New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-01-09


United States reversed that Judgment and
commented severely upon me. They
charged that /, with my associates, had
purchased a railroad 100 miles in length,
fully equipped with rolling stock, ware
houses, depots, etc., with several hum
dred thousand acres of land, with stock
subscription to the amount of $500, 900 l
or 1000, and mortgage debts to the
amount of $40, 600 or $50, 600, and stated I
that had purchased that road for $780,
600. The Supreme Court stated that the
mere statement, the mere narrative of
that fact, showed that gross wrong had
been done.
The truth is that there never was such |
road in the State of Louisiana. The
road that we purchased the evil
dence shows twas the ruins of |
o road which had never been |
more than seventy-three miles in length |
Mr.. McEnery, who is present, knows it, |
and every man in this room and in this |
State, who is at all acquainted with the |
| facts, knows that there never had been |
road there more than seventy-three miles
in length, and that when bought it in
| 1866 it was an utter wreck. There was
not depot, there was not bridge, there
was not a sound tie on it. The rails had
been taken from the track, and in many
places had been washed off; and the road
had trees growing upon it-saplings as
large as my leg The stock subscriptions
and mortgage debts were worthless, as
the evidence shows. and not one cent
thereof was ever collected and the land 4
grant was forfeited in June, 1866, about
three months after the purchase, and the
condition of the grant was that the lands
should only be acquired as the road WAS
completed in sections of twenty miles.
Forty odd witnesses testified to these facts
and no one in thecountry where the prop
erty is situated contradicted them. The
evidence is abundant upon this question.
The brother of Mr.. McEnery, and Mr..
McEnery himself, and all the lawyers and
merchants in that country, all the preach
ers and all the intelligent men in that
country testified, and there was not a sim
gle solitary person who testified, and who
was acquainted with the value of the road,
who fixed the value at over $75, 00p, the
value at which it had been appraised, and
two-thirds of which we bid.
: That is the statement of the case. The
differences between the statement of the
: court and the facts are as different as day
7 is from night. How the court fell into
that error / can not conceive. The atten-
ton of the court was called to it, and
: without granting a re-hearing, they
3 amended the decree so as to direct the
? lower court to allow us the value of
Improvements put upon the road, accord
ing to tue laws of Louisiana. This, I'M
s der the laws of Louisiana, will give us
5 the price of the workmanship aud value
. of the materials, with interest, amounting
: to about 100000.
4 1t was further stated in that case that
4 | ha Ia uva,s nal IS he
4 mortgagees-Mr. Gordon foreclosed the
mortgage, and was MORTGAGE, and
: was therefore a trustee-could not
: buy, which is an absurdity. One
Q One-hAlf of the titles of the property in
d Louisiana have been acquired in just that
: way, by the foreclosure of the mortgage,
and the holder Ut one of the installments
: of that mortgage buying the property at
that sale There are no trustees. Mr..
IS McEnery is lawyer and knows that.
/ This gentleman, MIR. Austin, is lawyer
g and he knows IL; and every lawyer in the
State of Louisiana knows that it is a fact
6 Yet it was upon that fact that the Su.
o preme Court said there was no authority
a IN the parties TO buy that road The
, validity of this sale was passed upon
% twice by the District Court of the State
and twice by the Supreme Court of The
Q State, and all of said courts decided il
b favor of defendants, and the United
Ut States Circuit Court, in an elaborate
" opinion, indicated the defendants from
d every charge of illegality or wrong. Thil
3. sale was made in 1866, two years befor,
le was on the bench, and the decisions il
7. the State courts were made before my ap
'e pointment to the bench.
d have been made the victim-I trus
by an error on the part of the Suprem,
le Court. l would not suppose that an,
l other motive could have influenced them
r but that they have erred egregiously i
es beyond doubt.
Id Ii there is any other act of my lif
c. that you can bring forward, and whicl
you wish to question me about, I shall b
y pleased to have you do SO. / have yet t
~ find the man who can point to an act il
" my life that an honest and honorable MAJ
TO would be ashamed of
+. By the chairman uestion-W Who Wer
y your associates in that purchase?
AnsweT-George @, Waddell, brother
OF in-law of this gentleman Major E. S
Austin, who was present., a prominer
y; Democrat; Mr. Frank P. Stubbs, prom
, nent Democrat, who has been before thi
rs or some other committee; Mr.. Baker
T. q MIR. Gordon, another prominent Demo
| GIhb VI tuht CDuuik9 UAEs tuChhluf
en Democrat and prominent gentleman, VIII
d. is now dead; Charles W. Phillips wa
OF nominally a purchaser though he wa
'e' not otherwise interested; Mr. Crossley
SO another Democrat, who was, like hi
81 Phillips, q nominal purchaser. He wa
eh not largely interested. His name Wa
ng put in in order TO make the sixteen, an
- in order to organize the company. Nor
ne of these gentlemen have ever been abused
have been the only one.
oI Question: asked you some time az
ke about the death of Wisner. l forgi
'ai whether asked what Office Wisner hell
Answer--He was sheriff of the parish
.c- Ouachita at the time that he was assa
or sinated.
ne Question Was he also jailer, or had
lft custody Of the Jail.
IN Answer x-ofioio; yes, sir.
m Quession-Was any other person killt
II at the same timer
US Answer-I thiak a witness who was
az jail was killed: think that was 80.
ne Queslion-Do You remember the nan
en- of the witnessY
Answer do not. 1t was a colored ms
* who had been shot and had made his g
OF cape and who was put in jail for the pu
ne pose OF protection, so that be could be (
hand when the trial came on.
n. Question-Was anybody released fro
ne the jail2
on Answer-Yes, sir; the accused was 7
IN leased-the man charged with the nssa