Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-02-23
TENTH WARD CASE.


A Comp fcaheQ ssase Oh AnaArs'
Yesterday Il e Supreme Court reversed
the decision If \, re. court below which dis.
missed comnlain. ut's bill, and remanded
the cause for furth. r proceedings. Severa
interesting questions II law were discusses Dea
on the aronment befc re the Court. Bu
the Court held that il was bound by the
decision rendered at the l. 'ecemoer TERM - :
the Court in 1868, which settled hr inl
case that the bill could not be dismisse u 10
reasons appearing on its face. =.
Our reporter mot being able 20 see tn
opinion of the coLrt) called on Mr.. LeHyett,
one of the solicitors of the city In the cause,
for information as t., the probable ultimate
effect of the decision. Mr.. Lellyett said,
that as he understood the decision, the
effect would probably be that the cause
would have to be heard a. nd determined on
the proof of irregularities III the conduct Of
the election held April Z, 1866, He expressed
the belief that the material allegations in
the bill are false; but frankly said that
in all probability they could be- sustained
by proof. Many individuals had now,
by the accumulation of sever years
taxes unpaid, become largely inter 'sted in
a result by which they would escal their
payment; and III the midst of a lars e pop
ulation, of course witnesses can be pre- cured
to prove almost anything which may be- de-
sired about local election held by and
among themselves some years ago. he
believes that the proper course would be
for the City Council to authorize its soliI it
ors to withdraw all defenses, and thus s.l-
low the Ward to be decided out Of the city
at the next term of the Chancery Court IN
April.
The result would be the exclusion of the
children presidents in the 10Th ward from
the public schools, and the withdrawal OF
water and other privileges. This will b..
sad calamity to the people OF that distrl CT,
but he thinks it a result which cannon
probably be avoided, except by the alsmi S.
81 of their bill by the complainants.
This decision of the Supreme Courr as
literally commented upon last evening" Dy
our citizens generally, who seemed 10 DC
considerably exercised over the result OF
this last ruling in an issue which mas Deen
peuding for many years back, ana numer-
Gus opinions were expressed relatiVe W JIG
complicated state Of stfails. %,
1t was intimated that the City CounclI
would be called together early in the WeeH,
and determine at once to exclude the a lu-
erman and Councilmen from the board 81
called, order that the citizens
in that locality be deprived
ofgas and water privileges, and that all the
children in that ward be excluded from the
benefits of the public schools. 1t was also
contended that if the tenth ward be declar-
ed outside of the corporate limits, the re-
corder, policemen and such other officers of
the corporation as may live in that district,
would according to the laws of the corpor-
alton be excluded from holding their res
pective positions. These matters as
above indicated were freely
discussed last evening, and
the entanglements that are upon US.
The so-called Tenth Ward has been grow
ing rapidly in population since the annexa-
ton, and within the last ear or two the
improvements in that direction have been
marked. As we understand it, a large ma
jority of the property holders are still for
union, and would greatly regret any cir
cumstance which would exclude that terri
tory from the corporate limits. Let US
therefore hope that the almost unanimous
voice of the people may be regarGe /, as far
as the annexation is concerned, and that
any differences between the city and the
taxpayers may be speedily adjusted. We
want just now no contraction of corporate
bounds. We would rather see an expan-
sion of territory, taking in the thickly set
tied suburbs, than that this municipality
should lose one of its most important ad.
juncts.
nobody seemed to have very correct idea
of the situation, and we heard no sugges
tons advanced calculated to unravel the
Iruddle which at present seems to exist.
Ifas Mr.. Lellyette suggests, the City Coun-
Gil should authorize its solicitors 10 with
draw all defenses, and thus allow the ward
to be decided out of the city, what then
becomes of our proposed custom house?
The lot owned by the Government is re-
moved by one fell stroke beyond the limits
of the city, aud the act of Congress provides
for the erection of building within the
city of Nashville. --.---
We hope for some action that will re-
le7e us as city.