The Globe-republican., 1897-06-24

Important Decision In the O. 5. Dis
trict Court.
In the United States District Court, at
Wichita, on Monday, Judge Williams
rendered decision in suit that will af-
feet the bonds of some townships and
counties in Western Kansas.
Anne F. Brown brought suit against
Ingalls, township, Gray county, for the
payment of interest due on $4,000 of
refunding bonds, issued by Ingalls, town.
ship. These bonds had been issued in
lieu Of a similar amount of bonds au-
thorized for the building of sugar mill
at Ingalls,. A few years ago, it will be
remembered, that several townships in
Western Kansas had been struck with
the s'sugar industry craze, and voted
bonds for the construction of sugar mills.
The making of sugar from sorghum or
sugar cane, such as was grown here, was
fruitless job, but with the deception
practiced in the ssmanufacture" of sugar
many of the bonds were sold in the mar
ket. Some of the townships refunded
these bonds, and in the case of Ingalls,
township the bond holders built 81 900
flour mill at Ingalls,, in compensation of
the $15, 900 of bonds first issued, and
from the proceeds of the sale of these
bonds in refunding bonds. The suits
brought by townships to avoid payment
of this class of bonds have been gener-
ally defeated, but in this case, Messrs.
Sutton and Madison of Dodge City, who
represent Ingalls, township, have been
successful. The court holds that the
bonds were void because both sides of
the proposition had not been submitted
to the people. The vote by which the
bonds were carried was canvassed by the
township board, and not by the board of
county commissioners. In the refunding
of the original bonds the proposition of
the sugar bonds was not stated. In vot-
ing upon these bonds the voter simply
decided to cast his vote upon PROPOSE
ton to refund bonds. A refunding bond
is taking up of an old debt by compro-
mise.
The court in view of these irregular
tiles decided against the holder of the
bonds. The decision will affect two
townships in Ford county, that issued
sugar bonds uron the same proposition.
Ford township issued $4,000 and Bloom
township $4,000 in sugar bonds, and they
were refunded in the same manner as
the Ingalls, township bonds.
The syndicate that received the SIS, 900
sugar bonds, and the proceeds therefrom,
by the sale of the refunding bonds, did
not use more than half the original sum
from the sale of the bonds in the con-
of this flour mill at Ingalls,,
although it was stated at the time that
the -four mill was built at the. cost pro-
posed in the building of the sugar mill.
When the people of Ingalls, saw that
the sugar business was failure, they
the plan of having some bene-
fit from the use of the bonds they had
voted, and rather than lose the entire
amount of the bonds then in possession
Of the ''sugar mill syndicate, they had
no alternative but to take whatever the
syndicate was willing to give up. That
they got as much as flour mill worth
half as much as the par value of the
bonds was then deemed a wise termina-
ton of a predicament they saw no way
of getting out Of. And at this time,
since the participants of that bond
scheme and swindle have either died or
removed from the county, that the peo-
pie who are left in the township to pay
the debts, should seek to avoid the pay
ment of interest and principal on debt
they had no responsibility in contract
ing. is one Of those things that is not
Besides Ingalls, township
has no profit in the flour mill, which is
lot in running order now, and the mill
ownership is much in doubt.
A second flour mill and cheese factory
was built in Ingalls, with $4,000 subscribed
by the township for this purpose. This
mill is located north of the railroad track
in Ingalls,. The mill built from the
sugar bonds money is south of the rail-
road track. 1t has not been in use for
years, and some of the machinery
has been ''gutted.'' The ownership of
the mill was claimed by Hamilton, one
of the men who engineered the bond
steal, but the mill is about to be sold un.
der mortgage. The township has never
had any benefit from this mill.
It was Tennessee editor who, when
an old subscriber died leaving fourteen