470 



KENTUCKY. 



to between $50,000 and 860,000 annually a tax to 

 be raid bv the good people of a county tor the benefit 

 and support of the bud. This taxation upon the peo- 

 ple is becoming alarming, and the county I have the 

 honor to represent demands the repeal of the new 

 and the reemictment of the old law, and restoration 

 of tlie whipping-post. 



I nin glad to hear the distinguished and accom- 

 plished young gentleman from Simpson relate a 

 circumstance of a petty thief that stole $7, and was 

 confined in his county jail under this humane law 

 for twelve months, and that his confinement cost 

 liis county $900. I will have to relate a circumstance 

 that occurred in my county. A white man stole a 

 brace and bits worth $2.75, and was confined some 

 eight or nine months, at a cost of some $200 or $300, 

 which had to be levied at the court of claims on the 

 good citizens of my county. We have a clever jailer 

 in my county, that feeds well, and we also have a 

 lot of petty thieving negroes about my town that 

 say Cobb, the jailer, gives them more and better 

 to eat than they have or get at home ; therefore, 

 putting them in jail is no punishment to them, and 

 they will commit small thefts in order to be put in 

 jail, to be fed at the expense of the county. There- 

 fore, I shall support the bill. 



He was applauded at the close of his speech, 

 and the bill passed the House by 63 to 21. In 

 the Senate the vote was a tie, 17 to 17, and 

 the bill was lost by the casting vote of the 

 Lieutenant-Governor. 



An act appropriating $10,000, to be applied 

 toward the erection of a monument to the mem- 

 ory of the late John 0. Breckenridge, was 

 passed by the House. In the Senate it also 

 passed, and as the roll-call was about to com- 

 mence, Speaker Underwood arose, and said, 

 " Senators, I think it proper that we should 

 rise and remain standing as a mark of our 

 respect to the memory of the deceased hero." 

 This was accordingly done, and the measure 

 adopted yeas 27, nays 5. 



The following act in reference to^concealed 

 deadly weapons was also passed : 



AN ACT to amend article 29, chapter 29 of the General 

 Statutes, entitled " Crimes and Punishments.'" 



SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of 

 the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That section 5, of 

 article 29, chapter 29 of the General Statutes be, and 

 the same is hereby, repealed, and the exemptions in 

 Baid section shall not hereafter be allowed as mat- 

 ter of defense in any prosecution for carrying con- 

 cealed deadly weapons. 



Approved' March 6, 1878. 



It should be stated in explanation that the 

 penalty under the previous law for carrying 

 concealed a deadly weapon, other than an or- 

 dinary pocket-knife, was a fine of not less than 

 twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars, 

 and imprisonment in the county jail for not less 

 than ten nor more than thirty "days, in the dis- 

 cretion of the jury. Section 5, which excepted 

 the persons who may carry concealed weapons, 

 was as follows: "Carrying concealed deadly 

 weapons shall be lawful in the following cases : 

 When the person Las reasonable grounds 

 to believe his person or the person of some of 

 his family, or his property, is in immediate dan- 

 ger from violence or crime. 2. By sheriffs, 

 constables, marshals, policemen, and other min- 

 isterial officers, when necessary for their pro- 



tection in the discharge of their official duties." 

 Thus this section is repealed, and under the 

 recent act no one is permitted to bear con- 

 cealed deadly weapons, as it is no defense to 

 plead that one's life, or family, or property was 

 in danger, or that the person bearing them 

 was an officer. 



Appropriations were made to continue the 

 geological, topographical, and botanical surveys 

 of the State. 



Contractors on public works of the State are 

 authorized to employ at their own expense the 

 number of five hundred of the penitentiary 

 convicts whose terms will expire within five 

 years, under suitable regulations for their 

 and protection. 



By another act the militia of the State are 

 divided into two classes, known as the volun- 

 teer militia, or Kentucky State Guard, and the 

 militia of the reserve. The State Guard con- 

 sists of twenty companies of all arms, making 

 a force of 1,280 men. All able-bodied persons 

 between eighteen and forty-five years are eli- 

 gible. The military of the reserve consists of 

 all other persons between the same ages, and 

 not exempt from military duty. 



One fourth of all the proceeds of any lands 

 that may be donated to Kentucky by any act 

 of Congress is to be applied to the further en- 

 dowment of the Agricultural and Mechanical 

 College of Kentucky, or for the establishment 

 and maintenance of a university of which such 

 college shall be one of the colleges. 



The following joint resolution relative to the 

 scourge known as yellow fever, and requesting 

 the Representatives in Congress to urge the 

 passage of a quarantine law, was adopted : 



Whereas, The tropical scourge, yellow fever, makes 

 almost annual visits to some portions of the United 

 States, carrying with it desolation and death ; and 

 whereas, by reason of constantly increasing railroad 

 facilities, the disease is liable to be conveyed to any 



Quebec once; New York fourteen times; Philadel- 

 phia thirteen times ; Norfolk, Virginia, once ; and 

 Gallipolis, Ohio, once ; and the fact also being well 

 known that yellow fever in 1853 appeared at New Or- 

 leans as early as May, thus showing that the only 

 sure mode of keeping off the dreadful scourge is a 

 rigid quarantine of vessels arriving from the ports 

 of West India islands and other infected places ; and 

 whereas, the neglect on the part of the proper au- 

 thorities to afford our citizens the necessary protec- 

 tion has resulted in great loss of life and property, 

 in addition to seriously impairing the commercial 

 prosperity of numerous well-located towns and citjes : 

 therefore, be it 



Resolved by the General Assembly of t7ie Common- 

 wealth of Kentucky, That our Senators in Congress 

 be directed, and our Representatives in Congress be 

 requested, to devise and urge such measures as in 

 their judgment may seem best to bring about such 

 action on the part of Congress as shall result in a na- 

 tional quarantine law that will effectually prevent 

 the spread of yellow fever within the limits of the 

 United States ; and that a committee of three be ap- 

 pointed, composed of one Senator and two members 

 of the House of Representatives, who shall be re- 

 quested and directed to memorialize Congress in con- 

 formity to this resolution, and that they be author- 



