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Ci r 9 içiioi tfêljic AJ * A NO. 4 JACKSON, MISS., JANUARY 28, 1888. YOL. VI. THE PENITENTIARY BOND SUIT. The Supreme Court Decide Mississippi Must Lose her Blood Money. other Penitentiary lessee*, was tbs culminating tilth act in the shameless cuimioanng nun act m me snameiess drama, planned and earned out by Col. Hamilton for the plunder and rob bery of the State of Mississippi. ' On March the 13th, 1884, two or ; it three days before the adjournment of the Legislature, « bill authorizing the ! transfer of the convicts fron; Hamilton, j jj iat The decision of the Supreme Court last SaturdajJreleasiug the sureties on the bond of Jones S. Hamilton an.. Allen & Co., to the Gulf and Ship Is land Railroad, was introduced and amid the ,liurly burly incident to the last days of thesessiou, was railroaded through, without its provisions being understood or even known to the ma jority of the Legislature. One of the most prominent and faith ful members of the last Legislature said 1 to us he never heard of such anaet uutil be the icstitution of the present suit. This act related in Us preamble the general dis^atislactiou with the infa mous lease system aud spoke of the de sirability of building the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad, and then authorized Hamilton, Alleu & Co., to transfer the eonviet lease to the Gulf and Ship Is land Railroad, up n tiliug a copy of the terms of agreement with the Secretary ofState, and upon such transie» of th e convicts to the railroad, Hamiltoa, Allen and their surities should be re stated. In the secoud section of that act, it further provides that the railroad should give a bond of one huudred thousaud dollars, conditioned that the railroad should assume and carry out the leasee's contract as far as it related j to expense of convicts, etc. As it was said this measure was passed in the hurry of the last days of ihe session, and then quietly printed ! and assigned to oblivion in the back J of part of the acts of 1884. it will be evident trom a glauce at j the contents of the acts that it pur- j ed the immediate transfer of the convicts to the railroad. But uo such transfer was made or at tempted to be made. The law was a _ practical nullity. The convicts con Iffcued to be leased out, to be driven to death and to fill the coffers of the lessees with a gold coined and minted out of their life blood, and the (lull & Ship Island puffed on its thunderiug course only on paper and in the delu- ! ded cerebrum of the e.täilv dupsd But though slumbering tne law was not dead,and it woke in due time'to mar pos bill be I j ard ed velous uses. Two 'years afterwards in Decem ber 1886 the rent hr the Peni entiary forthat year became alarmingly due. So many improvement had been charg ed tor and not made, it was deemed best to work another scheme for cozening the State out of the rent due. Consequently Dec, 28, eight days be fore the rent was due, this two year old dormant act was resurrected, the Gulf à Shsp Island Railroad brought into prominence and a transfer of the lease was proposed to be made. A copy of the proposed transfer, not of an actual transfer, was filed with the Secretary ef State. Then the governor asked for the one hundred thousand dollar bondre quired by the Statute. A paper, strange ly and uniquely worded, and entirely invalid as a bond,was handed him. Ho rightly refused to accept any sueh im perfect document, and in consequence #f this refusal it was withdrawn and hidden in shame away from the light of the world by its authors. In the meanwhile the Gulf A Ship Island Railroad went into possession of. the conviets withoct furnishing the bond required to be ^iven by the State Now this Gulf A Ship Island Railroad though a different corporation in law , was in reality composed almost en tirely of the lessees. ' Col. Hamilton its president and Col. Hoskios and others interested in the lease turned the chief men of the railroad So then the transfer of the eonviets from the lessees to the railroad was but in facia transfer of the eonviets from Hamiltou to Hamilton, whole thing was a sharp trick by which Col. Hamilton sought the twin objects of retaining possession of the conviets and avoiding the payment of the rent due. It was not a real transfer, but a pretended, bastard transfer. The convicts being safe in the hands of Hamilton, the railroad corporator, Hamilton the lessee, made default iu in payment ol rent, and suit had to be instituted by the State against the sur ities.To|tbe declaration of the Statejthe sureties set up the plea that they were released by tho ingenious act of 1884 and by the abortive transfer. The State claimed that an invalid bond, or rather no bond at all, bad been and hence in fact there was no in was up as company. The given, legal transfer and the sureties, there fore, were liable. . The Attorney General contends# that until the State accepted a new boDd, the old bond of the .ure.iê. w.i iood. No such bond h.d beeo offered. The ooDtroct «5 a tripartite oo.. •«- | twoentho l«.ee. therailroed eod th. State, aod until they oW agreed to the new contract it could not be valid, and could not release the sureties Any agreement between the railroad and the , lessees surely could uot bineIt le ^ ta e. ?Ae State could only bind itself by ifi own action. This actiou was t îe acctp tnn( * c of R new bond ' rhc Sta ' e havl " g ' refused to do this, the transfer as far ; it ™ concerned was not valid, and « of hence her claim on the sureties on the ! old bond was not impaired. They, j jj d ^ e ' g he railr ° ad ' C ° Ul<1 n0t releaÖ6 Now the Supreme Court comes nod says th-t the State's righs was impaired and that the transfer made without a bond was valid. what ground, does the reader Upcu ask does the court have this opin 1 Simply upon the ground that v hereas the authorization of the transfer of the lease and the sequent release of the sure ties on the old bond is one section of the statute the requirment, that a bond shall be given is in another section of the same ion ? e j [agony for the money there was in it, ! and now as if by the arengi.ig decrees J of Providence, she is to lose the gold for which she bartered her houor and hu j inanity. Even a State, if ii would j prosper , must do righteousness and judgment. _ ! statute. In ore section the law «ays. you make ibis transfer and making it, bondsmen shall be free, provided, to can your however, it says in «.second section *s a part of this transfer you shall.give a bond The State will not waive a claim on parly till it gets a good surety from the other party. Yet because diese things didn't hap pen to be in the same paragraph and the ection. the State must loose the one same ? rent money from the bondsmen. So it seems that this money is to be lost. It might have been expected The curse of God is on all blood money. The State sold her convicts to death and e SenatorGiiandler has introduced a bill to regulate national elections in Southern States. It provides that all election inspectors shall lie able to readand write and be free from auy for misconduct at the polls. If these a mer provisions are violated the election may be set aside. Wueu it was first announcod that I Jay Gould and Rusell Sage w ere to be j criminally prosecuted for stealing a statement the railroad. generally regarded as a can ard by the |public. Now 'Mr. De Ltncy NicholB, and Mr. Matine, who have already achieved national fame by landing so many gilded hightoned thieves in jail, eome forward and say that the case is against the distinguish ed erragf.tors of railroad stock,is con vincingly clear, and that is altogether likely that they will ray for their stolen $300,000,000 of railroad stock by an im provement in the penitentiary. was , a iu be no A Rushing Town. There is no more enterprising town in the State than Crystal Springs. Al most everv waek the press)has to Curon icle its establishment ol some new en terprise. The latest move in this di rection is the establishment of a flrBt canning class $50,000-capital-stock factory with the following officer: W#C. Wilkinson, president; Y. L. Terrell, vice-president; C. M. Huber, treasurer and general manager. The Board of Directors being the president Lotterhos, T. C. vice-president, A. Enochs, J. C. Smith, all|of that place, R. W. Levy, of New Orleans and W. D. Lawson of Pickens, Miss. Three Kinds of Kentucky Kisses. From thellnieu Local.) Outside of those kisses bestowed by affect onate relative there can be but three recognized classes of the genus kiss—as viewed from a male standpoint. The first comes upon your lips aa if they were touched by a smooth-plaiaed, cool and insensable Aboard, without animation—unproductive of any agree able sensation whatever, aod not worth being garnered with the heart's me mentos of golden, happy hours. The second is a pleasant, but vexatiously unsati fied to an ardent, soul and but littlemore'pronounced that: a|fascinating cousin would likely bestow. The third is such as coral, tempting, passionate lips bestow, for about ten minutes, upon yoar lips—"a lie eriog sweetness 'ong dawn out"—that not only steal tour breath, but seem to be drawing your verj soul from youf body. A fel low may forget bis nnoiher—and about the time he is harvesting such a kiss he is sure to forget her—but the recollec tion of that undwarfed, honest-kiss will abide with him a source of joy and be •ommeosurate with life itself. TEMPERANCE. At T|jU tioI h „ bee „ abiorbed by lhf msre , word proWbuiM . | Tbil „ , l!ed toexpre.. both politio.l >oJ Melt> , MÜe . 1 oppo , itioll lbe mM)uf , ct „ e , pd of iotolioall „, exceptfor rae di« a l, 9cieQ jfi ca l an d re* |jgioU8 purpose| . The eTI » B of the , iquor traffic ig Ul) loDger a qüehti on, ... c i, am i the civil but bave the chu.ch and t e ev courts the right to entertaiu, discus* , nrohibitorv g is th „ i ivina question « the living quest,on. « authoriee according o the laws, iese L '° • « i fv ffTcitizen to the courts. He likewise ordained eccles'astical government and imposed obedience upoT the person who may be citizen ol both. If there be laws concerning the same issue in both forms of Government, harmony must exist or loyalty would be impos sible. That a mutual law ou tnis sub 32. to measures, This right not exist does or God ordains civil he of all jtet does exist is the object of this paj er to s.iow. The divine approval for prohibitory government was given into tha house of the Reclubites concerning the issue we now consider. The law is found in Jeremiah 35:6,7. JonaJab, the son of Rcchab, our lather commanded us, shall drink no wine, neither 20. saying, ye ye, nor your sons forever nor plant vineyards, nor nave auy. The blessings promised lor obedienee to the law is recorded in Jeremiah:' And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabith.thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Isrrel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment o.' Jonadab father, and kept all the precepts a as the to your and done according unto all that he hath commanded you"(Jonadab house) shall not want a man o stand before me forever." Wheu we remember that this was a civil governmet and its pro hibitory laws the most regid ever en acted by human legislators, there can be no mistake in reading the mind of God in the endorsement. For proof of the practicalitity of this e actment, the Divine approval was about two hundred and fifty years as not the is of the of given after its passage and further more we are told upon good authority that this people still observe this law and a same and thus about twenty-six hundred years a rude people in Asia have main tained prohibition in the midst of a wine drinking world. To answer the complaiut that Prohi bition interferes with "personal civil liberty." we remark that a liberty which ends in bondage to evil, is only a service that forges chains in the of freedom, This is the result a name that follows "freedom to drink." "To drink," means to become en slaved to poverty, shame, woe, lriend lessness and to be "without God and hope in the world," and consigned to eternal imprisonment. We still hear the cry that pn. hibi bition will lessen the public revenue and thereby affect public schools, ete. To the Christian citizen, the condem nation of Jehovah against iniqitous "license for revenue" is more to be avoided than any fancied national calamity that could grow out of prohi bition. To this point Ezekiel 22:27, of national Isreal: 'Tier prinees says in tho midst thereof are like wolves ravening their prey, to shed blood and destroy souls to get dishonest gain." The gain of princes arises from revenue. The licensed saloon destroys its patrons the wolf does its prev. more blood has been'shed and more souls destroyed aa the results of "the licensed a^loon" than anv other known evil. "Woeunto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, which justify the wicked for reward." Isaiah 5:22-23. As further argument for the right o eivil governmen's to protect theii citi zens against either existing or threaten ed evils, we cite the example of Paul, who "appealed to Caesar," wheu, threat* ed by his country men. True he per suaded. but >hen persuasion failed to persuade he had recoursed to a prohi bitory power. With us persuasion lias failed and bow we appeal to the ballot which is our ' lesar. 4s a question tobe considered by al by as fel he will be THE RELIGIOUS COURTS we read Leviticus 10:9: "Do not drink wine nor strong .drink, thou nor thy ons with thee when ye go into the tab ernacle of the congregation, lest ye die ; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. I Cor, 6:10: "Nor thieves, nor covit eu*. nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God." Thus the Lw that watches induction to divine ser vice prohibits drink: the law that guards the Heaven ly inheritance prohibits the drunkard. Then let the voice of the press, pulpit feourte be man raav sav and floor of religi spoken not f|ari^r*wbat or do. If each individual would set a watch unto himself and to his influence the purity of both eivil and eeeleaiaatieal J * - courts be better preserved. To stimu- ' late this the following scriptures for ; individual application are cited: "Look not thou upon the wine when-it is red when it giveth its color in the cup. At the last it biteth like a sarpent and stingeth like an adder." Proverbs 23:31 32. len ted er "Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart." Hosea,4:11,"Woe to those that rise up early in the morn ing to follow stroug drink; that con tinue until night b till wine inflame them! Aud the fiarp and the vial, tabret and pipe, and Wine, are in their least«, but they regard hot the work of the Lord. ThefHbYe hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitudes, and their pomp, and he that reJoiqeth, shall de scend into it." Isaiah 5:11 14 And it come to pass when he lieareth the words of this course, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I sh-.ll have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart to add drunkenness to thirst; the Lord will not spare him, and all the surses that are written in this is or all boek shall lie upon him. Deut. 2:19 20. In view ol such results who can oppose PnomniTioN. fer a gal fer ny of to L. IL B, Prohibition at Washington. Senator Platt has introduced into the Senate a bill prohibiting the sale of liquor in the District of Columbia, Senator Ingalls who is chamnan of the committee, to whom his bill has been referred, says it will not be stiffled in the committee room, but will be called up as soon possible aud an opportunity afforded lor a thorough ventilatiou of the subject. Seaators Oolquit, Wilson and Blair wiU move heaven and earth to have the measure passed. It is probable also that RiddLberger, though he is rather gilted with ad titude to look on the whiskey when it isyellow in the flask, will vote for it, as he believes in prohibition. Ih the house, Mr. Dingiey, of Maine hasasimiiar bill, but he fears it will not be called upas mosto the mem bers have uot time to pass anv other than pension and appropriation bills for the judicious bribery of voters in their districts. 51 r. Cutcheon of Michigan has a local option bill for the District, but It is opposed by the temperance people, because by reason ol the fact that so many of the most respectable citizens of Washington vote elsewhere, the election would be left practically in the hands of the liquorites. Senator Blain has furnished the uews pepercorrespondents with advance sheets of his great book on Prohibition. The subject is treated in the most aggressive, knock-down manner, and the book is in consequence the subject of much dis cussion. Senator Blair believes in '« grand Local or as National assult on the traffic option is good, but it is a waste of eflort that might be used to far more effective He says one half of the purposes. effort given these little piece meal fights, if directed to the snbject as a national issue would produce great things. How He Speaks. 5Ir. Dickie Chairman of the Nation al Prohibition Party is taking the tem perance people of the Eastern States by storm, Everywhere he has been listened to with attention and applause. The New York Voicelgives the follow ing penpicture of him: "Mr. Diekie's oratory is of the kind that wins the most respectful attention to the speakers opinions. The strength of it is in the clear and exceedingly fair argument which he applies to aim* pie admitted propositions. A man set against Mr- Dickie's at the beginning may at the end still feel that he is wrong, but must admit that he is re markably stong; aud upon reflection th admissions are likely to sway the resist ing eonnetions. There is nothing re pugnant or repellant'about Mr. Dickie's argument to any intelligent oppouent— a thing that can rarely be said of the argument of an intense partisan. His style of delive.y is not impassioned, but a remarkable skill of graffie language makes him a most entertaing speaker to the masses. As he warms to bis sub ject a bright flush overspreads his smooth-si aven cheeks. If you catch his eye as you sit in the audience you know at once that he is aman of unsu al firmness and with the qualities of leadership. His eye holds yours with a straight, commandsng gaze. A parti* san bearing Mr. Dickie foi first time, will see many points of con trast between him and the Mr. Fineh; but the instruetiv * sight'"'"ff1 duced; here fis Ja 'leader who needs no official title to proclaim himself. a ; sav the Reeling impressed Finch is repxo? the A bollol is a prayer. -As THE HAMILTON BOND CAS ' ; The following is the decision of the Judges of the Supreme Court, un officially rendered on the bond of the Penitentiary lessees: The State of Mississippi, } vs. J. 8. Hamilton, et al. The fifth plea presents a good de fence to the action. It avers that a transfer was made by Hamilton, Al len and Co, to the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad Company, and accep ted by it, and a copy of the transfer filed in the office of the Secretary of State as provided by "An act to fa cilitate the construction of the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad and for oth er purposes," approved Mardi 13th. 1884, and found in aet-*Jof 1884, eliap., 971. The express declaration of that act is that "upon the execution of such transfer and assignment in writing, and a copy thereof filed etc.—the said Hamilton, Allen and Company lesseis, or their assigns shall be released from all liabilities thereafter to the State of The act requires said Mississippi/ company to execute a bond, but does not make the giving of such bond a condition of the validity of the trans fer authorized. The giving bond was a matter between the State and the railroad company with which Hamil ton, Allen & Co , had nothing to do, aud the transfer by them, aud its le gal effects were not by the act made dependent ou the giving the bond re quired, which was to succeed the trans fer. It is plain from the act that the purpose was to get a transfer of the lease from Hamilton, Alien &Co., to the G. & S. I. R. R. Co. and this was first authorized. Negotiation between these parties as to terms aud a tiuus fer from one to the other as a complete act, evidence of which, was to be filed in; the office of Secretary of State, were provided for, to precede, Therefore to he independant of the Ttquirement that the railroad compa ny should give the bond. What was the condition on which the railroad company was to continue in the en joyment of the lease which it was empowered to obtain by assignment-. The natural order contemplated was the transfer in writing, executed, and then giving bond,the ncessity for which could uot arise until the completion of the transfer. It was the tiansfer executed, and a copy fihd which was to release Hamilton, Allen & Co. The validity of such transfer did uot de pend on what might subsequently occur as to the bond. They were to be released by their own act, and not by what might or might not be done by the railroad company, which had first to deal with them and then with the State as to j A the bond. The ruleä of law applicable to the contracts of individuals must apply here. The settled doctriue is that whether o- not a condition exists or whether it is precedent or subsequent or whether there is dependence or in dependence of stipulations or require ments, is to be collected frem the evi dent sense and meaning of the parties as they have expressed themselves. The question of precedency depends "on the order of time in which the intent of the transaction requiies their If a matter is to occur I» performance, before another matter, or may so occur, it cannot be said to depend on the other. It must he independent in the nature of things, and so the law is is to of declared by all the authorities It will not do to say that the require ment of a bond must be held a condi tion of the validity of the transfer to the railroad company as a means of protection to the State, was injured or liable to injury for want of such a condition it was its own doing, and it cannot complain. The truth is the Legislature as sumed that a bond would be given by the railroad compauy, and without stipulating that' it should be given as a condition of the transfer, authorized the transfer to be made, and as it w as made, it must be held to Lave had the effect declared by the act. The trans fer in compliance with the law divested Hamilton, Allen &Co. of all right to the leateand the giving a bond as re quired of the railroad compauy was the condition on which it was to hold what was transferred Fai ore to give the bond gave the State the right to assume control of the penitentiary. That was a sufficient protect m to the State, but whether it was or not, it is all the Legislature provided. We concur in holding the fifth plea good and for the reasons above given. J. A. P. Campbell,» . Tim E. Cooper, JaMes M. Arnold. If the State Prohibitionists are indebted to Sena tor Kemp of Marshall for the good work he is doing in the present legisla ture. Mr. J. H. G&mht-eli is lecturing on temperance in North Mississippi. He will lecture at New Albany Sunday j next, and at Ripley on t1ie26th. Mr. • Gambrell is an able logical And enter ; tain speaker. SWORD & SHIELD! PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AY THE SWORD & SHIELD PUBLISHING CO ENLARGED TO.SEVEN COLUMNS, BUT THE PRICE RE VIA $1.35 A YEAR THE SWORD AND SHIELD is a strictly non-partisan As heretofore. payer, devoted to the general interests os the country and especially to the great and growing cause of GOOD MEN AND GOOD MEASURES HAVE A FEAR j ESS FRIEND IN THE SWORD AND SHIELD, WHILE A AD MEN AND HAD MEASURES WILL BE EXPOSED WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR. EVERY FRIEND OFTHe HOME Against the saloon, of reform against rikg rule shoutd support the SWORD AND S HIELD, THE ABLEST MEN IN MISSISSIPPI WILL COTRIBUTE REGULARLY • TO ITS COLUMNS The Sword and Shield is a Paper That has Convictions, That has Opinions, That Expresses these Opinions, That Leads in Reform,;! Instead of Cringingly- Following. 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