Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1878-03-20

payers would have saved the
amount, simply by appealing.
i think all will agree that the
above is fair statement of the
: charges and insinuations made.
: / am not in the habit of paying
any attention to the rawlings of the
Pioneer, but it is called a news
paper, and good and respectable
people may read it, and seeing the
aforesaid charges and insinuations
there made, and not knowing the
make up or composition of the
, party running it, might be mislead
thereby. Hence / have conde-
scended this time to honor the
sheet by noticing 1t.
This steal of $1,000 charged In
. the Pioneer, and the facts there
. with connected, consists in this
= 10 February, 1872, when the Coun-
/, ell was two-thirds Republican, the
t Mayor, Comptroller, Recorder, and
t especially the City Attorney, Re-
publlcans, they passed what is
known as the saloon ordinance, the
Recorder, who was then Mr.. Hop
per. failed to record the passage of
this ordinance, and the City Attor-
ney, who was Mr.. Holmes, did not
9 take the trouble to see that all the
formalities required by law, in pas
- sage of an ordinance had been COM
;, piled with, and let me say right
d here, that this was the blunder that
l. made the taxpayers lose this 81
500. The city, proceeding under
. the belief that this ordinance was
% all right, compelled all liquor deal
J. ers to pay tax upon their bnsi-
ness, at the rate of 5000 year
lie and under this ordinance collected
large amount of money, consid
10 cradle more than the city has yet
> been compelled to pay back.
!, The city authorities discovered
M in the fall of 1873, that out of 81
ordinances then upon their books
! scarcely one of them had been pro
u perly passed and recorded, so tn
Council, in August, 1878, repasse
all the ordinances and caused til
proper records to be made.
lie In 1874, long before eve
oh thought of being Comptroller c
he the city, / was employed as attor
ney for those who paid this tax,
RS recover it back. In the spring
1874, l commenced suit for or
tx of the parties, at this time havin
distinct understanding with I'll
It's city, that this suit should be te
one; if city got beat, then it shou
KS pay the balance of the claims wit
out further litigation. This su
Da- was tried in Oct, 1874, Juds
Green presiding. At this tin
X. the whole matter was fully go1
into. The city made the very be
ks defense possible, and the result W
that Judge Green instructed Il
his Jury to bring verdict against {
city, without leaving their sea
ms Nobody thought of appealing Il
suit to the Supreme Court, but t
en- city paid the judgment, but ne
lected to pay the balance of t
led claims and kept putting the sal
off until many of those whose clail
were in my hands for collectic
mt. took their claims from me and GA
them to other attorneys for cole
ton. These claims were present
TO the Council at different tim
, az. but the Council deferred acti
h h thereon until the parties becal
Ia "' weary of waiting, and in the spri
a. 81. of 1877, Atkinson q Atkinson,
~. Detroit, as attorney for sever
NV parties, commenced another sud
"! . recover back this money, and Kell
nv e & Clayburg, as attorney for diffe
ns, ent parties, commenced ii 9th
' 'nn suits for the same purpose. l &c
p" I, ed here as local attorney for &
. PIE Detroit lawyers, having at the san
'.a time in my hands some OF q
To ~, claims which / had originally I
ln . ceived. 1t was agreed by all pa
~. ties concerned in the matter, tn
'y. one suit should determine the who
. 'ao matter so far as the Circuit Cou
'no was concerned. The suit came
~. ~, before Judge Tuttle, at the o.
an term, and after careful examin
'er, ton of the case by the Judge,
ee' decided it against the city.
ay. After these had been decided a
'ns versely to the city, it was suggestt
NC. ,no TO the attorneys for the plaintiffs
Tue make some offer of comprcmis
se- This they utterly refused to do n
till the Council should first dete
mine whether they would appeal Il
al, suits. At the first regular meetir
OF after the suits had been determi
OF ed, some ten or fifteen days aft
to the decision, the City Attornt
on made report to the Council
ing respect as to how the suits hs
len been decided, and asking for IN
for Their instructions as to whether
ect should cause said suits to be al
nd pealed or not. The Council befo'
n acting in the case took recess ar
dispatched an officer in search
]. b. Holmes, who had been coul
sci in the cases for the city, wis
ing to ascertain what he had to So
the in the matter, but the officer WI