Findings
of Fact.
The
following facts were proved upon the trial of this cause:
(1)
That on the 29th day of June, 1888, petition was duly filed
by the requisite number of citizens, with the proper
authority, for the purposes of submitting the question of
whether the town of Uvalde should be incorporated. That
thereupon said election was ordered, and resulted in a
majority vote for the incorporation of said town, and that
judgment was duly entered by the county judge of Uvalde
county, as required by the statutes of Texas, declaring said
town incorporated. That thereafter an election was ordered
held, by the proper authority, by the qualified electors
residing in the territory embraced in said corporation, for
the election of municipal officers for said corporation, and
said election was duly held, and municipal officers duly
elected. That thereafter, to wit, on the 5th day of July
1889, the city council of said city of Uvalde, by ordinance
duly enacted, adopted title 17, chapters 1 to 10, of the
Revised Statutes of Texas, and amendments thereto, as the
charter of the city of Uvalde, in lieu of the first
incorporation. All of which will fully appear by copies of
said proceedings embodied in plaintiff's petition or
attached thereto as exhibits.
(2)
That thereafter, to wit, on the 7th day of February, 1891
the city council of said city of Uvalde duly and legally
passed on ordinance authorizing the issuance of certain
waterworks bonds, in the sum of $10,000, and of the
denomination of $1,000 each, and 10 in number, which
ordinance was duly and legally published. That, in accordance
with said ordinance, the said 10 bonds of said city of Uvalde
were issued, in the form set out in plaintiff's petition
together with the coupons attached thereto, and in the form
set out in plaintiff's petition; a copy of said ordinance
being printed on the reverse side of each bond. That said
ordinance is as follows, to wit:
'Waterworks
Bonds.
'An
Ordinance.
'An
ordinance providing for the issuance of ten thousand
($10,000) dollars of bonds, to be known and styled as
'Waterworks Bonds of the City of Uvalde, Texas,'
and levying a tax and otherwise providing a fund for the
payment of said bonds, principal and interest.
'Section
1. Be it ordained by the city council of the city of
Uvalde, Texas, that there shall be, and is hereby, ordered
issued ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in city of Uvalde
coupon bonds, of the denomination of one thousand ($1,000)
dollars each, and which shall be known and styled on their
face 'Uvalde Waterworks Bonds,' and the proceeds of
the sale of said bonds shall be used to induce and procure
the erection of a system of waterworks in the town of
Uvalde, and said bonds shall bear date February 7, 1891,
and shall bear interest from February 7, 1891, at the rate
of six (6) per cent, per annum, and shall mature fifty
years from date.
'Sec.
2. The interest on said bonds shall be payable upon
presentation of the matured coupons at the Hanover National
Bank of New York, in the city of New York, semiannually, on
the 10th day of January, and 10th day of July in each year,
first payment of interest to be payable July 10th, 1891.
'Sec.
3. The bonds shall specify for what purpose they are
issued, and the fund set apart for their payment.
'Sec.
4. The bonds shall in all particulars conform to city
charter requirements.
'Sec.
5. There shall be, and is hereby, levied an annual tax of
twenty-five cents on the one hundred dollars, or as much as
may be necessary for a sinking fund, on all valuation, in
real and personal property in the city of Uvalde not exempt
by law, for paying the aforesaid interest and creating a
sinking fund for the payment of said bonds at maturity.
Said tax is hereby levied for the year 1891, and every year
hereafter, until said bonds, principal and interest, are
paid. Said tax to be collected as other taxes: Provided,
however, that, should the tax so levied not be sufficient
to pay said interest and create said sinking fund in any
year, there shall be levied such additional tax as will be
sufficient to pay the interest and provide for the sinking
fund.
'Sec.
6. The interest and sinking fund so provided to be
collected shall not be diverted nor drawn upon for any
other purpose: Provided, however, that said sinking fund
may, as it accumulates, be invested in bonds of the United
States, the state of Texas, or counties in said state, as
the city council may direct.
'Sec.
7. The city treasurer shall make semiannual reports as to
the condition of the said special fund.
'Sec.
8. There shall be created and set aside an annual sinking
fund of two (2) per cent, on the amount of bonds issued for
the redemption of said bonds at maturity.
'Sec.
9. These bonds are to be issued under the authority of
articles 420 to 424, chapter 4, Revised Statutes of Texas,
and of city ordinance in conformity thereto, passed this,
the 7th day of February, A.D. 1891.
'Sec.
10. This ordinance shall take effect from and after passage
and legal publication. William Davis, Mayor City of Uvalde.
'Attest:
'L.
N. Stratton, City Secretary.'
That
said bonds are as follows, differing only in numbers, and
being numbered from 1 to 10, inclusive, to wit:
'United
States of America-- ss.
'State
of Texas.
'No.
1. Uvalde Waterworks Bonds. $1,000.00.
'Know
all men by these presents, that the city of Uvalde, in the
county of Uvalde, state of Texas, for value received, hereby
promises to pay to bearer, on the 7th day of February, 1941,
one thousand dollars ($1,000), in gold coin of the United
State of America, with interest thereon at the rate of six
per cent. per annum from the 7th day of February, 1891,
payable semiannually, on the 10th day of January and July of
each year, upon presentation and surrender of the coupons
hereto attached as they may fall due. The principal and
interest of this bond payable at the Hanover National Bank of
New York, in the city of New York. This bond is one of a
series of ten bonds of like tenor and date, of the
denomination of one thousand dollars ($1,000) each, issued by
said city of Uvalde, under authority of arts. 420 to 424,
chapter 4, Revised Statutes of Texas, and of the city
ordinance in conformity hereto, passed Feb. 7th, 1891, and
printed on the reverse side hereof, to which reference is
made, and is issued for the purpose of securing the erection
of a system of waterworks in the city of Uvalde.
'In
witness whereof the said city, by its council, has caused
this bond to be signed by the mayor of the city, and attested
by the city secretary, with the city seal attached, this 7th
day of February, A.D. 1891.
'(Seal.)
William Davis, Mayor.
'Attest:
'Lee
N. Stratton, City Secretary.'
That at
the time of the issuance of said bonds the taxable value of
the property in the city of Uvalde, for the year 1891
amounted to $619,026. That the taxable value of the property
in the city of Uvalde, for the year 1890, amounted to the sum
of $422,203. That on said 7th day of February, 1891, all of
said bonds and coupons were delivered to the Uvalde
Water-Supply
& Power Company, under the contract between said city of
Uvalde and said company, set up in defendant's answer,
and the ordinance of said city of Uvalde, set up in said
answer. That on the 14th day of September, 1891, said bonds
and all unmatured coupons were sold to E. D. Shepard & Co. in
the usual course of trade, for value, and that said E. D.
Shepard & Co. purchased same in good faith, without any
knowledge of any alleged illegality in the issuance of said
bonds, or any alleged illegality in the incorporation of said
city of Uvalde;...
