Chestnutwood v. Hood

• Decision Date: 30 June 1873
• Citation: 68 Ill. 132,1873 WL 8294
• Parties: JONATHAN CHESTNUTWOOD et al.v.ALEXANDER HOOD et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

68 Ill. 132

1873 WL 8294 (Ill.)

JONATHAN CHESTNUTWOOD et al.

v.ALEXANDER HOOD et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June Term, 1873.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HEREAPPEAL from the Circuit Court of Randolph county; the Hon. SILAS L. BRYAN, Judge, presiding.

This was a suit in equity, instituted in the circuit court of Randolph county, by Jonathan Chestnutwood, Edmond Menard, and one hundred and ninety others, all citizens and tax payers of that county, to restrain the delivery of certain bonds of the county to the Cairo and St. Louis Railroad Company.

It is, among other things, alleged in the bill, that the Cairo and St. Louis Railroad Company are acting and claim to be incorporated by virtue of two acts of the General Assembly--one approved February 16, 1865, and the other, an amendatory act thereof, in force in the year 1869--for the purpose of constructing and equipping a railroad from Cairo, through Randolph county, to a point opposite the city of St. Louis; that the county court of Randolph county was induced, by the fraudulent representations and conduct of that company, to order an election by the legal voters of the county, to be held at the same time that the regular election for county officers was held, in November, 1869, to determine whether said county should subscribe to the capital stock of said railroad company, to aid in the construction of its road--such subscription to be payable in the bonds of said county, issued under the following provisions and restrictions, viz: “ Provided, that the line of said railroad shall enter the county at or near the town of Red Bud, a depot being established within the corporate limits of said town, then, on a route to be selected by the company building the same, to a point within the corporate limits of the city of Sparta, thence to the county line, on such route as said company may select: And be it further provided, that the amount of said bonds or subscription shall not exceed $5000 per mile for each mile of said railroad constructed within the county, and in the aggregate shall not exceed $160,000: And be it further provided, that no bonds shall be issued or liabilities of the county in any way incurred, until at least five miles of said railroad within the limits of Randolph county shall be finished and in running order, when it shall be the duty of the county court to issue the bonds of said county, and deliver over the same to the president, directors and company building said railroad, the sum of $25,000 in said bonds, having not less than ten or more than twenty years to run to maturity, and bearing interest at a rate not to exceed eight per cent per annum, payable semi-annually, at the city of Springfield, Illinois, or at such other point as may be designated in such bonds; and in like manner shall bonds be issued and delivered for each succeeding five miles of said road, when finished and in running order, until the limit of $160,000 has been reached, or until said road shall be finished to the county line;” that the proposition of aiding in the construction of said road was voted upon by the voters of the different election precincts throughout said county, at the time indicated in said order, to-wit: on the second day of November, A. D. 1869; that at said election there were cast in all the precincts of said county the total number of 3210 legal votes, and that there were cast in favor of subscribing stock, as indicated in said order, the number of 1278 votes, and that there were cast against subscribing stock as aforesaid the number of 1275 votes; that at the time said election was held, there were residing in said county the number of “3800 legal voters who were entitled to vote;” that the said county court, consisting of Alexander Hood, county judge, and John Wilson and Philip Wehrheim, associate justices, with John R. Shannon, county clerk, was, on the 15th day of August, A. D. 1871, again convened in special session for the adjourned transaction of county business, “when the said Cairo and St. Louis Railroad Company, by its agents and attorneys, appeared before said court and claimed that the proposition voted upon by the voters of said county at said election, authorizing said court to subscribe stock, as indicated in said order of election, had carried;” that they insisted on the court to subscribe said stock, and that said agents and attorneys, to remove the doubts entertained by the court as to their authority under the law to subscribe said stock upon the vote cast at said election, “represented to said court that it ought, at least, to subscribe said stock, and thereby put it within the power of said company to test the fact whether or not said proposition had been carried; that the court, in taking this step, would not and could not waive or prejudice any of the legal rights of the county to test the matter in the future, by suits or otherwise;” that said court, through the fraud and imposition of the agents of said company, made an order, subscribing to its capital stock $5000 per mile, for each mile of its railroad to be constructed within the county, not exceeding, in the aggregate, $160,000, and, for the purpose of paying the subscription, directing that bonds, in the sum of $1000 each, amounting in the aggregate to the sum of $160,000, be issued and delivered to the said company, upon the conditions upon which it is claimed said bonds were authorized by said election to be issued, payable in twenty years, at eight per cent interest, etc.

And it is also charged in the bill, that said company are pretending to construct their road through said county, etc., and that the county court will issue and deliver said bonds to it as fast as each successive five miles of said road is finished in said county; that if the...