Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-09-24
CITY COUNCIL.
More TempOrizing-- Nothing Done.
Action on the Sale of Stocks Post
pOned Till Next Thursday.


was read from his Honor stating the object
] OF the meeting. to hear the report of the
Finance Committee on the subject Of the
sale oft eity's railroad stock.
After reading the Mayors message, a
communication was read from y. HitZ-
field, who offered in the name of the Iron
Mountain Railroad one hundred and ten
thousand dollars for the citv's Little Rock
Railroad stock, providing the city waited
a few days. elm a few days, few days."D
Alderman Black moved hat Mr.. Hitz-
fields bid be received, provided he put up
a thousand dollars as a guarantee Of good
faith.
Alderman OiDonnelI moved toamend by
providing that every bidder do the same
thing.
Alderman Joyce moved to table.
The City Attorney was called upon TO
give his opinion on the subject. He said
the idea was right.
williams couldn't see why this hadn't
been required from the others, who had
bid previously.
OfDonneIl wanted all hands to show
that they were in earnest.
The Chair asked if the motion to table
had a second.
Renner thereupon seconded it, and the
motion to table prevailed.
Alderman DYER said that thisB Board had
not met on this, the 23d day of Septem-
Der, to discuss measures for the middle OF
October, but for the alienation of the i'm
mediate aud pressing necessities of the
city and its creditors. He therefore
moved to lay the proposition of HitZfield
on the table. This motion prevailed with
out debate.
Alderman WolcOtt then arose and said
the Board had been called togetherto hear
the report of the Finance Committee. He,
a. Chairman Of the same, had a report to
make, (the substance of (which we gave in
our report Of the proceedings ofthe Com
mitJee yesterday morning. lie alluded
to the pressing necessity for money under
which the city was laboring, and the
wants and suffering of the unpaid labOrers
and iremen, and he then stated the de-
termination that the Committee had ar
rived at, to sell to Capt. Mahan and Capt.
/ Lacy. In acc~eptingthese offers there was no
danger, he said. OF injunctiOns or failures,
and The Committee therefore unanimous
" endorsed them. He moved in eonclu-
4 sion to adopt the report.
Renner asked if the adoption of the re-
! port meant the acceptance of one or both
offers. If SO, he WAS opposed to It. He,
as a member of the committee IN ques-
ton, did not sign the report, and was not
prepared TO endorse il. He agreed that
Capt. Mahan's proposition was the ~fairest,
best, and most acceptable, but he was not
willing to accept any proposition yet.
Besides, Col. kell1r's proposition WAS the
first, and it is not fair TO crowd a bidder. /
He ought 20 be given a nance to raise bis
bid, and he the speaker was willing to
give him a nance.
Alderman WOlcOtt withdrew his motion
to adopt, and moved to receive and file the
report.
Williams made some question of order,
in regard 10 the motion, which was not
entertained.
Wolcott moved to accept The bidof Capt.
Lacy in behalf of the Mississippi River
railroad given yesterday.
Marshall wanted to let the matter stand
awhile. He thought he knew where Sij,-
900 could be got for the stock.
Williams was well satisfied that in
stead OF $4,000 in cash $3.50 o could soon
be got.
Alderman Black moved to receive the
bid.
Williams made a camp-meeting-hold-
Observation-Disclosures speech on the
balloon interest, abiding en- pdSS0at to
the purity Of elections, and showing the
prope manner OF registering the colored
population.
CieaHa though the Board ought 10 do
something.
Black, in answer to Williams, who said
ia his " glory-hallelujah" argument that
the city had lost nothing by holding
on TO the stock, and who reasoned that
she had. on the contrary, gained, replied
that so far from gaining anything. the
paltry fifteen or twenty thousand dollars
that the stock had advanced in price,
would not begin to cOunterbalance the
damage lone to the city's credit By the
protest of the July interest, tho failure 10
paw the city employees, the ru.nous rates
of interest paid for the sale of
city properly at one-eighth of its price,
and other financial embarrassments en-
Tailed by the failure to sell months ago.
Gallagher wanted the Board to quit She
uanigan. He wanted to know what this
word cash" meaut-Whether city scrip, I
bought at sixty cents on the dollar. or
greenbacks. He wanted the latter.
Black said he was authorized to say, 80
far AZ Capt. MAhan's o1Ier went, il meant
~gTesHbdckS.
Jimmy went on TO say that that might
be the intention of Capt. Mahan. but rs to
the other propositions, how did the Board
know that at the payment Of the first note
Of $4,000, the parties making it would
not come mp with that much city scrip or
other evidence of past due Indebtedness?
Col. Morgan, City Attorney, said the
city had the thing in its own hand and
could easily arrange all that.
Gallagher differed from his brother SO
learned in the law" 1t is the easiest
thing in life to make a mistake, be said,
and he thought the Colonel was IN error.
If the Sl5,000 was really in cash he WAS in
favor of IT..
Renner offered the following inlieu:
hcSDtttNs 1uhA "A NttlSlNu III llt thHt Oh
the sale Of any the city's stock be post
poned until next Thursday.
Alderman O'Donnell arose and said thai
n argument that il urged in favOrOf
the sale of this stock was that the
labOring men were in need. Money was
coming into the City Treasury every day,
he wanted TO know how much Of IL the
labOring men got or were getting. Who
were getting it2 I'VE might possibly an
swer that question if closely pressed. and
also tell some other curious things-ab0ut
that fencing business. for instance, the cart
ring, etc.-EDs.l He opposed the sale al
together.
gallagher moved 10 postpone till Mon
day.
At this point Alderman DYER said that
Col. \. J.. Kellar was present, and had
asked permission Of the Board 10 make q
few remarks.
No objection being made, Col. Kellar
came forward, and after returning "Lba4ks
for the Distinguished honor conferred on
him By the Board, ia requesting him to give
az oppression Of his Uiers on the BtOmen-
tOHS question before them" he proceeded
to expatiate on the beauties Of his offer 10
the city, and the immense advantages
that were to accrue 10 the city by accept
ing il. He was not in for avarice,
he said, but was acting altogether
for the good OF Memphis. He
referred to his connection with a great
daily paper, and then put himself in the
light of ChTiSfOS Softer, a savior Of the
city. He said that this connection of his
with capitalists was a purely accidental
aifair-in fact, "they met by chance
He spoke about three-quarters of an
hour, and at the close Of his remarks We
noticed two Of the 'cart ring" bathed in
As soon as he ceased, Alderman
Black asked permission of the Board for
Capt Frank Mahan TO reply to Col. kellar,
or rather TO ask him a few questions.
being no objection, as in the other
case, Capt. Mahan came forward and In his
plain, straightforward way, asked if there
was one single man r~epreseated6g Col. He{- !
lar achO urSd citizen OF Memphis ora stock ,
holder Of tie Lille Rock fdiyF0GdF AL }
though a pause was made, there was no
answer TO this sockdOlogerl. capt. Ma l
han then went on, and, in a few +.
words declared hat the movement was !
made for the purpose Of crippling our I,
railroad interests, and holding them :
in check. The gentlemen who made his /
Capt. Mahan's) offer were, on the con-
trary, already deeply interested, not only q
ln the completion Of the road, but in the !
future of Memphis. His offer, he said, q
was in greenbacks, since the question was Z
raised, and not ia city scrip, as had been
limited nj in another case.
AT The close OF Capt. Mahan's remarks,
Jimmy q. wanted TO talk. but Was
chOked down by his uaigblors and Col