The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-03-07

signed chiefly for a court house. And il
was well and expressly understood
intended and designed by said trustees
and company, that said public square and
addition thereto were for a court house
and dedicated and left for the use and
control of the county only, and this was
matter of public notoriety and well
known to the Inhabitants. And plain
tiff says, that by operation of law, said
plat of the addition to the town of Lex
ington, from the time it was made
acknowledged, certified and deposited
with the recorder, vested the title and
control of said public square" in plain :
tiff, Lafayette county, and said lots l,
2, 3, 4, and 6, having been added to
the public square, as aforesaid, the right
to use, possess, aud control the same
was also vested in plaintiff, Lafay ette
county. And plaintiff says that said
Lafayette couHty has had the uninter-
rupted possession OF said public square,
as enlarged by the addition of said ots
l, 2, 3, 4, and g, fr 1m the Goth day of
May. 1899, and before, up to sometime
in August, 1859, Ia period of more than
ten years. when defendant, as will be
hereinafter stated, wrongfully and forci-
bly, invaded plaintiffs possession.
That the better to preserve the evidence
OF the rights of Lafayette county to said
six lots in said block 81, and the use for
which they were intended as a part of the
public square, said trustees at a meeting
held on the first day OF January, 1S4s, by
an order, directed a deed to be mac e
for said block AZ, specifying the use in
/ fnr dnA
public square for county purposes, only
to be used for the erection of county or
public buildings, and not subject to the
control and erection of buildings by the
city authorities, a copy of which marked
''B' is filed with said petition.
That on the 21st day of July, 1850,
Jas. II. Graham, William Anderson and
William Spratt, three of the surviving
trustees, jaime Aull having departed
this life, made, executed and ackuowl-
edged and caused to be placed of
record deed to Lafayette county for said
lots l, 2, 3, A, 5 and 6, in block 81, a copy of
which is filed with said petition marked
&C." by the title in fee simple in said lots
was conveyed to Lafayette county as an
addition to the public square, in order
and for the puspose that the county of
Lafayette might hold, keep and enjoy the
same for the use, benefit and ornament of
the public square, and that said county
might erect thereon court house, or
such other public buildings as the county
might choose or cause to be erected.
That plaintiff, Lafayette county, having
had possession and control of said public
square as enlarged by said addition from
1888 or 1889, aforesaid, the said town OF
| Lexington and said addition thereto hav-
| ing in the meantime been included within
the city of Lexington and made one city
by an act of Incorporation, plaintiff,
| Lafayette county. at great cost caused
court house to be erected on said public
square, and proceeded likewise at great
cost and expense to grade the public
square, as enlarged as aforesaid. and to
enclose the same by a neat substantial
plank fence, and intended further to i'm
prove said square by means OF grass and
ornamental shade trees and otherwise,
when, by ordinance of defendant, the
mayor, councllmen and citizens of the
city of ton,-Franklln street, on
which said public square as enlarged, was
bounded south, was widened so as to
include in said street sixty feet of said
public square, extending across the same
east and west, and by further ordinance
a committee was authorized and en-
powered to locate a market house on that
part of the public square added to Frank
lin street, and directed to grade that part
OF the public square added to said
Franklin street to suit the city street
grades. That under said ordinance the
agents, officers and committee of defen-
dant, said city, wrongfully and with force
entered upon the public square, enclosed
as aforesaid and in the possession of
Lafayette county, and pulled and tore
down the fence and enclosure and with
ploughs, scrapers and other instruments
tore up and carried away large quantities
of earth from said square, destroying the
grade of that portion of the puplic square
done by county.
And defendant, said city, by its agents,
officers and committee, are still employed
aud proceeding to further tear up and
deface the public square and to cause
large market house to be erected thereon,
and unless prevented and enjoined from
further proceeding, under said ordinance,
will do and occasion to plaintiff, Lafay-
ette county, great and irreparable mis-
chief and damage.
Plaintiff therefore prays an order
enjoiniug and restraining the defendant,
said city of Lexington, its officers, agents
and committee, and all Others from any
further trespass on the public square in
said city of Lexington as enlarged to
embrace said lots l, 2, 3, 4, and 6, in
block 81, and further proceeding under
said city ordinance to grade said part of
said public square or to erect thereon a
market house, and from all other acts
interfering with the full and peaceable
possession of the plaintin, Lafayette
county, of the whole of the public square
as enlarged to embrace six lots in block
81. And praying for three hundred
dollars damages sustained by plaintiff,
Lafayette county, by reason of the tres
pass and grievances aud wrongs aforesaid,
and that the Injunction or final bearing
be made perpetual. (Signed.) Saml l..
Sawyer, Circuit Attorney"
To which is appended an affidavit,
sworn to and subscribed by William
Spratt as agent for plaintiff, Lafayette
county, before a justice Iof the peace for
said county.
On which petition writ of summons
was issued and endorsed by the clerk of
the circuit court of Lafayette county, in
the name of the state of Missouri, COM
manding the sheriff OF Lafayette county
to summon the mayor, councilmen and
citizens of the city of Lexington to appear
before such circuit court on the first day
OF the November term thereof, 1850, at the
court house, in the city of Lexington, to
answer the complaint of Lafayette county,
as set forth in the foregoing petition.
Such writ of summons was dated the 4th
day of October, 1850. and signed by Lewis
w. Smallwood. clerk. Which writ was
duly served by Alfred Nickols, sheriff, by
NJ. w. Withers, deputy sheriff, by reading
the same to Elijah Littlejohn, mayor of
the city of Lexington, on the 18th day of
October, 1859.
On the presentation OF such petition to
the Hon. Henderson Young, then the
Judge of the circuit court within and for
Lafayette county, on the 4th day of Octo- !
ber, 1850. and on the hearing of the same,