The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1876-06-11


Mayor Henry Winter, In the case of
Samuel =. Taylor w. the Cairo and st.
Louis railroad company and the City OF
Cairo. in the circuit court of the United
States for the Southern district OF Illinois,
made answer for the City of Cairo deny
ing all the material allegations Of plain
tifrs supplemental bill. aud expressly de-
claring rs follows:
Defendant (thc City of Cairo), ex-
pressly denies that the pieces of land
upon which the new levee Is being con.
structed IN said city, and which In said
supplemental bill is designated as New
Levee street Is one of the public streets
of said city but admits, from informa-
ton. that complainant holds the title, as
trustee of the Cairo City Property, Of the
lands abutting upon each side OF the said
strip or pieces of land upon which said
levee Is now being erected"
TO this emphatic statement the Mayor
made solemn oath. after the council had
obtained the dedication of the strip or
pieces Of land spoken Of for a public
street. lie could not have been ignorant
of the fact that this land had been dedi-
Gated to the uses of the public as street
when he made answer for the city, and
1t will not DO to say that his under
standing OF the arrangement was that
the pieces OF land on which the levee now
stands were dedicated to the city for
levee purposes only. What object then
hoA in, \.
made oath to the above assertion? We
do not charge that the mayor had any
bad object in view, but would like to
know what his purpose was.
The most mysterious part Of this affair
is, that Mayor Winter made the answer
in this case without authority. 1t Is the
duty OF the city attorney to attend to
such matters, but even he would not dare
to make such an answer, or any answer
for the city in any case, without instruc-
lions from the city council but Mayor
Winter, without saying a word to the
city council-without its knowl,
edgc-made answer in this case
for the city. After making his answer
he kept the fact profound secret. He
did not tell the city attorney or report to
the city council. although he had en-
ployed in the case eminent lawyers in the
name Of the city. When the matter was
brought to the attention Of the council
by Col. Taylor, aud the council ordered
tho city attornav RI 1vithJravr tho n prv,ar
Mayor Winter told the aldermen that he
intended the answer to be bis individual
answer and not the city's. But it ap-
pears that lac signed and swore
to the answer, as the Mayor
Of the City Of Cairo; and now comes Mr..
Judd, who declares that Messrs. Judd e.
Whitehouee received authority from
Mayor Winter. through Mr.. Scarles, to
appear for the city as its solicitors, and
that until that authority is withdrawn
by the city they will not consent to the
Withdrawal of the answer in the case made
by the Mayor for the city. and in which
he swears that New Le,ee street is not q
street.
1t must be apparent to every citizen
that either Mr.. Searles has imposed upon
Mayor Winter and induced him to swear
to an answer he did not understand to be
the answer OF the city, or MIR. Judd o.
Mayor Winter has wandered somewhat
from the truth, or these gentlemen have
woefully misunderstood each other
Who can explain this tangled affair