New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-06-09
CITY couMcIL.-oFFIcIAL.

7 CITY couNclL--0FFICIAl
VI REGULAR MEETING.
IL CITY HALL. NEW ORLEANS ;sAs
June 7, 1870.
The Council met at Z Pm
Present: Administrators J. R. West Gin
provements), Alfred Shaw (Accounts), l
T. Delassize public Buildings), s. c. Emile
(Commerce), and H. BoAzano Assess
ments).
Absent: Mayor Flanders and Admins
traitor Walton (Finance).
Administrator Emley, as Administrator Q
Finance nd interim and e1-oftcio Mayor
presided over the meeting.
Reading of the minutes of last meeting
dispensed with.
Communication from the Mayor.
MAYoRALrY OF NEW ORLEANS
City Hall. June Z, ls70.
ADMINIsTRATORs-Ih have to report that OF
the evening OF the third instant. l was served
in the name of the city, with an injunction
from the Eighth District Court for the parish
of Orleans, to prevent any person, excep
the Crescent City Slaughterhouse Company
slaughtering cattle, or establishing stOcl
landings within the city limits.
That Injunction was at once placed in the
hands of The law officers of the Council.
On the afternoon OF yesterday, the sixth
instant, was served with notice of rule ms
for q counter injunction sued out in the
United States Circuit Court by the Live
Stock Dealers and Butchers Association,
which also referred to the City Attorney.
I rin IN these fQcfa
the Information of the Council, and remain,
very respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. C. EMLEY,
Acting Mayor.
The Communication, on motion of Mr..
West, was formally received.
NEW ORLEANS. June Z, 1870.
To the Honorable Mayor and Administrators of the
city OF New Orleans:
GENTLEMEN-It becomes my duty by rea-
son of the extraordinary losses to which
have been subjected, growing out of the
city's retention of q sacred fund, known as
the "Girod Fund.-" and deposited in the
city treasury by acting Mayor Hoyt in 1864,
which fund the previous Council, IOtwith-
standing the. efforts and appeals of Mayor
Conway, failed to reimburse, forces me in
justice to myself and to my creditors to lay
before yoa as briefly as possible my connec-
ton with said fund, and which being solely
under the control and management of the
Mayor, Independent of the Council or any
member Of the city government, the follow
ing facts for your information.
The Mayor being the sole custodian of the
fund, l entered into contract on the
thirteenth of February, 1867, with the Hon.
John T. Monroe, tobuild an asylum for the
maintenance and support Of orphans of
French descent, in accordance with the will
OF N. Girod.
The building now situated and adjoining
the Park WAS commenced and had pro-
crossed to the completion of the founda-
lions, and in readiness to receive the first
tier of joists, when Mr.. Monroe was re.
moved by General Sheridan, and his place
occupied by q military appointee, in the
person Of Mr.. Heath, who assumed to stop
the work.
II was clearly the duty of Mr.. Heath to
have carried ont the contract as entered into
by his predecessors, but certain citizens
have assumed, by reason of their French
origin, to control a matter which. by virtue
of the will, the Mayor should have indig-
nantly rejected. 1t was an interference
with trust to which they could not be
party, for had it been the intention of the
philahthropic testator to allow his country
men to control the fund, his known intelli.
gence would have suggested the names of
many distinguished contemporaries; but he
omitted them individually and collectively,
beQueathing the entire amount to the Mayor |
of New Orleans and his successors, for the |
sacred fulfllment of his last wilr and tes- |
lament in this particular.
Suffice it to say, the influence succeeded |
In stopping the work, in which condition it |
remained for over year, when Mayor
people, the Hon. John r. Conway, in June,
1868. proceeded by mandamus to compel |
Mayor Conway to carry out the contract of
his prede cessor. The Mayor EMPLOYED
to aefend it, and the decision of the
Honorable the Sixth District Court being,
that the contract was valid, and binding
upon him as successor to Mayor Monroe,
the order. was made peremptory.
The embarrassed condition of the city was
such, il remained for Mayor Conway to exc
cute the contract with the limited amount
in his hands. relying upon the Council, with
Its full knowledge of the city's Indebtedness
TO the fund, making the appropriation.
Being unable to get relief from that source,
vet anxious to bring to completion build
pg which now stands a beautiful ornament
70 that portion of our city, and a monument
20 the noble philanthropist, am unable to
hand over the building to enable it to be ap-
propriated for its charitable purposes. until |
here is an acknowledgment of the city's |
Indebtedness to said fund, or some action on |
he part of your honorable body for an early 4,
and prompt settlement.
There can be no more sacred fund than {
he one in question:; it comes under no pro- {
'ision OF tue charter to designate it as a
ioating debt, and having been for the past s
hree years engaged in erecting and COM s
'leting this building, and during that time
ubJected to neavy losses by waste and de-
erloratlon OF materials, to say nothing of !
ny losses IN interest and discount, to which t
would not have been subjected had the t
ity made honorable provision for the paw.
nent of this trust fund. amounting to cash I
rst April, 1870, SIS, 253 Is, as shown by re-
Ort OF Mayor Conway, l would simply ask
am not legally and justly entitled to
compensation for losses sustained, and with
hat view, respectfully submit herewith an
interest account showing amount of interest I
ue me, s2223 SIS, to which add S69, 900, bal G
nee due on the asylum, making q total of
II ,223 SIS cash first April, 1870.
Respectfully submitted. f
SAMUEL JOHNSON, c
Contractor.
Mayor of New Orleans Custodian of Girod
und, IN interest acco unt at eight per cent {
18th Samuel Johnston, contractor to first :
pril, 1870: ,,
367. DR..
eptember s, to first in.
Stallment on GirOd Asy. 7