Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-12-01
BROWNSYILLE'S BACK UP.
She Does Not Mean 60 be sufndIed
Out OF that Insane Asylum.

Out OF that Insane Asylum.
The Brownsville States devotes a col
umn to the action of the Commission
ers in locating the West Tennessee In
sane Asylum near Memphis. 1t claims
that Gen. Conner knew nothing about
the meeting of the Commissioners, and
adds:
"That meeting was a wonderful
farce. Col. Chester and DIR. Rogers
were the only ones present, and one of
them was unanimously elected chair
man and the other secretary. Col.
Chester addressed the meeting as gen.
tlemen', and read an address In which.
he stated that the supply of water in
the Brownsville site was not sufficient,
and that he would take legal steps to
resist any expenditure of money on
said site should it be approved by
majority of this board The papers
state that this large assembly Of two
Directors proceeded to ballot, and that
on the fourth ballot, after an exciting
contest, Memphis was unanimously
chosen. We said the affair was farce;
it was worse-it was a regular humbug,
and the people of Brownsville have
been outraged. We know the Com
missioners who so unanimously" loca-
ted the asylum viii plead that they
had no time to wait for Gen. Conner's
arrival, and that they were forced to
act the day they made the location or
accept the alternative of permitting
West Tennessee to lose the asylum al
together. But it so occurred that Col.
Chester was in Memphis week before
any final action was taken, and Gen.
Conner could have gone to Memphis at
any time had his presence been called
for. Several Geographic dispatches
were sent from Brownsville to DIR.
Rogers during the week preceding the
expiration of the time allowed by law
for making the location, urging him to
call meeting and take some action.
Gen. Conner was known to be In
favor of the Brownsville site, and
hence was invited to Memphis only
after it was too late to effect anything
In the way of a change. The affair
may be briefly summed up as follows:
DR.. Rogers and Col Chester spent
nearly a week In Memphis without
giving notice to Gen. Conner, during
which time they published to the world
that meeting had been held and the
matter finally settled. They waited
until the last hour allowed by law be-
fore taking any action, and then with
out consulting anybody, rushed the
matter through, knowing no matter
how irregular their course, nothing
could be done to resist the legality of |
their action without throwing the mat
ter back to the Legislature. Andthere
is where the matter will likely end, for |
our Senator elect, f. R. Ragland,
Esq, proposes to investigate the pro-
ceedings of the Commissioners before |
the next Legislature and resist any ap-
preparation to build the Asylum on the |
Memphis site. We do not object to
Memphis, but We do object to having
the asylum wrested from us by |
chicanery and double-dealing, and |
that too after the site had |
been approved by the Commissioners,
the Governor, the State Engineer and |
a regular corps of experts, and after |
the grounds had been purchased and |
the sale confirmed by special term of |
the Chancery Court. But as the mat
ter viii be thoroughly ventilated before
the Legislature we deem further COM
ment unnecessary.
'Since writing the above, we learn
that Gov. Brown and his experts visit
ed Memphis this week and examined |
the site, but declined to approve it for
the present. His enemies predicted |
that he would approve the Memphis site
merely to gain favor with the Shelby |
members of the Legislature, and thus |
secure their support In his candidacy
Tor United States Senator. We do not |
believe that Gov. Brown would do any
thing not strictly honorable, or not in
exact accordance with the letter of the |
law, even to obtain the solid vote of the |
Shelby members, or Of the entire State. |
And thus the matter rests"