The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-02-11


any agreement between Major Wilson
and any one else to make Round Knob
hotel an eating house. He had a right
to own the hotel, but not to agree with
the railroad to make it an eating house.
He considered that the main question.
JUDGE AVERY'S SPEECH.
| Judge Avery, beginning his reply,
said that it was his intention to make
that the central point of his argument.
The question to be determined was,
ought the Wilson's to have been s1s-
pended? Neither whitewash applied to
Major Wilson nor mud thrown at Gov
ernor Russell would help to elucidate
that point.
The statute (section 1. chapter 32O.
Laws of 1S9D, provides that said Com
missioners shall not jointly. or severally.
or in any way, be the holder of any
stock or bonds, or be agent or attorney
or employee of any such company, OR
| HAVE ANY INTEREST IN ANY
WAY IN SUCH COMPANY, AND
SHALL so CONTINUE DURING
THE TERN OF HIS OFFICE, and
! in case any Commissioner shall as dis
tributee. or legatee or in ANY 9TH Err
| WAY, have or become entitled to amy
STOCK or BONDS or interest therein
| of SUCH COMPANY. he shall at once
dispose of the same, and in case any
Commissioner shall fail in this, or in
case ANY ONE OF THEM SHALL
BECOME DISQUALIFIED TO ACT,
then it shall be the duty of the Cover
nor to suspend and to report the fact
of his suspension with the reasons there
for to the next General Assembly, and
the question of his removal from office
shall be determined by majority of
the General Assembly in joint session.
'1rhe disqualitcations are:
list. Ownership of stock or bonds
of Railroad Company.
end. Failure to dispose of such
stock or bonds. when they pass to
Commissioner by way of legacy or by
operation of law.
.'3rd. The ACQUISITION of "ANY IN
TEREST IN ANY WAY" in such COM
pany.
18th. IN CASE ANY ONE OF
THEM SHALL BECOME DLSQUAL-
lFIED TO ACT.
THE charge made by the Governor is,
that he had an interest in a hotel, which
was valueless, unless the railroad au-
thorities by an order of the superinten-
dent should make it an eating house.
and that the superintendent did order
trains to stop there for dinner and that
j. n. Wilson was authorized to hold that
inducement to a lessee to open the
house.
WAS the Hotel worthless if not
made an eating house? J. ]. LANCE,
keeper of the Glen Rock Hotel, Hunter
Arnold, his clerk, and Virgil S. Lllsk
and L. Ill. Marshburn swear in effect.
that the hotel is worth no more at
Round Knob without railroad patron
age, than it would be if built in the
desert of Sahara, or no more than the
thousands of palatial residences that
adorn Southern plantations, where freed
slaves are the sole occupants. If these
witnesses are to be believed, the charge
that the hotel is valuable with, but
valueless without railroad patronage, IS
sustained. If the charge be true, then
the owner of the hotel was OTHER
WISE DISQUALIFIED by depend ance
upon the company. This dependence
was much more potent indacement TO
favor the corporation, than :ha owner
ship of a owrthless share of stock in a
mortgaged railroad, which the statute
makes an express disqualification.
Maj. Wilson says himself IN his an
swer to the notice from the Governor
and in his testimony, that the superin-
tendent notified him that he would
make the hotel an eating house If Mr..
Wilson would find a tenant. Christie
keeper of the hotel at Balsam Noun
tain, testiies that Maj. Wilso1 offered
TO lease the hotel TO him and told him
he thought the company would estab.
lish am eating house Maj. Wilson adj
mits that he probably mentioned that
fact to S. Ohio Wilson, so that it would
operate on his mind in entering into th.,
contract, whether for himself or agent
for his mother.
If these charges are proven, J. W.
Wilson was at the mercy of a company.
as to whose interest the law constituted
him a judge and juror with power to
fix its rates as a carrier for transporta-
tions, and the value of its property for
taxation. He was a dependent Juror
and an interested judge.
THE Supreme court of North Carolina
in White VS.. Connolly, 105 n. G. at
page 20, said that the rule that one
cannot act as judge in his own case, APP
plies not only where he is a party, hut
hhtlt AN IN
in the cause. The court referred to cele-
brated English case where the decree
of the Lord Chancellor in favor Of a
company in which he was a share-hold-
er, was set aside. The court used this
significant language.
This will be lesson to all inferior
tribunals to take care not only, that
IN their DEGREES they are not influenced
| by their personal interest, BUT TO
AVOID THE APPEARANCE OF
LABORING under such interest ;
When the Railroad Commissioners went
West to assess the Murphy Branch for
taxation, did Mr.. Wilson avoid the APP
pearance Of being under improper in
fiuences? A high rate might change, a
low rate might retain the eating house
at Round Knob. j. w. Wilson was
disqualified by law to act as judge in
la controversy about assessment or
rates, and no prudent lawyer acting for
the people, as against the corporations,
would have allowed him to pass unchal-
lenged as juror. 1t is sufficient to
warrant the removal, if these allegations
have been proven. But is the evidence
of Wilson's witnesses contradicted? Mr..
Troy, his own witness says, he lost
$2,400 in one year as lessee of the hotel,