The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1879-07-24

HERE Is THE LETTER
LEAvENwoETH, X ANsAs, July 4. 1872
Hon, + SiH,ng.:
pKaK SIR: Yours of the 81 inst. at hand.
The Case Is With YOU or Trial, aud may Goa |
in hi. providence e"sb'. you Ia do equal aud
JAMES PicKESs
Chairman Board of County Comm ,s.ouers
OF L@aven worth County, Kansas.
Endorsement:
This Is copy Of the only letter ever re-
ceiyed from Mr Pickens- E SrILLISGs.
Reporter -Thsre doesn't seem To be any
thing ot Objectionable In thst-except that IL is
rather more pious than official.
occLyTed: When Taylor brous lit luit against
. he county Tor the payment OF his r. Jected
bun we engaged Mr.. Sti lings TO a. fend the
told him that he shond admit in his an
s~er that The services charged for had been
performed. and thus submit the case upon
AN agreed statement OF fsc e.. | asked h m /
II that would De- right. and he SAID H. would
that this was the proper way to do. Then |
!, heara , no more from him
received a letter from him on the morning |
of The 4ih, Stair that IL We intended to sd |
init the service Ia our answer. that he cou d |
not nave anything 10 do with the matter |
TIA. lie could only try The case upou the evil |
dence ana not upon an agreed state IN. mt of |
iacis. l was just ready 10 go out oil town
with party, 10 celebrate the 4th, when his
letter was Teceiyed: the Others We're all ready
% star, and wrote,veTy hastily, the answer
OF which ! have given you copy. had no
reference 10 Mr.. Ia, Tor or any other individ-
uai. The only idea intended TO convey &c
Mr.. Stilltnes was that the matter was in his
hands, and hoped he would do what WAS
right. donr know how the report in re.
gard TO this letter could have be. n
started, for nobody knew of letter being
Siillings himself.
Eeporter.-In regard to the trip to the east,
recently made by the members of the Board.
Some of the people think Won sp-nt a good
money
taken about that We haven't done any
thing that has helped the work of com pro-
missing the DEBT more than that trip
| Reporter.-How much were your exper SEES
| Chdirmdn.-The entire cost Of the trip, To
the county, was about six hundred dollars,
and we accomplished moe Than we could
hire attorneys TO do for six Thousand dol
lars.
Exporter many of the bondholders
did YOU rec?
Chairman We met and conversed with
parties no ding or Teprs senting nearly half
| a million of our bonds, and by having an OPP
portunitv tn talk the msttsr over with them
| personally, We succeeded in convincing the
| most Of them that il would be to their inter-
| est TO accept our terms. The terms offered
are set forth in the pamphlet issu ii by the
| county sometime ago. Here Is an extract
| from tina! pamphlet that wish The TIMES
| would publish:
| THE TERMS.
| In order TO be in position TO effect a com.
prom ise, We, at the last session OF the Lecis-
laiure procured two acts To be passed author
iziDg the county 10 compromise and refund
It's railroad a. 81 other Indebtedness. With
| this end in view. hoping and believing that
| our creditors will meet us in a fair spirit Of
'onpromise, we, the Board OF County Com.
| mfssiOnefs 'f the county of eaven worth, IN
| the State OF Kansas, on behalf o; the county,
| make the following proposition To the credi
tors of the county as basis Of compromise of
It's indebtedn' S.:
| Fr.JisiiRG Judgment, gsi,st Tie county, fny,
(J0l oents Ga The dollar. iicin ing costs
For all bonds Of The county, except Platte
City and Fort Dee MoiDes railroad bonds. fifty
| (50l cents on the dollar, including interest
and principal.
.For Platte City and Fort DesMoines rail-
road bonds, twenty-five (25) cents, fiat.
1.-The interest on the old bonds 10 be calcu-
lated 10 the first day of July, 1879.
THE new bonds to bear interest nom that
date, and TO be issued und either OF said
funding laws, a. the bOndhOideys shall , lect."
Reporter--"W henever the case Was fairly
presented to the tondholders you Say you
found them willing to accept the terms
offered above?"
Chairman I'm nearly every case we did.
The only serious obstacles We find in our
way are among our own people. If they
would earnestly co operate with MS We could
settle the matter without any difficulty"
| RepOTter--"Wby, ! thought the people
were all interested in M wing the bonds COM
| pro missed as soon as possible "
| . ChaiTBiaR.-"1be masses of the people are,
but the lawyers are more interested in their
fees than II the general welfare of the
county"
Reporter.-"An the attorneys, except Mr..
Wheat, seem to be willing to accept the
terms Offered.
Chsinlan They pretend to he, bu. while
they publicly pr, less TO he in favor of com
promising they s"Crft'y encourage Wheat to
St nd ont and kee p the IN after unsettled. He
is no worse than the rest OF IN III, iOr If he
didn't stand out some other one would. They
| sre nach Ing him. III they wGuid h0HesHy CO.
operate with us We cou d have the whole
dent CONF cmi>-d in less than ihr' months
R,l1 Tter What a'out the contract with
NJ #FrF. Ff4h h rasfs .
1 ChizT5H .Ji-TEpts the % contract, made hy
a former BDui. in which the county agrees
O pay n. CARPENTER five per cent. upon all
| b 1EIds compromised. He " a. here once, I'M
der tlIEt contract, and has rendered some
| little service, for hich the county has paid
MIN seven huUdrcd dollars In View of the
| fact thEt VI, did no. seem 10 require his sgr-
vice, and that the contract s,OOG IN our way,
| I wrote 10 nun some time Ego asking him,
in view Of the embarrassed finaDcIal con
diiion Of the comfy, and in consider. ton Of
Seven hundred dolsTs Gl-eady paid hin, 10
| cancel his conIractt
| RsyOTtsr.-What did he say % this"
| CIIGFmIH.-Es replied very briefly, saying
| in substance that he preferred 10 hold on TO
the contract, hat that IL We would send him
| ten D,OUS .Ed dOi.ys he won call il Square
and give up the contract!
| RepHter.-wlIl the ten thou and dollars be
| sent 10 him?
| Chairmpn.-Not by tbs Bnard
| R.pOrter.-.ill the attorneys that ron have
| dealings with seem 10 be afflicted with ex-
| ceSsive modestv.
4
| all hsng together. Now, there's that bill OF
| extras put in by the county aitorney-every-
| body regards it as grossly ex'ortionate, but
have no doubt the court will give him judg-
| ment for il. All the other lawyers will come
in and swear that the bill is reasonable.
| Mr.. b. :. Richards, of the Board. who had
| come In during the conversation, was next
Irqured Of concerning his opinion of tie
prospects OF comprom sing the debt.
| MR.. RICHARDS SAID
the only difficulty we have is with our own
| people. lfthey would give us their earnest
| co operation we could very soon have the
| matter settled. The attorneys of Ieaven-
| worth could have the whole debt comprO-
| missed In less than three months, If they were
| disposed TO do SO.
| Reporter.-what do you think of the propo-
sition advanced by certain parties 10 appoint
kind, to help the Board 10 compromise the
| bonds?
| Mr.. R-An bosh. The Board can do all
| that Is to b. done If you only give us a
chance All we ask is that onr own people
\ will not stand in our way, and moth ng hurts
| the work more than just such talk as you
have referred TO. Everything OF that kind
| does han m. IL helps To unse.tle the public
| m nd, II makes our creditors think that we
| are not doing the best that csn be done and
| that II they will only hod out for while
longer they viii be offered better terms.
| Report The people regard il as greatly to
the in crest of the county TO hsve this bond
| matter sett ed as soon ~ possible
| Mr. R.-EO body realizes that fact more
| sensibiy than the members of the Board. We
i knew the Importance OF having the matter
| settled as soon as possible We know that so
long M our debt remains uDadjusted, feel
ing of doubt and uncertainty will Ill the
/ minds of the PEOPLE, retarding improvement,
| keeping out emigration, and ipjuring the
| county in every way, and therefore We want
| 10 lift this burien of the people just as soon
| a. We can, but If those who ought TO be as
| much interested in IL as We are stand in the
| way of a settlement, We must do the best we
| can. We believe that as soon as this incubus
| can be lifted from Us, our county will
/ oh a an a
| prosperity. But II we can't obtain a reason.
/ abe compromise We shall wait till We can
| We can afford In wait as well as our credi-
| tors can. They have gone as far as they can
| 20. They have obtained Judgment against
| US: they have secured orders to have q tax
levied to pay their Judgments, and for re
| fusinR to obey the order we have h en- put
under arrest, and are prisoners to-day. What
move can be done? They may put us into
solitary c INF nement, and may shut us up in
| a dungeon, but they can't force us to pay one
| cent more than We have agreed to pay. We
have advertised just what we propose to do,
and we don't intend to pay cent more than
| whole term of office. We have offered to do
| all that the people OF the county can afford
| to do. ano we intend to stand by thst. II the
| people will quit talking about committees,
| and agents, and everything OF that kind, and
earnestly help us to do what we are trying TO
do, we can compromise the bonds and put the
county in a position where IL can go ahear.
We want our credit ~ to know that they
cannot gain ans thing by delay, and that the
| sooner they come 'Orwaid and accept the
terms offered the sooner the interest Will
commence, and the better 1t will be for them.
Our reporter next visited Mr.. Michael,
President OF the Council, to ascertain Whist
progress was being made by the city In the
work OF compromising.
Mr. MICHAEL STATED
That nothing positive corId be said about
the matter at present. Mayor Forteecue IL
in q east visiting the creditors Of the city
and doing whstever can be done in the way
Of arranging for a compromise. He writes