The Semi-weekly leader., 1921-11-16
CLARKSDALE LOSES
SUIT FOR R. R. STOCK
u. S. Supreme Court Reverses
Mississippi High Court Rul-
ing in Old Case.

y
On Nov. 7th, 1921. Chief Justice
w. H. Taft Of the Supreme Court of
the United States handed down an
opinion of great interest to the rep
resentatives of the Yazoo and Mis-
sissippi Valley Railroad Company,
the citizens of Clarksdale, Miss, and
others who have followed the his
tory of the suit brought in the Chan
Gerry Court at Clarksdale in 1917 a.
gainst the IYazoo & Mississippi Val
ley Railroad Company 70 recover
the value of ESQ shares of the lat
ter's stock which the City of Clarks-
dale at one time owned,
The City of Clarksdale averred in
it's suit that it had owned $50
shares of the stock of the L. N. o.
G T. railroad which. was later merg-
ed into the Yazoo & Mississippi Val
ley Railroad Company, since April,
20, 1891, and that the certificate for
the stock had been lost or mislaid
and could not be found. The rail-
road company, in its answer to the
suit, told substantially the following
story
That the stock had been issued in
exchange for bonds of the City of
Clarksdale; that suit was brought by
the Pacific improvement Company
and R, T. Wilson & Company on ac-
count of interest due on the bonds
which the city had not paid, claim
ing that the bonds had been unlaw-
fully issued. The Pacific Improve
ment Company finally, on June II,
1895, got judgement in the FEEDER
al Court, and although the case was
taken to the Circuit Court of Ap-
peals, the judgement was affirmed.
The Pacific Improvement Company
made levy upon this $50 shares of
stock and it was sold under the judg-
ment on Dec. 9Th, 1897, and bought
in on behalf of the Pacific Improve
ment Company. When ultimately a
settlement was made with the bond
holders, it did not include the stock
in question, which was afterward, on
October 4, 1904, sold by the Pacific
Improvement Company to the Mis-
sissippi Valley Company, the present
owner of the stock.
No complaint was ever made by
the City of Clarksdale to the Missis-
sippi Valley Company in regard to
this stock until the filing of the suit
in 1917 in the Chancery Court at
Clarksdale, on the ground that the
sale at Oxford in 1897 was void. The
principal hope of the City of Clarks-
dale that the levy of the execution
was not in accordance with the law
was that the sale of the stock took
place at the front door of the Feder-
al Court house instead of the front
door of the County Court house.
On the trial of the case in the
Chancery Court, the Chancellor
handed down decree in favor of the
city on every point. The Mississip-
pi Valley. Company appealed to the
Supreme Court of Mississippi, where
the decree of the Chancellor was af-
frmed without opinion by Division
B of the court. Thereupon the
Mississippi Valley Company took the
case to the United States Supreme
Court at Washington. The case was
argued before the Supreme Court on
Oct. 6, 1921.
1t was the contention Of the Mis-
sissippi Valley Company that the
proceedings on the execution sale
were according to the law and that
the sale was made at the proper
place; also that the city was barred
by its long delay and acquiescence,
having made no move to recover the
stock in nearly twenty years prece-
ding the filing of the suit.
Chief Justice Taft now adds the
final chapter to this litigation by
reversing the judgment of the Su-
preme Court of of Mississippi and
holding that the execution sale was
valid and in accordance with the
law, forever settling the question of
the title to the ESQ shares of stock,