The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-01-23
STREET CAR TROUBLE
Franchise May be Revoked
Monday Night
SCOTT WANTS TO BUILD
Says He Will Begin Work in
Forty-Eight Hours

The long delay upon the part OF the ne"
street car people in commencing work has
begun to have its effect upon the city oi-
fcials. Tomorrow night the city couhcii
will meet and It is said upon the pest u
sutboritv that an attempt will be made
70 rAvoke the franchise. Mr. Henry I.
Scott of st. Louis, president OF the "lch-
ita. Gas. Electric Light and Power COM
many. has written here saying that II inc
same franchise is given to him as the one
now in existence and possessed by MY
Church he will begin work within lorly-
eight hours and never stop until the "oIA
&c COMPLETED and Wichita has one OF Ihe
finest street car lines in the west MI
coot+ saws that he will use his own money
end that there will be no delay on ac-
count Of trying to sell any bonds
There are two sides to the street car
CONTROVERSY. Mr.. w. Q. Church says that
his company is going ahead and DOING
everything in their power 10 get the liilS
b,Iilt. The rails and switch frogs are no"
In co,1rse of construction, as are Twelve
nf the winter cars. However, when the
franchise was granted it was stipulated
that the line was to be equipped and IN
,,,rning order by May L There has been
nothing done, and some of the councllrneh
think that it is a physical lmpossloIily ~
get the line built by the nrst Oh May
This clause could be overcome shoulu Ihe
Church people get to work IN earnest as
then the council would probably give an
extension of time. Although severaA Oh
tbe councilmen are inclined to be lenleht
with Mr. Church many of them seem TO
be in favor of giving so many days Ior
them TO get to work and complete the
line. and revoking the franchise IL they
ran not.
There were all kinds of sensational ru-
mors on the street last evening IN re8aIu
TO the company. One of the most prom
tnent men in the city who asked thaI ms
name would not be mentioned but VINO
SAID ne was ready to back up eVerythlhs'
he said If it was necessary with the posi-
tive nroof. said: ''NIr. Church is a seller
of bonds and not practical street car
man He is now trying to sell S5oO,oOO
worth of bonds, having mortgaged the
franchise for both the car line and the
electric light plant. He has been east for
three months and cannot float the pohos'
The guarantee bond which was given the
ritv whereby they were to get $l0OoO IN
case the company failed to supply the
rity with $50 arc lights by the first day
IF MAY has string TO it and IS not worth
nne dollar. They have never even had
The present line transferred to them. IL
still belongs to the Bachelor contingent
who reside in Keene, n. H. They put it
In Mr.. Ellis name with the understand
ing that if Mr.. Church raised the money
ne was to have the road at very low
figure. In other words, Mr. Ellis is the
middle man. The transferring Of the line
10 him was done for two reasons. The
first and most important one was when
the council repealed all of the old fran
chises that existed that let them out of
paying the paving tax and there is no
possible way for the city to ever get
cent.
The other reason was that they did not
have the means TO equip the road and run
It and that they wanted to sell to any
une and Mr.. Church was the first one to
learn of the proposition and took it,"
Mr.. w. Q. Church says that his brother
will be here and that they will go ahead
and build, and that there is no question
Of the result.
The action of the council will be watch
ed with interest by every citizen of the
city They will meet tomorrow night.