as senator. None disputed that prelimi- nary The county board of supervisors
 was expressly established as a final feat ure of the election law as far as the county was concerned. In the present | case the supervisors sat five days in most careful discharge of their duties. and with them sat Patrick, a federal of- ficer, who did not live in the county. Patrick indorsed the conclusions of the board of supervisors
 l Governor Lewis could have possessed no rebutting evidence because he had no legal way of obtaining any. The sen- ate, in case of Jones, and the house in case of Morgan, McNeil and Isimbl ough, might have procured evidence, but no other tribunal could. Briefly stated, an investigation of the right to seats of the members of the legislature from Marengo and Barbour counties that held the certin- cates of election must nave proceeded upon the several principles here cited: d) Every person duly returned is a member whether legally elected or not until his | election is disproved and his certificate 1 thus made void, @ no person not returned | by certificate is a member even if legally given the majority of votes cast until his | right to the office is legally established, | () conflicting claimants to office are not I members until their dispute is settled ac- cording to process of law, (4) neither may vote pending the unsettled dispute (5) the body in which membership is claimed must determine the dispute. These sev- eral propositions of law were well known to lawyer of the high standing of Gov ernor Lewis.
 Governor Lewis, now safely prepared, as he imagined by the presence of Cap- tain Weir and the dragons on foot under the shadow of the dome of the capitol, showed his hand It had required 10 days for Senator Spencer and his allies to col lect the necessary men in the court room to make up the legal quorum of the two houses there. They succeeded on Mo- vember 2S, and immediately sent a com mittee to the governor to give noticA The next day Governor Lewis dispatched runner down the street five blocks away, with a congratulatory message saying. T beg leave to say that I am ready to cooperate with you fin the dis patch of public business. so urgently de- manding attention. I have no special communication to make to you this morn ing have the honor to be your obedient servant"
 No democrat sat in the body addressed l by the governor. Twenty-four negroes, many men who had never lived in Ala
 bama and sealawags sat there. The only men in the capitol legislature were white | men, lOlR ClI1Ze1S UT lHt bldlts
 1 Captain Weir and his 20 dragons be-
 haved well. He held them in good dis cipline and remained entirely inactive.
 The show of force was manifest, and it came with the co-temporaneous message | of the governor to the court room body and with the rumor that the governor in tended to put Captain Weir In charge of i the capitol with instructions to clear the 1 two legislative halls for the occupancy of
 the men at the court room.
 l The Confederate veterans now moved | forward Mir. Boyd from Marshall moved I that Gen. E. W. Pettus of Dallas be made | chief sergeant-at- of the house.
 Boyd, Brewer and Renfroe. committee, at once notified the appointee and he re-
 ported for duty. Mir Manning of Mo- bile moved that the chief sergeant-at- 1 arms be instructed Ito see that business
 of this house be not obstructed and to keen possession of the hall of the house O, representatives. and if necessary to call on a posse comtatus to assist him in discharge of his duties.'
 The posse comitatus sprang up, as if by magic. It was composed Of the first gem tlemen of the land Among them the present senator, Joseph F. Johnston. The house amended it's original resolution to authorize General Pettus to call on tho United States for troops If necessary, as the legislature had a right under the federal constitution to do. The house suggested a joint committee to telegraph l to President Grant to know the purpose for which troops had been put in camp within 50 yards of the capitol, and to ask that they be withdrawn
 The house passed a bill to prohibit the payment of taxes into the state treasury. In the senate, Lieutenant governor Moren announced that his term of office expired with the election of Lieutenant ~. L Ixq. 1.f