Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1860-09-07

CITY COUNCIL
Tn. ,,s.rmsp bsld a called meeting ID ne
room in wbies The r~scosr holds bis court
Yesterday Afternoon. Mr.. Martin ue e01'
The first business announced was,
rHr urrrsEArroS o. An AInERAAS.
Mr.. Kirby utatsd that MI. Msgevney,
elected a member Of the bard At the last
meeting. could not end time to discharge The
duties spperisining to the position, and would
respectfully decline. Ths res gnsticn was re-
rsived.
ELECTION o. As AlnERitkS-
The board then proceeded 10 elect an alder
man from The Third ward, in place OF Mr.
Forrest Judge selby was unanimously elected
and took The cath Of office aad entered upon
the discharge Of his duties.
ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Mr.. Robinson called attention to The fact that
there was no legal record, and bad not been
since August, 1859, when the bssrd elected a
secretary to keep the records. He read from
the charter to show tina, it was the duty Of the
register TO keep a record Of the proceedings Of
the board Of aldermen. He concluded by Of
fering the following preamble and resolutions /;
WHEREAS, The charter Of The city Of Mem
phis provides and expressly makes il the duty
Of the city register @to Keep all the records
Of the CRY, take down and put upon record, IN
a book 70 be kept for that purpose, IN the
mayors 0hce, in which he shall keep all the
official proceedings Of the board Of mayor and
aldermen be shall keep the sesls etc; and,
whereas, the board OF aldermen did, on OF about
the 18th day Of August. 1883, create the Office
Of secretary OF the board, and elect a person
to hll said Office, who has kept the proceedings
Of the board Of aldermen up to the present
time therefore, be it
Rssolrei, That the records Of the proceed
inrs Of the board Of aldermen have been lie
galiy kept from the time Of said election to
this date.
R~esolrsd, That the records be declared void.
RssolrcL, That the resolution Of his board,
appointing a COMMITTEES &c employ assistant
counsel to prosecats a suit against sam Tate
and others, 70 recover the stock sold to said
Tate and his associates, in October ls1o, -
void for want Of conforming to section Q, aTti-
Gle .. Of the new code for ordinances Of the city
or Memphis, and that further action be sus-
pended BY said committee, until further and
regular proceedings Of this board be bad
AID. Robinson accompanied this paper with
some remarks, showing the illegal character
Of the action OF the board-that the records OF
the proceedings were %wrongiully kept, and
that il the board wished 70 90 into a law suit,
il must first correct its own action.
AID. Hughes said it was too late in the day
for the board to be schooled for its action
that the board had power un er the charter to
appoint new officers and 10 define their duties
IF the &C ion Of the board had been Illegal as
10 the matter Of he railroad sock, it was
also illegal As to all other acts, aud be would
Be glad II such were the fact, as il
would enable the city to recover some
$4,000 to 100000, which It had paid out
last year. To the matter Of the railroad stock
sale, he was determined that that dark trans
sction-that that fraud on the people Of Mem
phis-sbould be examined and Investigated II
be had &c pay a portion Of The expose. II was
too late now 10 object 10 what had been done.
He wanted the investigation TO 20 on. The
resolution was defective. Il should provide
for ~rsfunding al money paid out, and declared
all deb-s contracted TO be void. He moved to
indefinitely postpone the preamble and resolu-
tons, and, the previous question being called,
sustained, and the resolutions were indsh-
postponed by the following vote:
.fgcs-Hugheg, Joiner, Workman, Kirby,
Anderson. and N0lliDtine-6.
N~Gys-Rohins9n, Merrill, Frazer, and Mol
10y