The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-04-06
THE MODERN CASE OF JARNDYcEvs. JARNDYcE

does not expect him to do so! They
started the proceedings thinking they
could scare the Durham officials into
signing any sort of paper the South
ern Railway wished them to sign! 1t
was grand bluff, but it hasn't work.
ed. Durham folks don't scare worth
a cent"
In addition to haling all the city
officials to Asheville upon charge of
contempt, the Southern Railway boss
has cited Mr.. John Sprunt Hill to ap-
pear upon the same charge. Why?
He is private citizen and has had no
official connection with anything that
has been done. When the Durham
officials were ordered to appear at
Asheville, Mr.. Hill signed their bond.
That is the ostensible reason why Mr..
Hill is up for contempt. But nobody
in Durham believes that Is the true
reason. Mr.. Hill, as philosophical
citizen, has sought to sage the lives of
the people of Durham by advocating
the elevation of the tracks of the
Southern Railway. He came to Raj
eigh in behalf of that legislation. He
spoke his mind like a manly man
about the high handed methods of the
Southern Railway crowd. He did not
know that disagreeing with the mag
nate was contempt of the court. But
he is learning. If such acts as those
of the Durham officials and Mr.. Hill
constitute contempt, then the liberties
of free people are gone.
The thing about the whole business,
aside from the midnight corporate an
archy, that is most severely con-
demned here and elsewhere in North
Carolina is the fact that Judge Purnell
gave a decree giving the Southern
Railway Pettigrew street on an after
thought in a proceeding that had no
reference whatever to Pettigrew
street. The Durham lawyers made
all their fight on his opinion based
solely on Peabody street, and did not
know until after the "Moonshine rail-
road" was put in place that Sunday
night that the decree as to Pettigrew
street had been signed. But the
Southern bosses say 'They should
have known it," Yes and no. If they
had supposed it possible that, after
Judge Purnell had given his opinion
confined to Peabody street over which
the record shows they made their
fight below and upon appeal he could
have been induced to sign a decree
giving the Southern land to which no
claim had been set up i'm the case be-
fore him-if they had anticipated so
unheard of a thing, they should have
been watchful and read every line in
the long record. But, when the Judge
gave his Opinion, combining his decree
to Peabody street and declared 'thc
case is held for the assessment of
damages" what lawyers would be sus-
picious enough to think any other or
der would be made touching a matter
that had not been touched upon i'm
any phase of the litigation?
If the Southern Railway is entitled
to Pettigrew street, it ought not to be
permitted to get it by any such de-
cree that on its face shows that the
judge was imposed upon or was go
ing far beyond any jurisdiction that
should be invested in any judicial
officer. 1t is equally true that if Pet
tigrew street belongs to the Southern
Railway there is legal and orderly
way to gain possession without re-
sorting to what it's bosses would call
anarchy if practised by laboring men
in it's employ.
AS a matter of fact Peabody and
Pettigrew streets have been dedicated
forever to public use. Tracks have
been permitted by both the city and
the Southern Railway on most of
Peabody street until it is of little use
to the city. 1t is different as to Petit
grew street over which there has
never been any litigation. The lease
of the North Carolina Railway for
ninety-nine years, by the Southern has
been declared by the Federal courts
to have been an extension of the old
lease. Therefore, the courts having
held that the Southern had dedicated
Peabody street to public use, it is all
the more clear that Pettigrew street
has been so dedicated. AS there was
no new lease. every act by the South
ern is in law a violation of the de-
cree that it has dedicated the street
to public use.
There is much misunderstanding of
the status of the contention between
the Southern Railway and Durham.
Perhaps the following history will
make the story clear to every reader;
In 1889 the town of Durham
brought suit against the North Car