Chap. 294.—An ACT for the relief of C. L. Kennedy, ex-sheriff of Stafford
county, Virginia.

Approved February 9, 1900.

Whereas it appears from the statements of the judge of the count)
court of Stafford county, and the judge of the tenth judicial circuit, and
from other evidence, that in the felony case of commonwealth against
W. J. Hunt for the murder of Peter Schooler, which case was tried
before the county court of Stafford county, that in the prosecution of
that case before said court, and to prevent any miscarriage of justice.
it became and was absolutely necessary for the commonwealth to have a
map of the scene of the crime, and to have the services of expert analvti-
cal chemists for the purpose of analyzing spots and stains of the pris-
oner’s clothing, which it was discovered were caused by human blood;
and

Whereas after the said W. J. Hunt had been convicted of said offense
in said county court and sentenced to confinement in the state peniten-
tiary fifteen years, he, by his attornevs, took an appeal to the circuit
court of the county of Stafford, of which Honorable W. 8S. Barton was
the judge; and

Whereas pending said appeal and before the case was heard in said
circuit court, R. H. L. Chichester, who, as commonwealth’s attorney of
Stafford county, had prosecuted said Hunt on behalf of the common-
wealth, was elected judge of said county court by the legislature of
Virginia, and could not represent the commonwealth in the circuit court,
and John KE. Mason, who had assisted the said Chichester in the pro-
secution of said case, had been elected judge of said circuit court to fill
the vacancy caused by the death of Judge W. S. Barton, and he, too,
could not represent the commonwealth before the circuit court; and
T. W. Berry, who had defended said Hunt in said county court, had
been appointed commonwealth’s attorney to fill the vacancy caused hv
the election of said R. H. L. Chichester as judge of said county court,
and could not appear for the commonwealth; and to prevent a mis-
carriage of justice and properly present the commonwealth’s case, it
became absolutely necessary to employ counsel for that purpose; and

Whereas said C. lL. Kennedy, who was then sheriff, employed and
paid a surveyor to survey and plat, for use in said case, the ground
around the scene of the crime, and employed and paid expert analvtical
chemists eighty-two dollars for services in said case, and emploved and
paid a competent attorney one hundred dollars for representing the
commonwealth in said circuit court, wherebv the verdict of the jurv in
the trial court snd judgment of the court thereon were sustained, and
the said W. J. Hunt is now serving his term in the penitentiary; and it
appearing that said C. L. Kennedy should be reimbursed for his said
expenditures, amounting in all to one hundred and ninety dollars:
therefore, )

1. Be it enacted by the general assemblv of Virginia, That the auditor
of public accounts be, and he is hereby, instructed to draw his warrant
upon the treasurer of the state in favor of C. L. Kennedy for the sum
f one hundred and ninety dollars, being the amount pad by said
.ennedy for the purposes aforesaid, as in the preamble of this act set
ut.

2. This act shall be in force from its passage.