The herald., 1896-08-08

validity of the Davies franchise was
sustained as a separate corporation. Ac-
| cordingly one or two of the old horse
cars were resurrected, and they have for
| some weeks been jogging over the line
at half-hourly intervals for the purpose
| of holding the franchise. The council
| did, however, advertise. the franchise
| for sale, but the conditions were such
| that the Traction people refused to bid,
| and it would have been gobbled up by
| the Consolidated company had not the
| board of public works rejected all bids,
| on the statement of the Boyle Heights
! representatives that the only object of
| the Consolidated people was to tie up
| the franchise for eighteen months and
| thus shut off competition with the First
! street line for that length of ime. The
| Boyle Heights people then came before
| the council with a petition. asking that
| the Davies franchise be declared for
| feited on account of compliance
with it's terms. When this petition came
up for action vigorous objection was
raised. 1t was represented that Mr.. w.
J. Brodrick had an interest in the fran
| chise and, further, that. ,as Mr.. Davies
was absent in Europe, it would be un-
fair to take snap judgment on him. And
here the matter has been hanging fire
ever since.
When the board met yesterday morn
| ing Mr.. Wells, representing the petition
ers. urged that the franchise be declared
| forfeited without any further delay. The
| opera ton of the mule cars was mere
subterfuge to keep out the other COM
pany. Mr. Davies had sold out his fran
chise to the Electric company and had
no further Fights in the premises, ana IT
was not right to allow great public i'm
provement to be blocked by such meth
ods.
al -aI tn, he
same strain. He declared that the Da-
vies franchise was null and void. The
line had been absorbed by the Electric
company, which had removed the tracks
and substituted its own. Before his de-
parture for Europe Mr.. Davies had
stated that he had sold out his franchise.
and the deed was now in escrow in a
bank in this city. Mr.. Workman said
that he had offered the president of the
Consolidated line $4,000 to build out
Fourth street, and the offer had been re
fused. He protested against the block
ing of a great public Improvement by the
tiimsy subterfuge of running couple of
mule cars over the electric line at half
hourly intervals. He declared that the
Davies franchise would have no stand
ing in court. and said that all that the
people wanted was for the council to de-
clare the Davies franchise forfeited. ad
vertise the franchise asked for without
any strings on it. and declared that the
people would make the legal fight in
case one was raised.
Mr.. Harris, representing Mr.. Davies,
protested against what he called the
confiscation of his clients property. Mr.
Davies was still interested in the fran
chise to the extent of many thousands
of dollars, and the council had no right
to wipe out his interests. The proper
thing for the petitioners to do was to Sc
cure the consent of the attorney
and institute proceedings in the courts.
where they belonged, and where he in
timated that they would finally have to
be determined.
Mr.. Workman vigorously protested
against any delay. as the matter was
urgent, and every day counted.
Chairman Munson at this point said
that there was no disposition on the
part of the board to retard matters and
the petitioners had no right to antici-
pate that they would not be fairly treat
ed. This matter could not be rushed
through. There was a certain routine
that had to be followed, and this was all
there was TO it, He instanced the past
action of the board f. rejecting all bids
on the statement of MI. Workman that
the Consolidated company did not in
board was determined to do the right
thing. The members had been sharply
criticised for this action. but this made
no difference; they were determined to
do their duty, and the people of Boyle