Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1899-03-01
GROUP OF JUDGES WHO HAVE GONE TO JAN.

persistence that is not eclipsed by
either the Puritans and other non-con-
formlsts in their refusal to yield to
church power in England, which i'm
prlsoned them, beheaded and burnt
them; by the Quaker or the Diobourski
adherents to the refusal to bear arms,
or by the steadfastncss of the Cliouans
of France, who concealed taxable
goods and spirited away assessors.
The case is a page from the history
Of railroad exploitation in the West in
the early 'TOs. st. Clair County is a
part of the Usage country not rich in
minerals or with exceptionally good
lands. 1t is n plain country district
peopled by men and women who have
lived there all their lives and who have
the determination of the British and
Scottish ancestors. But the county
had no railroad to haul its produce to
market, and the offer of one was hailed
with pleasure thirty years ago. The
nearest line to st. Clair was at Sedalia,
sixty miles away.
So when the advance agents of the
Tebo and Neosho Railway went to Os-
ceola and proposed to build branch
Of the road from Kansas City to Hell
ena, Ark, the people We're anxious to
accept. Some sixty counties in western
Missouri discussed the proposition for
n bond Issue. st. Clair accepted and
agreed to take $250,0O0 of stock to be
paid for in county bonds. There has
always been some question If the petit
ton for the bond issue had majority
of votes, but they were so recorded
and the issue decided upon. This was
in 1870. They We're conditioned OH the
running of the road through the county
on the best practicable line. Fifty thou
sand dollars was to be delivered when
five miles of road had been constructed,
$1OO,OOOm when the road crossed the
Usage River and that stream was
bridged, and the remainder when the
road was graded through the whole
county.
This was satisfactory to the people,
but it is asserted that later the county
court stripped the county of all protect
ing conditions and agreed to deliver
bonds when contracts had been let for
masonry work. On Nov. 2, 1870, the
bonds We're signed and delivered. That
was the last of the railroad. 1t has
never been built and nobody asserts 1t
was ever to be. But the holders of the
bonds sold most of them and the judg-
mcnt is based ON the innocent third
party holder law.
The people refused to pay the first
tax levied to pay interest and learned
of the issue of the bonds. Then they
repudiated the whole thing and sat
down satified no court would hold
against them. But in 1873 suit was
brought for $4,000 of the bonds and
decided against the county. Then Judge
Dillon issued a mandamus OH the coun-
ty court commanding the judges to
levy the necessary tax. The judges
learning of the coming of the marshal
with this order took to the woods, and
1t was Il long time before the officer
was able 10 serve his papers.
When he did serve them the order
was ignored. The judges were opposed
TO the tax, and even II they favored 1t
knew the temper of their people too
well to take chances. Then an order of
arrest for contempt of court was is
sued and the judges hauled to Kansas
City for hearing. Judges Asabel Heath,
Thomas j. Younger, John Breeder,
John z. Love and Thomas Henley were
the first men to suffer voluntary i'm
prisonment rather than pay what they
believed to be an unjust debt.
When the fight began the people
fought the court because of their wrath
at the fraud put upon them. Now they
keep it up because they could not pay