USA > Missouri > Jackson County > The History of Jackson county, Missouri, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens, Jackson county in the late warhistory of Missouri, map of Jackson county > Part 26
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orado, and Cliftona, New Mexico. This road connects with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, for Denver, and with the Southern Pacific Railroad of Califor- nia, at Deming, which makes it a great transcontinental line It has branches to Wichita, Wellington and Arkansas City, to McPherson, to Manhattan, and to El Dorado, in Kansas, and to Santa Fe, in New Mexico.
Ninth-The Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Railroad, running to the southwest to the southern line of Kansas at Coffeyville. At Ottawa it has a branch to Lawrence, and connects with the Kansas City, Burlington & South- western Railroad for Burlington, Kansas. It has a branch also from Cherryvale to Wellington, Kansas.
Tenth-The Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad, running south ward from Kansas City, through Fort Scott to Baxter Springs, Kansas. At Girard, Kansas, it connects with the Joplin Railroad for Joplin, Missouri. It has a branch from Prescott, Kansas, to Rich Hill, Missouri, one from Fort Scott to Springfield, Missouri, and one from Baxter Springs to Carthage, Missouri.
Eleventh-The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, connecting at Nevada, Missouri, with the Lexington & Southern Branch of the Missouri Pacific, which leaves the main line of that road at Pleasant Hill, in Cass county, and over which its trains run to Kansas City. It runs to the southward through Kansas and the Indian Territory to Dennison, Texas, where it connects with the Texas Central for Houston, Austin and Galveston.
Twelfth-The Kansas City & Eastern (Narrow Gauge) Railroad, running eastward along the south side of the Missouri River to Independence and Lex- ington, Missouri.
Thirteenth-The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad (which uses the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad track to Cameron, Mo.), running to Chicago, Illinois, Leavenworth and Atchison, Kansas.
Thus Jackson county is so provided with railroads that her trade reaches directly over her own or tributary lines into every nook and corner of the country for hundreds of miles in all directions.
The lines all terminate at her depots, and are so arranged that she is the gateway through which all trade between the country east of her and that to the west must pass. So long as there were no railroad pools west of the Mississippi River, Kansas City enjoyed exceptional advantages in through freight rates to the East, often getting lower rates than were given St. Louis, and sometimes equally as low as were given Chicago. Still, under the present pool, she usually gets advantages when large consignments are offered.
The tendency of the railroads is to make Kansas City the western out-post of trade and the western point of competition, as they have heretofore made St. Louis and Chicago, and the effect will be to put Kansas City on an equal footing with those places, and eventually to consign St. Louis to the position of a way station, as has already been done with Cincinnati.
In the construction of several of these roads the county has liberally aided, bonds to the amount of $275,000 were issued for stock in the Missouri Pacific Railroad ; $300,000 in the Kansas City Branch of the Tebo & Neosho Railroad ; $50,000 in the Lexington, Lake & Gulf Railroad; $100, ooo in the Kansas City, Lawrence & Topeka Railroad; $250,000 in the Wyandotte, Kansas City & Northwestern Railroad; $25,000 in the Westport Horse Railroad Company.
The Missouri Pacific bonds were all paid off as early as 1867, while a greater part of the balance of the railroad bonds are still outstanding. Of these bonds $100,000 in favor of the Kansas City, Lawrence & Topeka Railroad are against Kaw Township, it having voted a separate tax, and in favor of the Wyandotte, Kansas City & Northwestern Railroad a like sum against Blue Township, it also having voted the amount. Kaw township issued bonds to the amout of $150,- 000-to the Wyandotte, Kansas City & Northwestern Railroad Company.
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
Of these corporations for whose benefit such immense amounts of money have been expended, the Clinton & Kansas City Branch of the Tebo & Neosho Railroad, and the Lexington, Lake & Gulf Railroad have not been constructed, and not a dollar of direct benefit has accrued to the county, save perhaps a piece of experience with gigantic fraud and wholesale stealing. Some grading and masonry work was the only perceptible outlay of the people's money. Two of the bonds, $1,000 each, issued to the Lexington, Lake & Gulf Railroad Com- pany have already been paid, and the remaining forty-eight together with all in- terest thereon, the county's credit is holden for. In the case of the Clinton & Kansas City Branch of the Tebo & Neosho Railroad, the tax-payers of Jackson, Cass and Henry counties were fearfully defrauded, and since such a vast sum of money has been fraudulently charged to the credit of the county, the people have taken a deep interest in the project, and it becomes one of the most important historical facts in connection with Jackson county. The bonds are now bearing eight per cent interest and before they can be paid the scheme will have cost Jackson county over one million dollars; every dollar must be paid; the bonds were declared valid by the Supreme Court of the United States. Who those parties were that concocted the frauds, wasted and stole the public funds of the county your historian is entirely ignorant, but he has sufficiently investi- gated to know that there was great wrong committed, and it becomes his duty to give some of the facts in this work, most of which are in the form of public records, thus no one person can be censured for relating what is public property. The records alone will show that the county for the last ten years has been deeply humiliated and incensed on account of the burden of taxes which the Tebo & Neosho Railroad scheme has imposed, and will continue to impose for the next ten years to come.
The following record of the County Court proceedings contains the several orders that were made for the subscription of three hundred thousand dollars to the Kansas City & Memphis Railroad, and the revocation of that order, and subsequent subscription of a like sum to the Clinton & Kansas City Branch of the Tebo Neosho Railroad Company, together with a full history of all sub- sequent proceedings in court, touching said subscription, and issuing and deliver- ing the bonds to pay such subscription.
The following is an exact copy of one of the thousand dollar bonds, issued by the court:
"UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, STATE OF MISSOURI, JACKSON COUNTY BOND. - $1,000.00.
No. 149.
"Interest eight per cent. per annum, payable on the first day of August and February, in New York.
"Know all men by these presents, that the County of Jackson, in the State of Missouri, acknowledges itself in debt and firmly bound to the Tebo & Neo- sho Railroad Company, to the use and benefit and in the name of the Clinton & Kansas City Branch of the Tebo & Neosho Railroad, in the sum of one thousand dollars, which sum the said county for value received hereby promises to pay to the Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company, or bearer, to aid in building the said Branch Railroad, at the National Bank of Commerce, in the city of New York, on the first day of May, A. D. 1891, redeemable, however, at the option of the County Court of said county at any time after the lapse of eight years af- ter the date hereof, together with interest thereon, from the first day of May, 1871, until paid, at the rate of eight per cent. per annum, which interest shall be payable semi-annually, on the first days of August and February of each year, including the interest due at the maturity of this bond, on the presentation and
13
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
delivery at said bank of the coupons of interest, hereto severally attached. " This bond is issued under and in pursuance of an order of the County Court of the County of Jackson, in the State of Missouri, and in pursuance of and by authority of an act of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, entitled, an act to incorporate the Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company, approved January 16, 1860, and of an act of the General Assembly of the State of Mis- souri, entitled, an act to aid in building of branch railroads in the State of Mis- souri, approved March 11, A. D. 1868.
"In testimony whereof the said County of Jackson has executed this bond by the presiding justice of the County Court of Jackson county under the order of said court signing his name hereto and by the clerk of said court under the order thereof, attesting the same and affixing the seal of said court at the city of Inde- pendence, County of Jackson of aforesaid, this tenth day of July, A. D. 1871.
Attest, JOSHUA PETTY,
- Jackson County, Missouri.
Presiding Justice of County Court of Jackson county, Missouri. E. K. HICKMAN,
Clerk of County Court of Jackson county, Missouri."
A copy of one of the coupons :
" $40.
INDEPENDENCE, Jackson Co., Mo., Į May 1, 1871.
" The County of Jackson acknowledges itself to owe and promises to pay to the bearer forty dollars on the first day of February, 1891, at the National Bank of Commerce in the city and State of New York, being six months' interest on bond E. K. HICKMAN, No. 149.
·Clerk of Jackson County Court, Missouri."
"STATE OF MISSOURI, term, 1871. ss. In the Jackson County Court, September COUNTY OF JACKSON.
" Be it remembered that at the term aforesaid and on the 15th day of said month amongst others the following proceedings were had and made, viz :
" It is ordered by the court that an election by the tax-payers of Jack- son county shall be held at the respective voting precincts in the County of Jack- son on the 8th day of October next, A. D. 1870, to ascertain the sense of the voters at such election upon the following proposition :
" That the County of Jackson shall subscribe to the capital stock of the Kansas and Memphis Railroad, it being a branch of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, as organized under the charter of the original Kansas City, Galveston & Lake Superior Railroad the sum of thre ehundred thousand dollars upon such terms and conditions as the County Court may affix. One of which conditions shall be that said road shall start at a point near the southern tier of Kansas City, and near Grand avenue, and shall be located so as to run through the corporated limits of Westport, thence to the southern line of the county in the general direc- tion of Hickman's Mill and Harrisonville. Another of which conditions shall be that the bonds of Jackson county to be issued in payment for said subscription shall not be issued until the County Court shall be satisfied that a sufficient amount of stock has been subscribed to grade, bridge and tie the road to the south line of the State or to its intersection with some other road in like manner to be grad- ed, bridged and tied leading to the state line in the same direction the money to be expended in Jackson county. And further that the County of Jackson subscribe such an additional amount to the capital stock of the Louisiana & Missouri River Railroad Company as may be necessary with the subscription already made to complete the grading, bridging and tieing said railroad through the County of Jackson, including the purchase of the right of way, depot grounds, water stations,
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
side tracks, etc., etc., and on such terms and conditions as the County Court may prescribe not inconsistent with the terms of the former subscriptions of said county to the capital stock of said last mentioned company. Such subscriptions however not to exceed the sum of two hundred thousand dollars. The bonds of Jackson county in payment thereof shall not be issued until the County Court of Jackson county is satisfied of the ability of said company and of their intention to complete said railroad its entire length from Louisiana to Kansas City to run through the counties of Saline, Lafayette and Jackson, the money to be expended in Jackson county. Said stock to both of said companies to be payable in the coupon bonds of Jackson county of the denomination of one hundred dollars each at their par value, payable not exceeding twenty years after their issue and bearing interest at the rate of not exceeding ten per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually in the city of New York upon the coupons to be attached to said bonds.
The clerk of this court shall prepare the Poll Books, and distribute the same to the different voting precincts; said clerk shall also give notice of such especial election by publishing this order, together with a statement of the time said elec- tion shall be held, twenty days previous to the day of election, in each of the daily papers of Kansas City, and each of the papers published in Independence.
The form of the ballot shall be as follows: For the subscription to the Kan- sas City & Memphis Railroad and to the Louisiana & Missouri River Railroad Company-" Yes." For the subscription to the Kansas City & Memphis Rail- road and to the Louisiana & Missouri River Railroad Company-" No."
And afterward, to wit: At the October term 1870, and on the 21st day of said month, amongst others, the following proceedings were had and made, viz. : Whereas, at the September term of this court, and on the 15th day of September, A. D. 1870, an order was made by said county for an election to be held by the tax-payers of Jackson county at the several voting precincts in said county on the 8th day of October, A. D. 1870, for the purpose of ascertaining the will of said taxpayers upon the proposition for the County of Jackson to subscribe to the capital stock of the Kansas City & Memphis Railroad Company, a branch of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, and to the capital stock of the Louisiana & Missouri River Railroad Company, a sum not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars, upon the terms and subject to the restrictions in said order specified.
And, whereas, at said election on said day the vote cast in the several pre- cincts in said county in favor of said subscription being made was as follows : For the subscription, 4,403; against said subscription, 940 ; majority in favor of said subscription, 3,463 ; and at said election the majority of votes cast in favor of said subscription being made being 3, 463, it is therefore ordered by said court, that said subscription be made to the capital stock of said railroad companies respectively in accordance with and upon the terms and subject to the restrictions contained in said order.
And afterward, to wit : At the November adjourned term, 1870, and on the 17th day of said month, amongst others, the following proceedings were had and made, viz. :
Ordered by the court, that the county of Jackson, in the State of Missouri, take and subscribe to the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company for three thousand shares of the stock of said company of the denomination of one hun. dred dollars to. the share, amounting to three hundred thousand dollars, to aid in the building of a branch road, the name of which branch is, " The Kansas City & Memphis Railroad," and which branch is to commence at a point in Kansas City, and near the southern line thereof and near Grand avenue, and from the last point to be located so as to run through the corporate limits of Westport, thence to the southern line of the county in the general direction of Hickman's
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
Mill and Harrisonville. The subscription shall be made under and by virtue of "an act to incorporate the Kansas City, Galveston & Lake Superior Railroad Company," approved February 9th, 1857, and of "an act to amend an act to incorporate the Kansas City, Galveston & Lake Superior Railroad Company," approved February 9th, 1857, and for other purposes, approved February 16th, 1864, and of " an act to aid in the building of a Branch Railroad in the State of Missouri," approved March 21st, 1868. The subscription shall be made to said company as required by " an act to aid in the building of a Branch road in the State of Missouri," in the name of, for the use of, and aid in the construction of said branch, the name of which branch is, "The Kansas City & Memphis Railroad."
This subscription shall be paid for, in coupon bonds of Jackson county, Mis- souri, at their par value, of the denomination of One Thousand Dollars, payable not exceeding twenty years after date, at the National Bank of Commerce in New York City. Said bouds shall bear eight per cent. interest, which interest shall be paid semi-annually, on the first days of January and July, at the bank aforesaid, on the coupons to be detached from said bonds.
The subscriptions shall be made subject to the following stipulations and conditions :
First .- No bonds in payment of said stock shall be issued, until the County Court of Jackson county shall be satisfied, that a sufficient amount of stock has been subscribed to grade and bridge the road, from the south line of this county to the southern line of the State.
Second .- The money received on the bonds, here and before provided for, shall be expended in Jackson county.
Third .- That Jackson county as a subscriber to the stock of said company, shall be protected in all her rights under the law, and particularly those rights se- cured her under " an Act to aid the building of a Branch Railroad in the State of Missouri.
Fourth. - When the County Court is satisfied there has been sufficient sub- scribed to grade and bridge the road from the southern line of the county to the southern line of the State, there shall be issued the bonds heretofore provided for, which bonds shall be signed by the Presiding Justice of this Court, countersigned by the Clerk and attested by the seal of the Court. The coupons shall be signed by the Treasurer of the county. Said bonds shall be delivered as follows :
Fifth .- The work shall be commenced at the designated point in Kansas City, and for every mile graded and bridged from said point on, the line as here- tofore designated, there shall be delivered fifteen of said bonds, but the Court may use its discretion, for heavy work increase the number of bonds per mile, for any number of miles it may seem proper. The contracts for grading and bridging on said road for its entire length, through said County of Jackson, shall be let at the City of Kansas, in said county, and the letting thereof shall be ap- proved by the agent or agents appointed by the County Court of said county.
It is further ordered, that Samuel H. Woodson be appointed a Commissioner to subscribe for said stock in the name of Jackson county, and that he be instruct- ed to make the subscription in strict compliance with this order.
The County of Jackson stipulates to comply with all the conditions hereinbe- fore set forth, and to pay her subscriptions faithfully as herein made.
And afterward, to-wit, at the March term 1871, and on the 13th day of said month, amongst others, the following proceedings were had and made, viz .:
Whereas, this court, at their November term 1870, made an order that the County of Jackson take and subscribe to the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company for three thousand shares of the stock of said company to aid in the building of a Branch Road the name of which branch is the Kansas City & Mem- phis Railroad, upon certain conditions of said order named. And whereas the
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
agent of court thereafter made such subscription upon conditions in said order named. And whereas this court is advised and fully satisfied that the conditions in said order named have not been complied with, and will not be, and that said subscription has never been accepted by said Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, or by any one for them, it is ordered, adjudged and ordained that said order of subscription so made as aforesaid be and the same is hereby rescinded, and the subscription so made as aforesaid be, and the same is hereby reckoned withdrawn, canceled and annulled.
It is further ordered by the county that the board of construction of said Kansas City & Memphis Railroad be served with a certified copy of the fore- going order.
And afterward, to-wit, on the 16th day of March, 1871, the following pro- ceedings were had and made, viz .:
Whereas, at an election heretofore held in the County of Jackson, a large majority of the tax payers of said county voted in favor of a subscription to be made by the county to aid in the construction of a railroad from Kansas City to Memphis, in the State of Tennessee, and whereas, this court is desirous to carry out the will of the people in securing the early construction of said railroad through the County of Jackson, in the general direction of Memphis, and being author- ized so to do by law, it is ordered, adjudged and ordained that the County of Jackson, in the State of Missouri, do subscribe for and agree to take three thou- sand shares of the capital stock of the Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company, now in part the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company, in the name and for the benefit of the Clinton & Kansas City Branch of the Tebo & Neosho Rail- road, and to aid the construction thereof, each share being of the denomination of one hundred dollars and amounting in the aggregate to three hundred thousand dollars, under and by virtue of the authority in the charter of the Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company contained, and under the act of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, "entitled an act to aid the building of branch railroads in the State of Missouri," approved March 21st, 1868, and in accordance with the order and resolutions of the Board of Directors of the said Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company, establishing said Branch Railroad, and authorizing subscriptions to said capital stock to aid in the building thereof, adopted on the 6th day of June, 1870, the said stock to be paid for by the issue and delivery to the committee appointed to construct said Branch Railroad of the coupon bonds of said County of Jackson of the denomination of one thousand dollars, each bearing date the first day of May, 1871, with interest from date at the rate of eight per cent per annum, payable semi-annu- ally on the first days of August and February in each year thereafter, excepting the last three months' interest, which shall be payable at the date of the maturity of said bonds at the National Bank of Commerce in the City of New York, at which place the principal of said notes shall also be payable twenty years after the date thereof, redeemable, however, at the option of this court at any time after the lapse of eight years from their date, the said notes to be signed by the presiding justice of this court and attested by the chief clerk thereof with the seal of the court at -. tached and the coupons to said bonds be signed by the clerk of this court or by the fac simile of his signature lithographed or engraved thereon ; and when so sign- ed the said bond shall be delivered to and deposited in the City of New York, subject to sale either of the whole amount or by installments of one hundred thou- sand dollars or less, and upon any sale being made by the committee of construc- tion of said Clinton & Kansas City Branch Railroad, the bonds so sold shall be deliv- ered to the purchasers and the proceeds of such sale shall be deposited in the said bank to the credit of Jackson county, or paid over to the said committee as here- after provided, the said subscription, however, being made upon the following express terms and conditions-that is to say :
First-That said Branch Railroad shall be located through the County of
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
Jackson as follows, to-wit: Commencing at a point in the City of Kansas, near the southern limits thereof and near Grand avenue, near which point there shall be established and maintained passenger and freight depots ; thence by the most practicable route through the corporate limits of Westport to the southern limits of Jackson county by way or near to Hickman's Mill, and thence to Harrison- ville and Clinton, at which last named place unbroken connection shall be made with the Clinton & Memphis Branch of the Tebo & Neosho Railroad so as to form a through line of said road from Kansas City through Clinton to the south- ern line of the State in the direction of Memphis, in the State of Tennessee.
Second-That said bonds, or the proceeds thereof, shall be applied and ex- pended in the construction of said Branch Railroad within the limits of said County of Jackson.
Third-That said bonds or proceeds thereof shall be issued, delivered and paid to the committee of construction of said Branch Railroad, or its duly author- ized agent, as follows, to-wit: When ten miles of the work of gradation and masonry on said line of road within the limits of Jackson county, has been let to contract to responsible parties, of whose responsibility the court shall be reason- ably satisfied, one hundred thousand dollars of said bonds, or the proceeds there- of, shall be delivered and paid as aforesaid; and when the remainder of said road within the limits of Jackson county, shall be let to contract as aforesaid, and the gradation and masonry on said Branch road within the county shall be commenc. ed in good faith, then the additional sum and amount of one hundred thousand dollars of said bonds or the proceeds thereof, shall be delivered and paid as afore- said ; and when the sum of one hundred thousand dollars shall have been ex- pended in and upon said work, according to the estimates of the engineers of said Branch Railroad, within the county, then the remainder of said bonds, or the proceeds thereof, shall be delivered and paid as aforesaid-provided, however, that before any of said bonds are issued and delivered as aforesaid, the court shall be satisfied that a sufficient amount of stock has been subscribed in good faith by responsible parties or by municipal bodies, to the capital stock of said company, in aid of said Branch Railroad and in aid of the Clinton & Memphis Branch of the Tebo & Neosho Railroad, to grade, bridge and furnish the ties thereof from the southern line of Jackson county to the southern line of St. Clair county ; and that said subscriptions are available and sufficient to accomplish said work, and that said company have the ability and intention to build said Clinton & Memphis Branch Railroad to the southern boundary line of the State, in the direction of Memphis.
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