Imperial Valley press., 1923-08-17
PAID ADVERTISING
NOTICE

IM1 1ERlAL VALLEY L GRESS:-
I observe the roiiowing article
in the issue of the 18th, inst:
"Supreme Court raps petition in
Stage case" District Attorney
Ernest r. Utley has received a copy
of the decision of the Supreme
Court in the case of O. d. HADLEY
ct al, VS.. STATE RAILROAD
COMMISSION advising that the
application of ROBERT c. HILL,
counsel for Hadley for Writ of
n Certiorari to review order of Rail
\ road Commission is stricken from
the files, because counsel criticized
the Commission.
Mr.. Utley was never employed in
\ this case which was tried before the
n Railroad Commission at San Fran
cisco and he knows nothing what
ever about the facts.
In justice to my clients who have
suffered so much, from being
wrongfully deprived ~ of their just
rights, I deem It necessary to re-
ply to Mr.. Utley, who L think has
gone outside of the line of his duty
as our public officer.
Here are the facts: On Nav I
1917, and long prior thereto, Had
q ley and seven others were operat-
4 ing auto stages from Imperial Val
ley to Santa Barbara, under the
\ name, United Stages The Legis-
4 lature passed an Act in May 1917,
4 which provided that all persons
a operating auto stages on May l.
4 1917 had the exclusive right to con-
n tinue to operate, but must operate
4 under the supervision of the Rail
y road Commission. These men who
were operating on the first of May,
4 1917, gave 10 Tom Morgan powers
of attorney to file for them tariffs
and schedules before the Railroad
d Commission under this Act. Morgan
accepted the powers of attorney
and filed the tariffs and schedules
under the name "United Stages, q
4 corporation, and became the gem
eral manager. This corporation
never sold but thirty shares of
stock at one dollar per share and
Morgan and his two brothers sub
scribed for this, never paid for the
stock, the concern never had any
assets, never transacted any bust
ness and was dissolved by n .judg-
ment in the Superior Court in July
4 1917.
These men continued to operate
under this tariff and schedule as
A heretofore. AS soon as Morgan
thought he was sufficiently strong
4 with the Commission, he filed
petition before it to sell the ope-
rating rights from San Diego to
Los Angeles to 0. r. Fuller for
Fifteen thousand Dollars, and to
lease the operating rights from Los
Angeles to Santa Barbara to the
Pickwick Northern Division for
five years for Sixty Thousand Dol
lars and undertook to exclude Had
ley and the others from all rights
in the franchises. IIadley and 9TH
ers filed a petition intervening OBJ
lection to the sale and lease and
asked that the power of attorney
be cancelled and that Morgan be
discharged.
The Commission refused to hear
Hadlev ct al, and made an order
4 that their claim was one for the
local courts. These men filed n
complaint in the Superior Court sof
Imperial County against Morgan
and the United Stages, corporation
claiming that plaintiffs were ope-
rating auto stages on May /, 1917,
and were the owners of the fran
chise. The case was tried before
Judge Conkling and he held that if
the allegations of the complaint
were true, they owned the operating
rights and had the right Ito operate.
They began operating and the Com
mission cited them to appear before
them and show by what authority
they were operating. On a hear
ing the commission made an order
deciding that lIadley and others
had forfeited their rights and or
dered them to stop. They took the
position that the Commission had
exceeded its power in making such
an order and continued operating.
They were indicted for violation Of
the order of the Commission. They
filed Il demurrer on the ground that
the commission had exceeded its au-
thority and that the order was ex-
ira judicial and void. Judge Conk-
ling sustained the demurrcr and
dismissed the indictments. M.
Utley filed these Indictments as
our District Attorney.
I represented IIadlcy ct nj. be-
fore the Commission and Mt the
trial l called for the production of
the original tariffs filed by Nor
gan on May ], 1917, under power
of attorney and it was produced
by one of the officials of the Com
mission in charge of the Automobile
Department. Two years previous
thereto | had gotten certified
copy Of this TARIFF from the office
of the Railroad Commission with
the seal of the Commission attached
and when / compared the certified
nj n u