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PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
No. 1185
1839 Apr. 9, J. W. PORTER AND OTHERS TO l\L B. LAl\IAR
Nashville 9th. April 1839.
T'o his Excellency
1\1. B. Lamar President of the Republic of Texas. - The undersigned Citizens of l\Iilam County would most respectfully represent, to your Excellency, that whereas the Hon. l\Iassillon Farley Chief Justice of our County has absented himself from the County for a period of more than 5 months without any apparent cause or apology for so doing, - your petitioners are there- fore of the opinion that he has vacated his office, they would further represent that his absence has operated, and still operates to the great prejudice and detriment of the Citizens of this County; to the effect that the staff.elect, the Coroner, the magistrates· & the Constables Can- not be legally qualified, the law making it necessary that the Chief Justice should qualify & approve the bonds of the same &c. - And further, under the statutes of the last Congress we are unable to hold a Probate Court a commissioners Court, to collect Taxes or to organize the· l\Iilitia of the County, - owing to our limited population and consequently the few civil officers to which we are entitled. - we can hold no Probate Court for the reason that the law requires at least three magistrates and we have but two quali- fied to act in the County; We can hold no Commissioners Court as it requires a majority of all the Justices in the County to form such Court, vVe can have no taxes legally collected because the former sheriff resigned previous to the departure of the Judge, and the one newly elected cannot be qualified; There is no qualified Coroner, in the County, consequently, we are entirley without an executive offi- cer. - Now [ ?] in consideration of the foregoing premises your peti- tioners pray your Excelency to appoint some suitable person to fill the vacancy occasiond by the Continued absence of the Chief Justice of this County, and would respctfully represent to Your Excelency James Shaw E·sqr as well qualified to discharge the duties of the said office.~ W L l\Iurray [rubric]
Daniel Cullins Isaac Standefer Eli Jones Wiley Jones E. H. Whitton Joseph. Rowland William Isaacs Thomas W Teal Wm. Campbell H. B. King Joseph [ ?] Rees Gabriel Jackson H. D. Orr John Teal
E. J. Wortham. J l\I Wilkinson J, "\V, Porter Jno. Hobson James Hawlet Philip B. Scott A. Buffington W.W. Bell A. Thomson Saml. Jones Solomon Long Jacob Gross l\I. B. Shackelford Lewis 1\Ioore
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