Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-11-07
TROUBLE ABOUT A TRACK.

sharp Trick on the Pert OF the h..
&. X. 4 N.-RaiIs Laid at Night Re-
moved I'm the Day.
The feelings of enthusiastic friendliness
between Davenport end the B., G. r s.
N. road which we're the cu,grcwth OF the
advent of that road into Davenport BY
virtue OF its purchase of the Davenport,
Iowa & Dakota road. are little strained
Just now. The road has been in great
need of better track facilities in Daven.
port. and during Thursday night put down
rails under cover of darkness. The diff
culties are thus described:
Friday morning it came to the knowl-
edge of the chief of police that some time
Thursday night. between the hours of IL
p. m. and daylight, the trackmen of the
road named had laid second track on the
north side of its main line west of War
rem street. The Milwaukee has track
extending along the main line on Its north
side almost to that place, and this B., G.
r. & N. track leads out of the main line
beyond the stub end of this Milwaukee
hold or 10 cars.
Some time ago the B.. c. R. & N. was
engaged in taking dir: from borrow. pits
on the north side of its line at the place
where this second track was built Thurs
day night. Water collected in them and
q nuisance was created. The city asked
that no more dirt be removed from those
pits, and the road plessan ~ complied.
ha oitp tha
of the land abutting on the track there
the right to dump street clesnings in
those pits and the adjacent low ground
and to use the accretlon as a street, ex-
tending east and west on the north side
of the B., G r. & N. main line between
Warren and Mill streets. The property
was owned by N. d. Snyder and the heirs
| of the Grant estate. and they readily gave
permission. The fill was mostly made,
though some work of that kind is still in
progress there. When it wss discovered
Friday that gang of men had laid track
on this new accretion it was at once be-
lieved that the B Z. r. s N. had stolen
a midnight march on the city.
General Agent Knapp. of the C R.
& N. was interviewed By a Democrat
man on the matter in the afternoon. He
said that the B.. c. h. s. n is and has
been sadly crsmped for yard room, and
that it has found it nect sssry to construct
a second track somewh r. A reading OF
the ordinance the officials of the com
psny judged to give them the right to lay
this track as they did at this place It
was laid at night because it was not prac
ticable to lay it in the daytime The
Milwaukee and the B., c. r & n both
use the line there up TO 10 o'clock p. m.
| or after. and the work was delayed until
that hour that traffic might not be i'm
peded He denied that force of men
was imported, as claimed by the city, and
secrettd in the lumber yard till night, but
said the construction train and tools and
material came in early in the daytime and
stood on siding till night, and that the
regular trackmen who live and are oper.
ated from here did the work. He denies
that there was any attemp. at secrecy on
the part of the road, and says that it was
not considered necessary to ask the ci.y's
leave to do the work because the road
| understood that Il bad full right 10 make
| the Improvement.
In the afternoon Mayor Ficke callt d
| together with himself Aid. Smith and
Eckhardt, Chief Kessler. City Attorney
| Sharon ard Charles Whitaker, represent.
| ing the Grant estate, and went into secret
| session with Them in his office. Mr..
| Knapp was also present, but not at this
inner meeting, and soon after left After
consulting upon the matter, and reading
the ordinance granting the right OF way
t. the B.. c. r. s. N. road, they all went
TO the switch whose construction is com.
| planned OF, and will make a thorough in>
v-stigstion of the premises and all incl
dents in connection with the building of
the offending siding.
At about o'clock yesterday afternoon
by order of Mayor Ficke and upon the
advice of City Attorney Sharon, gang
of men were put to work. with crowbars
and jacks, and every inch of rail and
every tie with the exception of half
dozen that were fast beneath the car
wheels, were removed. This leaves four
or five freight cars standing upon tine re.
Gently filed ground. and entirely apart
from any track
Mayor Ficke states that to his mind
there was no other conclusion to be drawn
from the compsny's action than that it
attempted in the dsrkness of night to
steal a march upon the city in being the
first to make use of the filed ground and
that in the premises be saw no course
open to the city but the one taken.