Curious Legal Cases & Laws
The following is the beginning of curious legal cases brought before the county courts. The first two are talked about in Elmo Ingenthron's The Land of Taney.
Invoking the Hog Law
In the late 1800s, after Taney County's population had begun to grow, an important concern was whether hogs should be allowed open range (as they had been in earlier days when population was scarce) or confined. Unattended swine raided gardens and destroyed crops at will, generating much resentment among non-hog farming residents. In fact, Ingenthron writes of the intense anti-hog sentiment growing in the area:
In the spring of 1896, the people were not only indignant over periodic raids by porkers but also were nursing embarrassment from unfavorable publicity given the town in the not too distant past, when range hogs had mutilated the body of a corpse retrieved from a hangman's noose west of town and laid on the ground in front of the courthouse to serve as an example to others. (43)
Thus, the hog law (forced hog confinement) became an important political platform for candidates running for public office. In addition, several township elections were held to enforce closed range hog farming, though the hog law continued to be defeated for several years to come. An aspiring public official was forced to declare his stance on this highly controversial topic. Still, because the law was not passed, swine continued to range at will, and disgruntled farmers continued to bring litigation before the courts as their crops and property were destroyed.
Nude Prophet Arraigned
Though residents of southwest Missouri have long been known for their religious enthusiasm, not all religious practices have been received with equal zeal. Ingenthron writes of a bizarre case in the late 1800s, involving a member of a religious community on Bull Creek.
Attention was drawn to the cult one afternoon when a follower appeared marching down the street, stark naked except for a scraggly beard, declaring praises to God with arms uplifted. Circling the courthouse several times, the worshipper was arrested by the town marshall and jailed on charges of insanity. Apparently, the unorthodox community's typical worship service involved "divesting themselves of all earthly goods when evoking the blessing of the Almighty" (43).
At his trial, the prophet allegedly interrupted the proceedings with sporadic "Praise God"s, sealing his conviction and leading to his being committed to an asylum for the insane.
Not surprisingly, the religious community discontinued the practice of praying in the nude, at least in public.
Are you breaking these laws?
The following Branson laws, though amusing to us today, were serious business when they were passed. Consider the reasoning behind such laws as you skim them.
"Good Morals and Decency"
- Ordained by the Board of Aldermen, 22 September 1913:
"A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATIVE TO OFFENCES AGAINST GOOD MORALS AND DECENCY. . . .
SECTION 1. That the several acts and offences specified in this ordinance are hereby prohibited in this city, and any person found guilty of any or either of them shall be subject to the penalties herein provided for them respectively.
SECTION 2. Every person who shall be convicted of horse racing, fighting, or playing at cards or games of any kind on the first day of the week commonly called Sunday, shall be fined not less than one or more than fifteen dollars.
SECTION 3. Every person who shall appear in any public place in this City in a state of , or in any dress not belonging to his or her sex, or in any indecent or lewd dress, or who shall make an indecent or public exposure of his or her person, or be guilty of any indecent acts or behavior or who shall exhibit, sell, or offer to sell any indecent or lewd book, picture, or other thing, or shall exhibit any indecent, immoral, or lewd play or other representation shall be fined not less than one or more than fifty dollars.
SECTION 4. That any person who shall keep or maintain in this City a house of ill-fame or prostitution, or in a house in which disorderly, licentious, obscene or indecent conduct or language is permitted or allowed, shall upon conviction be fined not less than ten or more than one hundred dollars and in any house above mentioned may be adjudged and declared a nuisance by the Mayor. That the occupant of said house shall be liable to a fine of ten dollars each and every day said house continues as a nuisance under the provisions of this section.
SECTION 5. That any and every person who shall be an inmate or resident of a house of ill-fame or prostitution in this City, or who shall visit or frequent any such house for lewd, licentious, obscene or indecent purposes, shall on conviction, be fined not less than five or more than fifty dollars, and the fact of any person being found in any such house in the night twice between the hours of nine o'clock p.m. and five o'clock a.m. shall be prima facia evidence of his or her visiting or frequenting the same for such purposes.
SECTION 6: That any person or persons who shall knowingly lease or let any house, hall, tenement, or other place in this City to any person or persons to be used or kept as a brothel, or house of ill-fame or prostitution, or shall permit such person or persons to occupy and operate such house, hall or tenement as a house of ill-fame or prostitution after the same has been declared such by the Mayor, shall on conviction be fined not less than ten or more than one hundred dollars.
SECTION 7. That any person who shall keep, maintain, or harbor in this City any prostitute, knowing her to be such, shall on conviction be fined not less than five or more than fifty dollars.
SECTION 8. Any person being found intoxicated, or using any profane or obscene language in any street, lane, alley or public place in the City, shall on conviction be fined not less than three or more than twenty dollars. . . .
(Sections 9-13 omitted)
SECTION 14. Any person that shall sell, barter or give away, or offer for sale, any spirituous, vinous, or malt liquors within the limits of the City shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction fined not less than twenty or more than two hundred dollars. Provided this section shall not apply to sales for sacramental purposes or prescription by a physician.
SECTION 15. Any person that shall sell, barter, give to, or offer to sell to any minor any spirituous, malt, or vinous liquor shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction fined not less than fifty dollars or more than two hundred dollars."
Loose Fowl
- Ordained by the Board of Aldermen, 1 March 1926:
SECTION 1: An ordinance to restrain chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and pigeons from running at large, and to regulate the location of pens, coops, or houses in which are confined chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons, rabbits or any other pet animals, including swine, within the corporate limits of the city of Branson, and providing a penalty for the violation thereof. . . ."
- Square Dancing
Ordained by the Board of Aldermen, 3 August 1936:
"SECTION 1. Square dancing of all forms is hereby declared illegal within the city limits of the City of Branson, Missouri, as being a public nuisance.
SECTION 2. Any one found guilty of operating and/or permitting a Square Dance to be held on his premises, shall be fined in the sum of not less than ten dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars. Each day a Square Dance is held shall constitute a separate offense and shall be punishable as such. . . ."
- Barber Shops
Ordained by the Board of Aldermen, 2 August 1937:
"SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any person to keep a barber shop open and engage in his trade after the hours of seven p.m. except on Saturdays and the days preceeding a legal holidays and it shall be unlawful to keep such shops open for business after nine p.m. those days and unlawful to open said shops on Sundays or legal holidays except when Saturday falls on a holiday.
SECTION 2: Anyone found guilty of violating the provisions of this ordinace shall be fined in the sum of not less than one dollar nor more than ten dollars. . . ."
- "Unsightfull and Repulsive Businesses"
March 1945:
"A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE FORBIDDING THE ERECTION OPERATION OR MAINTAINCE OF CERTAIN UNSIGHTFULL AND REPULSIVE BUSINESSES WITHIN CERTAIN LIMITS OF THE MAIN HIGHWAYS WITHIN THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF BRANSON.
SECTION 1. It is hereby declared unlawful to erect, operate or maintain any auto wrecking or junk yard; livery stable or horse lot; reduction or rendering plant; soap factory, tannery, saw mill, postyard or any other like or kindred business within one city block on either side of highway 65 or highway 80 within the corporate limits of the city of Branson."
Works Cited
Images of pig, drunk, and loose fowl from http://www.arttoday.com, member page, June 1999.
Ingenthron, Elmo. The Land of Taney: A History of an Ozark Commonwealth. Ozark Regional History Series, Book II. Point Lookout, MO: School of the Ozarks Press, 1974.
Ordinances provided by Gaye Lisby, Branson Living Magazine
