National Republican., 1876-01-19

whatever It wants, and setting the owner ct de-
MORE
years.
the railroad Company began : system or
annoyance which can be eIpfesssdonly In tue
on ~ 5 sso.s : . g ~ s' PEaSS
.. once took msssurss. u soas.esioa viii some
fishing an extensive paper Mil nil On sSss property
sss S n: S::
to defeat this the railroad company, without any
authority whatever. put up . watering station,
dent Of The road @ IepOnstra,Ing against this, and
It persopaily He as often promised to have It
removed; In other words, to abate the nuisance.
That was all he did. Two years after the extra.
The track running over these riae-vOfks, on
| the Shenandoah, belonged to what was known
railroad" This company, as long ago as 1887,
obtained from CONGRESS authority TO run over the
property under certain conditions fxed by board
| of Government engineers. These were that q
certain grade should be msintained; that culverts
leading to the river bank should be sspt open,
and also kept open profile was made em6ody.
ing these conditions was submitted to Congress,
and is referred to ip the act authorizing the com.
pany to run over the property. These engineers
clearly foresaw what would be the damsgs from
freshets If any deviation was made from the con-
Its proper 10 say here that so long as this road
was IN the hands OF and worked By tbs Win
tions were strictly complied with. When, how.
ever. this road became cou usolldated with and u1-
der the management Of the Baltimore and Ohio
the act Of Congress treated with contempt.
More especially was this 80 after tbs property
changed the course Of its track to accommodate
ITSELF but 1t raised the grade OF its track sixteen
inches, filled up the cuiver.s and closed the road
way leading TO the river bank. When the COM
pany's attention was called to the danger of this
It treated the matter with Irritating indifference.
was transferred into dam with a large !nIet but
no outlet for the water. The result WAS Just what
had been predicted BY competent engineers.
When the great food In the fall Of 1881 came the
water rushed in filled up the body, forced out tho
walls and completely destroyed the whole prop
pa1y, to the end of repairing its own damages,
went upon the property, took what material 1t
wantea-stone, sand and .ravel-and to this day
Now let us turn to the property on the Potn-
msc-the AImory property-aoout which the suit
with George II. Plant, Of Washtng,on. for presi-
dent, was organized for the purpose OF develop
iPg Ing this property have no seclCgy to offer for
John w. Garrett to frighten # out of its rights.
1t did, however, begin improving the property
and expended considerable sums OF money. 1t
had an entire new lock built at the dam, new
head gates put in, and the wasteways repaired.
The next work in order was repairing the canal,
damaged BY distractions placed in it by the raii.
road company. A formal but courteous notics
requesting him to remove those oostructions So
as to enable US to pursue our work. Nearly six
months passed and yet no notice whatever was
when threatened to resort to forcible means
and, If necessary, to enable us to go on with
the work, to take up his track, that he was made
to take some action in the matter. You would
very naturally liner that he sent up a force to re-
move the obstructions and do what was right In
the matter. He did nothing of the kiad. But hs
did send up gang of armed roughs TO take pos.
session Of and guard the property night and dsy.
And while these roughs were thus employed he
applied to the court and got iounction pray
ing that certain gentlemen of the water power
company be restrained from Interfering with the
company 6ied cr0ss.ipIanc,ion TSis s brpSTs. STst
up the question Of title and also developed the
railroad company,s policy II boldly assaiied
the property. 1t set up. first, that q large por-
tion OF the property over which Its track ran was
gina, as claimed by the Government. Second.
That it (the railroad company had q good and
valid title to the property or rather portions of
patent. Third. That the agreement between
Joel X. Poinsett, Secretary of War. and Louis
McLane, president of the company, was a pre-
0Surveys of the property were made at the re-
quest Of the railroad company, and vast amount
both sides. it very soon bscams evident that nat the
railroad company was seeking to gain through
delay what il had failed to obtain BY straight
forward and prompt action. In the taking Of
these depositioDs even perjury itself was resorted
to by the railroad company as will bs seen BY the
following affidavit:
TRUE COPY.
46fddrif Of P. Keller, Chief Clerk Of the Ord
nance Department, Washington, d. {.
WASHINGTON, d. g., Nov. 10, 1870.
,r,1on! seen 1t the and dee.
before n commissioner annnintRd dan0si.
snS tse e
Of Baltimore, Maryland, before Commissioner
xnsef i. WOOD WOOD, being first duly sworn. aeposeth
and and, saith to Questions propounded hy the plain
~. What is your name, age. residence and occu-
''Ansmer: .Ansel 4. Wood; 81. years: Sandy
Hook, Washington county; Maryland; agent for
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company at Har-
10. Were you present at the sale of the Govern
larations were made by the Government agent at
hs 6ms Of the sale e to v the and
sci; .- va, ,-sssn,. my ro,o,,e.,,or. -.
that Ihe agent Of she or %6oeTcr
was, as the man in charge OF the sale, before the
he Of * ss
9earas can dI GecSset hsa the words 70 they were
was, without any guarantee Of title but such .s
nation, they believed to be genuine, with no re-
serve, except that OF street running the south
named .Potomar street. and the rIehtsaud priTi,
railroad.''
Mr.. KELI ER's ANSWER,
81 here declare and make oath that am the OIL
Ger OF person that e9Rdus.ed the sale on behalf OF
aF S fSe WOOD refers S 70 the
aPd and 6E hs S a
hereby declare and make oath that no announce
on q the am hG
ciGned' ocmef Clerk, D. ordsance =; shIaEGi 0iice.
Sworn and subscribed before Inc this 10th day
tsEAk.I IN. CALLAN, Notary Public
Ansel B. Wood was not the only ready witness
the great Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company
or course, there was nothing left for the
back On the GoTsrnmen. and ask that att il make nal its
title good in other words, defend itself against
the railroad company. The Government filed is
two } ears, the case is argued on its merits at
Wheeling, West Virginia. before United States
opinion November II, 1875. After disposing Of the
Byrnes patent, and the claim that portion OF
the property was within the boundaries Of Mary;
land, adversely he takes up the Poinsett and
ain the case under consideration" says the
the defendant (the doTernmsntj was infiusncsd
Government through its Office, the Secretary OF
War. The company entered upon the premises
under its agreement with the Government, and
remained In the peaceable possession and quiet
enjoyment Of them for Q period Of thirty years.
During all this time not the slightest in-
timation was ever given to it of any
claim whatever upon the part Of the Government
to the disputed premises. therefore coaclude
that, upon every principle, both legal and equta-
BILE, the complainants cannot and ought not 70 be
permitted At this late day to disturb the defend
ant In the possession of the premises under the
agreement of 1888.
"Nor do think right OF compensation exists
in this No actual consideration is expressed
in the agreement, and the omission to do SO i'm
plies that both parties understood that none was
demanded" This Is enough for my purpose.
Tho Government waa simply kicked out Of Judge
Jackson's court. As piece Of special pleading,
coming from an advocate In the interests of the
railroad company, nothing could have been moro
artistically done. Indeed, 1t may be doubted
whether the company's attorneys could have made
more satisfactory performance for their client.
7 naa the word rlerf0rmance understandfnRly