Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-05-25

There has been considerable correspon,,
dence in the newspapers during ,nsf fhe
few DAYS respecting the refusal on
Excise Board to grant q bar-room nos 80
to the American Hotel. in which tne podr
prietress has been spoken ofasa oulp,.ect
person. Her transactions In that rss:f-ba
were with myself and Mr. Cooper. ana II a. IL
sire to state the facts exactly rs tneS
cured: .ho
/ was. of course, anxious to have wy wv
question tested as to whether tho Ee0.s -
Board would take the responsibility OF "a
fusing license to persons who exercise
their lawful right of paying their hquJi,J
license tax in coupons or whether ~ VIZ.
not. What | understood TO be o requesnS
from the nroprietress Of the Amerlcan
Hotel that | should pay her bar-room A.
cense with coupons reached me, ana Nj
Cooper Immediately paid il III money,
placing with the Treasurer at the sam
time an equal amount of coupons. WITHIN
day or two afterwards we received lnlVl-
nation from the proprietress that sne
wished TO withdraw the deposit OF cou-
pOns and have her payment one OF mont
only. We argued 10 her representative
that she was allowing herself to be " bun,
dozedn out of her plain legal right anu
we urged and advised him to advise her "
stand upon her rights.
After come negotiation Mr.. Cooper ana
agreed that we would pay the whole OF ne.
hotel license and half of her bar license II
she would stand firm. On this, with heI
eyes wide open. she agreed to stand upon
her position. We did not believe that the
board would deny to any citizen, paTtlcu-
larry lady dependent upon her daily eA-
ertons as proprietress OF this hotel 10, net
living and that of her children, we dld n9t
believe. say. that they could possibly %
induced 70 refuse her a license merely De
callse she chose TO exercise her rights ~
they are given her by the law. So that u
never entered into the mind Of either MT.
Cooper or myself that she ran the slightest
risk Of being unable TO get her license III
the name of some other person, If the oo9ru
should choose TO refuse her the License De-
cause she chose to claim her lawful rights.
IL is true that our negotiations were Win
Mr.. Davis, in whose name the License was
to be taken first. but we understood per
fectly that the license was really tor the
prophecies Of the hotel.
10 our very great surprise the EXCISE
Board refused the proprietress OF the hotel
through Mr.. Davis, upon the first appilei-
ton. Thereupon the coupons were with-
drawn and second payment OF the license
tax in money was made and fresh appli-
cation was made for license IN the name
or the proprietress herself. | learned thst
it was probable that this application would
be refused and / employed Mr.. {. ,.
Stringfellow. paying him the fee he named,
to 90 before the board and show them that
it was their duty to grant her the license
He carried before them petition signed
by. I think, as many "a twenty OF our yea f,
ing citizens. which stated that the hotel
was one which should be licensed; that the
lady was one who should he licensed and
requesting that license should be grant
ed. Notwithstanding this The license was
still refused.
The proprietress then made claim upon
Us Of having cotton herlnto trouble "hlcn
we should see her through. We ut once
asked her TO state what she considered to
be her damage, which she figured M. and
Mr.. Cooper Immediately paid her and we
have her written acknowledgment that we
have satisfied all legal and equitable de-
mands upon US. WILLIAM j.. ROYAL