The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1871-05-28
The c. & V. r. X. MATTER.
H'story or the Action or the County
Court I'm Reference Thereto.

In July, 1867, the people of Alexander
county, with an unanimity which con-
elusively proved the great importance
they attached to the success of the enter
prise, voted to subscribe 100000 bonds Of
the county to the capital stock Of the
Cairo and Vincennes railroad company.
On November 25, 1867 the County
Court Of Alexander county entered into
a contract with the Cairo and Vincennes
railroad company, agreeing upon Ger.
tain conditions that when the county had
received the stock mentioned above II
would sell said stock to the company for
5000.
This contract, which was substantially
the donation Of sos, 900 bonds to the Cairo
and vincennes railroad company, met with
the approval OF nearly all the citizens Of
the county--no. q single voice being
raised in protest against IT,
In March, 1869, an act Of the Legisla
ture was approved by the Governor con
frnning this donation contract. Not .
voice protested against the passage of thi.
bill. Nearly all the citizens of the county
approved it.
After the subscription had been made
after the donation contract had been made,
and because the subscription and donation
had been made, Gen. Burnside undertook
the work of constructing the road.
For time the General had fair 'finan-
cial weather, and sailed along briskly,
confident of his ability to get into secure
port. If he had done so, Alexander would
have made her subscription have issued
her bonds, and have carried out in good
faith the donation contract. But Gen.
Burnside, who had invested in tn, enter.
prise all his wealth, was overtaken bv
financial storms, which almost wrecked
him, and was compelled to take in sail
and wait for pleasant day.
In 1859, Judge Bross, and Associate
Justices Mearchildon and McCrite.
were elected members Of the Coun-
~ Court of Alexander county,
and entered upon the discharge of their
duties.
Almost everybody had learned TO regard
The Cairo and Vincennes railroad as one OF
he enterprises which nigh, have been
put wouldn't be, and nearly everybody in
he county had dismissed it from mind,
when the County Court, without any APP
parent cause for its action, promulgated
IN order declaring the donation contract
md the subscription of the county to the |
spital stock Of the Cairo and Vincennes
abroad company null and void. Judge
'ross was the author of this order. and /. |
vas voted for by Judges Marchildon and |
What necessity WAS there at the time
or the PRONUNCIATION Of this order? Were
here any petitions of cititizens praying
FOR the annulment Of subscription and
contract which could not be annulled &?
Who asked Judge Bross to write this or
der? 1t evidently grew out Of his
own desire, and was the offspring of his
dislike Of the Cairo and Vincennes railroad
Would he have rushed for
ward without invitation in the face of
public sentiment TO declare null and void
! contract made to further an enterprise
le endorsed and in the success of which
lie had hearty interest? No per-
on can believe he would have done |
o, and no unprejudced man can
IeAy that his action in this regard is
,rima facie evidence that in making the |
rider referred to he purposely struck
low which he believed would cripple the
cairo and Vincennes railroad enterprise. |
Why Judge Marchildon voted for the |
rider we do not know, and why Judge |
McCrite voted to snnul contract he
helped to make is matter entirely be-
rond our comprehension.
A few months after this peculiar order
lad been promulgated in this peculiar
manner, the Cairo and Vincennes rail-
Dad company approached the County
Court, backed by the petition of n
argc number Of ctizens--citizens who
represented two-thirds of all the taxable |
property of the county,-intelligent gen.
lemen who knew what they were doing |
--and asked fo- the restoration Of the
donation contrast and the appoint
nent of trustee to hold the bonds in
rust for the county. The trustee
lause of the petition was afterwards
'ithdrawn. This petition the court
-eated with marked disrespect, declaring
, an order that many of the citizens
tho had signed it did no. know what
ley were doing, and that undue influ-
noes had been used to obtain sign atures.
ending this decision, Judge Bross as
,rted that he would not sign the bonds II
ne majority of the court ordered him
D do so. In this action and
his assertion Of Judge Bross We
elieved we saw an outcroppng of hostil-
y to the railroad enterprise-a determin-
tion to murder it in the house of its
riends. In this strange order the court
rdered that the court should take into
onsideration the proposition to place the
absorption voted by the people on its
riginal footing, and to declare its decision |