Alexandria Gazette; Alexandria, Virginia
November 12, 1909, page 2
"COURT OF APPEALS - The Court of Appeals yesterday in Richmond began the fall term, all the judges being in attendance save Judge Buchanan, who is ill. The following cases were heard:
The commonwealth's application for appeal from the adverse judgement of the Mecklenburg county court was granted. The suit had been brought to recover $20,502.61 from the Fidelity and Deposit Company, of Baltimore, as surety on the bond of Treasurer Howard N. Beales, of Mecklenburg county. Beales, as treasurer of the county, deposited the funds in the bank of Mecklenburg. The bank went to the wall and the county funds were swept away..."
Clinch Valley News; Jeffersonville, Virginia
March 15, 1907, page 4
"James Pendleton is now at Buffalo Lithia Springs, in Mecklenburg county. He has been troubled a good deal with rheumatism of late, and will remain there for some time."
Alexandria Gazette; Alexandria, Virginia
January 2, 1903, page 3
"DR. MCLEAN TO BE EXPELLED - The sub-committee of the House committee on privileges and elections will meet next Tuesday and formulate a report to the full committee in the case of Dr. E. P. McLean, the member from Mecklenburg, who has so far declined to take the oath. It is certain that the majority of the sub-committee will recommend the expulsion of Dr. McLean. This report will be ratified and confirmed by the full committee. A writ of election will be then issued to fill the vacancy from Mecklenburg. - [Richmond Dispatch]."
Alexandria Gazette; Alexandria, Virginia
February 7, 1903, page 2
"THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES yesterday did what it should have done two months ago - declared vacant the seat of Delegate McLean from Mecklenburg county. Why there should have been any delay in the matter only the members of the House can tell; but that body seems to move very slowly and to require much time to act on most subjects, and more especially when its path is as plain as the noonday sun. Doctor McLean is a federal officeholder, is therefore ineligible to hold a State office and his action shows he fully understood this proposition. Why, then should the House have wasted all this time arriving at its conclusion? Doctor McLean is a very clever gentleman but no man should be allowed to array himself in opposition to the entire State legislature and directly he did so he should have been bowled over."
Alexandria Gazette; Alexandria, Virginia
February 7, 1903, page 2
"HOUSE - The seat of Dr. E. P. McLean, the republican member from Mecklenburg who refused to take the oath to support the new constitution, was declared vacant by the House. It will be remembered that Dr. McLean, when the legislature met last July to ratify the new instrument refused to recognize the new constitution, and made a speech bitterly criticizing its provisions. No action was taken by the House at that time, one reason being that it was believed that the member was ineligible on account of the fact that he held the place of revenue collector under the government. Two reports were read, one signed by Messrs. Cumming, Jones, Baker, Carter, Jordan, of Nansemond, and Leake, declaring the seat vacant for his failure to take the oath, and the other signed by Messrs. Kelly, Heermans, Robson, Caton, Jordon, of Frederick, and West, giving the member three days in which to take the oath and resume his seat. Mr. Lassiter said he saw no reason for giving a member three days in which to do anything which he declared upon the floor he would not do, and Mr. Wallace made an able argument in favor of the report, declaring the seat vacant form the time the member refused to take the oath. The three-day limitation bill was rejected by vote of 24 to 48. Mr. Cardwell offered an amendment to the vacating bill, declaring the seat vacant from July 15, and the bill as amended was adopted by vote of 53 to 24. Dr. McLean holds a Federal office. He is a republican and a deputy revenue collector. He has not been in his seat since last July and has not offered to draw his salary. Dr. McLean is the only member who refused to take the oath to uphold the new constitution. The report adopted calls for a special election to fill the vacancy and the speaker will issue the writ in a few days..."
Alexandria Gazette; Alexandria, Virginia
May 13, 1908, page 3
"VIRGINIA NEWS - ...The State Corporation Commission has sent to Judge W. R. Barksdale, of the Mecklenburg Circuit Court, a certified copy of the report of the expert accountants who made an examination of the Bank of Mecklenburg. The report is a condemnation of the methods employed in the bank, the examiners saying that it is either carelessness or incompetency, or both."
Clinch Valley News; Jeffersonville, Virginia
April 10, 1908, page 2
"ASK RECEIVERS [BLACK SPOT] LUMBER COMPANY - CREDITORS OF EAST COAST LUMBER COMPANY APPLY FOR RECEIVERS ON GROUND OF MISMANAGEMENT AND FRAUD - BILL FILED AT RICHMOND, VA. - RICHMOND, VA. - Special - S. L. Owen and J. M. Owen, of Mecklenburg county, ask that receivers be appointed to conduct the affairs of the East Coast Lumber Company, with principal offices in this city. The petition, which is in the shape of a complaint, alleged that the affairs of the concern have been conducted in a reckless fashion, and that values have been placed fictitiously. The application is based on two notes held by the petitioners for lumber furnished the company, and for which a draft was issued, but which was not honored on account of insufficient funds. The bill of complaint says in part: 'An instance of this reckless and deceptive practice of the said corporation is shown in the case of the Coles tract of land, containing about 2,000 acres. Located in Mecklenburg county, it was purchased by President Cogbill for $18,000, and immediately transferred to the company and valued upon its books at $43,000. Complainants would not show that the outstanding liabilities against said corporation amount to nearly $250,000; that said liabilities are due to various banks in Richmond and other cities and to sundry parties for lumber and other supplies; that about $40,000 is due to various persons for acceptances and protested notes given for lumber furnished it, while checks drawn by said corporation amounting to $8,500 have been protested by banks and remain unpaid. Your complainants aver that when said corporation made its last report to the State Corporation Commission, as required by law, its officers, in order to show that its assets were sufficient to cover its liabilities, raised the value of its lands and other property to an extent far in excess of their actual values, and even then there was a deficit in its assets of nearly $100,000 below the liabilities, and to cover this up the profit and loss accounts were charged up to it.'"
Clinch Valley News; Jeffersonville, Virginia
April 24, 1908, page 3
"RECEIVERS NAMED FOR MECKLENBURG BANK - Circuit Judge Barksdale has named as the receivers of the Bank of Mecklenburg Messrs. C. J. Faulkner and J. W. Edmondson, who before the institution became involved by its dealings with the Cogbill and East Coast Lumber Company were respectively president and vice president of the banks. Both receivers are men of high standing and ability, and the interests of the stockholders and others will be safe in their hands. Messrs. H. B. Boudar, Thomas Boudar and Bertram Chesterman, the expert accountants sent by the State Corporation Commission to examine the books of the bank, arrived at Boydton Wednesday morning and are now at work. It will require several days for them to get at the true inwardness of the situation, through Cashier Overbey, now under arrest, already has admitted that he made unauthorized loans of more than $100,000 to B. E. Cogbill and the East Coast Lumber Company, with which the latter was subsequently connected. The Bank of Mecklenburg, which has a brach office at Chase City, was established by the late George B. Finch in 1872, and for years was managed with signal success. Its closing has caused great distress and the gravest apprehensions among all classes of people."
Alexandria Gazette, Alexandria, Virginia
November 7, 1902, page 2
"...The House will also have to pass on the case of Dr. E. P. McLean, republican member form Mecklenburg, who refused to take the oath to support the new Constitution. The election committee will probably make a report on the matter. However, it will probably not be on this question that the House will settle the matter, but on another, about which there can be no doubt. Dr. McLean holds a salaried office under the United States government, being clerk in the internal revenue collector's office in this city which is in direct conflict with the Virginia constitution, so the member from Mecklenburg will clearly not be entitled to his seat."
Alexandria Gazette; Alexandria, Virginia
December 22, 1902, page 2
"The McLean case, involving the right of Dr. McLean to a seat in the House from Mecklenburg, he being a Federal office-holder, was referred by the committee on privileges and elections until after the holidays. There was a very slim attendance of members and the sub-committee was not ready to report. The case involves many legal questions of a very delicate character."
Alexandria Gazette; Alexandria, Virginia
December 22, 1902, page 2
"MCLEAN CASE POSTPONED - The sub-committee of the House Privileges and Elections Committee will make no report to the full committee until after the recess. When it does it will be in the form of a recommendation that the Mecklenburg man be expelled. Mr. Heermans, the minority representative on the sub-coimmittee, is not quite in accord with the democratic members. He favors notifying Dr. McLean of the intention of the house, and giving him another chance to come here and take the oath. In the event of refusal, it is understood Mr. Heermans will acquiesce in the recommendation of the minority. Whatever his attitude, however, the majority of the committee and a large majority of the House are in favor of expulsion. There is one weak point in the argument of Mr. Cumming that the old General Assembly died when it adjourned sine die, or certainly, on July 10, when the new Constitution became effective, and that the new Constitution became effective, and that the present body was not the General Assembly of Virginia until the members took the oath under the new Constitution. If that be true, Dr. McLean, who refused to take the oath, is not a member and hence cannot be expelled. This is but one of the many complications involved in this case. The declaration that the seat of the Mecklenburg member is vacant will certainly be made. - [Richmond News]."
