Page:Pitcock v. State.pdf/6

532 of said Penitentiary, to carry out the terms of the agreement hereinbefore set forth—that is, to require said board and superintendent of the Penitentiary to furnish the plaintiff a sufficient number of able-bodied convicts to repay it for the labor of the convicts so withheld, withdrawn and taken from it by the Board of Commissioners as set forth herein. Plaintiff prays that upon the final hearing a decree be entered as above prayed, and that the said order of the board directing the superintendent to take away from the plaintiff the convicts now held by it, and refusing to carry out the terms of the agreement before stated, be declared null and void."

It will be seen from the foregoing statement of facts that the contract, dated February 3, 1899, as amended on July 31, 1899, is the same contract which was the subject of litigation in the case of McConnell v. ''Ark. Brick & Mfg. Co.'', 70 Ark. 568, and it is so pleaded in this action, it being alleged that the contract had, by the Pulaski Chancery Court, and by the Supreme Court on appeal, been adjudged to be valid and enforceable.

Upon the filing of said complaint, the same was presented to the chancellor at chambers, and he at once granted a temporary injunction in accordance with the prayer of the complaint, restraining said members of the Board of Commissioners and the superintendent of the Penitentiary from withdrawing said convicts. The injunction was duly issued by the clerk after execution of the bond by plaintiff in accordance with the statute and the order of the chancellor, and immediately served on all the members of the board; but the sheriff was unable to serve same upon appellant Pitcock until Monday morning, January 18, 1909. He was, however, duly notified of the issuance of the injunction by the sheriff, and by one of the attorneys for the plaintiff in a conversation over the telephone, immediately after the issuance of the injunction, and before he removed the convicts.

Immediately after the adoption of the resolution by the Board of Penitentiary Commissioners, and regardless of the notice to him of the issuance of the injunction. Pitcock set about complying with the resolution; and within the succeeding three days withdrew all convicts from the plaintiff's works and premises, and returned same to State convict farm and to the walls of the Penitentiary.