Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1880-12-20
the LEcIsLATuRR-PRooRH OF con

sTRUcrIoS.
Itmay pot be unintsrsstipg to give
short sketch of the contest over tb
removal OF the Court House frou New
Castle to Wilmington, and OF the pre-
gress Of the erection Of the new hniid
ing.
The first step was taken on Februar.
20th, 1878. On that day Mr.. Cooeh, 9
t New Castle County, introduced in tb
Senate Of the Delaware Legislature
then in session at Dover, bill to al
, low Gas i's title ran,) "the Lev!
Court, in and for New Castle Comfy
to issue bonds for the purpose Of erect
ing new county buildings in the Cit!
Of New Castle" There had been som
talk OF the introduction Of this bill
beforehand, and some days previous
movement was started in Wilmington
10 secure the removal of the COur
House to that city. This movemen
was largely owing TO Mr. Coooh's pro
posed bill. And so on March 25th Mr.
sharpley, from Wilmington, introduC,
I'd and had read the first Tins the bill
to authorize the Levy Court ty
borrow an amount, not exceeding
500, 900, fer the purpose Of building q
new Court House in Wilmington, and
providing for the removal OF the seat
Of Jultice when the building should be
completed.
MIR. Co3ch, nothing dauntsd, did not
withdraw bis bill, aud two days aft"r-
ward both the proposed acts were read
a second tims and referred TO the SSr-
ate Committee on Revised Statutes.
There the bill introduced by Mr. Cooch
died, but on March 11th the other was
favOrably reported upon with an amend,
ment reducing the amount 10 $40, 600.
Ali this time interest in the proposed
measure had Leen growing, long petit
tions, both for and against it, were
poured into the Senate, and numerous
delegations from Wilmington and New
Castle went down to respectfully sdvo-
cate and oppose the proposed removal.
, Therefore, when the bill was report
ed upon and its friends determined to
press 1t to q decisive vote, interest had
reached fever heat. Mr.. McWhorter,
whoss position upon the matter had
heretofore teen in doubt, assiste Mr..
Sharpley in advocating its adoption,
while MIR. Cooch did not oppose it out
rightly, but favored q postponeuen:.
Tne upshot OF it all was that motion
to postpone vas lost, and the bill passed
unanimously. The bill then went
into the House, which was the real
battle field, and was read there the first
time, upon motion Of Mr.. Ware, that
same afternoon.
The session was now we'll advanced
and IL was determined to push the bill
to a speedy passage. The fight which
followed was of the fsrcest possible
nature. Nearly every member Of The
bar from Wilmington was present and
gave his energies TO the cause, and New
Castle was present almost en- masse.
The Wilmington men determined TO
call the bill up on March 18th, and on
the evening OF the 18th the New Castle
people began playing havoc with the
prospects of the act by distributing a
circular declaring that its passage
would entail an additional debt of
$3.50, 900. The other side we're equal
to the emergency. In the Wilmington
delegation were half q dozen we'll
known contractors. These gentlem.n
drew a paper declaring that the con-
temp!atei bailding could be put up
and furnished for less than $40, 900.
This was printed and circulated
among the members beore 8 O'Clock
that evening.
The bill was called up on the next
d ay but was postponed in order to have
it printed. Again it was called up on
March .2Oth. A lively debate took
place, and Mr.. Fookes moved to submit
it to the people of New Castle county
before the Levy Court took any action. |
This was lost, and the bill was finally |
carried by a vote Of IS to 3-Msssrs.
Cochran and Lambson of New Castle
county, and Mr.. Laws cf Sussex, beisg
ths only dissenting voices.
The Levy Court soon proceeded toao
Ia the matter, and of several sites
which the City Ccancil of Wilmington
,h5red for the court houss the old
basin lot at Tenth and Market streets
vas selected. This was conveyed in
Iced which was signed Juro 10Th, 1879.
The trustees named in the deed were
Ion. T. F. Bayard, Nathaniel Will
Jams, J. W. Cooch, George H. Bates,
i"q., and George Z. Tybout. On June I
tn plans for the building were received t
rom K. L. Rice and +. A. Csrsw,lI Of ,
and T. R. Williams, Geo. !
'isrson and T. P.Chandlsr OF Phi!adel-
his. The frst prsminm for the plans
sl50) was awarded to Mr.. Rice, but
Ir. Chandler plan was selected. 9
Proposals for grading the basin lot Il
ere advertised for on Monday, June Il
6rd, and opsne on Thurs 'ay the 26th as g
flows: P.J. Ford, 1881; EdSard Green, f
3l2; George W. Coliyer and A. v
GOLDMAN, $500 Michael Conwell, i
927 J. A. B0urke, $S79 Thomas n
ord, 81 ,o45 ; w. H. Brady, 1927 c
gorge Cochrane and Martin Farrell, Z
| ,575 p. Carberry, 1 $50; Archibald b
iven, 1880; Buckingham & Co., d
?, 497 Samuel Crothers, 81 ,64G A. tt
Peters, SIT B. Y. Perkins, 81 $50;
C. LAysry, $2,97Q.
The contract was awarded to Mr..
stsrs, to bs completed in three weeks. Ii
n June 2Sth Mr.. Peters threw up his a.
'ntract and it was sivea to P. j. Ford tt