Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1878-11-21


payment of the debts. The claim Of
DeGraff & Go. was disputed by the St.
Paul & Pacific railroad, and the mat
ter went to the courts, and DeGraff &
Go. were beaten, the courts deciding
the act Of the legislature to be nncon-
stitutional. When the forfeited land
grant and franchises of. the Braiuerd
branch were offered by the legislature
of 1873 to any other company that
would build that road, it was enacted
that two hundred thousand acres of
land on the Brainerd branch and four
hundred thousand acres on the St.
Vincent should be reserved for the
payment of the DeGraff claims, and
Governor Pillsbury, Railroad Commits
sioner Marshall, and Attorney General
Wilson were appointed to examine
these claims andaascertain the amount
actually due and unpaid, and in Feb
ruary, 1878, this commission reported
the amount due $493,228, of which
$462,55 came under the DeGraff
claim. The complaint of the Western
Railroad company sets forth that the
portion of the DeGraff claim that is
properly chargea5le to the Brainerd
branch was not more than S41,198.
and Of this about $4,000 was paid.
The complaint further alleges that
'::the said act of the legislature, ap>
proved March 9, 1878, is in contraven~
tion of the laws Of the United States,
especially the several acts OF congress
hereinbefore mentioned, in that it seeks
to appropriate and apply lands granted
BY congress for the purpose of aiding
in the construction of said railroad
from Watab to Brainerd. for totally
different use and purpose, namely, the
payment Of claims alleged to have
been incurred in, or about, or in con-
nection with the construction of rail-
road from St. Cloud to St. Vincent.
And the said act is also in contraven-
ton Of the constitution Of the Un tied
States. as we'll as that Of this State,
in that it impairs the obligation Of the
said contract made and entered into
by and between the State Of Mime
sofa and the plaintiff; and the said
act is fraud uron the rights of the
plaintiff, and its passage and approval
were procured with intent to injure
and defraud the plaintiff: The plain.
tiff is ready. and willing, and hereby
offers to pay to the persons entitled
thereto respectively, all amounts and
sums Of money now remaining justly
and equitablY due and payable, for
work or material, ,sor both, furnished
in the construction of said line Of rail-
road between Watab and Brainerd,
claims for which were filed in the Of
fee of the State Auditor within sixty
days after the twenty>frst day of Feb
ruary, eighteen hundred and seventy
four, and were not disallowed or reject
ed by the SAID officers appointed in
and by section nine Of the said act of
the legislature, approved March l.,
1871"
The plaintiff finally alleges that the
lands Of the Western Railroad COM
pany are held for the payment of ork
done on the st. Vincent branch !; that
the Degratf claim, when properly ex~
amiaed, will be found to be not over
$4,000 on the Brainerd branch, and
$75, 900 on the St. Vincent branch;
an injunction upon the governor was
therefore prayed for an order that the
sale Of the land may be stopped. The
injunction was accordingly served, the
business Of selling Brainerd branch
lands is suspended; DeGraff & Co. are
again frozen out, and the courts will
occupy few yeaas in complicating
still further matters that only a few
lawyers know anything about, Even
now it takes over one hundred pages
Of closely written manuscript to state
the case in the complaint. of which
this is the merest outline and what
will it be when the next generation
take up the case?