The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-24

 LACKED VOTES City's Claim Against MT.
 Somerville. DISCUSSED BY THE COUNCIL s9Where's Check for $S,5O0s" Asked
 Mir. Roemer. Fourth ward Alderman Wants to Find Money Awarded to City By
 Bankruptey Connrt--An In- teresting Debate. 

| Strenuous objection against undue | haste in rushing the resolution through the legislative body was fnterposed oy | several of the members before the vote which determined the fate Of the meas- | use was taken. During the argument,
 pertinent inquiry was maae sherea oy ho,ts nt | of a check for $s,5Oo, made out to Slty l Treasurer R & Williams. which had
 not been received by him. and through, never became plain just who has the | check. and who is holding It up. How the Aldermen Voted. the measure the following members Of the Council voted for its passage:
 Messrs. Gunter. Hudson, Jones', Lob Those who opposed 1t were Messrs. Foster. Grifflth. Roemer Tyson, A. L. and Tyson. ]. Co. .
 The required number or votes .o The proposed compromise of the | sureties of the former treasurer was | the chief cause of the special meeting | of the Council It was the discussion ! of this question which occupied the attention of the body for more than an disposed of. requiring hardly more | than five minutes of It's time.
 At. the meeting. of the Council last l Mon day evening, the following resolu- | tion was introduced:
 A ResoIutlcn.
 "Be 1t resolved by the City Council of Montgomery as follows: That the
 Mayor and Finance Committee are
 hereby authorized to settle at sum not less than $12.000 the claims that the City Council now has again F. M. Billing. R. H Somerville and the sure ties upon the bond of said Somerville. ''Be 1t further resolved, That the
 Mayor and Finance Committee are hereby vested with a discretion as to what amount, if any, shall be paid in cash and as to what amount, if any. shall be paid at some future date and
 the conditions of said deferred pay uent. If any"
 RoeIner stood in Way.
 Considerable argument over the
 matter was indulged iin by the Alder
 men at that time. but action on the
 measure was deferred until the next regular or special meeting, by the re-
 fusal of A'derI lan Roemer to grant
 permission to his colleagues to suspend | the rules In order to bring 1t to vote. Last night again the Alderman
 from the Fourth Ward, opposed acton I on the resolution, and in doing so brought out fact or which number of the Council members had been ig- norant.
 q understand" he said when the
 adoption of the resolution was being
 urged by members of the Finance Committee, that q check. which has l been awarded to the city by the court,
 to the amount of Ss.50U has been made
 out to City Treasurer R. s. Williams, and is being held up by certain law yers. I want to know why the city | has not received its money.''
 | No definite information was given 1 regarding the location of this check. l although its existence seemed to be
 known of by several of the Aldermen. The resolution which was the sub I ject of the Councils deliberations was
 introduced as the result of propo- | |. N somerville, that the city accept, m | addition to the $S,500 already awarded | 1t by the bankruptcy court the sum Of | $3.500 in cash. to relinquish its claims. 1 This proposition was approved by the Finance Committee, and the matter
 was submitted to the Council with the Committees recommendation. In pre- senting the reasons of the Committee, Chairman Lobman said that the amount offered, $3,500. could be se-
 acted promptly. If, on the other hand. | the Council decided to sue for the full
 amount of the ex-Treasurer's bond,
 $40.00O. there was possibility the
 city would lose altogether.
 | History of the Loss.
 It will be remembered that at the | time of the failure of the Josiah Nor rs Bank six years ago, Treasurer Som efville had approximately $90,0O0 of
 the city's money deposited In the bank. | The Treasure was under bond to the extent of $40,00O, the sureties being F.
 M. Billing, proprietor of the bank, A. A Wiley and J. w. Durr. Since the | failure, $24,6OO has been returned to
 the city by the bankruptcy court In div | idends of the money of the bank. An additional $S,500 was ordered to be given to the city on the offer of F. M. | Billing It was this amount that | check has been made out for. which has never reached the City Treasurer. | The nature of this last payment. too, has been the subject of dispute between | the city and the other sareties. Ow- | ing to the dual relation to the city of MT Billing, as proprietor of the de- 1 funct bank which had charge of the city's moneys, and as surety on the bond of ex-Treasurer Somerville, the
 city claims that only portion of the amount should be applied to the bond, and that the larger portion should be applied to the amount of money which the city had in the bank. The other sureties, however contend that the $S.500 should all be applied to the bond.
 and if the matter Is not SC tied by compromise, 1t Is considered the ques-
 ton will be solved in the courts.
 The avoidance of any such litigation,
 and the promise of immediate cash
 settlement, furnished the main argu-
 ments of those who favored the reso- lution. for It's passage
 Following the talk of Alderman Lob man for the measure, Alderman Roe
 mer objected to the hurried passage or
 the resolution. Action had been post
 poned at Monday evenings meeting in
 order to give the Council members time
 to investigate it more fully. he said.
 The interim had been too short and
 they were no better prepared to vote
 upon 1t than they had been at the pre- vious session. He objected to 'rall- roading" the matter through.
 Mir. Guuter's Argument.
 At this point President Gunter oe-
 seconded from the chair and addressed
 the Council. If the claims of the city
 had been pushed against the bonds
 men immediately after the failure of
 the Josiah Morris Bank, he said, he
 did not douht 1t would have been able
 to collect During the five years he
 had been a member of the Council he
 had drg ed the prosecution of the mat
 ter. Under four city attorneys and three administrations, the collection of
 the bond had been urged, but nott-
 ing had ever come of it. Now the Council had an opportunity; without further contention. 10 settle the matter by compromising for $l2,00O, of which $3,500 would be a cash payment and the remainder had already been award ed to the city by the bankruptcy court This money was safe he declared, whether 1t had been delivered 10 the City Treasurer or not. It had been given to the city by the court and no