The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-06-14
BOTH SIDES HEARD.
LOgansport Railroad Route Before
Board of Works.

LOgansport Railroad Route Before
Board of Works.
A large delegation of property owners
and interested citizens appeared before the
Board of Public Works yesterday morning
to protest against the granting to the In
dianapolis, Logansport & Chicago Railroad
Company the right to enter the city in
and over the route proposed by them in
the petition filed with the board.
Frank Maus first spoke to the board, pre-
senting his objections to the board grant
ing the petition of this company. He said
the city of Indianapolis had given it's credit
to the extent of 5000 for the building
of the Belt railroad. and at the time of
its construction it was to facilitate the en-
trance OF new roads into the city. If the
Belt privileges had been granted to other
parties, 1t was very unfortunate for the
city. He said this line is proposing to cut
through one of the best parks, and he be-
lieved this is wrong, would endanger the
drives in the park, one driveway being
only fifty feet from the road proposed. A
great damage would be done to the prop
erty of a class of laboring people who can
not and are not able to be present on ac-
count OF their employment, to present their
grievances. A large number OF these peo-
would be TO their property. III you do not
build vfaducts or elevate the tracks, all
TdlIrOdu trhckS should be punched tOgetnef,'
said he. w are in favor of this COM
pany condemning property parallel- torfthe
seit railroad II they cannot use the Belt.
A new schoolhouse has been erected on
the corner of Washington street and Cali
fornia street. This new road would ma
teriai,y interfere with the attendance at
Scnool 1t was the sense of thet- meeting
held last night that they come in the
line of the Belt, and not by a route which,
would divide the city from east to west.
Inc effort TO get the Big Four tracks re-
moved from Missouri street will never sue
coed If you grant this company the right
10 come In on the line proposed by them"
John S. Spann next spoke. and said there
were many reasons why the petition should
not be granted. II think that this board
has no legal or moral right TO take one
persons private rights and deliver them
over free gratis &c, other persons or cor
poration," said he. ut is said there Is a
public reason for affordfng facilities for
another railroad. Those reasons are grant
ed, but Ii is not necessary that this rail-
road should enter here. There are better
places where so many objections do not
lie. L favor the road coming in alongside
the Belt down as far as the .Vandalia rail
road. One of the serious objections is the
effect it would have on two schoolhouses.
The effect would be dangerous. 1t is said
ages done. but 1t cannot pay for three or
-FOUR squares each way, and | think the
damages VIII extend for three or four
squares each side of the tracks. We do not
want our rights granted away. The same
arrangement which would grant this route
would grant them the right to come down
pennsylvania street or Meridian street,
William l.. Elder said the meeting held
was in no sense unfriendly to theT inter
ests of the city. He wanted the railroad
to come in, but felt that the wrong route
had been presented, cutting off school chill
dren, spelling the park, and there is, great
oD1ectlon TO the distractions that will ex-
list on all the cross streets. washington
street will have two roads instead of one.
This would cause a demand for a yiaduct.
William II. English was emphatically op-
posed TO granting the new road the right
TO come In over the route proposed. He
tives of this road that the citizens were
not hostile to the enterprise at all. They
thought well of It, but in the shape that
1t is proposed it is a very serious matter,
and trespasses upon rights which call for
serious consideration before what they ask
is granted. He said: II would call atten-
that in all the larger cities of the coun-
try there is a strong and growing sentiment
Is a sentiment growing rapidly. and / think
1t only a question of time when 1t WILL be
neGe ss 10 90 something to relieve our
ground. This is an important matter, and
should be considered seriously before an
Consequently, If any means can be devised
by which they can get to the point de-
sired hope that question will be consid-
route: 1t necessarily conflicts with exist
ing rights. Putting down tracks on certain
streets virtually destroys that street and
cuts Off access of the property owner en-
tirely to his property. Such property would
be damaged to the extent of one-third of
Its present value. If any plan can be de-
vised by which they can get in over the
Belt or alongside the Belt or other tracks,
IL would be infinitely better than the route
now proposed. When it comes, if it does,
10 a question of granting a petition of this
company, this board must guard public and
the Board of Trade that this petition now
pending be granted on condition that Sc
curity should be given to protect the city
from loss That does not go far enough.
You must protect the citizens as well as
the city. They should give an ample bond
Win biIar . a eiven nhe 1ompsetl bnnd or the rod
zens.'
thing not touched upon, which was that if
the board grants the right of way to this
railroad proposed and allows it to come
down through the streets it asks, there is
another railroad that is already built and
doing business in this city that wants an
entrance. The Monon has come down and
tried to get an entrance into india apolis-
a road that has done a great deal OF good
for this city, a trunk line of Indiana, and
the board would have to be consistent and
give the Monon a right of way into the
city II 1T gave the new road an entrance.
MIR. Talbot. president of the proposed new
road, said, in answer to the objections made
by property owners and citizens along the
route of the proposed road:
Il wish to be brief in what / have to say
in regard to this matter. / am here with
my associates from Logansport, Russia
vile and a number of points along the
AlAAC VI l1Ao HAopOCEd IOdQ ~ test tUG us
position OF this board and the people of
indianapolis as 10 whether the Indianapo-
lis, LogansDort q Chicago railroad Shall
be permitted to enter the city. Two years
ago, at the time of filing a petition, we were
not ready for construction, and we request
ed your predecessors, the old board, to let
the petition lie until we were ready to be-
gin the work OF construction, but owing to
the depression in the money market and
the reverses with which we met, somehow
we did not reach a time when we felt JUS
titled in asking the old board TO take ac-
ffn The E0Zfrff x~oz M anetn MO. -
but more recently we have been industri-
Gus in undertaking 10 prosecute this work
and build this line from Indianapolis to the
city Of Logansport. This is not a new
project, wish TO say. IL has the merit of
being familiar to the members OF this
board, and the citizens of this State. and
the people along the line. and il has been
talked of. thought OF and dreamed of by
the citizens of Logansport for twenty
years. 1t Is seventy-one miles from Lo-
gansport 10 the city OF indianapolis. The
nearest route Is eighty-One miles. Oyer the
Iandalia ro1fQ the -si-A-nCa IA nfnafy-o~a