The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-07-15
Y William Nelson, No. 1903 yeuable street

9 lntEek Grace, Louisiana street. The com
: .mtiee also recommend the granting Of th,
ioiloWing petitions: j. G.. Crouch. frarn,
: nouse, Laurel between China and HOLT
!, streets; John II. Parata. house on Stat,
sereee near corner Fulton; William Bowler
mouse on State street, near corner Fulton.
IS recommended that petition of j. g
} croucn, to build four tenements on Nintf
sIeetnbetWeen HaxalPs mill.race and the
river be rejected. Adopted.
) CLAIMS AND SALARIES, ,4sr
sMr. ,Whitlock, from the Committee nm
Claims and Salaries, submitted a renorl
: from that, committee recommending the
payment of $1,000 to Mr.. r. T. Daniel for
:. services, and sl0 to j. W. Satterwhite for
cofhns, &C.; which was adopted. =
Il GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS.
MIR. Davis, from the Committee on Grounds
and Buildings, reported, recommending that
the city buy fifty feet Of ground on Broad
street connected with Seabrook's V.arehouse
and that Messrs. E. D. Christian & Co. tho
present lessees, erect the necessary buiIdinps
Tor q tobacco warehouse; that at the eS-
plrafi0n OF lease the city shall take the ware
housefat valuation. in the mean time paving
eight per cent. on the cost of erecting the
building, &c, Adopted.
| ACCOUNTS AND PRINTING.
MIR. Bossieux, from the Committee on Ae.
counts ana PRINTING, reported, recommend
ing the payment of bills amounting to
SlS6.57; which were ordered to be paid. .
| ORDINANCES.
| Mr. Jones, from the Committee on Ordi-
nances, reported against allowing pitro-ely-
cerine to be stored or manufactured in the
city; in favor of compelling owners of i'm.
| proved lots, ,as sanitary measure, to connect
with accessible culverts against allowing
bands of musicians to parade the streets be-
! tween the hours of IL O'Clock in the fore
noon and O'Clock in the afternoon of Sun
day; and in favor Of fning members of the
| Council for absenting themselves from ses
sions without leave, &c. Adopted-ayes,
IS; noes, s.
| MEDICINE FOR THE POOR.
| Mr.. Higgins, from the special committee
appointed to supply the poor with medicine,
reported that 362 prescriptions were put up
at the upper di>pensary, and 9l2 at the
lower, making in the aggregate ;264 pre-
scriptions. The usual appropriation was
made and the report adopted.
| TIE BROAD STREET QUESTION.
| Mr.. Bargamin, from the special committee
appointed to consider the subject of the re-
| moval of the railroad track from Broad street,
| submitted report Of correspondence between
| the committee and the president of the Rich
mond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad
| COMPANY, and also the opinion of the City
| Attorney bearing on the legal questions in-
volyed in the removal Of the track by the
city. The committee ask to be discharged
| from the further consideration of the subject,
as they have done all that it was possible for
them to do. F.
| The City Attorney SAYS that he is of opin-
ion that the railroad company has the right
| OF way through Broad street to their dep6t
| rs now located within the corporation, and
also the right to propel their trains over said
| road by steam-power;' that these rights are
rights reserved under an act Of the General
Assembly; and the charter is contract be-
90 the Commonwealth and the company,
bnr... -,.- i""'t'eS cannot violate.
whic{i The City sn.s-,.- :" existence
As the charter Sf the city then ~
has been fepeaed; 1t is PERHAPS itfliRatsfs4l !
to induife What authority the city ever had
in the premises beyond TIE there right to ap.
proye a terminus within its limits, bhs. it
nav be sufficient to say that in this country
ali municipal corparations, dsriye their atl-
thoritv from the. State, aid tHat when the
State has lcgislated upon a given subject,
such legislation is supreme ;and further, that
the General Assembly ip this. case having
made It obligatory upon the railroad COM
pany to construct their road from point IN
the corporation, no subordinate power or
agent can gainsay or frustate It's declared
will. s,.s.. .s..-..... ...
But be that as it may, we must look tothe
present charter to ascertain the power OF the
city over the subject under consideration.
The 10th section of the charter authorizes
the City Council "to determine and desig,
nate the route and grade Of any railroad TO
be laid in The said city, and to restrain and
regulate the rate of speed of locomotives,
engines; and cars upon the railroads within
the said city; atd may wholly exclude said
engines and cars il the3 pieases provided no
contract be violated" Having alfeads
stated that the railroad company has the
right-of-Way Through Broad street, and the
tafion over its eiitire line, and that these
rights are contracted rights, SECURED by
charter from the General Assembly, am of
opinion that the City Council, under the pro-
viso of the 10th section Of the charter, are
expressly inhibited from any action which
would violate such rights.
7 am not called upon to consider what
might be lawfully done in the exercise Of
the police power of sovereign State. to
which mower the rights of corporations are
usually subordinate. In view OF the fact
that t6e General Assembly has not reserved
To- itself the right or power to alter or
amend the charter of this particular conf
panv, the question Is otle Of difficulty, and
when fairly presented it will be time enough
to meet it: .- ...,
It Has been argued that the railroad COM
pauy never acquired by purchase or con-
demnation from the adjacent owners on
Broad street the right to use said street tor
their purposes that the fee of the street 6e.
longs to said owners, and even the Legfsla-
ture cannot take private property for such
uses without paying for it. have not
deemed it necessary to inquire whether the
fee of Broad street is in the city or in the
adjoining proprietors. #tG
IF in the city the case would be simply
/ that of an appropriation by competent au-
tbority of public property to public uses,
which would be lawful Many authorities
hold that if the street has been one dedi-
Gated as highway no claim for compensa-
ton can be made for the additional use of it
by railroad. In those cases where 1t is held
that the owners Of the fee Of street are en-.
titled to compensation for the additional SER
| yitude, it has been decided that the owners
at the time of the trespass by the railroad
! company, and only such owners, are entitled
| to damages.
All the authorities concur that the city
through " hosestreet the railroad Is operated
| by legislative authority has notning Wnat-
ever to do with such. a claim, ana that IL IS
matter exclusively between such claimants
and the railroad company. 49,. !.
I ON motion of MIR. Bargamin the report OF
A. aon,m;ttae yas received and adopted and