Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-04-24


property of the citizens of Watertown
| and sell it to pay their judgments; they
moved earth and hades to grasp the
plunder and they invariably failed
failed because their claims for full paw
ment were based on fraud and were
corrupt at the core.
THE SUPREME COURTS DECISION OF 1874.
When the syndicate appealed in 1874
to the supreme court of the United
States to seize and sell the property of
the citizens of Watertown to pay their
claims, the court told them "the pros
pect of future success in collecting your
claim in full is perhaps not fattering. /"
The syndicate seemed to be ignorant of
the constitutions a palmer exposure of
1T cannot be made than what is set
forth in the language of the court.
By section 9, of the defendants char
ter, (priv. laws, ch. 237, p. 667) it is en-
acted as follows:
Nor shall any real or personal property of
any inhabitant of said city, or any individual
| or corporation, be levied upon or sold by vir-
| tue of any execution issued to satisfy or col
lect any debt obligation Or contract of said
| city.
| The process or order asked for is in the ma
| ture of an execution; the property proposed
| 70 De sold is that of an inhabitant of the city;
| the purpose to which it is to be applied is the
| satlsfa ctiOn of a debt of the city The pro-
posed remedy is in direct violation of a stat
| ute IN existence when the debt was incurred
ana MADE known to the creditor with the
| same sOlemnity as the statute which gave
| power to contract the debt. All laws in exist
| ence when the contract is made are referred
| TO IN 1t and form a part of the measure of the
| obligation of the one party and of the right
acquired by the other. Of statutes which are
| IN existence when the debt was contracted
| the creditor must take notice, and if all the
| remedies are preserved to him. which were
| in existence when the debt was contracted
ne has no cause of complaint. We cannot,
| however, find authority for so dOing-and we
acquiesce in the conclusion of the court be-
low. that the bill must be dismissed. Judg-
| ment affirmed.
In 1882 the syndicate, seeing the time
fast approaching when the last judg-
ment obtained against the city would
expire by the statute of limitations,
aroused themselves to make desper-
ate effort to Overpower the city in the
courts and clutch the tgn,s fatnus at last.
THEY APPEALED TO THE SUPREME COURT OF
THE UNITED STATES AGAIN,
and pleaded their inability to entrap
the city of Watertown because of the
laws of Wisconsin, which laws, they
claimed, were unconstitutional and
void. This syndicate all along had an
idea that they could induce courts to
overrule all law and constitutional pro-
visions, just as they themselves overrul-
ed all considerations of equity and exact
ed the full claim of their bonds. When
the bonds were issued the general stat
utes of Wisconsin provided, and have
ever since provided, for the resignation
! of the mayor and aldermen of the city
of Watertown in common with those of
all other cities. Section 2, chapter 2.
revised statutes of 1S49, section 2. chap
ter IA, revised statutes of 1858, aid sec
ton 1852, revised statutes, 1878, provide
! as follows:
Every office shall become vacant on the hap
| pening of either of the following events be-
| fore the expiration of the term of such Office
| L, The death of the incumbent. 2, His resig-
nation. !, His removal. 4, His ceasing to be
an inhabitant of this state, or if the office be
local. his ceasing to be an inhabitant Of the
district, county, town, city, or village for
which he shall have been elected or appoint
ed, or within which the duties of his Office are
required to be discharl ed 5, His conviction
OF an infamous crime, or of any Offense in
volving violation of his official oath.
designations shall be made as follows: l.
BY the governor and ieutenant-governor to
the legislature. z, By other state officers to
the governor. 8. By senators and assembly
men to the presiding officers of their respect
i've houses, who shall Immediately transmit
the same to the governor, and to the governor
during the recesses of the legislature. 4, By
all other officers who hold their offices by cleo
Clon: except Ofncers elected at town meetings,
! to the officer or officers respectively author
lied by law to order special election to fill
such offices respectively.
These provisions were in force when
the bonds were issued and are part of
the contract, the risk the bondholder
ran In 1882 of not always finding a NAV
or or alderman in Watertown Though
by due diligence he might have found
them every year since 1859 on whom
to serve processes of the court, the same
risk he ran in 1858 and 1855 when the
bonds were issued and has done so ever
since. Of this the creditor must take
notice. "All the remedies are pre-
served to him which were in existence
when his debt was contracted he has
no cause of complaint"
The syndicate desired the court to set
aside the provisions of the act of con-
gress of17S9, directing the United States
courts to respect and hold valid the
laws of the respective states, and also
to disregard the many rulings of the
United States supreme court made in
accordance with that law of congress.
COULD ALWAYS HAVE OBTAINED SERVICE.
There has never been year since
the city was defrauded that the bond
holders could not by due diligence have
obtained service on the city authorities
OF Watertown; every year those officers
were uuly elecIeQ, Qual1ned and dis
charged their duties according to law,
and that law was, or ought to have
been, we'll known to the syndicate of
our bondholders, and certainly it was
to all the courts.of the land The bond
syndicate suffers no wrong at the hands
of the city of Watertown, or of the su-
preme court of the United States. That
honorable court has decided that the
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAS RUN
in the case of our city VS.. her bondhold-
ers, and verify if any political party, for
any cause Whatever, had heaped upon
that court "a court which e-eminently
represents the justice, the wisdom, the
dignity and majesty of the laws of our
country-one-half the vituperation that
our disgusted bondholders have done
for this righteous verdict, they would
surely have been denounced as San
archists'' and renegades, The payment
OF the railroad bonded debt Of Water
town In full was an utter impossibility,
totally beyond the ability of the city to
accomplish, and surely an attempt to
collect the levy to pay that debt would
have driven every inhabitant from the
city and reduced it to desolation. Our
city has suffered above measure in this
victimization, but
WATERFOWL WAS NEVER A REPUDIATOR