Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-08-12
it as soon as possible to fill the low
places in the streets elsewhere.


places in the streets elsewhere.
Omcer's AdmonItIon Unheeded.
Soon after work was commenced
Bailiff Nicholson, who had been on
guard in the village for a week or
more, approached David Sears, the
village president, who was acting as
master of ceremonies, and admonish-
ed him to cease destroying the com
pany's property. Failing, however,
to show any authority other than
that as a deputy sheriff, his remon-
strances were unheeded and the
work merrily continued.
The whole affair was regarded
much as a holiday and the towns
people turned out en- masse to wit
ness the restoration of the highway
to its ancient state. The camera
man in the person of f. d. Fisher,
who is a member of the town board
of trustees, was on hand early and
the scene viii be preserved for pos
terity. Later on artists from this
city came on the scene and the crowd
of the curious grew larger. The
number of workers, however. appear
ed to get smaller as the enthusiasm
waned before growing fatigue. No
one who was not properly deputized
took any part in the operations. the
precaution being taken in order to
avoid personal responsibility to the
company. No one was armed, with
the exception of the village consta-
BILE, William Dunaway, and he car
ried billeY and, as some assert, a
gun. AS the job approached compile
ton box of cigars, bought by
Messrs. Sears and Fisher, was passed
around.
Position of Sears.
Mr.. Fisher explained the situation
to an Argus reporter. I'VE want no
trouble he said, land we have taken
every precaution to avoid ii. We
have our lawyer, 5. II. Kenworthy,
here to advise us and we do not in
tend to do anything rash. We stand
on our rights. We found that some
such step as this had TO be taken in
order to bring the company to
terms. Other measures tried have
failed because we were put Off and
the issue raised was avoided. What
we want is straight five cent fares,
and we will not be contented with
anything less. y year ago we would
have taken books transferable
among the members of a family, and
the officers of the company were told
as much. Now we demand for the
people of Sears and of South Rock
Island straight five cent fares. We
do not care how much is charged to
carry people to the Watch Tower
and have no objection if the 1O-cent
fare up the hill is maintained"
Speaking of the expiration of the
eompany's franchises, he said: The
company has been operating here
without any legal right TO do so for
the past two weeks, the 20-year
franchise having expired at that
time. Since then they have been
usurping the right and they viii con-
tinue to do so unless we stop them by
some forcible means. OF course the
claim is made that the franchise was
legally renewed by therSillage board
year ago. but that is not the case.
When that vote was taken there were
but four of the six members of the
board present. One had resigned
and another had moved out of the
town. \ petition was presented at
the meeting signed by citizens ask
ing that action be deferred. The
board voted TO adopt the resolution
and Immediately turned about and
passed the renewal of the franchise
by a vote of three to one. We have
carefully investigated the matter and
feel certain that no court will hold
that the franchise could be legally
renewed without the assent of ma
iority of the full board
village President Talks.
Mr.. Sears, the village president,
while not engaged in telling the men
where to pillow and scrapc. discussed
the rights of the company in the viii
lage: The published report that the
company is operating on its own
right of way through the greater
part of the village is not true" he
said. The fact is that only a por-
ton of the block north of the place
where the horse car stops absolutely
belongs to the railway people and
that was given to them free of
charge in order to encourage the line.
Along the greater part of the way
the citizens relinquished from one to
10 feet from the fronts of their lots
for the tracks and the street from
where the waiting station used to be
to the east limits of the village has
been practically given up To the uses
of the line. When the company was
recognized and put in double track
out here the crossing we have now
torn out was raised two feet and an
obstruction to travel was formed.
This we have now removed
Asked about the false alarms that
have been given to the effect that
the tearing up of the tracks had be-
gun. he said: Eyes, there were three