Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1902-10-29

company pretended to be grading
the road, and thereby secured from
the County Commissioners the issue
of the said bonds. Shortly there
after the company failed and left the
grade in an incomplete condition,
and the people have no prospect
whatever of ever getting the said
road. An action was brought in the
State Courts for the purpose of test
ing the validity of these bonds, and
the State Court decided the Act un-
constitutional and the bonds invalid.
(See Floyd VS.. Perrin, 80 S. O.,
page ~ Thereafter certain parties,
who claimed to be non.residents and
subsequent purchasers for value and
without notice, (the bonds being in
valid in the hands of the original
holders, for the reasons above speci-
tiedD brought their action in the
United States Court to test the
validity of the said bonds, and the
United States Court refused to fol-
low the decision of the State Court
in Floyd vs.. Perrin and decided in
favor of the said bond holders. That
is to say, that the bonds were good in
the hands of the non-residents who
might have purchased the same for
value and without notice Of those
facts above recited, and which would
go to impeach the validity of the
said bonds. (This too in face of the
fact that the records in the office of
the County Commissioners for the
various counties, which records are
public records and notice to the
world, disclose all of the facts which
would go to impeach the validity of
the said bonds.) Since then the
matter has been in litigation, until
finally judgments have been obtained
against several of these townships
upon. coupons representing a part
only of the accrued interest, and
mandates have been issued by the
United States Court authorizing a
levy and collection of tax to meet
the judgments already obtained, and
suits are still pending against some
of the townships and inasmuch as
the first installment of the principal
of the said bonds falls due this year
other suits will surely follow, since
it appears that these bonds, or at
least a large portion of them (the
exact amount we do not know, have
found their way into the hands of
non-residents who can sue in the
United States Court and thus evade
the decisions of the State Court.
The debt against Dunklin and Oak
Lawn townships, in Greenville
county, alone amounts in principal
and accrued interest to something
like 100000 each. The principal of
bonds on behalf of Cokesbury, Ninety
Six and ooper townships amount to
S4S,800. " other townships are
similarly affected. You can imagine
what an enormous tax will be re-
quired to pay this debt, and the num-
Der of homes that will have to be
sold in order to meet this unjust tax,
if some means Of escape cannot be
devised. 1t hangs over the property
of the said townships as black
cloud, striking terror to the hearts of
our citizenship, shutting out all rays
of hope for the future. Unless re-
lief is had this debt will practically
destroy the value of our property,
since no one would care to purchase
property, or move into a township
with such an enormous debt hanging
over it. We are advised that the
Supreme Court OF the United States
itself has decided that in cases like
this, where the charters OF the NUM-
cipal corporations are repealed, and
their coporate agents removed, there
would be no longer in existence any
one upon whom the Federal Courts
could lay their hands in order 20 en-
force the collection of the tax pro-
vided for by the Act, and that the
said Court is limited in its jurisdic-
tion to enforcing the machinery pro-
vided for by the Act authorizing the
levy of the tax that it cannot itself
levy the tax, nor can it place the said
townships in the hands of a receiver,
and that in such cases the creditors
are without remedy except to apply
to the Legislature for relief.
If this constitutional amendment,
therefore, is voted, the townships
having no longer any legal existence,
would have no corporate agent upon