USA > Mississippi > Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II > Part 90
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and for such time to run as will enable taxpayers to meet them, principal and interest, without oppression. Such bonds would, in my opinion, readily float at par, and should not be disposed of at a lower figure."
Stoneville, a post-village of Washington county, situated on Deer creek, about 9 miles east of Greenville, the county seat. Leland is the nearest banking town. It is at the junction of the Southern, and the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroads. It has two churches, and seven or eight stores. Population in 1900, 150.
Stonewall, a prosperous town in the northwestern part of Clarke county, on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., 3 miles by rail south of Enter- prise, the nearest banking town, and 8 miles northwest of Quit- man, the county seat. Chickasawhay river, a fine water power stream, flows one mile west of the town. A large cotton factory is located here, and it has two churches, a public school, and a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 1,000.
Stonington, a post-hamlet of Jefferson county, on the Natchez- Jackson Division of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 4 miles northeast of Fayette, the county seat and nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 27.
Stop, a hamlet in the north-central part of Clarke county, 8 miles northeast of Quitman, the county seat. It has rural free delivery from Quitman.
Storm, a hamlet of Lincoln county. It has rural free delivery from Brookhaven, the county seat.
Story, a postoffice of Lawrence county.
Stovall, a post-hamlet of Coahoma county, on the Riverside Division of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 6 miles south of Friar's Point, one of the county seats of justice, and the nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 100.
Stratton. See Stamper.
Strayhorn, a village of Tate county, located 1 mile north of the creek of the same name, and 10 miles due west of Senatobia, the county seat and nearest banking town. It has a money order post- office, several stores, a cotton gin, a church and a school. Popu- lation in 1900, 125.
Street, a post-hamlet of Amite county, 10 miles southwest of Liberty, the county seat and nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 22.
Strengthford, a postoffice of Wayne county.
Stringer, a post-hamlet in the southwestern part of Jasper county, on the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R., about 16 miles south- west of Paulding, the county seat, and about 15 miles north of Laurel. Bay Spring is its nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 86. The population in 1906 was estimated at 150. It has good general stores, a saw mill, a cotton gin and a good school.
Strongs, a post-hamlet in the southwestern part of Monroe county. It is a station on the Illinois Central R. R., between Westpoint and Aberdeen. Population in 1900, 63.
Sturgis, an incorporated post-town in the southwestern part of Oktibbeha county, on the Aberdeen branch of the Illinois Central
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R. R., 15 miles by rail from Starkville, the county seat. The nearest banking town is Ackerman, 9 miles west by rail. It has a money order postoffice, and three rural routes emanate from here. Popula- tion in 1900, 203. The town is growing and its industries are cotton gins and saw mills ; also a brick manufacturing plant. Its popula- tion in 1906 was estimated at 350.
Sucarnoochee, a post-hamlet and station of Kemper county, on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., 34 miles north, northeast of Meridian, and 10 miles east of Dekalb, the county seat. The creek of the same name, a stream about 100 miles long, flows about 2 miles south- . west of the station. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 92.
Success, a postoffice in the northwestern part of Jasper county, near Otakooche creek, and 10 miles southwest of Newton, the nearest railroad and banking town.
Suffolk, a postoffice of Franklin county, 5 miles west of Mead- ville, the county seat.
Suffrage. The inhabitants of the Natchez district had the privi- lege of electing representatives to the provincial council under the British government, about the year 1778, but under what qualifi- cations is not known. Under Spanish government there was no such exercise of individual right. When the Territorial govern- ment under the United States was established, the ordinance of 1787 was extended to the district and afterward to all the region of the present State, not held by the Indians. This ordinance, justly famed as a charter of individual liberty, was not generous in the immediate granting of local self-government. The coun- tries under its provisions were treated as provinces under tutelage for a period, the limit of which was the attainment, in any given territory, of a population of five thousand free male inhabitants. When that degree of population was attained, then the right of suffrage was granted, but only for the election of a house of rep- resentatives, and there was a property qualification. A voter must be a free male inhabitant of full age, with a freehold in fifty acres of land, and be a citizen of one of the United States and a resident of the Territory, or a resident of the Territory for two years. Dis- satisfaction of the inhabitants, and considerations of national poli- tics, caused the extension of this right of suffrage to Mississippi Territory by special act of congress, in 1800, in which year it was first exercised, when the total free population, male and female, of all ages, probably was close to five thousand.
A property qualification for suffrage was in great favor at the time of the passage of the ordinance of 1787, South and North, and there were many arguments in favor of its application to such communities as Natchez district, through which many people were passing without permanent interests. But a way was soon found to evade the law and gain for partisan advantage the votes of the very class it was designed to exclude. The method was to put in the hands of unqualified voters deeds for fifty acres of land, with fraudulent intent. An instance is quoted in the article, West's Ad-
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ministration, and another is revealed by a citation from the Mis- sissippi Messenger, of July 8, 1808, referring to a recent election : "Several patriotic citizens of this city exerted themselves to create voters, to defeat the Republican ticket. Governor Williams opened an office for this purpose. Every drayman, alien and free negro in the city hostile to our government became, by magic a free- holder." This also serves to call attention to the fact that until a special law was passed by congress, free negro landholders were entitled to suffrage. By an act approved in 1803 the "freeholders, landholders and householders" of the city of Natchez were author- ized by a majority vote to elect municipal officers, and it was pro- vided that a roomer should be considered a householder. "The most notable thing about this, the first legislative act of Missis- sippi conferring the right of suffrage, is that no distinction is made because of age, color or sex. Whether this were by accident or design, and whether other than adult white males really voted thereunder, does not appear." (R. H. Thompson, Suffrage in Mis- sissippi.)
In February, 1805, Delegate Lattimore reported a bill in con- gress, in response to the memorial of the general assembly of Mis- sissippi territory, providing for the removal of the freehold quali- fication, also for an increase of the membership of the house of rep- resentatives. But congress was then busy with the trial of Judge Chase. In December, 1806, when the proposition was again brought forward, the Georgia members, who were anxious about the profits of their cession, opposed the extension of suffrage and defeated the clause for aid of the Natchez hospital. George Poindexter, elected delegate in 1806, continued the effort, but succeeded only in ob- taining an increase of number of representatives. He said: "Ex- perience has shown us that the freehold qualification is liable to the abuse of fraudulent conveyances made for the express purpose of enabling a dishonest candidate to obtain a fictitious majority over the virtuous and worthy citizen who will not stoop to the violation of the plain dictates of morality." The national house passed such a bill as he desired, but the senate, "for wise reasons, no doubt, thought proper to restrict the right of suffrage to the holders of real estate." There was a more definite statement of qualifications, and the color line was drawn, in the act of congress of January 9. 1808: "Every free white male person in the Mississippi Terri- tory above the age of twenty-one years, having been a citizen of the United States, and resident in the said Territory one year next preceding an election of representatives, and who has a legal or equitable title to a tract of land, by virtue of any act of congress, or who may become the purchaser of any tract of land from the United States of the quantity of fifty acres, or who may hold in his own right a town lot of the value of one hundred dollars, within the said Territory, shall be entitled to vote for representatives to the general assembly of said Territory." There was yet no right to elect any other officers, and that privilege was not exercised until the people became organized as a State of the Union.
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Another petition of the general assembly for the extension of suffrage was presented in February, 1814, to congress, and in Sep- tember referred to a committee of which Delegate Lattimore was chairman. The bill he reported also authorized an increase of the legislature. As passed and approved October 23, 1814, the bill provided that :
"Each and every free white male person, being a citizen of the United States, who shall have attained the age of twenty-one years, and who shall have paid a county or Territorial tax, and who also shall have resided one year in said Territory previous to any general election, and be at the time of any such election a resident thereof, shall be entitled to vote for members of the house of representa- tives and a delegate to congress, for the Territory aforesaid; any- thing in the ordinance, or in any act relative to the government of said Territory to the contrary notwithstanding."
Under the constitution of 1817 the qualifications were, a free white male of the age of twenty-one years, a citizen of the United States, resident of the county six months and the State one year, and enrollment in the militia if not exempt. There was a strug- gle in the convention to impose a property qualification, which resulted in the adoption of an ambiguous clause, proposed by Dan- iel Burnet: "or having the aforesaid qualifications of citizenship and residence, shall have paid a State or county tax." It was left to the legisltaure to provide for disfranchisement as a punishment for crimes. "On the subject of pardons and its effect on the right of suffrage the doctrine in this State until the adoption of the constitution of 1890 was in favor of the restoration of the right to vote; the constitution just named having made provision for a legislative restoration of the right to vote leaves the matter now an open question as concerns executive pardons." (Thomp- son, from whose exhaustive article, Publs. M. H. S., I, 25, the remainder of this article is abridged.) The constitution of 1817 provided that the first election should be by ballot, all future elections to be regulated by law. The act of February 10, 1821, authorized elections viva voce, but the act was repealed June 13, 1822, since when elections have been by ballot, the constitutions since 1869 so requiring. The qualifications for municipal voting continued different. "Citizens of the town" were made voters in Shieldsborough (Bay St. Louis) in 1818, in Greenville (Jefferson county) in 1819, and there are other interesting instances of varia- tion, an analysis of all of which indicates that under the constitu- tion of 1817 "color was not a qualification or disqualification in eight of the towns of the state legislated upon," including Vicks- burg, Columbus and Washington. "Of course slaves were not freeholders or citizens, but free men of color were frequent freeholders and, before the Dred Scott decision, were regarded by many as citizens." But it is doubtful if a negro ever voted in any of these towns until after the war, and their apparent admission to suffrage may have been merely carelessness in the drafting of the laws.
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The constitution of 1832 enlarged the privilege of suffrage by sweeping away the requirements of militia enrollment or payment of taxes. Otherwise the qualifications remained as in 1817. In the chartering of municipalities after this, the legislature, as be- fore, varied from the terms of the constitution. A phraseology often followed was "every free white male inhabitant of the town." In the case of the charter of Brandon, in 1833, the words of the act do not exclude any resident either on account of race, color, sex, or infancy. Registration of voters was first required in 1839, and it applied to municipal elections at Vicksburg only. In 1861 a similar requirement was made for Canton, and in 1865 for Nat- chez.
The qualifications for suffrage under the constitution of 1869 were, a male inhabitant of the State (idiots, insane persons and Indians not taxed, excepted), a citizen of the United States, or naturalized; twenty-one years old, resident of the State six months and county one month, and duly registered. "Under this consti- tution, of course, the negroes were voters."
There was variance regarding municipal suffrage. In some in- stances persons having "permanent business" in a town were con- sidered qualified voters in it, and non-resident freeholders were permitted to vote in Senatobia, 1882, and Tunica, 1888. The time of required municipal residence varied in the acts from ten days to two years. It was not unusual to require a separate municipal registration, sometimes payment of the municipal tax was a neces- sary qualification. The modification of the registration and elec- tion laws, dispensing with their complex machinery by abolishing State and county boards of registration, was one of the features of the Campbell code of 1880.
Indiscriminate male suffrage was terminated by the constitu- tion of 1890, Section 241, which requires that a voter shall be a male inhabitant of the State, twenty-one years of age (excepting idiots, insane, and Indians not taxed) ; a citizen of the United States, resident of the State two years, and of the election district or city or town one year ; he must also be duly registered; never convicted of bribery, burglary, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretenses, perjury, forgery, embezzlement or bigamy ; a tax payer for the two preceding years, and able to read any section of the constitution of this State, or able to understand the same when read to him or give a reasonable interpretation thereof. Registration is prohibited within four months of an elec- tion.
The code of municipalities has made uniform the requirements for municipal franchise. Under this constitution Mississippi has, "to all intents and purposes, an educational qualification pure and simple." Mr. Thompson found, in 1893, that more negroes had registered under the "understanding clause" than whites, who, it may be surmised, would shrink from such a confession of inability to read. "With scarcely an exception the negroes are thoroughly content with the constitution, and are satisfied to be measured for
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registration and voting by its standard." Other sections of the constitution make ample provision for appeal to the protection of the courts in any case of unjust denial of the right of suffrage.
Under the constitution of 1890 State officers are not elected by the people en masse, but by counties, somewhat as the president of the United States is chosen. The majority in each county de- termines to whom the electoral vote of that county shall be given, each county having as many electoral votes as it has members of the house of representatives. The power of any county, there- fore, depends upon the apportionment of representatives that may have been made by the legislature, not on the actual population. The county election returns are transmitted to the speaker of the house, who opens them in the presence of the house, which body ascertains and counts the electoral votes and decides contests. A majority of all the electoral votes is necessary to elect, also a ma- jority of the popular vote. In case of a failure of such majorities, the house shall proceed to elect one of the two highest candidates.
The people do not elect the judges, who are appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate, and the legis- lature has the power to elect its own officers, and also the State librarian, and United States senators. The legislature is not pro- hibited from choosing presidential electors, but it does not exercise that power.
Under the local option law a majority of the qualified electors in any county may prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors in the county. The "resident freeholders and leaseholders," which does not exclude women and minors, may decide the question of fencing against live stock in any county. The Australian ballot system is now in use, for the prevention of bribery and intimidation. (See Const. Conv. of 1890, Legislature, and Primary Election law, under which elections are now made in white primaries.)
Says J. S. McNeilly (Const. Conv. 1890, M. H. S. Publ. VI, 138) of the present constitutional regulations: "Of two ills Mississippi chose the lesser. She has exchanged an organic malady for a functional disorder. The convention substituted a dessicated for a diseased electorate. The ensuing ills of the present State are within the check and correction of the white citizens. Honest politics are at least possible."
Sullivan, Will Van Amberg, was born December 18, 1857, near Winona, Miss. He attended the University of Mississippi, and graduated from Vanderbilt university in 1875. He began the practice of law in the fall of 1875 at Austin, Miss., and in 1877 removed to Oxford, his present home. He was a member of the Democratic national convention in 1892, and of the Democratic national executive committee in 1896. In the latter year he was elected to the Fifty-fifth congress, and served till May 31, 1898, when he was appointed United States senator to succeed General Walthall, deceased. In January, 1900, he was elected by the legis- lature to fill out the remainder of General Walthall's term, and served till March 4, 1901.
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Sulphur Springs, a post-hamlet in the eastern part of Madison county, 18 miles northeast of Canton. It has a church. Population in 1900, 26.
Summerland, a post-hamlet and station in the southeastern part of Smith county, on the Laurel branch of the Gulf & Ship Island R. R. Taylorsville is the nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 75.
Summit, an incorporated post-town of Pike county, is an im- portant station on the Illinois Central R. R., 108 miles from New Orleans, and 75 miles from Jackson. As its name implies, it is the highest point on the railroad between New Orleans and Jackson. There is an abundance of pine and hardwood timber near the town, and it lies in a fertile fruit and cotton growing district. It handles as much cotton as any town of its size in the State, and ships annually 30,000 bales. Among its manufacturing enterprises are a fine cotton ginnery, a cotton-seed oil mill, a saw and planing mill, and a cotton compress. The well known Godbold's mineral wells are located here. It has two banks, the Bank of Summit, and the Peoples Bank, with a combined capital of $85,000. There are two hotels, a free school, and seven churches, four white and three colored. The streets are well lighted by thirty electric arc lights, and a complete system of water works furnishes water for domestic use and fire protection, besides which, there has lately been estab- lished a volunteer fire department. It has in addition two tele- phone systems, giving it many of the advantages of a large city. Among its public buildings are a city hall, two fine opera houses, and excellent graded public schools for white and colored. The Sentinel, an influential Democratic weekly newspaper, founded in 1873, is published at Summit, N. P. Bonney being the owner and editor.
It has a city debt of $24,000; the assessed valuation of property is $800,000 ; the tax rate is 11 mills ; and the population in 1900 was 1,499 ; present estimated population 1,600.
Sumner, a post-village and station in the northwestern part of Tallahatchie county, on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 18 miles west of Charleston. It has a money order postoffice. Its population in 1900, was 200; the population in 1906, was estimated at 400. It is the county seat of the second judicial district and is a flourishing town. The Peoples Bank was established here in 1904, with T. J. James, Pres., and T. C. Buford, cashier.
Sumrall, a post-town in the northwestern part of Lamar county, on the Mississippi Central R. R., 18 miles from Hattiesburg. It has a money order postoffice, two banks, several good stores, a weekly paper, churches, a good school, and one of the largest saw milling plants in the State ; also a turpentine plant. The Sumrall Bank was established in 1905, with a capital of $25,000; and the Sumrall branch of the Lamar County Bank was established here in 1906. The Sumrall Argus, a Democratic weekly, edited and pub- lished by Duck Wall, was established in 1905. The population of Sumrall in 1900 was only 20, and in 1906 was estimated at 3.000, which will give some idea of the rapid growth of this thriving town.
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Sun, a postoffice in the southeastern part of Scott county, 12 miles from Forest, the county seat.
Sunday Laws. It was provided by act March 12, 1803, that "No worldly business or employment, ordinary or servile work (works of necessity or charity excepted) nor shooting, sporting, hunting, gaming, racing, fiddling, or other music for the sake of merriment, nor any kind of playing, sports, pastimes or diversions, shall be done, performed or practiced, by any person or persons within this Territory, on the Christian Sabbath, or first day of the week, commonly called Sunday." Fine, $2. The penalty of keeping store Sunday was $20, or to "be set publicly in the stocks, for any space of time not exceeding four hours." No waggoner, carter, drayman, drover, butcher, or any of his slaves or servants, should ply or travel, nor should any cattle, sheep or swine be driven. Public entertainments were prohibited, including "bear baiting or bull baiting." In the same law "profanely cursing or swearing" was punishable by a fine of fifty cents. This law continued in force during the Territorial period. The Poindexter code, 1823, prohibited laboring at a trade, or keeping open a place of business, or public plays or entertainments.
Sunflower, a post-hamlet and station of Sunflower county, on Howling Wolf Bayou, and on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 8 miles northeast of Indianola, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice, telegraph and telephone offices. Population in 1900, 50; estimated in 1906 to be 150. The Bank of Sunflower was organized here in 1905.
Sunflower County was formed February 15, 1844, from the county of Bolivar, and received its name from the river of the same name by the act creating and organizing the county. Its original limits were defined as follows: "Beginning at the corner of townships 24 and 25, of ranges 4 and 5 west, thence east between townships 24 and 25, to the line between ranges 2 and 3 west ; thence south between ranges 2 and 3 west to the line between townships 21 and 22; thence east between townships 21 and 22 to the Tallahatchie river ; thence down the Tallahatchie river, and down the Yazoo river to the point where the old Choctaw boundary line intersects it; thence with the said boundary line north, forty-six degrees west, to the point where the line between ranges 4 and 5 west, intersects that line ; thence north with the line between ranges 4 and 5 west, to the place of beginning." A large portion of its eastern area was subsequently taken to assist in forming the county of Leflore, and its western and southern limits were extended at the expense of Washington and Bolivar counties, so that its present area is de- fined as follows: "Beginning at the northwest corner of T. 24, R. 4, west; thence east on the township line to the line between ranges 2 and 3 west; thence south to the township line between townships 16 and 17. R. 3, west ; thence west along the township line to the range line between ranges 5 and 6 west ; thence north on the range line to the township line between townships 20 and 21; thence east on said township line to the range line between ranges
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