Newspapers / The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington, … / Dec. 20, 1886, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
4.T. y . .... - , - r j..Kwr"-V - - - ' . . . THE GOLDSBORO MESSENGERMOND'AYrPEOEMBEB 30, 1886. ' j; JUDGE CLARK'S OPINION ABOUT JUDICIAL RE FORMS. Correspondence of the Raleigh Observer.l We live to little purpose if we do not gather wisdom as the years go by. Every change is not progress, but without change there is no progress. In judicial proceedings there is a tendenc' to ultraconservatism and the introduction of more business-like methods is highly desirable. In the middle ages when our legal system begun there was little legal business and at first it was dispatched iu a day. Hence the legal fiction that all the business of the term is as of the first day of the term. When, as is the case with our Supreme Court, the term as a matter of fact lasts nearly six months at its spring session this would be amusing but tor the practi cal fact t&at the business is necessarily made to count, as of the last day of the session. The first step to correct abuses is to point them out. Now take an example of the working of this rule. Suppose a case tried in August, September or October in any of our Superior Courts. An appeal is taken. But a little delay in settling the case on appeal the appeal stands little chance ot being heard at the fall term of the Supreme Court. It goes over to the Spring term. It is then argued and the decision an nounced say in February, March, or April. Owing, howevever. to the above mentioned legal fiction of re garding the whole term- as one day the opinion is not certified down till the court adjourns say in July. The opinion goes down to the fall term of the Superior Court and should then stand for trial, but a rule of courts forbids that and the case goes over to the next Spring term of the Superior Court. This is to say, no matter how important or how trifling a case goes up to our Supreme Court, the chances are of eighteen months delay, and very often twelve months elapse after the opinion of the Su preme Court is known before clients are allowed to act upon it. This is not business. It would not be tole rated anywhere else and ought not to be tolerated in the law. Where the appeals are in State cases this de lay is no less injurious; and is either unjust to the public or to the defen dant in every instance. The abuse is palpable. What are the remedies? Many may be suggested. The writer, with diffidence suggests the follow ing : 1. Instead of retaining all the causes to be certified down in a bunch at the end of a six month's term it may be provided that on the first Monday in each month all opinions of the Supreme Court which shall have been on file ten days shail be certified down. As now, any dissatisfied party would have his remedy by way of petition to re-hear at any time within 12 months. 2. The rule that cases should not stand for trial at the first term of the Superior Court after the opinion comes down should be repealed and they should be, of all cases, the cases which are for trial. 3. In State cases where the judg ment of the Court below is affirmed, instead ot waiting till the next term of the Court for the useless formality of resentencing the defendant, the Superior Court Clerk on receiving the opinion should notify the Sheriff to execute the sentence of the law al ready pronounced and affirmed (ex cept in capital cases) by collecting the fine, or imprisoning the defendant in jail or penitentiary as the case may be. In all cases where the appellant has to remain in jail pending the appeal this would be a mercy to him and a great saving in the aggregate to the taxpayers. In capital cases, the Governor upon being notified of the affirmanse of the judgment by the Supreme Court, should issue his war rant to the Sheriff, under his con stitutional authority to execute the laws. This is the course adopted in many States. 4. The present Supreme Court are able lawyers and do as much hard work as any three men who can be found anywhere. They are over worked. Hearing causes three hours per day is strain enough. The fourth remedy suggested is by a constitutional amendment to increase the Supreme Court to five and thereby to enable the Court to hear causes four hours each day. The additicaal hour per day would be six hours per week or two days added to each week at the present rate of hearing causes. This would dispose of one-third more eases each week and detain counsel a much shorter time in Raleigh. With the present number of judges the in crease of the time now allotted for the hearing of the causes would be im possible. Oar system of the appeals in both civil and state cases is cumbersome and seems framed to add to the "law's delay" whick the great dramatist men tioned as one of the greatest ills that flesh is heir to. The above sug gestions are made with diffidence, but with the hope that the press or the State, which has always done so much for the abolition of public abuses, may call public attention to this evil, that either the above suggestions or better ones may be adopted by the incoming legislature. Walter Clark. SERIOUS EXPLOSION OF GAS. Columbus, O., Dec 11. At 15 min utes past 12 o'clock to-day our citizens were startled from their dinner ta bles by a terrifying shock, that was fol lowed by a general fire alarm, and rushed into the street panic-stricken. It was soon found that an explosion had occurred at the Columbus Buggy Company's works. As this company employs over 1,000 men, the relatives of tne employees came running from all directions with anxious faces. The time of the explosion was very oppor tune, as nearly all the men had left for dinner. The building, which was a six story one, is s total wreck, and the firemen are still throwing water on the ruins. It is not known yet whether the boiler exploded or a dust pipe, the ruin being so complete. Joe Brown, the janitor, is thought to be fatally wounded. It is certain that there are three or four dead bodies in the ruins, but their names cannot yet be ascertained. j Prominent Clergymen, Physicians, and all classes of citizens are unanimous in the indorsement of Salvation Oil, the great cure for Rheumatism. No greater guarantee of the excellence of Dr. Ball's Cough Byrup could be fur nished than that it is recommended by all the leading Druggist. AN IMPORTANT DECISION. Tujs ujjn UiOQJA-u. The Supreme Court Decides the Will Cluverius Tell the Story of v , . ' ' - ' v ' . Drummer's License Case. H Crime? -v VI I I 1 I f II ll 7 HTN ("I fl fTM-, J (r V Tl 11 Raleigh, N. C, Dec. I4.r-The Su preme Court has filed an opinion in what is known as the drummer's li cense case, and as it is a test case the matter is of special importance. The case was that of the State against L. R. Long, from Rowan county. Long was indicted for refusal to pay the State license tax of $100 on drummers. He resisted upon the ground first, that he was a non-resident, and that the act imposing such a license tax was an interference with, and unwar ranted assumption of control by the Legislature over inter-State com merce; second, that the clause in the revenue act which gives to all resident merchants who pay purchase tax re bate Si the amount they may have paid for drummers' licenses was a discrimination in favor of residents against non-residents, and therefore a violation of the Constitution of the United States. The Supreme Court (Chief Justice Smith delivering the opinion) sustained the constitutional ity of the act on both points. The opinion says : 4As merchants residing out of the State and sending their travelling agents into it can have no rebate unless they have here business liable to the purchase tax, it is insisted that this is a discrimination against non-resident merchants un warranted by the Constitution of the United States and is the same as if the drummers' tax was'put upon one class and not upon the other. There is no feature in the statute that dis tinguishes between resident and non resident itinerant salesmen or between their employers. Both must pay the same privilege tax and enjoy equal advantages under the license issued. Nor is any difference made in respect to the place of manufacture of goods to be sold. The rebating provision to all who pay the purchase tax, from which a reduction is to be made. The non-resident may have a stationary business in this State, and then would be equally entitled to the rebate. Un der the law he stands upon the same footing, with equal rights, to the same exception, as the home merchant. If the benefit does not come to him it is because he has not the tax to pay from which the reduction comes. He possesses all the immunities that be long to a citizen and is protected by the Federal law. The disadvantage is with the resident dealer, who is compelled to pay a tax from which the principal of the non-resident is ex empt. Refunding put them more on equal ground. There is no forbidden discrimination in the legislation itself, but it is sought to be found in the practical operation of the law. The decision of the court below is affirmed, to the effect that drummers are liable to a license tax, notwithstanding the statute provides for rebate in cases where dealers in the State, whether resident or non-resident, paid the purchase tax." THE RAILROAD ACCIDENT. Full Particulars of the Occurrence Near Chapel Hill. The following particulars of the accident on the Chapel Hiil railroad were gathered yesterday by the re porter from two gentlemen who were on the train at the time. The road is a short branch of the N and usually one car is transport all the travel matter that go over it. C. railroad, sufficient to and express One car and the engine composed the train Tues- dav nierht. There were onlv four tz r passengers aboard; Mr. H.H.Patter son, of Chapel Hill with his little daughter ; Mr. P. C. Pope, of Rich mond and Mr. N. A. Stedman, of Raleigh. These with Mr. W. G. Adams, bridge superintendent, Con ductor P. Brown, engineer W. A. May and the brakeman made up the number of people on the tram. The trestle through which the train crushed was undergoing repairs and some new stringers had just been put in con necting with some old timbers. When the train ran on the trestle it was go ing at the rate of about eight miles an hour. It had gotten nearly across, when the timber commenced to sway, tremble and crack, and then the structure gave way, at once precipi tating the train a distance of about twenty feet. The engine went first, falling on one side, and giving the car such a severe ierk as to throw it al most upright on the end. It then turn ed and fell on the other side of the track, the top side of the car striking ground. The lamps were extinguished and fr a moment there was dark ness; then the stove broke open, scattering the coals, and in one min ute the end of the car was ablaze. The car was then lying on the side, and the passengers made their escape by prostrating themselves and crawl ing through the door. A circumstance that made the occurrence more dan gerous was, that in the burning car there were several canisters of pow der which were apt to take Ire and explode at any moment. In the fall Mr. Stedman was very painfully bruised in the side and hip. He man aged to escape from the car, but is now unable to walk at all. Mr. Pope, of Richmond, had his arm and hand severely mashed, and is incapacitated from using it. Strange to say Mr. Patterson and little daughter sus tained no injury. Mr. Adams was hurt, but it is not known to what ex tent. Conductor Brown was severely bruised, but is not confined. Engineer May was also badly hurt. The car was completely burned up, nothing of it remaining but the iron work. All the express matter and baggage, in cluding the large sample cases of Messrs. Pope & Stedman were burned. The wreck trestle is about one mile from the town of Chapel Hill and within three hundred yards of the depot. When the powder in the burn ing car exploded, it jarred the glass out of some windows in the town, and greatly alarmed many of the people who thought an earthquake was coming. A special train from this city went to the scene of the wreck, and brought back the wounded gentle men, who are now at St. John's Hos pital under the care of the railroad company. It is said that the broken trestle was very ricketty and untrust worthy. Bucklen's Arnica 8alve The best salve In the world for Cats, Braises, SoresUlcers, Salt Rheum, Fever Sores, Tetter, Chapped Hands, CJhilblains, Corns, and all Skin Eruptions, and posP tivelv cures Piles, or no nav renni Tt is guaranteed to give perfect satisfaction, or money refunded. Price 25 cent! per box. For gale br Kirfcr & RohiaaoB. rrom the Richmond State of Saturday. Cluverius' spiritual adviser, Rev. Dr. Hatcher, did not call at the jail this morning to see the prisoner, but the jail officials r ere expecting him at any time. The chief question which has now arisen is. will the prisoner make a confession 1 The general im pression is that he will tell the public all about the murder of Lillian Madi son. When this will be done is a question which has not yet been an swered. It is thought by many that the condemned man has already either intimated to Dr. Hatcher that he would make a confession or has confessed. ' The doctor at this stage of the pro ceedings declines to tellanvthing that transpired between him and the pris oner. He sees Cluverius often, and the prisoner talks freely to him. MUST A MAN CONFESS BEFORE HE CAN BE FORGIVEN f It is said that Cluverius, while a member of Little Plymouth Baptist church, held that a man must confess before he can be forgiven. Whether this doctrine holds good with him now is not known. "Is it the doctrine of your church that a person must confess his sins to man and then ask forgiveness before God will pardon him V1 was asked a prominent member of the Baptist church, to whom a State reporter was conversing this morning in regard to the spiritual condition of Cluverius. He answered: "We have no doc trines except those contained in the New Testament, which clearly teach that confession must precede forgive ness of sins." WHEN JETER PHILLIPS CONFESSED. How many days was it before the execution that Jeter Phillips made his confession ? asked a State reporter this morning of Rev. Dr. A. E. Dick inson, who was one of Phillips' spirit ual advisers. "I think it was three or four days before the execution," answered the Doctor. "I was then pastor of Leigh Street Baptist church, and had been going to see him constantly for sev eral months. A few days before the execution I think it was three or four days I referred to the matter very gently, saying that if he was really guilty I did not see how he could go out of the world with a false statement upon his lips, having pro fessed a change of heart. He said that he proposed to tell me all he knew about the affair, and then con fessed that he was guilty. I said to him, 'Do not say any more, as I do not wish to hear this information alone. I will go up and get Dr. Jeter, and we will hear it together." The next morning I went down with Dr. Jeter, and in the presence of us both the prisoner told all about the murder, and I wrote it down. I do not think it was made public until the day of the execution, and do not remember whether I read the con fession from the scaffold." CLUVERIUS' CONDITION. Sergeant Smith says Cluverius was in much better spirits this morning than he was last week; that the pris oner's appetite is good, and that his food is still furnished him by the col ored woman who has been cooking his meals for some time. The con demned man still refuses to see any visitors except his relatives and his spiritual adviser. His complexion is not as ruddy as it was a month ago, and he now passes much of his time in deep thought. He appears in better spirits on some occasions than on others, and it is said that he has stated that he is "prepared for death. THE SCAFFOLD. If he is to be hung upon the scaffold which was erected for the execution of Charles Lee and Barbara Miller at the Henrico court house three men will be required to do the dreadful work. One man T7ill ascend the scaf fold with the prisoner to affix the noose, while two others remain upon the ground to jerk the ropes when the officer upon the scaffold gives the signal. This scaffold has two trap doors, and these doors are opened simultaneously by the two men who pull the ropes. The aperture through which the condemned man will fall is about three feet square. The men who pull the ropes do not stand to gether, but one stands on one side of the scaffold while the other takes a position on the opposite side. Each has a trap-door to jerk. Men and Women in Life's Prime Who rise uarefreshed, feel languid through the day, have little appetite, and whose faces exhibit a sallow tint, are on the short route to the grave. Unless they can effect a radical change in their condition they will not reach old age. Invigoration is the only means of their physical salvation. Upon Hostetters's Stomach Bitters they can rely to furnish them with the stamina which is to prerequisite of health, and to remove that prime cause of continued de bility, indigestion and non-assimilation of the food. We class these causes as one, since they are joint functions of one organ, the stomach, chiefly. Built up aiid reha bilitated with this superb restorative of vigor, the system may bid defiance to ma laria, rheumatism, bladder and kidney diseases and other maladies prone to at tack the enfeebled. The Bitters not only affords a safeguard against disease of a virulent type, but effects a prompt reform in the condition of a drowsy or disordered liver and irregular bowels. True, high breeding is that which always refains from hurting another's feelings. The Luck of a Portuguese from Fayal. New Bedford, Not. 15 (Special). A Portu guese from Fayal bought a ticket of the Loui8lan State Lottery, and after carrying It in bis pocket for fourteen months, gave it to a fellow countryman who has been in America only a few weeks. The latter investip-ated, and found that the ticiet. had drawn $15,000. The money aMived in this city to-day. and the Portuguese will sail in a few days for Fayal. Xero iork Tritntne'g Svecial, Nov. 18th. mmm mm mmm StatesviUe College, STATES VLLLE, N. C. Begins Wednesday, September 1, 1886. Closes June, 1887. Full corps of able teachers, fine climate, home comforts and moderate charges. Special lessons in cooking and house keeping without extra expense. HPSend for catalogue. MISS FANNIE EVERITT, jun23-tf Principal. gO8I gQlB! Anybody, Somebody, Everybody, call and see the S&nta Claus Toys, at WHITAKER'S BOOKSTORE. ICffiMWrailPU SUM 3f8Lt Having Bought Out the Two Stores of J". METZGER &z S03ST Cash Buyers can r G-olds"boro, 1ST. Hive of Industry and Enterprise Don't Fail to See Our Unless you can get the people to read what you say, now this advertisement is one you can't help reading. Cold, Rough, Hard Dry Facts Are here set forth that you want to read them, they won't hurt you, but are war rented a sure cure for extravagance and foolish "waste of money." I claim the Largest and Most Handsome Stock of Goods Ever seen in Goldsboro or any other in city North Carolina. My entire stock this time was bought way below their real value FOR SPOT CASH, THERE IS NO USE TO MAKE A FUSS ABOUT WHAT YOU ABE GOING TO DO UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO DO IT WHEN THE TIME COMES, NOW COME AND SEE FOR YOURSELF AND BE CONVINCED BY YOUR OWN JUDG MENT, AND NOT OUR PERSUASIVE POWERS, THAT MY STOCK OF ALL KINDS OF Dry Goods, Boots Shoes, Hats, Ladies and Gent's Furnishings etc., are cheaper by 35 per cent than any one elses in Goldsboro. Our Stock of Men's Clothing IS OF THE BEST MATERIAL AND WORKMANSHIP, THE LATEST STYLES AND PATERNS AND UPWARD OF 350 DEFFERENT GARMENTS TO SELECT FROM WHICH I WILL SELL YOU AT YOUR PRICE AS I REFUSE NO REASONABLE OFFER BECAUSE TIMES ARE TTATtTi and MONEY SCARCE AND WE ARE NOT ASHAMED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRUTH. YOU CAN TELL YOUR FRIENDS THE REASON I CAN SELL GOODS SO CHEAP IS. I buy for spot cash, I have no one to support but myself, I pay no house rent, I sell for GASH ONLY thereby make no bad debts, 1 have polite low-priced clerks. These solid facts stare other merchants in the face and are only a few reasons why Odd Fellows Building Corner Store, will undersell any other you forget it. Bankrupt 3 S v V secure Good Bargains, as the Entire Stock must be Closed Out within the next IMTY j CX. Dec. 20, 1886. V 1 JROU lillllOtl iin.gr H. M. STKOUi IB) GJklmB I DATS LOWEhlBERG. stock Nonsense Bale! 5 LOW PRICES D will Astonish You merchant And don't Oct. u. '66..tf
The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 20, 1886, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75