Amador Ledger-Dispatch, Volume 1902, Number 10, 10 January 1902 — ' THE INCORPORATION MATTER. [ARTICLE]

' THE INCORPORATION MATTER.

The Sutter Creek incorporation question was not brought up before the board of supervisors at its meeting this month. No one appearing in behalf of the petition, the matter was laid over for another month. The law allows the supervisors to defer action for not to exceed two months. According to the interpretation of the law by some, the Board has no discretionary powers in the premises, beyond laying it over for a couple of months. Under this construction, even though no appearance is made either for or against the incorporation question, as was the case this week, still the board is compelled to call an election. It matters not what the members of the board may think as to the futility of submitting the question to the voters. . A remonstrance signed by three-fourths of the voters within the proposed town limits would be useless. Unless the petition is withdrawn by those whose names are thereon, the board must call an election aud put that expense upon the taxpayers of the county generally. If this is the correct interpretation of the law as it now stands, our lawmakers should lose

no time in changing the law. A petition for incorporation should be placed on the same footing as a petition for a new road; it should be accompauied by a bond guaranteeing that in the event of the proposition being defeated the cost will be paid by the petitioners. The law should also provide that in case of the incorporation carrying, the election expenses, etc., should be a legal charge against the newly formed municipality. In no event should the expense fall upon the taxpayers of the entire county.

The steamship Walla Walla was rammed on the 2nd instant off the Humboldt coast by-the French bark Max, and went to the bottom in a few minutes thereafter. More than fifty of the passengers and crew perished. The disaster was evidently due to grots mismanagement on the part of those in charge of the steamer. At tirst it was sought to throw the blame upon the unknown bark that sailed away into the night after the fatal collision, without stopping to rescue the drowning. But the Max has put into San Francisco, in a desperately damaged condition, and her officers tell a totally different story. Everything was done by them to avoid a collision, and if the least attention had been given to their signals, the accident with its appalling loss of life would not have occurred. These marine disasters, mixed up with charges of carelessness or incompetence, are too frequent on the Pacific coast. They ought to lead to greater care in the issuance of certificates of seamanship. Practical knowledge of his" craft is of little worth on the part of an officer unless it is also associated with traits of character which guarantee that he will be at his post and prepared to do^iis duty when confronted with danger.

The whole story of the Modoc lynchings is out. The actors in those tragedies are tumbling over themselves in their anxiety to seek cover by furnishing evidence for the state. The confessions reveal a state of facts which prove these lynchings have no parallel in the criminal annals of this state in wanton fiendishness. Petty larceny was all that was charged against the parties lynched. A boy of thirteen was done to death without even this miserable excuse. The old man, Calvin Hall— a veteran of the civil war — was strangled on the principle that "dead men tell no tales." But murder is a hard secret to keep. When imprisoned'within one human breast 'it groans for deliverance. There is nothing so craven and suspicious as the spirit of murder. With thirteen included iv their midnight masquerade, it was beyond human probability that their infamous crimes could be concealed. It may be that Modoc county is so permeated with sympathy for the lynchers, that these shedders of innocent blood — whose guiltiness is now made as clear as noonday — will escape punishment. One thing is clear, the trials will bankrupt not only the defendants but the county as well. If the outcome be the wiping of the dishonored name of Modoc from the map of California it will be a matter of rejoicing instead of regret.