524 



MISSOURI. 



MISSOURI. The Missouri legislature far 

 1865-'6G had an unusually long session. They 

 met on the 1st of November, 1865, and sat until 

 the 20th of December, when a recess was taken 

 to the 8th of January, 1866, after which the 

 session was continued till the 19th of March, or 

 nearly five months. Most of the time was con- 

 sumed in the discussion of questions growing 

 out of the Federal relations to the State, and the 

 policy of President Johnson. The President's 

 veto of the Freedmen's Bureau bill called forth 

 the warmest animadversions from the members 

 of both Houses who were opposed to it ; and 

 on the 22d of Februaiy the folio wing resolutions 

 were adopted in the House by a vote of 77 to 

 25, and in the Senate by 21 to 5 : 



Resolved, That the conflict which has existed for 

 the last five years, between loyalty and disloyalty, is 

 still pending, and that the safety of the nation de- 

 mands that the government shall be retained in loyal 

 hands. 



JKesolved, That in the thirty Senators who voted to 

 sustain the Freedmen's Bureau bill, vetoed by the 

 President, and in the Union majority of the House 

 of Representatives, who supported the same and kin- 

 dred measures, we recognize the true and worthy 

 Representatives of the principles which saved the 

 country in the late rebellion, and we tender such 

 Representatives the hearty support and sympathy of 

 ourselves and our constituents. 



Charges having been made by those who 

 were hostile to the new State constitution, 

 adopted by the people, June C, 1865, that grave 

 frauds had been perpetrated at the ballot-boxes 

 on that day and in the counting of the votes, 

 a resolution was offered in the Senate .providing 

 for the appointment of a committee to inquire 

 into and report on the facts. This was lost by 

 a tie vote the President of the Senate voting 

 in the negative. 



In the same month a resolution was intro- 

 duced into the House to abrogate the test oath 

 as to preachers, teachers, and lawyers. This 

 was frequently debated and postponed until the 

 16th of March, when it was disposed of by the 

 House refusing to consider it by a vote of 61 to 

 30. This test oath, as will be seen below, was 

 the most important topic of poll tical contention 

 in the State during the year. 



An attempt was made in the Senate to amend 

 the new constitution by the insertion of a pro- 

 viso that any person, having served out a regu- 

 lar enlistment in the service of the United 

 States during the late war, or having served and 

 been regularly mustered out of the State ser- 

 vice, should bo relieved from taking the test- 

 oath. This was defeated by a vote of 14 to 12. 



The return of a great number of turbulent 

 spirits to the pursuits of ordinary life, at the 

 close of the war, gave rise to those disturbances 

 which have characterized, to some extent, all the 

 border States during the past year. There were 

 several organizations of men, apparently band- 

 sd together for the purpose of plunder, who 

 roamed about Lafayette and Jackson Counties,' 

 visiting country towns, riding through the 

 streets, swaggering into hotels and bar-rooms, 

 and even into the court-houses, with revolvers 



stuck in their belts. These men broke mtc 

 houses, robbed travellers on the highway, and 

 were in fact brigands. The civil officers being 

 overawed by their numbers and desperate con- 

 duct, Gov. Fletcher called out. thirty-four com- 

 panies of militia to aid the civil arm. Before the 

 militia were put into the field, however, the 

 people of Jackson County took the matter in 

 hand, and restored order. In Lafayette County 

 three companies and a platoon of militia, under 

 command of Colonel Bacon Montgomery, were 

 actually sent against the marauders ; and in 

 the effort made to arrest one of the most noto- 

 rious .of them, he resisted by firing on the mili- 

 tia, and was shot at and killed. Colonel Mont- 

 gomery was arrested on a civil process for his 

 participation in this affair (for the sending of 

 the militia to Lafayette was regarded by some 

 as an unnecessary proceeding, inflicting a greater 

 outrage on the people than any from which 

 they had suffered), but he was soon released. 



The Governor sent a communication to the 

 Legislature on the 1st of March on the subject 

 of these disturbances, as follows : 



SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES; Inspired by a 

 sense of duty I again call your attention to the fact 

 that at different points in the State there are collected 

 bands, of about fifty each, of the most desperate 

 characters that ever disgraced the form of men, thor- 

 oughly armed and well equipped, and awaiting the 

 favorable moment to commit such outrages, rob- 

 beries and. murders as not even the bushwhackers' 

 dark history has heretofore chronicled. I am pre- 

 paring to break up these lawless bands, to bring 

 to justice outlaws who are thus defiant of civil au- 

 thority. This I intend to do, whatever may be the 

 circumstances in which I am myself involved. I again 

 appeal to you to place at the disposal of the military 

 department the means necessary to subsist the force 

 w_hich the actual condition of affairs in the State in- 

 dicate as likely to be indispensable to the protection 

 of lives and property of people from these gathering 

 organizations of maurauders. The law must be up- 

 held by the power of the sword, and this it shall not 

 want to make it feared. I require the means of sub 

 sisting the necessary force ; and for that and the 

 purpose of transportation and such other incidental 

 expenses as may be necessary in the premises, I ask 

 you to place a sufficient sum at my disposal. 

 Very respectfully, 



THOMAS C. FLETCHER. 



Whereupon an act was passed appropriating 

 $20,000 to aid in the execution of the civil law 

 of the State, and authorizing the governor to 

 incur any extra expense that might bo necessary 

 to ferret out and bring to justice murderers, 

 thieves, guerillas, and other disturbers of the 

 public tranquillity. 



An interesting case, involving the legality of 

 the new constitution, was decided by the Su- 

 preme Court of the State in April. Judge 

 Dryden was one of those judges of the old 

 Supreme Court whose places were declared 

 vacant by the Constitutional Convention of 

 1865, and who, failing to comply with t'^e 

 statute vacating his office, was removed by 

 force. He brought suit against the governor, 

 the judges of the Supreme Court and others, 

 and claimed damages to the amount of sev^-yj 



