576 



MISSOUKI. 



meeting to extend the school beyond four 

 months, provided the levy does not exceed ope 

 per cent, on the taxable property of the dis- 

 trict. Loans to aid in the erection of school- 

 houses were also authorized. The principal 

 feature of the law is the change from town to 

 county supervisors, and leaving the direct con- 

 trol with the local district authorities. An act 

 was passed providing for the punishment of 

 bribery at elections. The following are its 

 principal provisions : 



SECTION 1. Every person who shall give any mon- 

 ey or other valuable consideration to any person 

 whomsoever, for the purpose of securing the services 

 of such person as a canvasser or election eerer, in 

 any election held under or in pursuance of the laws 

 of this State, or of any town or city duly incorpo- 

 rated under the laws of this State, and every person 

 who shall give to another any money or other valu- 

 able tiling to be used in paying for vinous, spirituous, 

 or fermented liquors, to be given away or treated or 

 which may have been given away or treated at any 

 election or during the canvass preceding any such 

 election, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 

 and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a 

 tine, not less than five hundred dollars, nor more 

 than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in 

 the county jail not less than six nor more than twelve 

 months, or' by both such fine and imprisonment. 



SEO. 2. If any person shall receive any money or 

 other property or other valuable thing whatever, to 

 influence such person in his vote in any election held 

 under the laws of this State, or of any incorporated 

 town or city, or to be used by such person for the 

 purpose of influencing or controlling, or in any man- 

 ner affecting any such election, or to be used tor any 

 electioneering purposes whatever, such person shall 

 be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con- 

 viction thereof shall be fined in a sum of not less 

 than five hundred dollars nor more than one thou- 

 sand dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail 

 not less than six months nor more than one year, 

 or by both such fine and imprisonment. 



SEO. 3. If any person convicted under the provi- 

 sions of this act shall have been a candidate for any 

 office at the election at which he committed the 

 offense for which he was convicted, he shall, in addi- 

 tion to the penalties prescribed in this act, be ineli- 

 gible to such office, and if he was elected at such 

 election, his conviction as aforesaid shall vacate his 

 office, and the same shall be filled in the manner 

 provided by law. 



A special message of the Governor, dated 

 March 23d, revealed a state of lawlessness in 

 certain districts of the State which the au- 

 thorities were unable to suppress. He said : 



Your present session is rapidly drawing to a close, 

 and I am sorry to say that up to the present time 

 you have not deemed it expedient or necessary to 

 make any provision enabling the Executive to en- 

 force the criminal law and have the outlaws and 

 murderers who are bringing disgrace upon the State 

 and the law into contempt arrested and brought to 

 trial and punishment. So far as the ordinary coun- 

 cils are concerned the machinery provided by your 

 predecessors for the enforcement of the laws is am- 

 ple, but you, in common with- the people of the State, 

 are aware of the fact that certain bands of outlaws, 

 in their disregard of all legal and social obligations, 

 have been for years past and still are among us, rob- 

 bing and murdering with impunity, and defying the 

 local officers residing in their vicinities where their 

 crimes are committed. These desperadoes one day 

 enter and rob a bank and in cold blood shoot down 

 the cashier. Next they visit an agricultural fair 

 in one of the richest and most populous counties of 



the State, and, almost in the midst of thousands of 

 men, women, and children, rob the safe containing 

 the treasure of the association, shoot a young woman, 

 and make good their escape. Soon again we hear 

 of them in adjoining sister States, robbing and mur- 

 dering. Anon, they reveal their presence in Mis- 

 souri, enter a town containing a population of hun- 

 dreds, rob a bank, and shoot one of its officers. Soon 

 afterward they stop a railroad-train, pass through all 

 the cars, rob the passengers, apply their pistols to 

 the heads of the mail and express agents, and, under 

 the threat of instant death if they refuse, force them 

 to open their safes and place their valuable contents 

 in their hands. Only a few weeks intervene until 

 we hear of them at the hour of one o'clock in the 

 morning, with a prisoner in their possession, forcing 

 the keepers of a public ferry across the Missouri 

 Eiver to transport them from the north to the south 

 side of the stream, and the following morning their 

 prisoner of the preceding night is found a corpse in 

 the public road, riddled by their murderous bullets. 

 Ten days does not intervene until they are found in 

 pursuit of the officers of the law in St. Glair County, 

 and the next news is that they have killed the dep- 

 uty-sheriff of the county, and wounded, perhaps 

 mortally, a detective who was with him. 



The Governor asked that power be _ placed 

 in his hands to bring these criminals to justice. 

 An act immediately passed the Senate pro- 

 viding for a secret-service force for the arrest 

 of outlaws, but it was defeated in the House ; 

 whereupon the Governor sent another mes- 

 sage, giving the facts concerning the lawless 

 proceedings of a desperado named William 

 Monks, and his followers, who defied the offi- 

 cers of the law, and produced a reign of terror 

 in Howell County. No further action was 

 taken, however, by the Legislature. 



The State debt of Missouri, on the 1st of Jan- 

 uary, 1875, was $17,735,000, and the amount 

 of annual interest on it $1,074,590. During 

 the two years preceding, $1,412,000 of the 

 bonded debt of the State had been paid, but 

 $400,000 of new bonds had been issued ; so 

 that the net reduction was $1,012,000. Dur- 

 ing the year 1875 $1,428,000 of the debt ma- 

 tures, $3,907.000 in 1876, and $701,000 in 

 1877. Under' an act of last M arch to audit and 

 adjust the war debt of the State, 19,961 claims, 

 amounting to $4,844,362, have been presented. 

 Of these, 7,554 were allowed, and certificates 

 issued for them to the amount of $2,382,132. 

 The Governor, in his message to the Legislature 

 of 1875, expresses the belief that these claims 

 are just, and should be paid by the United 

 States. He declared that the State was under 

 no legal or moral obligation to pay them, and 

 that the act of the Legislature providing for 

 their adjustment was passed with the express 

 understanding that no liability of the State was 

 implied in it. 



The annual meeting of the State Grange of 

 the Patrons of Husbandry was held at Boone- 

 ville, beginning on the 18th of February, and 

 continuing four days. The time was taken up 

 mainly with reports and discussions, and the 

 sentiment of the organization was expressed in 

 the following series of resolutions : 



1 . That the State Grange of Missouri adopt and re- 

 iterate the declaration cf principles laid down by the 

 Hational Grange at its late session at St. Louis. 



