WEST VIRGINIA. 



the United States Circuit Court in tho case of 

 a negro, Edward Kennoy, and his wife, Mary 

 Hull, ;i wliiti- \\omau convicted under the law 

 of March 14, 1878, prohibiting the intermar- 

 riage of races, and confined in tho penitentiary 

 it was refused by Justice Hughes on tho 

 ground that the United States courts have no 

 jurisdiction over questions of marriage, on 

 whii-h each State has sovereign and com- 

 plete authority to make laws for its own citi- 

 zens. The laws of Virginia make miscegena- 

 tion a penal offense, and prohibit citizens from 

 going outside the State for tho purpose of con- 

 tracting an unlawful marriage. The defendant 

 was married to the white woman in the District 

 of Columbia, and they returned and cohabited 

 in Virginia. 



Tho United States grand jury, under tho in- 

 structions of Judge Rives, brought a bill of in- 

 ilirtinont against nine county court judges for 

 violating the civil rights act in habitually re- 

 fraining from placing colored citizens on the 

 jury lists. 



In answer to a petition from colored citizens 

 requesting that colored men bo selected for ju- 

 rymen in cases where negroes were accused of 

 crime, Judge Christian of the Hustings Court 

 declared that he was enjoined by the law to 

 select only such as ho considered " well quali- 

 fied to serve as jurors," and that to place col- 

 ored men on juries on the ground of their race 

 would be a violation of the fourteenth amend- 

 ment. 



WEST VIRGINIA. The composition of the 

 Legislature of 1878-'79 according to parties 

 was as follows : Senate Democrats 21, Repub- 

 licans 2, National 1 ; House Democrats 40, 

 Republicans 8, National 17". The Governor is 

 H. M. Matthews, whose four years' term ex- 

 pires March 4, 1881. The names of the other 

 State officers are as follows : Secretary of State, 

 Sobieski Brady ; Superintendent of Public 

 Schools, W. K. Pendleton ; Auditor, Joseph S. 

 Miller; Treasurer, Thomas West; Attorney- 

 General, Robert White. The election for the 

 Legislature and all the State officers occurs 

 October 12, 1880. 



Tho Legislature assembled January 8th. 

 George H. Moffett was elected President of the 

 House, and D. D. Johnson President of the 

 Senate. The session was marked by the pas- 

 sage of a large number of acts, some of them 

 very important in their scope and bearings. 



An act was passed making it a misdemeanor 

 for a lawyer to receive moneys in trust for a 

 client and fail to account for them within six 

 months without good and sufficient reason. An 

 accused lawyer may testify in his own behalf ; 

 on conviction he is to pay a fine and to be dis- 

 barred. Another act permits the Supreme 

 Court to reopen in the regular term cases de- 

 cided in tho special term for the correction of 

 clerical errors. 



A law for the protection of farmers against 

 spurious and adulterated fertilizers enables them 

 to have samples analyzed free of charge by the 

 Professor of Chemistry in the State University 

 at Morgantown. 



An act prohibits members of the county 

 court, overseers of the poor, district-school 

 officers, or any member of any other county 

 or district boards, or any county or district 

 officer, from being pecuniarily interested in any 

 contract or service, in the award or letting 

 of which he, as such member or officer, has 

 any control. 



An act imposes a penalty upon persons who 



transact the business of insurance without au- 

 thority. 



An act of 1875, providing for the inspection 

 of tobacco, was repealed. 



An act was passed prescribing regulations 

 for the transportation of petroleum or other oils 

 and liquids by railroad companies or transpor- 

 tation companies, or through pipes of iron or 

 other material constructed for that purpose. 



A usury bill, being a reenactment of the old 

 Virginia interest law, fixing the rate at 6 per 

 cent, per annum, and making a lender at usuri- 

 ous interest forfeit the entire interest, but not 

 the principal of the debt, after much discussion, 

 was defeated. 



A bill was passed for the regulation of coal- 

 mines and protection of persons employed in 

 them. 



A bill provided for the use of convict-labor 

 on works of public improvement, including rail- 

 roads. 



A laborer's lien act was passed, giving me- 

 chanics and laborers a lien upon property for 

 work performed in its construction or improve- 

 ment. Every workman or laborer doing work 

 for an incorporated company is given a prior 

 lien for the amount of his wages on all the per* 

 sonal and real property of the company. 



A resolution was adopted instructing the 

 members of Congress to advocate the passage 

 of the Texas Pacific Railroad subsidy bill. Ear- 

 nest efforts were subsequently made to have 

 it reconsidered, as several members who had 

 voted in the affirmative desired to change their 

 votes. 



The extension of the normal schools by the 

 preceding Legislature led to a reaction in the 

 public mind, which manifested inself in a large 

 reduction in the appropriations for these insti- 

 tutions. They were considered to have proved 

 relatively of more advantage to the localities in 

 which they were established than to the gen- 

 eral common-school system of the State. By 

 an amendment in the school laws, the selection 



