The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1917-12-08
Houma. La, Dec. >, l9i

: f1OuIlld, NV.
The Mayor and Board Of A'ae'-
men of the City Of Houma met at
the City Hall this day at 80"
o'clock p. N. >
His Honor Reuben ChauvIn. Nay
or, presiding; Aldermen Heli1er'
Crochet and Cunningham. present
Absent, Aldermen Smith and pu-
plants.
A quorum present.
Reading OF the minutes OF the
previous meeting was dispensed
with.
The application of VIM. Alexan-
der Campbell. for a franchise to lay
gas mains within the corporate
limits OF the City. and TO supply 'he
i,nha bitants ithereof with pa1ural
gas, was laid over for further dis
cuSSiOn.
A letter of Mr.. John Shinn ask
ing for an increase OF salary was
read and action thereon deferred.
The following letter Of Mr.. r. T.
Barrow was read:
Mr.. r. B. Smith,
Houma, La,
My Dear Sir:
am in recent of a letter from
you of November the 10th, in which
ym inform me that you have been
employed by the city of HOunla to
draw plans and specifications for
bridge across my canal by the de-
pot and asking for dimensions or
span. In replying to this. | desire
to say, under the administration OF
Mr.. WurZlow as Mayor Of your town.
he saw fit to appeal to the Courts
to compel ME to place bridge
across this canal in place OF the
bridge now there and serving thu
needs of the public, eot that the
bridge was not adequate for tue
purpose. but the town throush ITS
Mayor desired an ornamental bridge.
Being aware Of this fact ana feel
Ing that the same would be an un-
necessary hardship to me and an
attempt, under police power. to dc
a thing that was both unIust and
unnecessary, / contested the matter
through the Courts and won out
and now it seems that some one is
laying the lines to thrash oat The
matter again. While do not rec
ognize the power nor could ! see
the necessity of another bridge. the
one there being ample, yet, while
not acknowledging the right, the
power or the justification, in
order to avoid further friction with
the town over this bridge question.
| said to your present Mayor, that
il your Council will, let me alone, /
would build a bridge on the plans
submitted to him, (Which plans he
approved) some time in the near
future, the span across this
canal being lengthy one and the
timbers therefore very hard to OBJ
tain. | went to work in compliance
with my promise to the Mayor, OBJ
tanned the difficult lengths, to-
gether with other parts Of this
bridge l contemplate erecting. all OF
which shows my good faith in the
matter and these timbers are now
lying on the bank Of the bayou at
Myrtle Grove Plantation just below
your town, awaiting the opportuni-
ty for me to erect the bridge | have
given your Mayor to understand |
would build.
1t is hardly necessary for me to
say to you, for it is a well known
fact, that owing to the encroachment
of the river at the New Orleans emu
of the canal, it became necessar!
for me to erect new set of lock
gates, tedious and expensive mat.
ter, requiring all of my energies and
time, for it is a we'll known fact
this work must be completed be-
tween low and high river and | am
enga eed in this work at present
otherwise. the bridge in question
would have received my attention
before this, not that l recognize
any legal right Of the town of Hou
ma to place this burden upon me but
had promised your Msy yor. and il
compliance with that promise | pro
posed to carry out the promise anc
in justice to your Mayor l want tt
say, that l do not believe that he
has any hand in or approves of an,
action, such as is contemplated b,