The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1882-12-28

legal claim against the Cairo and st. Louis
railroad, the time to have secured it was
when the road was taken for the benefit of
its creditors" that sin purchasing the
road the new company had no reason to
take the claim into consideration" and that
ITO expect it to pay claim Of many thou.
sand dollars for Its defuuct predecessors
voluntarily, is to suppose that the new com.
pany is made up Of benevolent gentlemen,
having more money than they know what
to do with"
The BULLETIN has always made it q
point to defend the people of Cairo aud
their representatives, against the unjust as
PERSONS Of all enemies and their appoo.
glsts whenever opportunity has been offer
ed; It has made it its special duty to meet
every assault made upon them by the off.
GERS of the Cairo and 81. Louis railroad
company or the st. Louis and Cairo rail.
| road company, which, it should be always
borne in mind, is one and the same thing,
except that the latter is composed of the
more "shrewed," not to say bluntly the
more unscrupu Gus, members of the former;
bat The BULLETIN has arcely ever, we
may say never, referred to any of the un-
| pleasant truths connected with this whole
stale and tainted and troublesome subject
| except to correct misstatements of them, un-
justly rejecting upon the people Of Cairo
and their representations, made by tho otli
| GERS Of the company or their misguided ap-
biologists. Reference to these truths 'for
the lortieth time" was made necessary by
the laundering item evidently dictated by
Mr.. Hamilton to St. Louis Post Dispatch
reporter; reference TO them this, the forty
first time, if the Argus figures be correct, IS
necessary for reasons above stated.
TIE BULLETIN has not at any time de.
ned that the old company was bankrupt
at the time it permitted its right Of way to
crumbe into the Mississippi river; but it
has asserted, and miint.ins now, that in per-
hitting the evee to be thus swept away the
company forfeited its right of way into the
| city and became directly and exclusively
responsible, in equity if not in law, for all
the fearful consequences the danger to
the life and property of the city, and all
the evil subsequent effects naturally result
ing to community from such an ordeal AS
that through which Cairo was compelled to
pass. To say that the compsny's bank
ruptcy was an excuse for its failure to msn-
tain the levee will not do at all. As THE
BULLETIN stated before, hundred dollars
or less, used properly at the right tim,
would have saved the emblnkment. The
| company could certainly have raised this
sum even though it was bankrupt, But the
important point in this connection is, that
the company itself did not offer its bank
ruptcy as an excuse for inaction--it did NOT,
as the Aargus says, "assert its inability TO
do the work required On the contrary
the company asserted its ability and will
ngness to Immediately do the work re.
CURED. Letters and dispatches were re-
ceived almost daily by prominent citi-
zens here from officers of the COM
pany, saying that construction trains
would be here to do the work.
If we remember right, Alderman Halli.
day went TO Springfield, or IVES there at the
time, and receiyea from one authorized to
speak Tor the company the positive assur-
ance that the work would be done promptly
II the excuse kindly made by the Argus,
for the cOmpany's failure to comply with
the most important condition upon which
it was granted right Of way into the city
Is good, il the company was
bankrupt, then it is perhaps not TOO much
to assume that the company knew it,
though there is some ground for the belief
that 1t didn't; and then the prom
Uses to do the work could
have been made tor no other pur-
pose than the most diabollcal one OF de-.
laying action on the part of Others to pre-
vent the overflow OF the city, and to bring
about even worse results than did occur.
That these hypocritcal promises did pre-
vent all effort on tbs part of Others to save
the old levec is fact commonly known
and admitted.
The BULLETIN has not at any time as
serted that the city had any legal claim
against the old company, Had there been
such a claim the authorities would doubt.
less have secured it when the road was
taken for the benefit of its credi,ors."
| Whatever "claim" the city had against the
company on this account was purely equit-
able, indirect, but resulted directly from