Mexico weekly ledger., 1902-02-20
CARD FROM W. Il. KEENAN,.


To the Editor Of the Ledger.
MEXICO, Jan. 81 submit a histor
of Miss Porter's bill for making on
transcripts in the Reed cases amount
ing to sl64.7 10 SO that the people ma
be fully informed.
The cases we're tried at Clayton bt
fore Judge McElhinney, judge OF th
18th judicial circuit. A. J. Jones !
the duly qualified Official stenographe
for said circuit, whose business it Is
under oath, to take down all the evi
dence, in all cases, tried in said Gil
cult before the judge thereof.
On her own motion and without an.
authority from the City Council, Mis-
Porter went to Clayton and took dow
the evidence on the trial Of the Reef
cases. The city lost in the Mary A
Reed case and won in the w. f. Reef
case. On a motion for a new trial il
the W. +. Reed case the court SCI
aside the verdict against W. f. Reed
The city appealed from the judg
ment of the circuit court In the Mar
A. Reed case to the st. Louis Court Of
Appeals and in the case of W. f. Reed
10 the Supreme Court, which appeals
necessitated the makingof transcripts
of the evidence in both cases.
Miss Porter being DESTROYS OF max.
ing the transcripts OF the evidence in
said cases and at the same time know.
ing full well that she could notget her
pay for them as costs In said cases, I'm,
less theywere received by the attorneys
for the Reeds and signed by the
Judge, she called upon Geo. Robertson,
attorney for the Reeds as shown by
the following letter and asked him to
consent to her transcripts;
Hon. VI II. KEENAN,, Mexico, Mo.
MEXICO, Feb. 14.-DEAR Sir: Com
plying with your request to make q
statement touching upon my informa-
! tion concerning the transcripts made
In the two cases, one or Mrs. Reed VS..
Mexico and the other Of Mr.. Reed VS..
Mexico, | beg TO say that | ordered no
transcripts from any S~tenOgrapher.
Shortly after the appeals were la
ken by the city, Miss Porter called
upon meand asked II l would consent
to her transcripts in those cases, and
In reply | told her that | had instruc-
tions from both Mr.. and Mrs. Reed to
accept the transcripts only of the off,
cial stenographer Of the st. Louis Co.
circuit court and therefore could not
agree to accept any not made by him.
| learned that those made by Miss
Porter were afterwards presented to
the. judge ofSaid court and that he de-
clined TO accept them for reasons OF
his own, and upon his own motion d.
rected that the official s~tenographer
prepare the transcripts In both cases.
| know that the transcripts pre-
pared by the official st~enographer were
accepted by the court,as made by him,
and all OF the changes and interline-
ations which had been made by some
one, were stricken out by order of the
circuit judge.
Very Respectfully,
GEO. RoBERTsoN.
When the transcripts Of Miss Porter
were presented to Judge McElhinney
he refused to accept and sign them
and gives his reasons in the following
letter:
W. II. KEENAN,, ESQ, Mexico. Mo.
CLAYTON, Mo-, Jan. 17.-Dear Sir:
Yours or the 10th In regard to the
stenographer's fees in the cases OF
Reed and Mrs. Reed VS.. the City OF
Mexico duly received. In those cases,
although we had a court stenographer,
Messrs. Fry g. Clay had their own
private stenographer and presented
bills Of exceptions made out BY her, Of
several hundred pages each. l was
not satisfied with the bill OF excep-
tions, and did not have time to 90
over them to verify them, and c0nse-
Quently ordered the court stenographer
to prepare transcripts, not for my pri-
yate use, but for use of the court.
These transcripts were used In MAX
Ing up the bills OF exceptions. The
fees Of the st~enographer are to be taxed
as costs in the cases, as provided
In section 10, 100 OF the statutes. These
costs may fall upon the City Of Mexico
or may not, according to the result OF
the cases. These are the facts In the
matter. AS to the liability Of the
city OF Mexico TO Miss Porter, that is a
matter between the city authorities
and Messrs. Fry & Clay.
Very truly yours,
JOHN w. MCELHINNEY.
The transcripts were made out by
A. j. Jones, official s~tenographer OF
Judge McIlhinney, In obedience to the
order of Judge McElhinney and in the
Mary A. Reed case a judgment Of costs
for making the transcript in said case
for sls0.90 stands now against the city.
The costs, SIG, 40, for transcripts in the
w. f, Reed case will abide the final
termination Of the suit.
Miss Porter's claim Of s184.75 for
transcripts which were not received
and used in said cases, was allowed on
the 17tth day Of February, 1902, at a
special meeting of the Council for that
purpose.
If the city fails in its appeal of the
Mary A. Reed case then the city will
have to pay for the transcript Miss
Porter has been paid for, the sum Of
$780, 90 to A. J. Jones, official stenog-
rapher, in addition to the sum paid
to Miss Porter, in other words pay
twice for the same thing.
II the city wins in said appeal it will
go free from the payment OF the
$1,000 (, but it has paid Miss Porter the
s164 70 for something it never received,
which is not warranted by the evil
ence and is illegal and unjust. Mr..
Ragsdale, Of the Fourth Ward, and l
voted against the allowance Of the
claim. w. II. KEENAN,,
Mrs. Sparks Will Filed.
The will of the late Mrs. Sarah /.
Belle Sparks was filed for probate
Tuesday. c. +. Clark is named as
trustee and the bulk of the estate,
amounting to about Sc, 800, is left to
Miss Mollie Sparks, adaughter.
Rene Sparks, a stepson, of Little
Rock, and Chas. Craig, a great
nephew, Of this city, are beneiiclaries
to the amount of $3.50 each.
Do Not Expect Miracles.
If a cold, long neglected, or i'm
properly treated, has clutched you BY
the throat, you cannot shake it loose
in a day, but you car stop its progress
and in a reasonable time get rid of II