Conley v. Texas Division of United Daughters of the Confederacy

164 S.W. 24, 1913 Tex. App. LEXIS 1449
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 5, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 164 S.W. 24 (Conley v. Texas Division of United Daughters of the Confederacy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conley v. Texas Division of United Daughters of the Confederacy, 164 S.W. 24, 1913 Tex. App. LEXIS 1449 (Tex. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

RICE, J.

This suit was brought by ap-pellees against appellant for an injunction to restrain him, and all other persons acting for or under his direction, from removing any of tbe relics or property in their charge from the northwest room of tbe first floor of tbe state capitol 'building, or from otherwise interfering with them in tbe use and possession of said room, alleging that appellant bad informed them that be intended to, take from„ them tbe use and possession thereof, and remove said relies therefrom. A temporary restraining order was issued by tbe court in accordance with tbe prayer of said petition, from wbicb this appeal is prosecuted. Appellant alleges tbe invalidity of said restraining order, upon tbe ground that appellees bad no lawful right to tbe possession and use of said room, insisting that it was needed for tbe State Pire Insurance Commission, recently provided for by tbe acts of tbe Thirty- *25 Third Legislature, and that there was no other adequate room in said building at his disposal for its accommodation.

Appellees insist that under and by virtue of House Concurrent Resolution No. 18, passed at the regular session of the Twenty-Eighth Legislature (see Acts of 1903, p. 250), they had the lawful right to the use and occupancy of said room as a museum for the deposit of relics and historical mementoes of the Confederacy, which said resolution is as follows:

“Daughters of the Confederacy — Setting Aside a Room for.
“House Concurrent Resolution.
“To set aside the northwest room of the first floor of the Capitol for the use of the Daughters of the Confederacy for the deposit of relics and historic mementoes of the Confederacy.
“Whereas, the 21st Legislature of this state by House Concurrent Resolution No. 4, approved February 25th, 1889, Session Acts, page 173, extended the thanks of the people of the state of Texas to Messrs. W. H. Westfall, S. W. Lacey and N. L. Norton for the ‘princely donation of the beautiful granite of which this magnificent eapitol is built’;
“And whereas, it was therein resolved that ‘a room in this capitol building * * * be set apart for the reception’ of deposits to be made by said ‘Westfall, Lacey and Norton of specimens of granite, marble and lithographic stone of different grades’; and
“Whereas, it was also therein resolved that ‘in recognition of our appreciation of the donation thus made by W. H. Westfall, S. W. Lacey and N. L. Norton, they are hereby especially invited to visit and occupy said room when they visit the eapitol during life or until the state shall need the room for other purposes’; and
“Whereas, said room has never yet been designated; and
“Whereas, the Daughters of the Confederacy are desirous of having a room in the capitol designated in which to place the relics of the Confederate and other wars in which the state took part; and
“Whereas, it is the wish of the said Col. N. L. Norton and his said associates that said room be designated, and that the Daughters of the Confederacy be permitted to place said relics in said room, and to care for, protect and exhibit the same: Now therefore,
“Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
“Section 1. That the northwest room on the first floor of the capitol building formerly occupied by the purchasing agent of the state, be and the same is hereby set aside for the uses and purposes aforesaid, and that in addition to the deposits made and to be made under paid original concurrent resolution, that the Daughters of the Confederacy of the State of Texas be and they are hereby authorized to take charge of said room and use the same conjointly with the said Westfall, Lacey and Norton, for all of the purposes aforesaid.”

It is contended, however, on the part of appellant that this claim is not well founded for the reasons: First, that the Legislature had no authority, by means of such resolution, to grant said privilege to appellees; second, because in undertaking to place said State Fire Insurance Commission in said room, he was acting within his discretion as superintendent of public buildings and grounds, and therefore, not subject to the writ of injunction herein issued; third, because appellee in this case is a corporation, and is not the same body, association, or legal entity upon which the Legislature attempted to confer any right by virtue of said resolution; and, fourth, because the resolution under which appellees claim must be construed in connection with House Concurrent Resolution No. 4, therein referred to, and, when so construed, it is left to the superintendent of public buildings and grounds and the Governor to determine when the room in controversy shall be needed for other purposes; and, they having reached this conclusion, and there being no abuse of discretion on his part, said injunction should not have been issued.

Before undertaking to discuss the points raised and presented by this appeal, it may be well to state that, long prior to the passage of said resolution, the Daughters of the Confederacy, composed of the wives, widows, and daughters of Confederate soldiers, was a voluntary association for the purpose of perpetuating history and doing benevolent and monumental work, and on the passage of the resolution in question they immediately, took charge ■ of said room so set aside to them, furnishing the same, and depositing therein many relics and mementoes of the war of the Confederacy, consisting of guns, swords, battle flags, historical documents, uniforms, and other articles in use by Confederate generals and soldiers, valuable pictures and books including the Ordinances of Secession, and many other interesting relics relating to said war. This room, though usually closed, except during their meetings, was always accessible to the public who might desire to visit it, by application to the watchman in charge of the building. In order to erect a home for the benefit of the old ladies of the Confederacy, and take title thereto and convey the same to the state, it was deemed advisable, in 1905, for such association to obtain a charter, which was done, but this in no manner changed the purpose or object of the association, nor the character and holding of this room, nor has there been any change in the management of the Daughters of the Confederacy, nor in the persons comprising said order. Though it is claimed on the part of appellant that there was no other adequate *26 room equally as suitable as tbis witbin said building in wbicb tbe State Fire Insurance Commission could be located, yet it was admitted by appellant that other rooms might be selected by him which could be used for this purpose. It is shown in this connection that appellant offered other apartments in said building for the use of appellees, but stated at the time of so doing that he could not assure them that they could hold same, hecause if he had use for the same, he would dispossess them at any time. It also appears from the evidence that the room in question had been furnished at considerable expense to appellees, and its formation was such that the carpeting would be practically useless if removed.

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Bluebook (online)
164 S.W. 24, 1913 Tex. App. LEXIS 1449, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conley-v-texas-division-of-united-daughters-of-the-confederacy-texapp-1913.