Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-03-01
The Knoxville Hospital Fund.


your paper, asking what has become of
the Hospital Fund gathered by the late
DR.. r. o. Curry and others. A response
seems to be called for from some source,
and being more or less familiar with the
movement from its inception, a brief state
ment of its history may serve the double
! purpose of answering your correspondent
| and of keeping alive an interest in so de-
| sirable charity.
In May, 53,through the munificence of
the late Col. w. H. Sneed, tract of
about three acres of land in the suburbs of
| the city and upon the line of the Virginia
| and Tennessee Railroad was donated to the
late Dr. William Baker and his associates,
they being named by the donor for hOspi-
tai purposes.
The gentlemen named in the deed, resi-
dent physicians of the city, accepted the
| trust and measures were taken to make
the gift Immediately available.
Each Trustee was provided with sub
scription paper to be used among his
friends and acquaintances, to raise fund
with which to commence work.
The writer has one of those subscription
papers before him, used with the prOprie-
tors and among the operatives in the shops
then lust erected north of the railroad,
and he finds upon it a subscription of
about ninety dollars, One-half paid. 9th
L
not distinctly remembered. This, how
ever, do remember, that the response to
our efforts was very meagre; small, with
that we had right to expect, and entirely
inadequate to erect buildings.
After some considerable delay and many
discouragements, the matter was brought
to the notice of the County Court, when a
liberal appropriation was made, but upon
the condition that the money subscribed
bo Inptnd and pYnpnhpH hp-
fore this should be called for.
The action of the County Court gave
fresh impulse to the work, and sufficient
money was raised to make excavations and
Law the foundation for building.
Political troubles then came on, and all
effort to prosecute the undertaking were,
for the time, abandoned. The foundations
were torn up and the rock used by the
soldiers uuartered in the neighbOrhOOd for
fire places and chimneys in their camps.
At the close of the war, and while the
necessities of the charity contemplated in
the original gift were more than ever real
lied, a balance in the hands of the East
Tennessee Relief Association, amounting
to two thousand dollars i'll cash, and few
hundred dollars in claims, was generously
rendered the Trustees to assist in carrying
out their plans, and in making available
the property already in their hands for
At this time, of the eight Trustees
named in the deed conveying the land,
only three remained in town; the others
had either been removed by death or taken
up their residence in other localities. Pro-
vision, however, was made in the deed to
the land for perpetuating the Trusteeship,
which being complied with the gift referred
to above was received, and lest by any
possibility it should be argued that the ap-
nrOnTiatiOn from the Comfy Court had
been forfeited, this was revived.
The hospital grounds were surrounded
by a substantial fence, and arrangements
made for Immediately erecting suitable
buildings for hospital.
We were now told that our claims to
the grounds had been forfeited and that if
we should proceed tOerect the contemplate
ed building it would be contested in the
courts.
As litigation seemed inevitable, and as
the Trustees were unwilling to assume the
personal responsibility involved, it was de-
cided to ask of the Legislature of the State
an act of incorporation. The act was
granted, but not being in the terms asked,
it was not accepted.
The next Legislature was asked to
amend the act of incorporation, but of
their action the writer is not informed.
1t will be seen that of the money ex-
pended before the war, amounting to some
hundreds of dollars, nothing is left. But
there is now in the hands of the Trustees,
in addition to the land under fence, two
thousand dollars, with accrued interest,
loaned out on good security. The claims
referred to above are in the hands OF an
attorney for collection, and it is understood
that the appropriation from the county
only awaits the favorable action of the
Trustees to be paid over. H.