The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-03-13
Veteran Judge Hands Down Ruling
in Big Telephone Case Which
is of Great interest to
keokuk People.
WHAT TT MEANS HERE
Story of How TWO Companies Merseds
and Then Mississippi Valley
Refused to Continue
Under PEBBLES.

After having the case under advise
ment for many months, Judge Bank
has made ruling in the big telephone
case, which involved interesting liti-
cation, and Is credited with saying
that the case has been the hardest he
has ever had to deal WITH during his
long career on the bench. He has
overruled the Mississippi Valley Tele-
phone company's demurrer, which
means that the mutual relations be-
tween that company and the Western
Illinois Telephone company, making
possible the reaching by Mississippi
Valley phones to eastern Illinois
points, will be restored If the facts
are as represented
In an interview Saturday, Felix 7.
Hughes gave the following brief his
tory of the case, which is Of interest
to people having the Mississippi Val
| ley telephones in this city and others
who have followed the case:
About fourteen years ago. when 7.
G. Hubinger entered the telephone field
here. the Western Illinois Telephone
company, operating phones in Illinois
east Of Keokuk, made arrangements
with the Hubinger phone company to
come to Keokuk and unite with its
business, and do operating from a
| single switch board, making a division
of the tolls and receipts.
These two united companies con-
tinued to do business until they have
grown to the combined companies
present proportions. The Mississippi
/ Valley Telephone company now has
! between seventeen and eighteen thou
/ sand phones in Illinois, the phones of
the western Illinois company being
/ turned over to the Mississippi valley
phone company In the merger. Thorn
as PEBBLES of Minneapolis. MINI, head
of the Mississippi Valley Telephone
company, cut out Western Illinois
business, and refused to continue the
business, and the latter company es-
tablished steel towers on the Illinois
side of the river, running the wires to
this city by that means. Last March
the Western Illinois Telephone COM
pany brought suit by mandamas before
the district court here to compel the
Mississippi telephone company to re-
store the original mutual relations.
This suit the Mississippi Valley Tele-
phone company demurred to, claiming
the court had not the power to com
pei the company to restore the rights.
This was argued and submitted to
Judge Bank last summer, who had t.
under advisement until Thursday last,
when he handed down his opinion at
Fort Madison, overruling the demurrer
and holding that if facts We're as rep
RESENTED by the defendant, the defend
ant would have to restore the former
relations.
Judge Bank remarked at the time
that it was the most important and
difficult case to solve that he had ever
been called upon to decide during his
career on the bench.
The people of Keokuk using the
defendant company's phone are con-
siderably Interested, because if the
original arrangements existed they
could call any of the plaintiffs phones
in Illinois and vice versa, whereas
after TIE Illinois system was cut out
: they could only reach Illinois parties
by using the Bell system.