Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1861-04-03

would not be slow 20 provide tue buildings foi
the Safe Courts there, as required by law.
especially If you would consider the crying
necessity for them. The Chancery Court
which is for the whole county, is held in thl
clerks Office, the Common Law Court in al
engine house, and my court (the CnminaD il
an old crazy bsTni There is no court house
not even a mean apology for one; and yet thesI
courts involve more Of the lives, liberty and
property Of the citizens OF the State than AM
like number Of courts in the State. 1t is Z
breathing, burning shame TO the county and
State the more 81, because the county, ia
wealth, is equal to, il she do not exceed, anJ
other in the State, paying a revenue not far
short OF that Of all East Tennessee. There are
hundreds Of men in this county, whose single
fortunes are equal to the cost Of these build
ings. Shall such a county, and the justices
representing such a county, longer delay e
act, and to act at once?
But, though these buildings, after this lapse
Of time, have not been commenced, you have
proceeded TO purchase lots for them, and have
contracted for the erection OF the jail, and il
is here that | ask your attention, as It is here
the great error, 10 affect us now and hereafter,
begins Strangely, you have located the Jail
in perhaps the most unhealthy locality about
the city, in the border, remote from the pres
ent court roon, and to be yet more 50 from the
probable location OF the eosrt h0uss. Bat,
you say, cells may be built for prisoners in the
court house building. They will do for pris-
I oners on trial onlv. And you reply, bring out
twenty a day. Well, do that, and you viii pay
$50 a day to turkeys, besides 25 cents each
to and fro, making SO more for Transporting
them, besides the cost Of guards and their
Transporting. say five Of them al the same
price. being $3.50, making a total cost per day
Of $50 80, besides dinners at the rells: and you
will remember, also, that the criminal court
sits nearly all the year even nowl II you
own your conveyance for the prisoners to and
fro, the cost will not be less. That idea,
therefore, is totally unconsidered, financially.
Then next, suppose we send for the prisoners
as we need them. or think we do. Their cases
are subject to continuance, and the result may
often be, and is. thai bait a dozen are contin-
ued a day. Remote as the Jail will be, it will
take all the day to complete these %continu-
ances. In the meantime, the public time is
lost, the regular and special panels OF Jurors
are In waiting, and witnesses under subpoena,
all at a heavy public expense; thus making
the financial error more palpsple, while the
/ public business is almost stopped. For these
reasons, no man connected with the courts, or
knowing anything of their practical opera
ton, could have dreamed Of such a location as
this for the Jail. You had better give away
the lot or pay some one to take it, than put the
Jail there.
Equally %inconvenient was your site for a
court house, yet the Jail and court there
would be greatly better than separated so far
as you now design them to be. It is not
enough that the court be in the geographic
! center Of the city. We obtain iuries and
witnesses in business hours at their places Of
business. Bat, as TO the court house lot, your
worships have wisely directed that it be dis
posed Of for another more suitable. A plan
or plans are not so material now. What are
now needed are a location and your appropria-
ton Of the means for building.
While | know your commissioners before
appointed are intelligent and GOOD men, and
have done what they deemed best, yet, not
having the observation, nor being in a position
TO know and understand these matters as
others do, and necessarily 80, because
OF their connection with them and their differ
ent positions, your mistakes resulting in such
universal and Just dissatisfaction and incon-
venience, have naturally enough occurred and
without blame. While several Of your com
missioners have lived in the city and have
some knowledge OF these matters, it is yet
singular that this intelligent court has not rec
ognized the pTopriety Of appointing among
The commissioners even a single person in
Memphis, where these buildings are to be
erected, and where the chief and almost exclu-
sive interest in them exists. It was not neces-
sary to c0nfine your appointments TO your own
body. The sheriff, the clerks Of the courts,
the TAILOR, IN not ssme Of She bar, and hundreds
Of citizens in Memphis, would have furnished
material from among whom, in connection
with others Of your own body, You could have
obtained, and might vet obtain, by your own
selection, men, though not exceeding 10 integ-
rity, yet Of better means OF knowing and
acting in the premises for the common inter
est. And lido net know why thew might not
he fruufad in vour hoa~H ~ r~unfoefonnrs
And do not know wig some Of them could
not vet be appointed from among the people on
the ground and most interested. and so better
qualified to act, as they also are by reason Of
their daily connection with these subject. It
would seem to be a matter not oniv of pro-
priety, but of becoming d~elicaey. They pay
$4,000 of the 100000 Of the county revenue,
besides the fact that among them are these
houses to be erected, and their property and
their lives and their liberties are concerned.
Bot, may it please your worships, the porsr
is yours; you may exercise it so. You may
ignore the fact that the taxable property in
the limits Of our jurisdiction is over S33,OOO,-
00e, while in all the county besides, it is only
Sl0,00G,000 that three-fourths Of all The rev
enus is from there, and but one-fourth from
all the rest OF the coHnty; that you expend
but a 1.-THE Of the revenue IN Memphis that
you get from her; and you may also feel easy
in contrasting these things with the further
fsct, that, in the disposition o. this revenue
you get from Memphis, she has but four voices
on this bench, while you have twentv-nine-
you who pay but one-quarter Of the revenue
but yet, 80 surely as you I've, this state Of
things cannot and should not ALWAYS be. Con-
stitutions may be amended and new counties
made, and we may have and use for our local
interests, contemplated by the laws, The
$4,000 we now pay, the vast aggregate Of
which you apply out Of Memphis. But / am
conscious you have not considered these ine-
qualities, nor, hence, the line Of action they
dictate; for, / doubt not, you mean TO do right.
The city council has rendered you Court
square for a court house, but we have learned,
in and out Of Memphis. 20 consider It a gen
that ought not 10 be diverted from It's present
use, and so ! feel but a place on the bluff, be-
tween two streets extended, would be the most
proper of all plaees-convenient to business
men new, and central to the city forever
where a bTilding might be erected that would
be an ornament to the river, to the bluff,
to the city, TO The county, and to the State:
With suitable surroundings Of trees, and
where the ventilation would be free, and the
courts and public Offices undis5urbed BY the
shops, MANUFACTURER and trades Of adjacent
OF contiguous tenenents along the other wavs
Of the city. And I am advised BY gentlemen
OF the council, and authorized to say that little
doubt exists that this site may be had, with the
cheerful aequiescence Of the people who will
appreciate The necessity and the great conve-
nience it will be 10 them, besides the matter Of
ornament. The promenade snow a vast Space, |
nnrelieved BY a single object upon its surface
to be ADMIRED.
! have taken occasion to consult several
architects whom my Ieisurehas enabled me to
find, in regard to = building, as also several
and practical builders, viz: Willis, /
Warwick, Cook, Winter, Crider and Morgan,
and Farris, Grseniasv and Cubbin, who have
politely furnished ms approximate estimates OF
the cost Of q Jail, cotrt house and city rooms.
built separately, and also OF The first and sec
ond buiIl in one. and OF the three in one from
which It sppears that meny thousand dollars
NAV Be saved BY btilding the first two or the
three together. not counting the cost Of the
several lots IL bulk separately. As toths prac-
tiesbilHy Of building them together. they al
say It may be done, and without affecting the
outward appearances OF the health or comfort
Of any portion % them or the whole, especially I
IL built on inclined ground or on the blnf. The
sewerage would be perfect 70 the river, and the
Of water no less so, while one heat
ing furnace and waller power would snaSes Tor
the two or tie whole. By connecting the rooms
for city purposes, the tecbngsai, legal objection
10 this apPropristipp oTthe city property would
be removed, 81 indeed, the cofpofstcrs, who
only could complain IN faWy sneuid De az all
Dissatisfied. C
Bot, 7 now suggest, inasmueh your action Is
not deemed well advised, and Il Is not too late
to reform It, that the whois subject be referred
entrusted to competent commissioners, In
GLIDING, IL you wish, those before appointed,
but also, some in the city OF Memphis; that YOU
provide them with neans; that they settle and
arrange the whole nattero Of locations and build
the ho1ses separately or Under one roof; that,
as they shall be men worthy OF your confidence,
and OF experience and Judgment, they act for
you and with full discretion, both as to the jail
and the court house.
And, fnally ard lastly, ! beg Of you, as you
NAV wen dc, to DO this york, and 10 Do Il at0ace.
After some further conversational dsbass,