Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-11-23
CARD.

- eFDSs
To tie Merchants asad Pga7ters on the
White ind Lutte Ret RiUers:
As my name is mentioned by Capt.
John b. Davis, in his card of last Satur-
day addressed to you, wherein heattempts
to -xcuse himself for the failures Of mail
U Ter his contract with the Government,
~ i to shin the blame on other parties, il
l. due to you as well as to myself that the
" hole transaction between Capt. Davis
and the Memphis and Arkansas River
Packet Company be made public.
On the 10th Of June last a contract was
entered into between Capt. Davis and our
Company, by which we engaged to carry
the mail under bis contract withthe Post
Office Department, from the Isl OF July,
1863, to lst July, 1871. And he, in eonsid-
Grafton of our carrying the mails free Of
charge, agreed to withdraw from White
river the steamers Commercial snd Liber-
ty No.
1.-THE CoNTRACT.l
This memorandum of agreement, made
aud entered into by and between john D..
Adams, President of the Memphis and
Arkansas River Packet Company OF
little Rock, Arkansas, and JOhn Il. Davis.
Superintendent OF the Memphis and
Whise River Packet Company, of the city
OF Memphis, Tennessee, witnesseth:
That John d. Adams, President, party Of
the firt part, hereby agrees to carry The
United States IAaii On route No. 4JO6,
from the mouth of White river to jack
sonport, Arkansas, twice a week, as per
schedule, FOR John B. Davis, from the
present data until the first day of July,
/ eighteen hundred and seventy-One (lS7I),
free of charge, and to perform tho
service as per contract of John b. Davis
with the Postofliee Department; also to
carry the mail for the balance Of this
month on route No. SO79 twice a week
from Memphis to mouth OF White river.
I Arkansas. Thsfirst party having entered
into bond in the sum of twenty-fOurt thou
sand dollars. with Martin Walt ana Z. A
Kendir AZ securities, foE the faithful per-
formance of this agreement, for and in
consideration of which the party of the
second part hereby agrees 60
the steamer Liberty No. , FROM the Mem
phis and White river trade aud gave her
dav to the first party; and further agrees
not to put the Liberty No. =, steamer
! Commercial, or any other steamboat III
said river, or be directly or indirectly IN
tergsted in, or Instrumental in putting a
steamboat in White river between this
date and the first day of July, lSIi, unless
by The consent of the first party, in wri-
ting; and further, the second partytrans-
fers the charter of the Memphis and
White River Packet Company to said FIRST
marty. II is understood and agreed that
in else tie service be raised 10 more than
twot trips a week from the mouth OfNhite
I river to JacksOnport, Arkansas, the n
nts Of such increase in service shall inure
10 tAe Memphis and Arkansas River
Packet Company. The said second party
binding himself, heirs and assigns, and
the owners of ths Memphis and White
[ River Packet Company by these presents.
Witness our hands and seal This 10Th day
OF JUNE, 1869.
TSiguedl JNo. D. ADAMS, seal
President Memphis and Arkansas River
Packet Company.
TSignedl JSO. B. DAVIS, seal
Superintendent Memphis and White River
Packet Company.
Signed, sealed and delivered in our
presene.
r. l. HAINEs,
Cart. JNO. WoODBURN.
The company also entered into bon to
Capt. Davis in the penalty of $4,000 for
carrying the mail and to make good all
failures
About the 9th of August we employed
Capt. Davis to take charge of our White
river business and to give it his special at
t~ention, and we supposed that he had de-
livered the mails promptly,
About the Is of October e quitO our en-
plnyment and made arrangements to put
D ALit 0OAAlllANANA4A AIN A4AAGAAL w. - me-
the White river trade, thus breaking his
contract with us. He offered no excuse
for doing 50, but simply told me that /
had redress at law. he intimated
then that the mails had not been carried
faithfully, nor alleged any violation Of the
contract on a part. The first l ever
heard Of mail failures was last week It
will be seen by the certificates below hat
we carried the mails from Memphis regu-
larry from the 10th June to the time Capt.
Davis broke" his cpntrae5 and took
charge Of the mails on his own boats.
The postmaster at Augusta c~ertilies that
the mails came there regularly, with the
exception of some delays Of twenty or
thirty hours three or fOur times.
Thus the certihclta 81 the postmaster at
Augusta. fRhich IS as far up White River
as large boats can run in low water, show
that We did carry his mails withaRt a sin
-ia failure frein the 10Th June u October
Ia, auOut which time he demanded the
mails fur L,is own boats. Since then, he, OF
course, Is responsible for The numerous
and repeated total failures Of the mail.
As TO failures az Jaeks0np0rt in August
and september, Captain Davis is in part
responsible. He was in our employ, and
was charged with looking after our bul-
ness on White River.
Up to the time he commenced running
on u boats, say aE2Gt = Ll1A - August,
there hid been no fllures at J~acksoHpOrt.
They all occurred aHer his employment,
and while he had the supervision of our
business on that river.
The contract is for two trips a week,
which is nine mails ? mCsth anu by tic
certificate 9f the postmaster at Jackson
port, which will be found below, it viii be
seen that we delivered nine mailsin July,
six in August and six In September. Il
will be observed that no failures were
made from the time l took his contract
until l put him in charge Of Our White
river business. l Instructed our agent,
Mr.. T. d. Kinmann, in ease the little
steamer plying between Augusta and
JacksOnpnrg, failed ta make Che trip, to
sepd the'maiiS by a hack. IsuppOsed this
had been regularly done, and / regret, on
account of the people Of ~JacksOnpOrt, that
1t was not done. The old citizens of that
town know that 1 carried The mails for
three years from Napoleon to Jackson
port, with only We failures, and both OF
these were caused by the sinking OF
boats.
l should be glad that TIC people on
White river were accommodated with
regular mails, but / am not patriotic
enough to carry the mails that Captain
Davis may reap the benefit of it by draw
ing a thousand dollars q month for my
labor, | presume Captain Elliott thinks
49, R1AS 10y INEAeAa 2nltBAaH Va uAAl
steamer Natoma, at the request of Capt.
Davis, took his mail on her last trip, upon
his proNisinG that be would pay him for
doing so. When the bill was presented
Captain Davis declined to pay il, but said
he " would give Major Adams credit for
the amount on his mail failures" BY this
it seems that be is not satisfied with draw
ing mail pay for four months service per
formed by our company, but wants me to
make good to him failures caused through
his negligence.
LTelegram.]
JACKsOSPORT, ARK, Nov. %, 1863.
John D, AddHaa, Ns#tpaiSS
Received nine mails in July. six in Au-
gust, and six in September.
JNO. CREAGAN.
POstmasitr z.
Telegram
JACKSoNPpRG, ARK, Nov. q, 1853.
Jain u. 4dums, President, Memphis,
Tenn:
Davis 1ivery stable keeper will swear
l engaged backs regularly to carry the
] mails Int the most fna9tar refused tn Hn-