KENTUCKY. 



423 



teachers. It makes the collegiate period four 

 years ; but a normal department for the educa- 

 tion of teachers shall be maintained in conjunc- 

 tion with the college, which has no stated cur- 

 riculum. Teachers and persons preparing to 

 teach are admitted tuition free, not exceeding 

 four in number from each representative dis- 

 trict, for one year. Students are admitted, 

 without regard to their places of residence, 

 upon payment of the tuition fees. A special 

 fund for the endowment and maintenance of 

 the Agricultural and Mechanical College was 

 created, to be derived from a special supple- 

 mental tax of one-half cent on the one hun- 

 dred dollars on the property of all the white 

 citizens of the State. 



The overcrowded condition of the State Pen- 

 itentiary impelled Governor Blackburn to de- 

 clare, during the gubernatorial canvass, that, if 

 elected, he would release enough convicts by 

 the exercise of the pardoning prerogative to 

 insure the health of the remaining ones. Many 

 petitions on behalf of convicts came to him 

 after he entered upon his duties, and more 

 prisoners were set at liberty by his orders than 

 had been customarily pardoned. There were 

 969 prisoners in the Penitentiary, with only 

 780 cells for their accommodation. A large 

 number of the convicts had died of malarial 

 disease, and many were sick. He began by 

 pardoning the sick and the dying, regard- 

 less of the murmurs of the press and the pub- 

 lic. Upon the meeting of the Legislature a 

 committee was appointed to visit the prison 

 with the Governor, and, upon its recommenda- 

 tion, over 100 more pardons were issued. The 

 Legislature passed an act authorizing the ap- 

 pointment of commissioners to select a site and 

 plans for a branch prison, and to visit the pris- 

 ons of the East to study the best system of 

 prison construction and discipline. 



The new penitentiary law provides for the 

 election of a warden by the joint ballot of the 

 Legislature. His term of office is four years. 

 He is removable by the Commissioners of the 

 Sinking Fund. His duties are to direct the 

 prison and look after the diet, health, comfort, 

 and discipline of the convicts. He is expected 

 to keep such as are not contracted for at labor 

 within the prison. The Commissioners of the 

 Sinking Fund and ex-officio Prison Commis- 

 sioners are intrusted with the appointment 

 of a deputy warden, clerk, physician, and chap- 

 lain to the prison. The Commissioners are 

 to hire out on contract the labor of the whole 

 600 convicts, more or less, to be employed 

 within the prison walls, to the highest and best 

 bidder, the contracts to run from one to four 

 years. The contractors are to defray the ex- 

 pense of keeping the prisoners, and to furnish 

 the discharged with clothing and a passage to 

 their own counties. 



Many acts were passed prohibiting the retail 

 traffic in liquor in particular towns and coun- 

 ties. A general act prohibits any druggist, 

 without license, from selling liquor or medi- 



cines containing alcohol in such places, and al- 

 lows licensed druggists to dispense such liquors 

 only on the prescriptions of physicians. 



A public grain warehouse act requires a bond 

 from the proprietor of a public elevator or 

 warehouse, and compels him to store the grain 

 according to the grading of the inspector, to 

 give numbered receipts which represent actual 

 quantities received in store, to deliver prompt- 

 ly upon demand, to use due diligence in guard- 

 ing against overheating, and upon discovering 

 that any grain is likely to be injured by heat- 

 ing to publish the numbers of the receipts out- 

 standing upon which it is deliverable, and the 

 names of the persons from whom it was re- 

 ceived, and forbids him to mix different grades 

 together. An amendment to the Board of 

 Health Act authorizes local boards of health 

 to inspect houses and enforce regulations for 

 the prevention and checking of disease ; and 

 the boards on the borders of the State are au- 

 thorized to declare quarantine, which shall be 

 continued with the approval of the State Board 

 of Health, which is empowered to establish 

 quarantine, or to take any measures deemed 

 necessary to prevent the introduction or spread 

 of contagious disease. The penalties of the 

 Civil Damage Act were extended to " any per- 

 son who procures or furnishes" liquor to a 

 known inebriate. An act was passed forbid- 

 ding any person or corporation to employ con- 

 victs of other States within the limits of the 

 State. An act was passed requiring persons 

 engaged in manufacturing or selling commercial 

 fertilizers to send samples to the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture for inspection, with a statement 

 of the composition and the proportion of the 

 ingredients, and receive from him a certificate 

 that the manure is composed as represented, 

 and shall label all his goods with a statement 

 of the percentage of the different ingredients, 

 or failing to affix such certificate shall forfeit 

 $100, or affixing a false certificate shall forfeit 

 $200 to the purchaser. 



The divorce law was changed so as to allow 

 a divorce to the husband for habitual drunken- 

 ness on the part of the wife. A lottery bill 

 prohibits the sale of lottery tickets without 

 express authority of law, the act to be conspic- 

 uously posted at the place of sale. A Sunday 

 liquor law was passed forbidding tavern and 

 saloon-keepers to have their places open, or 

 to sell or give away liquor on Sundays. The 

 penalty for the third offense is forfeiture of 

 the licenses. The provisions of the Sunday 

 laws were remitted as far as they apply to 

 street-railroad companies. An act was passed 

 making it a misdemeanor for a person to use 

 abusive or insulting language in the presence 

 of another or others, intending to provoke an 

 assault, punishable by a fine not exceeding $20, 

 or if the offender be a male and the injured 

 person a female $50. A law was enacted for 

 the benefit of certain counties, prescribing that 

 voters at primary elections shall be legal voters, 

 shall possess the qualifications demanded by 



