ARKANSAS. 



37 



more than $1,000, or confinement in jail not 

 less than three, nor more than twelve months, 

 or both, at the discretion of the court. It 

 also makes it unlawful for any owner, lessee, 

 keeper, manager or attache of any public 

 house of entertainment, inn, hotel, or restau- 

 ruiit, to refuse admittance to any person on 

 account of race or color, and subjects the 

 offender on conviction to a tine in any sum 

 not less than $50 nor more than $500. It 

 makes it a misdemeanor for any owner, 

 keeper or attache of any licensed saloon, 

 grocery, dram-shop or other place where ar- 

 dent, mult, vinous, or spirituous liquors are 

 sold, to refuse to sell to any person on account 

 of race or color a drink of any kind of liquor, 

 and subjects any violator of the act to a tine 

 of not less than $5 nor more than $100. It 

 makes it a misdemeanor for any owner, lessee, 

 keeper, manager, or attache of any licensed 

 place of public amusement to refuse to admit 

 any person on account of race or color, and 

 provides for fining the offender in any sum 

 not less than $75 nor more than $100. It 

 makes it unlawful for any superintendent, com- 

 missioner, trustee, or any other officer or board 

 of officers, whomsoever, who are authorized, 

 charged, empowered, directed, or compelled 

 by law to provide for the organization, sup- 

 port, or maintenance of any public school, or 

 benevolent institution, to refuse to admit each 

 and every youth of school age, regardless of 

 color, ami provides for fining offenders in ny 

 sum not less than $100 nor more than $500. 

 It provides for fining any person, aiding or 

 abetting to avoid the provisions of this act, 

 any sum not less than $50 nor more' than 

 $500. It makes any person violating the pro- 

 visions of this act. in addition to the pun- 

 ishment, provided in the act, liable to a civil 

 :<'-tion for damages by the aggrieved person 

 or persons. It makes it the duty of circuit 

 and criminal judges to especially give in 

 rharire to the grand-jury, at every term of 

 their respective courts, the various sections of 

 the a<-t. 



A resolution, adopted by the Senate, early 

 in the session, directing the Committee on tin' 

 Militia to inquire into the state of affairs in 

 Pope County, brought out two reports. A 

 majority of the committee reported that the 

 county of Pope was in a "state of insurrection 

 and rebellion," and that for several months 

 "bodies of armed men numbering from 50 to 

 200 have been in the habit of riding about the 

 county, d.-fyini.' th- civil or military anthori- 

 te to disperse them." They 

 further stated that it was "a notorious fact 

 that every Kepnblican sheriff and clerk of 

 Pope County since the war has died at the 

 hand-) of bloody assassins." The last outrage 

 wag the killinp, on the litth of February, at 

 ''" r, of ('apt:, in Qeorge P. Herriott, nnd on 

 Mi. at I'arry Station, of Sheriff Dodson. 

 This report was adopted together with the 

 following resolution : 



Retained, That it is the sense of the General As- 

 sembly of the State of Arkansas, that the Governor 

 should declare martial law in the county of Pope, 

 and that ample reward should be ottered and paid 

 for the arrest and conviction of all persons connected 

 with the assassination of Sheriff Dodson and Cap- 

 tain George P. Herriott, and that said county of Pope 

 should not be released from the operations of mar- 

 tial law until such time as the people of said countv 

 by their acts, show a desire to arrest and punish as- 

 aassins that are to-day treated as boon companions. 



A special committee of the Lower House on 

 the same subject reported against martial law, 

 and recommended that the Governor appoint 

 good, honest officials to fill vacant offices in 

 the county, and the grand-jury to be instruct- 

 ed to thoroughly investigate all cases of mur- 

 der since the war. There appears to have 

 been no further trouble in Pope County dur- 

 ing the year. 



Bills providing for funding the outstanding 

 evidences of debt in bonds, for releasing rail- 

 roads from paying bonds issued to aid in their 

 construction, and for the registration of voters 

 and the management of elections, occupied 

 much time, but finally failed to become laws. 

 The session came to a close on the 25th of 

 April. 



A decision of the Supreme Court in January 

 declared that State scrip was not receivable 

 for county taxes, that question having been 

 brought before the court on an appeal from a 

 circuit court which had refused to issue a 

 mandamvi, compelling the collector of Drew 

 County to accept "treasury certificates" in 

 payment of county taxes. The judges, in their 

 decision, said: 



State scrip, as it in sometimes called, is not money 

 that is, it will not pay a debt existing between in- 

 dividuals that it is not at par, or worth to the 

 holders what it calls for on its face, this court lias 

 had more than one reason to believe within the pant 

 year. It is insisted by the appellant that, when a 

 county takes State scrip, it is but the State tak- 

 ing her own paper. \Ve presume such an assump- 

 tion arises out of the fact that the State created the 

 counties, and that a payment to an offspring is a pay- 

 ment to the parent. Such is not the law. The coun- 

 ties incur debts and obligations which they are 

 bound to discharge in money. State scrip is not 

 money, and the Legislature cannot make it so. If 

 counties or school districts are compelled to receive 

 treasurers' certificates and auditors' warrants for 

 county taxes proper, or in payment of the taxes 

 authorized to be levied by the county court, or school 

 districts, or county authorities, they would be unable 

 to pay the creditors of the county or districts, or 

 to carry into effect the objects for which the taxes 

 were levied. The funds raised for various purposes 

 by taxation would be virtually invested in "State 

 scrip," and the creditors of the counties and other 

 bodies deprived of money specially raised to pay 

 them. The State has no power or authority to re- 

 quire the different organizations or counties of the 

 State to invest taxes collected in certificates of in- 

 debtedness, and this would be the result and effect 

 of such a law. 



There was no general political election in 

 the State during this year ; the only elections 

 were to fill vacancies in the General Assembly. 

 These took place on the 4th of November, and 

 were marked by no unusual incidents. Nine 



