Austin v. Gulf
| Decision Date | 01 January 1876 |
| Citation | 45 Tex. 234 |
| Parties | EDWARD T. AUSTIN v. THE GULF, COLORADO, AND SANTA FE RAILROAD COMPANY. |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
APPEAL from Brazoria. Tried below before the Hon. A. P. McCormick.
E. T. Austin brought this suit in the District Court of Galveston county, on the 19th January, 1876, by petition addressed to A. P. McCormick, judge of the eighteenth judicial district, sworn to, praying an injunction to restrain the sheriff from proceeding to enforce the collection of a tax alleged to be illegally imposed on his property in Galveston county for the year 1875, amounting to $191.23, and to one third of one per cent. of the taxable property in Galveston county, and to enjoin the County Court from further assessing said tax, and from the further issue of bonds of Galveston county, claimed to have been issued in payment of a subscription of stock alleged to have been made by the County Court of Galveston county, of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad, to the amount of five hundred thousand dollars. The subscription was claimed to have been authorized by an election held on the 20th of May, 1874, in Galveston county, on a proposition from said railroad company to take said stock, which election was claimed to have been authorized by the act of the Legislature of the State of Texas approved April 12, 1871, and alleging the issue of $50,000 of said bonds illegally; that they were now in the hands of said railroad, and praying an injunction to prevent said railroad company from negotiating said bonds until the further order of the court in the premises, and for general relief.
All defendants accepted service; and the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad Co. filed pleas and answers January 20, 1876, with a transcript of the proceedings of the County Court in the matter of the proposition and subscription to the said stock and issue of bonds and levy of tax; (which proceedings are given at large below.) That relying upon the said contract, the County Court of Galveston county elected three directors for said company, who thereafter became directors, and acted as members of the board of directors, representing the stock of said county in said company; that said company at once made a contract for the construction of more than forty miles of their railroad, beginning at Galveston; that much work had been done on said road, and an outlay of more than $300,000 expended thereon, which outlay and expense would not have been incurred but on the contract with said county; that five miles of said road, beginning at the city of Galveston, had been fully completed, and received as so completed by action of the County Court; that the County Court, upon being satisfied of the completion of said five miles, had ordered the delivery of said bonds.
The proceedings had in the County Court are as follows:
“COUNTY COURT, GALVESTON COUNTY,
April 17, 1874.
On this day came on to be heard the proposition of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway Company, being desirous of securing the aid of the county of Galveston in the construction of the railway contemplated by the charter of said company; for that purpose respectfully submit for the action of your honorable body, and of the electors of said county under the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas, the following propositions:
1st. The county of Galveston shall take and subscribe for capital stock of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway Company to the amount of five hundred thousand dollars, said stock to be held by and for the exclusive use, benefit, and behoof of the county of Galveston, which shall, by reason of the ownership thereof, be entitled to all the privileges and rights enjoyed by the other stockholders in said company, and, except as hereinafter provided, shall be subject to the same duties and liabilities as other stockholders.
2d. The amount of the subscription by the county of Galveston for the capital stock of said company, as above provided, shall be paid for in ten installments of fifty thousand dollars each.
The said installments shall mature and become payable respectively on the completion of each five miles of the first fifty miles of said railway.
Such completion to be in the manner provided for in the charter of said company; and upon the completion of the said first fifty miles, and the payment of the amount of said subscription by the county of Galveston, the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway Company shall issue to the county of Galveston a certificate of paid-up stock for the amount of said subscription.
3d. Payments of the amount of said subscription, as above provided, shall be in cash, or bonds of the county of Galveston, at their face value; said bonds to be issued in sums of not more than $1,000 each, payable twenty-five years after date, with interest coupons attached, payable semi-annually, at the rate of ten per cent. per annum, on the face value of said bonds, and from the date until the maturity of said bonds. Bonds and coupons payable in New York, and to bear interest at the rate of ten per cent. from maturity until paid.
+------------------------------------+
¦(Signed)¦A. SOMERVILLE, President. ¦
+------------------------------------+
C. R. HUGHES, Secretary.
And it appearing that said proposition is in due form of law, and presented with a petition signed by more than fifty freeholders of Galveston county, it is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed that an election be held in the county of Galveston, on Wednesday, the 20th day of May, 1874, at the several election precincts, in the manner and form provided by law; and the polls shall be open from 8 o'clock a. m. to 6 o'clock p. m. of the same day, to take the opinion of the electors of said county upon said proposition. The vote on the proposition shall be by ballot: ‘For the proposition,’ or ‘Against the proposition.’
And it is further ordered, that this order shall be published in the ““Galveston Civilian,” a newspaper published in said county, for three weeks previous to said election, and the order be posted in each election precinct in the county for twenty days prior to said day fixed herein for voting on said proposition.
And it is further ordered, that George Campbell be and he is hereby appointed manager of said election for the first election precinct; and William J. Jones, for second election precinct; W. F. Crow, for third election precinct; Fitzhugh Ward, for fourth election precinct; P. H. Hennessy, for fifth election precinct; J. M. Rogers, for sixth election precinct; R. G. Street, for seventh election precinct; Geo. L. Griscom, for eighth election precinct.
And said managers, or any of them, shall make a return to the County Court of the result of the election, with the ballots and record of persons who voted.
R. D. JOHNSON,
Presiding Justice, Galveston County.
COUNTY COURT, GALVESTON COUNTY,
May 25, A. D. 1874.
In the matter of the special election to take stock in the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway Company.
The court now proceeded to open the returns from the different precincts of the county for the election held on the 20th day of May, A. D. 1874, on the proposition for the county to subscribe for capital stock of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway Company to the amount of five hundred thousand dollars, and the following were declared to be the result of the election, viz:
+----------------------------------------------+
¦Precinct No. 1, no return. ¦ ¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Precinct No. 2, no return. ¦ ¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Precinct No. 3, all for the proposition,¦20 ¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Precinct No. 4, all for the proposition,¦287 ¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Precinct No. 5, all for the proposition,¦791 ¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Precinct No. 6, for the proposition, ¦1,186¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Precinct No. against the proposition, ¦(2) ¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Precinct No. 7, for the proposition, ¦761 ¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Precinct No. against the proposition, ¦(1) ¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Precinct No. 8, for the proposition, ¦17 ¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Showing total for the proposition, ¦3,062¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Against the proposition, ¦3 ¦
+----------------------------------------+-----¦
¦Majority for the proposition, ¦3,059¦
+----------------------------------------------+
The registered list of voters, being brought into court, showed the total registered list of voters in the county to be 5,157.
Colonel Flournoy then presented the following communication:
To the Honorable the County Court of Galveston County:
The petition of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway Company respectfully shows that the list of general registration for the county of Galveston is not a correct statement of the qualified electors for said county; that since the greater part of said registration was completed and previous to the election of the 20th day of May, A. D. 1874, a large number of voters registered therein have died, a number have become otherwise disqualified as electors by conviction for felony, and who are now confined in the penitentiary at Huntsville, and also a large number have ceased to be citizens of Galveston county by having acquired citizenship elsewhere; besides, it is respectfully submitted that a very large number of persons who purport to have been duly registered, were never citizens or qualified voters of Galveston county, and are not now such and could not now be legally registered as such.
Petitioners respectfully invites the attention of the court to the affidavits and proofs herewith filed, and are ready to...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Bitter v. Bexar County
...directly or indirectly, to the same subject, have a mutual connection and are not foreign to the subject expressed in the title. Austin v. Ry. Co., 45 Tex. 234; State v. Parker, 61 Tex. 265; Howth v. Greer, 40 Tex. Civ. App. 552, 90 S. W. 211; Singleton v. State, 53 Tex. Cr. R. 626, 111 S. ......
-
City of Oak Cliff v. State
...and distinct subjects, in contemplation of article 3, § 35, of the Constitution. Peavy v. Goss, 90 Tex. 89, 37 S. W. 317; Austin v. G., C. & S. F. Ry. Co., 45 Tex. 234; Fielder v. State (Tex. Cr. App.) 49 S. W. 376; Day Land & Cattle Co. v. State (Sup.) 4 S. W. 872; H. & T. C. Ry. Co. v. S.......
-
Texas Liquor Control Board v. Warfield
...342; Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Stoker, 102 Tex. 60, 113 S.W. 3; Robbins v. Limestone County, 114 Tex. 345, 268 S.W. 915; Austin v. Gulf, C. & S. F. Ry. Co., 45 Tex. 234, 267. It is a general rule that liberal construction will be indulged so as to aid conformance of a title to constitutional re......
-
Celaya v. City of Brownsville
...46 S. W. 796, 44 L. R. A. 716; Storrie v. Woessner, 47 S. W. 837; Id., 51 S. W. 1132; Allen v. Galveston, 51 Tex. 302; Austin v. G., C. & S. F. Ry. Co., 45 Tex. 234; Roundtree v. Galveston, 42 Tex. 613; Taylor v. Boyd, 63 Tex. 533; 1 Desty, Taxation, § 4, pp. 5-7. While the contention of co......