USA > Missouri > Lafayette County > History of Lafayette county, Mo. , carefully written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of its townships, cities, towns, and villages > Part 35
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The railroad company had fixed their initial point at Farmers City, fourteen miles farther east than the point damed by the voters of Lafay- ette county, and to reach Lexington from that place they had run a line as crooked as a dog's hind leg over the eastern part of Lafayette county with about eighteen miles more of road to build, besides one costly bridge more than was called for by the route voted upon. They also showed fraudulent and illegal procedures by the railroad board of directors. But now the war came on and interpreted all further proceedings in the mat- ter on either side until January 2, 1866, when the county court filed an additional answer to the mandamus of 1861, reciting reasons which enti- tled them to judgment, and to be dismissed from court, and they were so dismissed.
In January and February, 1868, meetings were held at about twenty different places in the county, with a view of voting $500,000 to any rail- road company that would build a line entirely across the county. A printed list of speakers at these meetings shows the names of Judge Norman Lackland, Judge Wm. T. Wood, Judge Wm. Walker, Col. John Reid, Dr. J. G. Russell, E. Winsor, Esq., H. C. Wallace, Esq., Col. Mark L. De Motte, John R. Bennett, Esq., and M. F. Gordon, Esq.
The result of these meetings was a petition to the county court for an order of election. The election was ordered to be held on March 7, 1868, and the conditions specified were, that the road should run through the
315
HISTORY OF LAYFAETTE COUNTY.
county so as to accommodate the largest farming interest and the great- est number of citizens, and should establish a depot in the city of Lexing- ton. Also, no bonds should be issued until enough had been subscribed along the line to grade and tie it from Louisiana, Mo., to the west line of Lafayette county; and all of this county's subscription should be used for work within the county. These were the safeguards which were thrown around the proposition. The result of the vote was:
Townships.
For Bonds.
Against Bonds.
Choice of Roads.
Clay
131
143
Louisiana, 131
Davis
68
17
51
St. Louis. 28
Dover ..
144
26
146
Freedom
35
262
Lexington
763
73
66
754
9
Middleton
132
21
Sniabar .
1
173
Washington
29
148
Total.
1,303
863
1,082
37
So $500,000 of county bonds were voted to be issued to the Louisiana and Missouri river railroad, by 440 majority. But the terms were never met, and these bonds were never issued; yet this company's claim was eventually intermixed with that of the old original bonds voted for the Lexington and St. Louis road, and in that way were forced out. See book 12, page 275, of county records, under date of August 2, 1870.
The above election was held, upon the assurance of some of the ablest lawyers in the state, that the old original bonds voted to the Lexington and St. Louis railroad in 1859 were dead, outlawed, utterly defunct, beyond any possibility of resurrection as a claim against Lafayette county. But in spite of this, on April 9, 1868, immediately following the election, the attorney of the Lexington and St. Louis railroad company, Amos Green, appeared before the county court and made three several motions, trying to get the court to issue the bonds that had been voted, but the motions were all overruled.
The railroad company then entered suit in the court of common pleas (we have no such court now) against the county court. This cause had fourteen several hearings before that court, and finally, July 7, 1868, a per- emptory writ of mandamus was issued, requiring the county court to issue to the Lexington and St. Louis railroad company bonds to the amount of $498,750 .* The county court thereupon issued the bonds, under protest, and so they got out upon the market.
November, 1868, George H. Ambrose took his seat as one of the county judges, the others being Jesse Schofield and N. W. Letton. From
* $1250 of the original $500,000 had already been issued and used up on the surveys within the county.
1
316
HISTORY OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY.
this time forward numerous issues were made of county and township bonds, which subsequently came into sharp and protracted litigation.
May 5, 1869, Geo. H. Ambrose, president of the county court, was elected president of the Lexington and St. Louis railroad company also. The Lafayette county men who were directors at this time were Gen. J. O. Shelby, Judge G. H. Ambrose, H. J. Higgins, C. B. Russell, Fletcher Patrick, Amos Green and James H. Beatty.
May 18 work was commenced at Lexington on the Lexington and St. Louis railroad, and this was the first railroad work done in Lafayette county. Wood and Lillis were the contractors.
September 25, 1869, Dover township voted a township tax of $25,000 to aid the proposed Louisiana and Missouri River railroad. These bonds, however, were never issued; and $10,000 of county bonds issued for this road were afterward declared void-illegal-by the U. S. circuit court, in November, 1875.
October 18, 1869, twenty-five resident free-holders of Sniabar township petitioned for an election, so the county records say, to vote $35,000 of township bonds to aid in the construction of "the Lexington, Chillicothe and Gulf railroad." The election was ordered for Nov. 13, 1869.
December 6, 1869, the court recites that the following townships have voted, by over two-thirds majority, their township bonds to aid in the con- struction of "the Lexington, Chillicothe and Gulf railroad ":
Lexington township voted
$75,000
Sniabar 66
35,000
Washington
75,000
And the court on that day ordered the said subscriptions to be made in accordance with the propositions in each township and the votes given thereon. (Record book No. 11, pp. 459-60.)
April 7, 1860, Dover and Middleton townships held elections to vote $50,000 of their township bonds to aid the Louisiana and Missouri River railroad. The law disfranchising partisans of the rebellion was still in force; but to meet this obnoxious condition both registered and unregis- tered men were called upon to vote, and the result was thus:
For Bonds. Ag'st Bonds. Majorities.
Dover township-Registered votes
126
34
92
Unregistered "
14
8
6
Totals.
140
42
98
Middleton township-Registered votes
80
16
64
Unregistered
73
15
58
Totals.
153
31
122
The great mass of the disfranchised refused to vote at all, but on the contrary held a remonstrance meeting at Oakland church, in Dover town-
yours Truly Sopas, , Ray
317
.
HISTORY OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY.
ship, on April 11, four days after the election, and among other things adopted the following:
"Resolved, That we consider said election, by which our burdensome taxes are to be so fearfully increased, is an intolerable outrage upon the rights of disfranchised property holders." .In another resolution they pledged themselves to subscribe individually at the rate of $1.25 per acre on their land to the stock of the railroad company, in lieu of the bonds that had been so unreasonably voted upon them. And to secure subscrip- tions or pledges for this scheme, a committee was appointed, as follows: L. G. Manypenny, W. Liese, J. Zentmeyer, G. Gorder, J. Peacock, J. J. Board, J. Lewisand Isaac Neale. The secretary of the meeting, Wm. G. Neale, was instructed to send a copy of the proceedings to the president of the L. & M. R. railroad company, and also to each of the county papers for publication. Frank M. Field was chairman of the meeting.
The road was projected to cross the Missouri river at Glasgow, and run thence by the straightest practicable route to Lexington. The Lexington Register the next week after the above vote was taken, and meeting held, said editorially: "We have reliable information that this road will be put under contract through this county in May next" (within a month). But the road was never built, and the bonds as voted were declared by the courts to be illegal.
July 19, 1870, a few citizens, 25 perhaps, petitioned the county court to authorize a township election on a proposition to vote $75,000 of bonds to aid in building the Northwestern branch of the Tebo & Neosho railroad. The election was ordered for August 20, 1870. On August 2d the court granted the right-of-way for this railroad across the public highways in Middleton, Davis and Freedom townships, as the proposition was to build from Waverly southward through those townships to a junction with the grade of the Lexington & St. Louis railroad. J. D. Miller, L. L. Johnson, and Paul Boob were the judges of this bond election-and the result of the vote was: For the bonds, 76; against bonds, 2-majority for bonds, 74. The record shows that 16 of those who voted for the bonds were colored men; and that the disfranchising clause of the constitution of 1865 was still in force. Gen. J. O. Shelby had the contract to build the road; work was commenced, and enough done to require the issue of $17,000 out of the $75,000 authorized, then it stopped and the whole thing went dead. But the people had the $17,000 to pay, just the same. Neosho is the county seat of Newton county, in the southwest corner of the state; and this road was originally projected from there up northeasterly to Warsaw, on the Osage river near the mouth of Tebo creek, in Benton county; hence the "Tebo " in the name of this railroad had no reference to Tabo creek in Lafayette county.
H
318
HISTOR. OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY.
TAXPAYERS' CONVENTIONS.
The Lexington Intelligencer of February 10, 1875, contains a report of a committee appointed by a taxpayers' convention on December 18, 1874, consisting of Wm. T. Gammon, Wm. C. Beatie, J. C. Lockhart, W. B. Major, A. A. Lesueur. Their report is a lengthy and elaborate docu- ment, of very great practical importance at the time, and furnishing many staple facts in the mixed and troublesome history of this matter. A few curiosities of the pool of tribulation are here noted: $75,000 of bonds charged to Lexington township had been issued to the St. Louis & St. Joseph railroad in Ray county, which never built a dollar's worth of any- thing in Lafayette county. These bonds were afterwards declared void by the courts. It was also proved in court that they had been fraudu- lently delivered by a county judge, for a bribe of $200. $35,000 of bonds charged to Sniabar township, for the Lexington, Chillicothe & Gulf rail- road, had been issued on a vote of 41 persons, mostly non-taxpayers, at a time when 175 of the property owners were disfranchised. $75,000 of similar bonds charged to Washington township had been issued in the same way. $498,700 of county bonds had been issued by the county court under mandamus from the court of common pleas, but under protest from the county court and people. Some of the bonds had been issued clandestinely by one of the judges, who afterwards secured the signature of another one. Some of them had been issued by a judge who was presi- dent of the county court, and also at the same time president of the rail- road company receiving the bonds. $500,000 of bonds for the Louisiana & Missouri River railroad company were afterward declared void by the courts. Indeed, the facts brought out showed that there was a perfect witches'-broth of corruption stewing in Lafayette county, and other counties, too, under the evil eye of a " railroad ring."
RAILROAD BONDS OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY AND OF THE SEVERAL TOWN- SHIPS.
As officially reported by the County Clerk, Dec. 17, 1875.
LAFAYETTE COUNTY.
To whom issued Lex. & St. L. R. R.
Amount
What for
Date of issue
When due
$ 75,000 Sub to stock Jan. 1, 1869 Jan. 1,1879*
182,000
Jan. 1, 1869 Jan. 1,1879t
66
190,000
66
66
Sep. 1, 1869 Sep. 1, 1879
66
66
230,000
66
Aug. 1, 1870 Aug.1, 1880
c.
15,000
May 1, 1871 May 1, 1881
66
66
11,000 Funding
Aug 12,1870 Jan. 1, 1879*
$100 Bonds
66
*The rate of interest on these bonds was six per cent, payable in currency.
tThe interest on this issue was six per cent payable in gold. The rate of interest on all the other bonds was ten per cent payable in currency.
319
HISTORY OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY.
LEXINGTON TOWNSHIP.
To whom issued Amount What for Date of issue
When due
$ 37,500 Sub. to stock Sep 10, 1868 Sep. 1, 1878
37,500
66 Mar 15,1869 Mar.15, 1879
Lex. C. & Gulf R. R.
75,000
66 July 19, 1870 July 19, 1875
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
Lex. C. & Gulf R. R. $. 15,000 Sub to stock July 19, 1870 July 19, 1875
15,000
66
66
1877
6:
66
15,000
66
66
66 1879
66
15,000
66
66
1881
66
15,000
SNIABAR TOWNSHIP.
Lex. C. & Gulf R. R. $ 7,000 Sub to stock July 19, 1870 July 19, 1875
66
66
7,000
66
1877
7,000
66
66
66
1879
"
7,000
66
66
66 1881
66
7,000
MIDDLETON TOWNSHIP.
N.W. Tebo & N. R. R. $17,000 Bal. to stock Aug 20, 1870 Aug 5,1876+ FREEDOM TOWNSHIP.
Lex. & St. L. R. R. $ 25,000 Sub. to stock April 3, 1871 April 3, 1876+ DAVIS TOWNSHIP.
Lex. & St. L. R. R. $ 10,000 Sub. to stock April 3, 1871 April 3, 1876+
The total combined debt of the county, as shown by this official report, (which included some other debts not of railroad, and therefore not given
ORTH MISSOUR
CARROLL
BERLIN
DOVER LOUISIANA & MISSOURI RIV. R E
LEXINGTON
A. R.
LEXINGTON
HIGGINSVILLE
AULLSBURG
ST.
LOUIS
R.
!
1 7
in our table,) was $1,384,099. And the total assessed valution, including real estate, personal property, merchants' stock, etc., was at that time $7,845,371. The bonded debt, therefore, was 173 per cent of the entire valuation; and most of the debt a swindle on the people besides. The map given above shows the different lines of railroad which were at that time promised.
#Interest ten per cent payable semi-annually.
FAY ETTE
SALINE
CONCORDIA
66
1883
66
15,000
66
1877
1883
St. L. & St. Jo. R. R. 60 66
OWAVERLY
320
HISTORY OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY.
THE R. R. BONDED DEBT COMPROMISE.
Through a series of Taxpayers' Conventions it had been shown beyond a question or a quibble that the railroad bonds both of county and town- ships, were essentially fraudulent; but they had been foisted upon the market under such cunningly devised seemings of legality as to give them a status in the courts, and therefore some chance for judicial enforcement, even after long and costly litigation by the county in contesting them. In view of this state of facts, it was thought best to propose such com- promises as the creditors would probably accede to rather than worry the matter through the courts. Some of the largest holders of the county bonds had through their agent, Col. M. V. L. McClelland, agreed to a com- promise of 80 cents on the dollar at 6 instead of 10 per cent. interest; and it was presumed that many others would do the same. The following schedule shows the different compromises finally proposed by the Tax- payers' Convention held November 29th, 1875:
County bonds
Old rate of interest. 10 per ct. 6
Refunding rate for bonds and past dne coupons. 80 cents on the dollar.
New rate of interest. 6 per ct. 6
Lexington township, L. & G. railroad bonds.
10
66
60
6
Freedom township
10
80
6
Davis.
10
80
6
66
Washington
10
66
50
6
Sniabar.
10
40
6
Middleton
10
80
66
6
All bonds to run twenty-five years, interest payable semi-annually. The different funding rates offered by the different townships are based on ability to pay, justice of the debt, prospect of defeating the bondholders in case of contest in the courts, etc.
At this convention every township in the county was well represented, as follows:
Clay-Strother Renick, Thos. Bates, M. M. Robinson, Samuel Hull, C. J. Miller, J. B. McDonald, Thos. McCleary, James Belt, J. C. Arm- strong, S. W. McBurney, W. B. Corse, B. F. Hammer, S. W. Creasy.
Davis-H. J. Higgins, W. C. Beatty, W. A. Nutter, L. Groom, J. Gladdish, Geo. P. Gordon.
Dover-Wm. Liese, Wm. Carter, R. Barley, Wm. Kirtley, Isaac Neale, J. J. Fleming.
Freedom-J. F. Downing, W. A. Thornton, W. Boone Major, N. J. Cox.
Lexington-(City and Township)-L. Green, Joseph Davis, Thomas Shelby, L. B. Gordon, J. R. Ford, Xenophon Ryland, W. T. Gammon, A. J. Slusher, John Reid, W. T. Hays, H. C. Wallace, R. J. Smith, S. G. Wentworth, Robert Hale, J. F. Smith, J. McFadden, C. E. Lankford,
70
321
HISTORY OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY.
Joseph Benton, John Howe, Wm. Limrick, John Catron, A. A. Lesueur, Geo. S. Rathbun, Z. S. Mitchell, H. C. Boteler.
Middleton .- C. C. Catron, D. J. Waters, O. H. P. Catron, T. M. Lake, A. T. Winsor, A. Corder, J. M. Hopkins, M. T. Buford.
Sniabar .- J. W. Bledsoe, W. J. Shackleford, J. T. Ferguson, R. T. Rus- sell, P. A. Ferguson.
Washington .- C. L. Ewing, Dyer Sherwood, David Mckinney, M. R. Henry, J. J. Browning, A. B. Hatch, Robert Matthews, C. McGirl, W. B. Steele.
The officers of this final convention were, Charles L. Ewing, president; W. T. Gammon, vice-president; X. Ryland, secretary.
The committee which reported the compromise propositions as finally adopted, consisted of W. C. Beattie, R. T. Russell, C. C. Catron, M. R. Henry, Wm. Limrick, W. B. Major, James Fleming, and ,Wm. Corse.
The members of the county court, and the agents of the holders of all the various bonds in question, were invited to be present during the pro- ceedings of the convention.
At this time the county and townships together were under a claimed indebtedness of $238,750 for the L. C. & G. railroad alone, which never finished a mile of road in the county.
The following resolution was offered by W. B. Steele:
Resolved, That this convention pledges the people of Lafayette county to the faithful performance of the compromise offered, as it is made in good faith by their representatives in convention assembled, as the only means and hope left the people, and beyond which they cannot go; and that if it is not accepted by the bondholders, we pledge each other to use every effort to prevent the payment of one dollar of the railroad indebted- ness of the county.
And it was unanimously adopted.
The election on the compromise propositions was held December 30, 1875, and resulted as follows':
County proposition, total county vote
For. 1645
Against. Majority.
Lexington township proposition
346
10
336
Davis
66
134
1
133
Washington
66
119
34
85
Sniabar
127
17
110
Middleton
66
146
22
124
70
1575
Freedom
66
201
5
196
Some holders of these railroad bonds refused to accept the compromise offered, but entered suits and obtained judgment in the United States cir cuit court, and writs of mandamus to enforce the judgments. This was openly resisted by township conventions, and then by a county convention composed of delegates from every township. This convention was held . December 24, 1877, and it declared by a unanimous vote that they had a
322
HISTORY OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY.
full determination to never pay any more on those bonds than the pro- posed compromise provided for, and that they would resist by all means in their power, all attempts by judgment of court, or in any other way, to collect interest or principal on any of the bonds not compromised.
February 1, 1878, a meeting of the tax-payers of Sniabar township was held at Dade's school-house, to hear the report of a committee previously appointed to investigate the legal or illegal character of the $35,000 of their township bonds issued to the Lexington, Chillicothe & Gulf railroad. The committee consisted of Wm. Harris, Geo. W. Jones, M. T. P. McCor- mack, A. C. Green, R. H. Bledsoe. Their report cites the express dec- laration of the state constitution, [Art. 99, Sec. 14], that no municipal bonds shall be issued to any corporation unless voted for by two-thirds of the qualified voters of the township, county or city, as the case may be. The vote on those bonds was taken November 13, 1869. The registered voters of Sniabar township then numbered 102 ;* of this number, 47 voted for the bonds, and 6 against them; two-thirds of 102 would be 58; but the actual majority for the bonds was only 41, which fell short by 27 votes of the majority required to make these bonds lawful. They, therefore, recommended a united and continued resistance by every means in their power to the payment of the bonds, which the county court had issued in spite of the fact that they never received a lawful majority, even when the great bulk of the tax-payers were disfranchised. It is worthy of note also, that this road was graded, but never laid à rail, and the grade lies to this day unused.
February 4, 1878, the county committee, composed of representative men appointed by each township, held a meeting, and solemnly reiterated " the determination only to pay county bonds according to the compro- mise authorized by the vote of the people in the election held on Decem- ber 30, 1875." (When this last vote was taken, no voters were disfran- chised, and it was in every respect the lawfully expressed will of the people).
February.23d, a joint meeting of Sniabar and Washington townships was held at Mount Hope, with the same result as above, besides showing that the unbuilt railroad for which their bonds had been fraudulently issued, was graded on a different route, and to different points from those named in the proposition as voted upon. This was another fraud.
FIGHTING IT OUT IN THE COURTS.
May 6, 1878, the supreme court of Missouri, in the case of Thomas A. Webb vs. Lafayette county, decided the legislative act of March 23, 1868, to be unconstitutional, and bonds issued under it void. This was a case
* At this date, 175 voters of Sniabar township were disfranchised on account of having joined or sympathized with the Southern Confederacy as against the federal government. And they were mostly the real property owners of the township.
323
HISTORY OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY.
involving the Sniabar township bonds to the L., C. & G. road, and county bonds to the L. & St. L. road. The "opinion " of the court is a lengthy document, making two and a half long newspaper columns in nonpareil (very fine) type. But the gist of the whole matter important to this his- tory, lies in a single sentence, as follows:
The constitution prescribes, as a prerequisite to any subscription, that two-thirds of the qualified voters shall assent to it. The act of 1868 requires only the assent of two-thirds of those voting, and because of the repugnance to the constitution, we hold it to be void.
In October, 1875, the United States supreme court had decided substan- tially the same way, in the case of Harshman vs. Bates County, involving bonds issued in the name of Mount Pleasant township, in Bates county, for this same Lexington, Chillicothe & Gulf railroad. The case had been appealed from the United States district court. There were several tech- nical points considered in this decision, but it was very decisive that the issuance of the bonds was contrary to the constitution of the state.
July 1, 1880, the county clerk's report shows that $578,900 of the Lex- ington and St. Louis railroad county bonds had already been compromised ; $135,900 of them had been purchased by the county and canceled; and there were still $44,900 outstanding. At this same time the township debts on railroad bonds were:
Township.
Railroad Company .
Am't of Bonds Out. $10,000.
Interest Due.
Davis ....
L. & St. L. R. R.
. from April 3, 1875
Freedom
66 66
25,000
Lexington
Chil. & Gulf.
75,000.
. from July 19, 1872
Middleton
Tebo & Neosho
17,000 from Aug. 20, 1874
Sniabar .
Chil. & Gulf
35,000 .. from July 19, 1872
Washington
Chil. & Gulf.
75,000 . ... from July 19, 1872
November 1879, before the U. S. circuit court, at Jefferson City, an agreed state of facts was presented by the attorneys in the case of James H. Forbes vs. Lafayette county. M. L. Gray and Joseph Shippen were attorneys for Forbes, and Alexander Graves for the county. The case involved the legality of the Lexington township bonds issued to the St. Louis and St. Joseph railroad company, November 2, 1868. There were eighteen several points of fact agreed upon and subscribed by the attor- neys on both sides; and No. XI of these points contains this statement: " That $37,000 of the bonds issued to said company by the county court of said county on behalf of said township were delivered to one Wasson, a director in the said company, by one Vivian Letton, then a justice of said county, in consideration of a bribe of $200 paid to said Letton by said Wasson after consultation had with the board of directors of said company."
The main condition of issue of these bonds was that the railroad com-
324
HISTORY OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY.
pany should establish and permanently maintain a depot on the south side of the Missouri river, within the city of Lexington. Judge Letton held them in trust for safe keeping until their terms should be complied with, but violated his trust by delivering them for a bribe of $200. The affidavit on this matter also mentioned that the railroad board of directors when considering the $200 proposition, thought the judge's terms cheap, and authorized the payment of his price. The court decided these bonds illegal, but on other grounds than this; and this point is cited here to show how the people were betrayed by their most trusted servants. Judge Letton afterwards went crazy, but Judge Ambrose went to Florida.
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