The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1914-01-09
JUDGE HAWKINS HFt lDES
AGAINST CITY IN RAILROAD
PENALTY SUITS.
CITY WILL APPEAL
Court of Civil Appeals for Fin
al Adjudication --- BIG
Amount Involved.
An interesting case affecting tn

An interesting case affecting Inc
city'a interest Was argned III the
district court Thursday afternoon 1t
vas the question OF the validity OF
the city ordinance compelling III"
Katy. the Central and the r. x g.
Y. Ry. Co. to maintain flagncn IN
College and Washington streets and
on Rogers street whore those streets
al. re -.d by TIE right-of-Way Ci
said railway companies and p"naIiz-
IL : them in the SUM OF twenty dol
Rrs each per day for their failure
10 do SO. This ordinance was eHaet-
81 about three Years ago and the
Central railroad promptly obeye.l
this ordinance and placed its flaH-
men At said crossings; bat the +,
h. y and the Katy failed and re-
fused to place flagmen at these
points required BY such city ordi-
nance and for nearly two years they
daily violated this ordinance where
upon the, city council ordered suit
filed against the Katy and the I.
4 3. Y. for penalties. The suits
Nere promptly filed against each 81
these two companies foF the sum ri
$I2 Goo each.
Thursday afternoon before Judge
Hawkins the questions Of Ia" We're
argued The mann question being IS
to whether the city chartered under
the general laws Of Teyas had tn
power ana authority 10 enact an or
dnance compelling railroads 80
maintain ilagmen At street eros
ines The question proved to b"
au extremely interesting one by viz
tue If the fact that the appellate
ccurts of this state have never y"t
passed on that question, and 50 no
Texas ease could be found consteH-
ing the provisions of the charter OF
a city Incorporated under the zen
oral laws OF the state and particu-
}9rly that provision which contains
has the exclusive control ard power
over the streets, alleys and public
grounds and highways Of the city
and to ahate and remove encrDach-
ments or distractions thereon. As
the full meaning Of these words had
never been passed upon by any Of
the courts of civil appeals of Texas
OF by the supreme court no Texas
case was TO be had: and it became
necessary to look to the decisions in
other states to learn what the law
vas And from the argument pre-
scnted for the city and from that
presented by the lawyers represent
ing the railroad il was seen that the
courts of other states were abon,
equally divided on the question as
10 whether city whose charter gave
it the mere general police powers
could compel railroad companies to
maintain flagmen at points where
rights-of-way cross public streets
that are much used and where such
crossings are dangerous to the pul =
lie. Many cases were cited by the
city attorney showing that cities III
other states had enacted ordinances
similar to the Waxahachie ordinance
and the validity OF same had been
upheld by the higher courts OF said
states. And the attorneys repre-
Senting the railroad cited many
cases showing that other cities IN
other states had enacted flasmen Or
dnances like ours which ordinances
had by the higher courts been held
Invalid on the, ground that it was
the exercise of police power on the
part of city that had not been con-
ferred by its charter. So on the
law question it was six with one and
half dozen with the other
Judge Hawkins held the ordi'
nance to be invalid and the city Will
appeal to the court of civil appeals
at Dallas.
This case filed by the city IL
unique In that the law involved IN