The San Francisco call., 1898-12-10
WATER COMPANY DEFENDANT
HIGH HANDED PROCEEDINGS
 ALLEGED.
Corporation Said to Have Shut Of the Supply From Homes of Those Who Gave It
 Offense.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

SAN RAFAEL, Dec. 9.-The Ameri-
 can Land and Trust Company is cor
 poration supposed to suppl the resi-
 dents of Larkspur with water and does
 business under the State laws. Some
 time, go several citizens had a dis
 agrEslSnt with c. w. Wright, the
 president of the company. Other citi-
 Zens took a hand. As a result of this
 friction eight or ten suits have been
 filed a. inst the company; writs of
 mandate have been asked for; the com
 pany has been in court and had de-
 cisions renderc l against it; appeal
 has been taken; several suits are ready
 for ming, and at one time towns
 people had to go without water for
 three days.
 The trouble began about two years
 ago. At that time there was an at-
 tempt on the oart of several persons
 to form a school district and sell a piece of swamp land to the county for an exorbitant price. The deal went through to the point of payment. Then some people who had been ignored ap- prised Superintendent Furlong of the true status of affairs and he refused to draw d warrant for the purchase of the land from the water comp n.y. The affair got into the courts and Superin- tendent Furlongs S action was upheld
 Later Miss Belle Richards aroused the enmity of the water company by refusing to pay the water bill of the people who had occupied the house in which she now dwells. The water was shut off and she had to carry it up hill in buckets from the houses of neigh bors. The company eventually agreed to supply her with water, but she first had to pay for what she had borrowed from the neighbors. Miss Richards says the unwonted eXertion of carrying the water made her i'll and Attorney Mahony now has a suit prepared for damages against the company, which will be filed in a few days.
 Next Miss Belle Brown objected to a fence built across a highway by the company. She declared it was in de- fiance of law. The company Lad the fence guarded, but ex-Marshal Creed was retained and proved the superior in a game of bluff. He chopped down the fence with an ax and stood guard with a shotgun until Wright threw up the sponge"
 About two weeks aro H. A. Record had Wright arrested for having torn down culvert across a street. The case was tried before Justice Gardner and resulted in Wright being fined $25, . Tn jail The case was appealed.
 A few days ago Attorney Mahony applied for a writ of mandate compell- ing Wright to supply him with water, alleging in the petition that the water was turned off despite his written re- quest and the fact that his bills had always been paid in full. Judge An gellotti granted the writ and made it last Wednesday. On that day the company turned the water on again.
 Louis Vesaria will file a complaint against Wright, alleging that the wa ter was turned off without just cause the fireplace, as the boiler of his stove would explode if there was no water in it. He asks for damages.
 Numerous other complaints have been filed in this city and at Sausalito, and for several days the Justices Courts in both places have been filled with large crowds watching the vari- Where the affair will end cannot be foretold. Attorney Mahony announces his intention to carry the case to the Supreme Court of the land, If it is necessary to get what he regards as his rights. He asserts that the ac- lions of the company are due to innate and characterized the LISdlulSIll Ol MISS IllCudIuS dS d DlOC on the escutcheon of civilization"
 Judge Angellotti says the company is under the State laws, | which require it to supply water to everybody. He clearly showed his | dea of the situation by granting Ma nony's petition for a writ of mandate. |
 President Wright declares that At torney Mahony has been pursuing the with number of petty suits | and has kept the employees so con- ] stantly present in the courts as wit lesses that they have not had time to | pump water into the reservoir, this be- | ng given as an explanation of the fact | that the town was without water for .hree days. He said the engineer and | his assistants managed to keep out of | court long enough to pump the reser- i voir full, and that was why water was served to Mahony last Wednesday, not | because of the mandamus.
 "Mahony is possessed of a malicious nature," asserted Wright, "and as his time is of no value, it costs him very title to give us continuous annoyance"