Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1868-01-31
WHO'S RESPONSIBILITY
! Small Matter or two Hundred
thousand Dollars. 4

On. the authority Of Radical paper pub.
lished at Memphis, the Post we stated, a few
I days since, that Captain s. b. Brown had
retired from the Receiversbip of the Men,
phis, Louisville aud Clarksville railroad, but
we since ascertained that lie was removed
Why this course was taken by Governor
I3rownlow Is, we imagine, pretty well I'M
dersood at the Capitol. II is known thai
during the brief period in which the road
was managed by Captain Brown, over two
hundred thousand dollars passed through his
hands. What has become of that money 7
He has never accounted for the manner in
which it was expended2 Has he ever made
a single report to the Comptroller7 What
has Captain Browns son, who happened,
very conveniently, to be Treasurer of the
road, TO say about this matter, Bah the
whole thing Is out, when we come to discov-
er who were the late Receivers bondsmen.-
First, Z. p. Cone, who left here head over
ears in debt second, Colonel John II.
James, vino died insolyent; third Captain
Ed. II. Stacey, who has taken the benefit OF
the bankrupt act.
But the cool two hundred thousand allu
ded TO is mere drop in the ocean compared
with the leak about to be sprung in the
Treasury. We limited day or two ago that
the Receivers exerting tremendous pressure
toget into theirclutches the bonds provided for
by the Omnibus bill, and sure enough, Sena-
tor Senter yesterday introduced bill having
that object in. view. lie wants the Cover
nor TO issue to the Receivers the bonds
loaned to certaiu railroad companies un der the
act Of December Z, 1867, upon the Receivers
rix-ifn hpnH Cos u 81. "a
pears to.be very tridin2 matter for these gen.
try to comply with ssch n condition. One
OF them laughingly remarked TO an insolvent
friend the other day, ''Sign this bond, it's a
mere FORM" They have indeed reduced to
a form what was once vital consideration,
else, in Browns case, the State wonld have
had men of substance and not Of straw to
stand between it and loss Why not do the
handsome thing at once, and make the re.
quired bond a million. 1t will be all the
same in the end.
But, seriously, sc beg TO remind Mr.. Sen
ter that the Nashville and Northwestern
Railroad Company, with other railroad COM
panies, petition the Legislature to lend
$500, 900 Of the bonds of the State for pur-
poses recited in the petition, and authorized
the Governor to issue to the various railroad
companies the bonds asked for, upon condi-
ton that, II they failed to pay interest upon
the. bonds loaned by the State for two
consecutive years--they, the companies
were to subject their property TO sale.
We understand that the Nashville and
Northwestern Railroad Company met early
In January, and after elaboration, accepted
the conditions of the act and authorized
their President to receive the bonds. A
copy Of the action of the board was filed at
the Capitol. Now, suppose the Receiver
gives bond for 81 900, O00-can he comply
with the conditions of the act, and has the
Governor the authority to issue the bonds to
a Receiver? We think not, and that the
bonds thus issued would be worth no more
than the paper upon which they are written.
The qestion raised by Mr.. Senter suggests
a more careful examination of the act known
as the Omnibus bill" which was passed on
the 18th of December last, after considerable
lobbying, and involving the dishonest expen-
diture of large sums of money, as we have
reason to believe. We propose to treat the
subject more at length tomorrow Nash
pille Banner.