The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-04-24
PIPE MAN HERE.
Eugene Mackay, of Pittsburg, to
Fight Custer Move.
Says Company Is Going Ahead
With the Work.

Eugene Mackay, of Pittsburg, Pa,
the chief counsel for the Kansas Nat
Ural Gas, Oil and Pipe Line company, is
ia Topeka preparing the brief for the
company in the suit to GUST the COM
pany from the state. which is to be
heard by the supreme court on May 3.
4r. Mackay is being assisted in the
work by John Jones of Chanute Kan.
Mr.. Mackay has about completed his
work at the state library, and viii re-
turn TO Pittsburg to work on the case,
coming back to Topeka in time for the
hearing on the date mentioned. In con-
Versation with a State Journal reporter
today, Mr.. Mackay said:
This case which is to be heard on
May is brought for the purpose Of
ousting our company from doing bust
ness in the state on the ground that it is
not authorized, or registered, to do bust
ness here. The facts of the case are
that we applied for registration year
ago. and were refused. Now the state is
trying to throw US out for not doing
something it refused to permit US to
do.
I'VE are going right ahead with the
construction of our pipe line, ana are
investing a lot of money in the state
OF course we may have to tear up all
our pipes if We are beaten, but we are
going ahead with the work just the
same.
out here in Kansas do not rise up IN
their might and take these people down
In the gas country who are trying TO
prevent this imprOvemek Vt and throw
them out of the state. 1t is the most
atrocious attempt to prevent the de-
Velopment of the state I ever heard Of
If we finally succeed in laying this pipe
line it will be one of the greatest engl-
neering and legal feats ever accom-
Dlfshed in the world. The engineering
difficulties are not because of the char
acter OF the country through which we
are building, but the character or some
Of the people. There is a little bunch
of people down there who are doing eV-
erything in their power to stop the
construction of the line. They nave
used dynamite and every other method
they could think Of to stop our work
Their motives are wholly Seinsn- 1hey
simply want to keep their gas at home,
and monOpOlize this great commonly
with which nature has endowed the
state. For my part I can't see now the
Deop1e of Kansas can tolerate such sell
5shuess and how the sentiment can be
as strong as it is in sympathy with
this obstruction"
what viii be done in case the su-
Drerne court decided in the other case
mat YOU do not have the right to lay
your pipe lines along the public hlgh-
Ways|' ..,-.
o11t of the highways" was the reply
1--WE are spending vast sums OF money
IN This work. and we are trying our
best to give cheap gas to the peopIe
outside of the gas country. we pelleVe
that we will eventually succeed IN our
eugene Nackay is one of the most
celebrated LAWYERS of the east IN the
character of litigation in which ne IS
now engaged The capital which IS pc
fne. mt into the Kansas pipe line comes
largely from Pennsylvania, ana the
Pennsylvanians selected Mackay a.
their own representative IN tlle 42 ~ al-
addition they hired a dozen Kansas
LAWYERS as associate counsel Ihere IS
nothing about Mr.. Mackay when MARKS
him az q CORPORATION attorney from the
east He does not wear silk hat, nor
an eve-Rlass. nor even a stand-up collef-
He is short and heavy set, WIN pls'
uowerflll shoulders like a football play
81 He has a square and massive jaw,
and strong features. Apparently the
last thing that Mackay thinks OF IS
clothes. he wears a butternut-DrOWn
suit. which fits him in spots, ana ms
general appearance is not that OF the
legal representative of blOated pluto
It is evident that Mr.. Mackay is here
for business. not looks. He buries him
self behind a barricade of big leather
covered law books and digs like day
laborer.
Mr.. Mackay says it would help him
considerably in the present case II the
supreme court would decide the ques-
ton of whether the company has the
right to use the highways for their pipe
lines, which question was submitted IN
the first case and has not been decided.
But the supreme court has not yet
passed upon this question.