Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-05-29
BE PLAcERv1LLE RAILROAD CASE


continued paralysis of the Placerville Rail-
road by Judicial process. This protest
but family expresses the extent of the !
wrong done to the inhabitants OF a large |
and thriving district by this extraordinary |
proceeding. The case indeed is 50 remark /
able that it is attracting attention in other
parts of the country, and wherever the
facts have been made known they have
elected unqualified astonishment. The
Chicago Raitpay Reuie,o of recent date,
comments on the situation as being one of
the most remarkable on record, and GER
tainly this is not an exaggerated character
ization of it. The simpl truth is that the
Placerville Railroad has been rendered
absolutely useless for more than two years,
for no conceivable reason, without the
shg htest justification, to the great injury
OF the property, and to the damage OF
thousands Of persons to whom the road
was necessary. No attempt at explanation
has ever been made of this most perverse
and capricious proceeding, The public
interest has been coolly and persistently
ignored in the premises. Every consider
alton OF prudence, of business sense, OF
public convenience, has been thrust aside,
and in the face of the obvious fact that
such course could only infict great in
jury upon all the interests involved, the
railroad has been taken and kept out OF
use all this time. The Board Of Trade
are certainly justified by the facts in
saying that the " failure of the Court to
compel the parties to bring their issue
" to trial, and to make a release Of the
road from ruinous quiescence, is a re-
"proach to our judicial system" Under
such circumstances in fact the people of
| Ell Dorado, who have been denied the
transportation facilities which this road
vas constructed to afford them, cannot be
expected to regard the case otherwise
than as a proof that Courts OF Justice may
be made the instruments of rank injustice
After more than two years of futile
complaint and remonstrance from the popu-
lation injured, the Court has at last been
moved to call on the receiver to show cause
why he does not operate the road. The
receiver may very probably answer that he
is not able to undertake the business of
operating railroad. Every one knows
that it is not possible to take up and carry
en- such an enterprise without large means
and preparation. Such an answer, however,
cannot DE regarded as in any way salts
factory, for it certainly was part of the
Courts duty to see that in putting the road
in the hands of a receiver it was not rem
dered altogether useless to the public.
There really was no justification for ap.
pointing a receiver in the case, and the
only effect OF that action could be to
bring everything to standstill. The
Court has prevented the road from earning
a dollar fer between two and three years,
and it has at the same time seriously in
jured whole community. And there is
not one solitary advantage or gain of any
kind to be set on the other side of the &C.
| count In fact more wanton, mischiev.
Gus, and in all respects irrational proceed
| ing, has never been recorded. Neither Of
the parties to the suit had anything to
gain from the destruction of the property.
The whole value of railroad depends
upon its continuous operation. Yet here
the Court, in a suit to determine the own
ership of such property, began by de-
stroying the property.
The case is the more remarkable because
it is impossible to find any adequate or
rational motive for the procedure adopted.
No legal point has been gained. No addi-
tional guarantee of any kind has been OBJ.
tanned. Nobody's interests have been
conserved. Everybody's interests have
been injured. And this is what has re.
suited from the action of a Court of
Equity. Certainly there is grim irony
in the situation which requires no illustra.
ton. We should like to have the Court s
view of the duties of receiver in such
case. As matter of fact the present
receiver has performed no duties. He has
acted simply and solely as an official OBJ.
struction. But if the object OF the Court
was to stop the operation of the railroad
flor what mysterious purpose it would be
useless to conjecture), it would have been
much cheaper to have made an order to
that effect, for then the expense of sham
receivership would have been avoided.
Why it should have been thought proper
or even permissible to stop the operation
of the road is, however, unintelligible. 1t
would seem that the public have no rights
which Courts of Equity consider it neces-
sary to respect, or even to take into consid-
GRAFTON. To deprive community of rail-
road transportation for two years has ap.
parently caused the Court in this case no
thought or conjunction, and this though
the deprivation has been wanton, purpose
less, and in all ways mischievous and
damaging
The people of Amador and Ell Dorado
and Sacramento counties are aware that
the Sacramento and Placerville Railroad
Company has offered to give bonds to any
reasonable amount, provided they were al
lowed to perform the service for which the
road was built. But instead of accepting
this proposition, which would not have
preludiced the case in any way, the Court
has preferred to let the road lie idle, re-
gardless of the wrong done to the people
by this course. Cases like this, however,
are not merely productive of loss and
trouble to the public. They have far more
grave and dangerous consequences, for
they engender contempt for and disbelief
in the Courts, and lead even intelligent
men to opinions which menace the sta,
biity of society. 1t cannot be expected
that an act which, if committed by a
despot, might well have stirred the injured
communities up to instruction, can be
done by Court of Equity without ere.
ating a very profound disturbance of
the public faith in legal tribunals.
When it is seen that an institu.
tion created for the protection and
relief of the citizen may be employed to
his injury, and this in the most wanton
and arbitrary manner, the fact is apt to
shake the general confidence in the law to
its foundations. And it must be said
plainly that in this case there does not
appear TO be the faintest suggestion of
| aense or iuatice IN tho side of 4bo ro,,4