Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-10-29

toutf OF Jury snail hud upon Uiaf, tntt ihe pro
ceeings OF said officers. subsequent T. aid orier
directing the work To tie done. are regular tbaf n
contract has teen made. that the work has been
I done 10 uhole or In part. according 20 the con-
( trac n that tie e=timate has been properly
N 30 thereon. then said Court shall direct The
said property 10 be soid
THIS section can be fairly construed 80 that its
provisions will not IN any way conflict NO
I question of fact shall be tried which nav arise
( prior "a the making OF the contract for the i'm
provement under the order of the Council"
I Proof of the order of the Council directing the
! Improvement j. not dispensed with. But that
der having been made. the Court will not 20 be-
hind the order IL that order has been passed By
a two third vote, the Court nee1i not look back
TO whether there petition pre-
sented signed BY two thirds Of the owners of prop
erty on the street 10 be improved: for he petition
II not needed IN such case But IL the order
Only purpOris TO have been made by a majority of
the members OF the Council, the Court must look
back and see whether a petition has been filed
which authorized majority TO pass the ordinance
or the order. III such petition has not been pre-
senfed. the order has not been passed, for then
majority not make such order.
Before the Court can be concluded bv the con-
tract. the transcript must show that order was
passed directing the Improvement to be made.
In the ease of the City OF indianapolis W. I'm
berry" 18th Ind, u.s. the Court saws: 1.-The
record shows that on February 20. 1883. the
Council ordered advertisements for bids for spe
chic street improvements, and afterwards APP
proved the contract made for these improve
| ments" The Court evidently regarded this
der OF Council as a substantial compliance with
the charter. But the proceedings of the Com
mon Council were reversed on other grounds In
searching back through the record the Court
stopped at the first error, and did not discuss this
! order of the Council, but there having been
order upon property holders to pay the assess
ment. the precept was set aside But in the case
under consideration. there is neither petition
upon which majority of the Council NAV act.
nor is there an order or ordinance passed by two
thirds by majority of the members of
the Common Council
This record shows simply ordinance intro
duced; next a report of the City Engineer. made
| nine months after the introduction of the ori
nance, in which he says he had been directed to
advertise for proposals for such improvement.
The record does not show such order or direction
by the Council 10 the City Engineer, and he can
not make a record for the city
contract was subsequently made by the City
Engineer. in the name of the city, with the
plaintiffs to improve the street. and that contract
was approved by the Council, by what vote the
! record does not show.
l. that contract binding. and can the con
tractors recover for work done and improvements
under this demurrer Ii the views already ex.
pressed are correct, the answer is clear.
The Common Council can only act upon peti.
ton by the vote of a majority OF its members, or
by vote of two thirds without petition. Any
attempt To act in any other manner must fail.
This contract then, is outside OF the power con-
ferred by the charter and is void
The attention of the Court has been called TO
the loss incurred by the contractors. But when
q D1rfy chooses Al contract with "A cOrDoraton
that can only act within certain prescribed limits,
the law requires him TO look 10 the power and
take notice of its limitations IL he contracts
with the corporation outside of those limits he
can not complain of loss resulting theretrom.
The Common Council has the power. under Ger
tain restrictions, order improvements against
the will OF the owners Of property in the streets
improved, and make the expenses of such i'm
provement II lien upon the adjoining lots, and
they may be sold to pay the lien
The Legislature has chosen To grant this power
with these limitations and every property holder
interested has the right 20 demand that the power
shall only be exercised within the prescribed linn
its, and to invoke the protection of the Court
against an abuse OF the power. Ii the Court will
not grant such protection, the limitations had as
well be removed, and the power at once made
absolute
The demurrer will be entertained.
SWORD fRESENTATION.-Av very interesting Ger
emOuy came off on Monday night last. The
private soldiers of the 81 Indiana cavalry pur
chased a beautiful sabre and belt for Dresenta
ton the gallant Lieut.. Colonel Robert II.
Stewart, who has long commanded the regiment
and who has endeared himself to his comrades in
arms 10y his chivarous conduct the field and
bis gentlemany bearing at all times Colonel
Stewart, 1t will be remembered declined the
: command OF the 9th cavalry rendered him by
1,
comrades OF the 2d. with whom he had passed
through much hard service
The presentation took place at Louis Lsng's,
where a large company OF invited guests met the
brave bows OF the ID and their ldozed com
mander b. II Cornwall, OF Terre Haute, pre-
sided over the meeting. Capt w II. Schlater,
on behalf OF the soldiers OF the 81, presented the
sword. with the following remarks:
LIEUT.. Coz. SrEwARr-The privates of the 2d
Indiana cavalry desire to present you with tes-
kJnonial of their respect and esteem. They re-
quest that should speak for them For more
than year YOU have been field officer of their
! regiment. As such they have had frequent op-
pOrtuGltleS 10 respect your qualities as soldier,
and to admire your galiantry IA leader. Upon
many battlehelds in Mexico YOU exhibited a
bravery and intrepdity that gave promise of fu-
ture renown upon the tented field and amid the
! clash of arms, whenever your country should re-
QuiTe those services. These promises of useful
ness have had their realization. When the call
was made for volunteers To defend the Union and
; the Constitution, YOU promptly responded In
, Western Virginia Captain, You did gallant
! and arduOus service. Transferred from that po
sition TO the Majorshp and afterwards TO the
; Lieutenant Colouelcy of the 2d Indiana cavalry,
we know from personal observation and expert
, ence that in discipline. in the care of those unGer
! your command. and upon the field. you have de-
: velJped the qualities OF an accomplished, brave
and a gallant commander.
The testimonial we present you is to express
: our confidence in your courage, your skill. your
patriotism and ever amid the sterner duties OF the
. camp aud the field generous care of those I'M
der your command We know that the sabre We
: present YOU will he worn by one who will never
/, dishonor the flag under which we serve, and that
! whenever YOU draw il from It's scabbard il will he
10 lead your deeds of valor and of chiv-
airy
Soon will again mingle in scenes of mortal
2 strife in a struggle for the preservation OF the
+ Government of fathers. We can not antici.
pate the result. but speaking for YOU for our
selves. we know that
"O'er the proud heads of free star-ban.
, ner waves,
Men as firm as their mountains and still then