The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1907-08-22
Attorney General Of State Brings
Suits 10 AnnuI Railway Fran
Chises in Milwaukee
KEN0SHA SUIT May FIGURE
Agents for State Official Have Received
Copies of all the Papers Filed in
Actions Against the John /.
Beggs Co. in Kenosha

The records of the Common Council
of Kenosha and a number of the men
who served in the City Council during
the latter part of the last century may
be called as witnesses in a suit which
has just been started by Attorney
General Frank L. Gilbert, Of Madi-
son, which has for it's purpose the an
nullment of the franchise rights of
the Milwaukee Electric Railway and
Light Company. The summons and
complaint in the suit was filed in Mil
waukee Friday and it is claimed that
the trial of the case will take
place within the next few months.
Many of the most prominent men in
Milwaukee are named as defendants
in the action. In the action it is de-
clared that the franchises Of the com
pany we're secured through fraud.
The lines operated under the fran
chise rights include portion of the
Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha road
which connects Milwaukee and Keno
sha by trolley.
It is claimed that the attorney gen
eral is planning to bring every deal
in which the Milwaukee company was
connected into the lime light of pub
liCity and in this way the kenosha
franchise is to be brought into the
case. Some time ago the agents of
we'll known politicians in Milwaukee
who have been bitter ia their fight
against the railway company and the
men connected with it sent to Keno
sha and secured copies of all the
papers filed In connection with the
action started by then City Attorney
L. G. Bohmrich against John I. Beggs
and his company to prevent the &C.
ceptance of an alleged franchise
which had been passed by the Keno
sha City Council and approved by the
late Mayor 0. M. Petit In the suit
which Mr.. Bohmrich filed against the
company he made charges of fraud,
but no specific statements we're made.
Since that time the people of the city
have been anxious to have this matter
dug into, but the railway company
quietly withdrew from the fight in
Kenosha and the suit which had been
filed was never brought to trial
The sensational answer filed by At
torney Bohmrich, however, still re-
mains a matter of record in the Cir
cult Court, and it has been repeatedly
copied by the men who are seeking to
annul the franchise rights of the Mil
waukee company. It is claimed that
the action of the Attorney General IN
Milwaukee is simply as starter, and
that if the investigation of the Mil
waukee franchise proves to be of value
he will start similar suits in other
parts of the state, possibly rea aching
out to the smaller towns. It is GER
tain, however, that the Attorney GEN
eral has plenty of backing in Milwau-
kee, and it is hardly probable that the
suit is Of his own initiative. The Mil
waukee men who are bitterly attacked
IN the complaint in the action declare
that the suit is simply another politi-
cal play brought as part of the poll
teal warfare which has stirred Mil
waukee during the last two or three
years.
Kenosha people will watch the de-
velopment of the action with great
deal of interest, and especially any
part of it in which the old Kenosha
railway fight may play part. There
is no reason to believe that there
could ever be any prosecutions started
against officials of Kenosha, for if
there was anything wrong in connec-
ton with the passage of the ordinance
the matter has long since been out
lawed by the statute of limitations.