Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1903-09-24
ONNI\SIONERS
TAKE ACTION

The Commissioners of Montour anC
northumberland counties held a joint
meeting at Sunbury on Saturday fol
the purpose of hearing the reports OF
! the two solicitors relative to the ap.
! plication of the Danville and River.
side Street Railway Company for per.
mission to pass through the river
bridge at this place. Conforming
with the opinions presented the Iight
to occupy the river bridge was with
held from the trolley company for
the present.
The full board of each county was
present together with its attorney.
The solicitors opinions were quite
voluminous That of William Kase
West, solicitor for the Montour cOun-
ty board, was probably the most fav-
orablc to the trolley company. IL
substance he advises:
First-That the Commissioners can
not arbitrarily refuse the Danville
and Riverside Street Railway Com
pany permission to occupy the river
bridge
Second-That the said Street Rail
way Company is chartered to con
~trucf "A railway from the Eastern
line OF DanvilIe on the Bloom road.
thence through said borough, Gear
hart township and Riverside Borough
TO the Western line of said Borough
and that il either the Borough of Dan
Vile, GearaaTt township or River
side Borough refuses its permission
the power to build tho road described
in the application and charter can not
be exercised. 1t must be possible for
the company to complete its line be
fore it has a right to begin work.
Third-That while permission may
be granted the Attorney advised the
Commissioners to withhold their con
sent and refuse permission to occupy
the river bridge at this time.
Fourth-That after the said Street
Railway Company shall have the
right to occupy the highway in Gear
hart township there will be sufficient
time to ascertain if the bridge is OF
sufficient strength and width to ac-
commodate the general travelling pub
lie and tho Street Railway cars.
Charles @. Lark, solicitor for the
Northumberland county Commission
ers in closing his opinion sums mp as
follows
In view of the fact that the coun-
ties are responsible for any acci dents
which might happen by reason of the
construction of said railway upon the
said bridge or the running of its cars
and the insufficient strength of the
same to accommodates both the gener-
al public and the said railway com
pany and because the driveway of the
bridge is not of sufficient width for
teams with horses not accustomed to
cars to safely pass and for other reas-
ons given above / advise that this ap-
plication be refused.
If by refusing this application the
Street Railway Company should be
aggrieved it has an ample remedy by
applying to the courts and it has
plenty Of time in which to 10 it.
To sustain his opinion that the
County Commissioners can not arbi-
trarily refuse a railway company the
right to construct its tracks upon
bridge William Kase West goes on to
say:
"If the County Commissioners re-
fuse to consent to the use OF the river
bridge on the ground that the bridge
will be rendered unsafe for public use
the court may appoint an expert en-
gineer to examine and report what
will be necessary and if the report be
made that the bridge can be made
safe the court may permit the street
railway company to enter upon said
bridge and strengthen it and if neces-
sary to widen it so that it can accom-
modate the general public and the rail
way company 5 cars npon giving secur-
ity to keep it in repair, pay such rent
al as may be agreed upon or deter
mined by the court.
The commissioners at once took ac
tiOn and on the strength of the two
opinions presented unanimously decid-
ed to withhold permission from the
Danville and Riverside Street Rail
way company to occupy the river
bridge until the right of way has been
secured through Gearhart township.
The motion was then made and sec
ondcd that permission be granted to
the Dauville and Riverside Street
Railway company to occupy the river
bridge as soon as it obtains the right
of way through Gearhart township,
provided the bridge be found of sutfic-
lent strength aud capacity. The vote
resulted in tie, the Montour Coun-
| ty Commissioners voting yea and the
| Northumberland county board nay.
Removed to DaDVille,