589 



MKxISSlI'IM. 



rr. Mississippi at ft point about 40 



mike northwest of Mobile, This road will ,.,.,- t.. 

 transportation a large tract of pine-timber lai. 



Insurance. Indictment* were returned. July -Jl, 

 against 85 insurance companies as conspirators in a 

 trust organization for th- maintenance of rates of 

 fire insurance premium* in Lauderdab County. 

 The prosecution of the companies began at the 

 April, !*. term of the cm-mi court. The com- 

 lm<* wen brought to trial and fined $500 each 

 after oonriction. The cam? was earned t,, the Su- 

 preme Court, which rwerx-d the decision ..f the 

 lower court ami ruled that the indictment was de- 

 fcctivc m that no HJ. _;e was made against 



the defendant* that they had upheld agreed rates 

 on insurance anil thereby deprived tin- public of the 



It* of competition* in the premises. At tin- 

 term the grand jury was instructed to reopen the 

 investigation. The affidavits in the case are now so 

 -das to conform to the ruling of the Supreme 

 Court. 



Tax I lib s. -The tax titles to large tracts of 



land in thr delta have been attacked in the courts 



this rear, but were sustained. mated that 



not fis than 3.000,000 acres of land in tin- delta 



passed through the Liquidating fvevee Board at tax 



sales, tin- title to whi-h depends upon the validity 



.' tax sales made to the board. The decision 



-sates Supreme Court confirms the 



titles of the present holders. 



M..II \ i. deuce. \ -.. R . who oonfeend tin- 

 murder of two citizens at Helen was lynched at 

 Jonestown. April 2. Another who b*d mordered 

 an old man near Cry -ml Springs was taken by a 

 mob and hanged June 25, after confessing th. 

 crime. Two requests for troops to protect the pris- 

 oner had been telegraphed to Jackson, but as both 

 the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor were 

 absent from the capital, the troops could not be 

 moved until it was too late. At Wesson, a negro, 

 supposed to be thr murderer of Mrs. Smith and her 

 four children. Dec. 10, was hanged by a mob that 

 took him from the sheriff. 



I he Mississippi Flood. During the overflow 

 of the riviT in the spring it was estimated by the 

 Agricultural Department that 7,900 square miles in 

 the State were under water, April 6. On this tract 

 is a population of about 186.489, of whom about 

 five sixths are colored. About 18,500 farms are in- 

 cluded in the district. It was feared that the del- 

 uge would cause the depreciation of the value of 

 the property; but a better crop was raised than 

 ever before, and values are not affected. \ 

 burg. April 16. the gauge showed a flood of 52-5 

 feet, being 1 foot 5 inches above the flood of 1862, 

 the highest record ever made in the historic period. 



Yellow Fever. This disease was discovered at 



Ocean Springs, Sept 17. It was first pronounced 

 dengue, or M breakbone" fever. Soon afterward 

 cases of illness at Edwards were recognized as vel- 

 low fever, and strict quarantine was established 

 around infected districts, which was not removed 

 till Dec, 1. A report of the physician- having in 

 charge Bilxi. Bay St. Louis, Waveland. M< Henry, 

 and Perkinston. a district having an aggregate 

 population of 8.200. showed that 1,023 cafeTwere 

 repotted, from which 50 deaths resulted. 



A committee, appointed at Jackson, upon the an- 

 nouncement of the fever at Edwards, to receive sub- 

 scriptions for relief reported collections amounting 

 to |33.70 and disbursements $75181. the remainder 

 being reserved for the pay of trained nurses still on 



d y- JP5-? Iii fti ppl ntu *~* ? st * Loufa raiaed 



about $2.500, which was sent to the sufferers. 



Legislative Sension.-The tax levy of 6 mills 

 which was ordered by the Legislature of 1896 and 



the sale of $400.000 of bonds having proved insuf- 

 ficient t,. meet tin- expenses of the State, th. < 



< -ailed a special session to meet April -j?. 



naming in the proclamat in as the object "to con- 



i matters of fmanre. inelnding 



! H BUe and appropriations; and al-o. if in the 

 judgment of tin- Legislature it is deemed |" 

 to consider the subject and matter of building a 



'"!" 



In his message the Governor gave the condition 

 <>f the finances as follows: 

 It was expected by your honorable body \\ h.-n 

 .rular session last year that a levy of '; nulls 



State tax, with the contingent collection! fr which 



y..u i.n.vided and the sale of $400,000 bonds, 

 would reali/c revenue sull'n i nt t.. nn-ct all appro- 

 priat; for the years 1896 and 1M7. This 



expectation failed to materialise, and <>n the isth 

 JnlT, I-:M;. thf tr.-asurj was first unable to 

 pay all claims as presented, and this con. lit],.; 



i until about the 1st of January, Is 1 .'?. The 

 receipts for the fis<-al year from Oct. I. iMi:.. to 

 Sept. :iO, 1896, inclusive, were $1,777,586.01, and 

 the disbursements for the same period were $1. 

 579.38, as shown by the Treasurer's IMM.U-. In the 

 foregoing receipts for the lix-al year isj."i an-i 

 ending Oct. 1. 1896, are three 'it. i: 

 loan of $150.000 and proceeds fn.m 

 $400,000 bonds to the amount of $418,698.85, under 

 chapter xxxiv, page 27, of the acts of 1896. and $7,- 

 660.85 balance from account ]s<J4 and 1895. De- 

 duct the.se three items, amount ing to s 

 from the total receipts, and there remains $1 

 :, \\hidi represents the receipts from all 

 sources from the 1st of October, 1895, to the 

 of September, 1896, in.lu 



"In the disbursements are two items, \j 7 .., re- 

 funding the aforementioned special loan of $150,- 

 000 and s I merest theiv..n: deduct these 



two items, amounting to $151,688.82, from the total 

 disbursements, and there remains the sum of $1,- 

 i'i.Ol. which amount represents disbursements 

 for all other purposes; and $4iM.; i '.._<. ihe di (Ter- 

 ence between $1,607,946.01 and $1,206,226.81. i 

 sents the amount of regular disbursements 

 regular receipts. 



-In the disbursements is an item of *l'.i.V. 

 special warrant of 1894. Deduct this amount of in- 

 debtedness of the State j.aid during the fiM-a! 

 and the amount of other disbursements js $ 1.1 ]_'.- 

 rl.<>l. which is the amount of current expenses 

 and the interest on the public debt, bcim; > 

 884.55 more than the regular collect i 



iient of receipts and disbursements is taken 

 from the Treasurers books. 



"Of the $18,008.68 on hand on Oct. 1, 18i>6. only 

 $506.68 was available, the remainder being a dona- 

 tion of the United States to the Agricultural ami 

 Mechanical roll. 



It was recommended that the Ijegislature pr 

 for a new Capitol building which should cost a 

 $750,000. 



The Governor and the Ways and Means < 

 mittcc prepared a revenue bill for the emergency, 

 and the Finance Co mmittee prepared another. 



The plan of the Finance Committee to auth 

 the Governor to borrow a sum not to exceed s 

 000, at a rate of interest not over 6 percent., f 

 fraying the State's expenses through the year, was 

 adopted. The levy for 1897 was fixed at 6| mills. 

 and it was further provided that boards of super- 

 visors may levy taxes for all purposes, which, added 

 to the State ta'x, will make 16 mills on the dollar, 

 and no more. Municipal bonds i--ucd for the 

 purpose of raising money for school buil'i 

 lands and improvements were exempted from tax- 

 ation. 



