The Sentinel=record., 1914-01-18
ACCEPTED AS PRlMA FACIE EVIL DENcE OF THE PROOF THEY
 OFFER IN COURT.
REAL FIGHT BEGINS MONDAY
Liquor Petitioners Win Material Point. Shifting the Burden of Proof to the Hemonstrants, Who Will Beqin Their Evidence as Next Step.

Petltioners before the county court asking that liquor licenses be grant ed In Hot Springs made their most advanced step yesterday afternoon. late, when they presented the peti- tlons in bulk before the court in for. maj manner asking the court to ac- cept the petitions as prima facie proof of what they contained
 After much discussion of the sub ject and the offering of a number of authorities on the point, Judge Moon ey handed down a ruling that they would be accepted as prima facie evi- dence, and indicated that had he been formerly asked for such a ruling. it would have been the same.
 The important point in the ruling is that now he burden of proof is shifted to the remonstrators.
 Until the petitions had been &C., cepted as they were yesterday. it was up to the attorneys for the petitioners to prove every point contested. in brief, to establish that the names of the petitioners were genuine: that they were white adults, and that they resided within the city.
 Monday morning, when court con venes at 10 o'clock. it will be with the attorneys for the remonstrators in the light of an attack on 5he pc titions. The attack is prepared and there are great number of names that will be challenged. but the i'm portant turn in the case is that this burden will fall on the remonstrat. OTIS,
 That there is a hard and determin- ed battle to be waged yet, even after the licenses are issued, should they De at the conclusion of this case, was indicated yesterday by Judge o. H. Sumpter He was speaking of the petition and urging that it had not been properly presented in court to be accepted as prima facie evidence
 This petition must have a major ity fo white adult inhabitants Of the city" said Judge Sumpter, "else this court has no jurisdiction to issue i- cense for the sale of liquor in this city The fact must exist It can not be accepted as true until every requirement. of the Going act has been complied with, and unless the peti- tion here before us is everything that the law requires, this court will not have the jurisdiction to issue a liquor license"
 Attorneys George P Wilmington and l.. E. Sawyer were in the case for the petitioners yesterday and took an active and aggressive part in the legal battle that is being waged
 At the outset of the afternoon ses- sion Attorney Wilmington asked the court for ruling as to whether the petitions as at present in court would be accepted as prima facie evidence.
 Judge Mooney announced whaS his ruling would be without further au- thorities being presented on the sit nation but informed the attorneys they could argue the case if they de- sired to do so, Judge Sumpter stated that he certainly wanted to be heard on the matter, and the argument be- gan.
 The argument for the petitioners was opened by MT Wilmington, aft CT which Attorney Mcconnell spoke on the issue, and Judge Sumpter closed for the remonstrants. Attor- ney Davies was about to make the closing argument for the petitioners, when Judge Mooney announced that it would be unnecessary, as he was prepared to make his ruling.
 The ruling was that in effect the petitions were prima faeie evidence that the signatures contained there in were all the signatures of white adults; inhabitants of Hot Springs that the affidavits attached are prima facie evidence that the name Of each netitioner had been signed in the pres ence of the person who circulated the petitions: that the affidavit and the seal was prima faeie evidence that the officers had administered the oaths.
 "These are the facts prima faeie' ' said Judge Mooney. The question as to whether the number of names nm the petitions is a majority is not nrima facie. and is matter Tor proof.
 In outlining this ruling Judge Moon ev stated that the only manner of nroving the petitions otherwise than had been done in this instance would