Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1895-06-18
THE STATE WINS.
LOUISVILLE AND NASHVILLE RAILROAD
CAN NOT ACQUIRE THE c., o. & S. w.
So Decides the Court Of Appeals-The Com
stitution Upheld in Prohibiting the ABB
sortion of One Parallel Line by Another.

| bOfbiOn OF One RaraIlel Line DIV AnOtneEs
FRANKFORT, KY, June 13.-The
Court of Appeals to-day unanimous
ly decided in favor of the Common
wealth in the case of the Common
wealth against the Louisville and
Nashville Railroad Company to pre-
vent the absorption by the Louisville
and Nashville of the Chesapeake,
Ohio and Southwestern. The opinion
was handed down with the approval
of the full Appellate bench. 1t was
written by Judge Lewis, and is in his
usual clear and vigorous style.
Three years ago deal was ar
ranged by which the Louisville and
Nashville and Illinois Central rail-
roads were to absorb the Chesapeake,
Ohio and Southwestern railroad. The
Louisville and Nashville was to ac-
quire that part of the system extend
from Louisville to Fulton, KY, while
the Illinois Central was to take the
remainder, from Fulton to Memphis.
| This consolidation was objected to by
Gov Brown, inasmuch as that part
of the Chesapeake, Ohio and South
western which the Louisville and
Nashville was to absorb was parallel
to the Louisville and Nashville, the
Constitution forbidding the purchase
of one parallel line by another. Suit
to prevent the deal was brought be-
fore Judge Edwards at Louisville
and he decided in favor of the Com
monwealth. An appeal was taken
and the decision to-day is the out
come.
The effect of the decision will be
to give to merchants and shippers
generally the advantages that natu-
raj y accrue from competition and as
precedent to prevent any other posi-
bly, prospective deals whereby hard
ships might have been wrought upon
the people. The Illinois Central
Railroad Company has expressed a
desire to take the entire Chesapeake,
Ohio and Southwestern line, and as
the Louisville and Nashville will have
to relinquish its claim upon the prop
erty the likelihood is that still an
other effect will be one more indie
pendent railroad for Louisville. The
decision is a great victory for Gov.
Brown, who all along contended that
the Constitution prohibited the pro
posed consolidation, and the Appel
late Courts Endorsement of his views
is, of course, very gratifying to him
After the opinion had been rendered
he said
"The decision of the Court of APP
peals is profoundly gratifying to me-
1t is a great-very great-victory for
the Constitution and for the people.
This case has given me many anX-
ious and uneasy days and nights. /
am rejoiced now over the result. Il
is great triumph for Louisville, and
particularly, Southern and Western
Kentucky. With the terminal facil
tiles owned by the L. g. n. at Louis
vile and those it would have acquired
in the proposed deal, that city would
have been bottled up and at the
mercy of the l.. & n The success
of the L. & N. in the attempted
scheme would have laid a tax OH
every bushel of wheat, corn, oats-iB
short on every pound of freight sent
from or to Western or Southern Ken
lucky for all time to come. The
whole of that section would have
been completely at the mercy of the
railroad in freight charges, and its
exactions would have para lied the
agricultural interests of those most
fertile districts. More than that,
with the vastly increased power the
L. Il n. would have secured by this
proposed consolidation, it would have
become one of the most gigantic mon
opolies of the age. 1t would have
been, too, political factor. 1t could
have dictated nominations in State
conventions, named United States
Senators, and successfully manipu
lated Legislatures. Already it is a
most formidable power in the State,
but the consolidation with the G. o,
IL S. W. would have made it the mas
ter of the Commonwealth, and it
could have remorselessly levied trib-
ute in every direction. But am glad
to know that the constitution is VIC
torious and that the people have won.
1t is by far the most important case
ever decided by the Court ofAppeals-
Messrs. Humphrey and Davie have
managed the case with the greatest
skill and ability. No other attorney
had anything to do with its prepare
tion or argument"
The Corbett- Eitzsimmons Fight.