Hannibal Bridge Company v. United States

• Decision Date: 15 May 1911
• Docket Number: No. 100,100
• Citation: 221 U.S. 194,31 S.Ct. 603,55 L.Ed. 699
• Parties: HANNIBAL BRIDGE COMPANY and the Wabash Railroad Company, Plffs. in Err., v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

221 U.S. 194

31 S.Ct. 603

55 L.Ed. 699

HANNIBAL BRIDGE COMPANY and the Wabash Railroad Company, Plffs. in Err.,

v UNITED STATES.

No. 100.

Argued April 17, 1911.

Decided May 15, 1911.

Messrs. Wells H. Blodgett, R. Burnham Moffat, James L. Minnis, and George A. Mahan for plaintiffs in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 195-197 intentionally omitted] Assistant Attorney General Harr for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 197-199 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Harlan delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a criminal information against the Hannibal Bridge Company, the Wabash Railroad Company, and the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, under the 18th section of the river and harbor appropriation act of Congress of March 3d, 1899 (30 Stat. at L. 1121, chap. 425).

That section is as follows: 'Whenever the Secretary of War shall have good reason to believe that any railroad or other bridge now constructed, or which may hereafter be constructed, over any of the navigable water ways of the United States, is an unreasonable obstruction to the free navigation of such waters on account of insufficient height, width of span, or otherwise, or where there is difficulty in passing the draw opening or the draw span of such bridge by rafts, steamboats, or other water craft, it shall be the duty of the said Secretary, first giving the parties reasonable opportunity to be heard, to give notice to the persons or corporations owning or controlling such bridge so to alter the same as to render navigation through or under it reasonably free, easy, and unobstructed; and in giving such notice, he shall specify the changes recommended by the Chief of Engineers that are required to be made, and shall prescribe in each case a reasonable time in which to make them. If, at the end of such time, the alteration has not been made, the Secretary of War shall forthwith notify the United States district attorney for the district in which such bridge is situated, to the end that the criminal proceedings hereinafter mentioned may be taken. If the persons, corporation, or association owning or controlling any railroad or other bridge shall, after receiving notice to that effect, as hereinbefore required from the Secretary of War, and within the time prescribed by him, wilfully fail or refuse to remove the same or to comply with the lawful order of the Secretary of War in the premises, such persons, corporation, or association shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, and every month such persons, corporation, or association shall remain in default in respect to the removal or alteration of such bridge shall be deemed a new offense, and subject the persons, corporation, or association so offending to the penalties above prescribed: Provided, that in any case arising under the provisions of this section, an appeal or writ of error may be taken from the district courts or from the existing circuit courts direct to the Supreme Court, either by the United States or by the defendants.'

Proceeding under the above statute, certain vessel owners, masters, pilots, and others interested in the navigation of the Mississippi river, represented to the Secre- tary of War, by petition, that the bridge over that river at Hannibal, Missouri, had become and was an unreasonable obstruction to free navigation by reason of the location of the then-existing draw openings, the entire absence of guide-fences or sheer booms, and the presence of artificial deposits of stone about the piers of the bridge, which they believed had increased the current through the draw openings to a dangerous extent. The Secretary was asked by the petitioners to exercise the powers granted to him by the above act, and after due hearing of all interested persons or corporations, require such alterations to be made in and about the bridge as would render navigation through it reasonably free, easy, and unobstructed.

The matter was referred by the War Department to an officer of the Engineer Corps of the Army, for report. That officer, after examination, reported that, from personal observation and experience, especially during the great flood of June, 1903, he was satisfied that the bridge was an unreasonable obstruction to navigation, by reason of the wrong location of the draw spans, the absence of guard fences or sheer booms, and the deposit of riprap in considerable quantities about the piers and abutments. The report recommended certain changes in order that navigation through the bridge might be reasonably safe, easy, and unobstructed. In these recommendations the Chief of Engineers concurred. 'The character of this bridge as an unreasonable obstruction to navigation is,' the report stated, 'so generally understood, and has been so well established by former hearings, that further hearings would appear to be superfluous; but, as the alteration of the structure so as to make it reasonably safe for navigation will be expensive, and on that account will probably be antagonized by its owners, I believe it would be best to hold another hearing, at which all parties in interest may be heard; the said new hearing to take place as soon as practicable.'

Subsequently, under date of March 10th, 1906, there was issued by the War Department an official communication to the bridge company, as follows: 'Take notice that, whereas, the Secretary of War has good reason to believe that the drawbridge commonly known as the Wabash Railway bridge, owned or operated by the Hannibal Bridge Company (and by the Wabash Railroad Company), inter alia, across the Mississippi river at Hannibal, Missouri, is an unreasonable obstruction to the free navigation of the said Mississippi river (which is one of the navigable water ways of the United States) on account of unsuitable location of the draw spans and protection crib, the lack of suitable guard fences or sheer booms, and the presence of obstructing riprap around the piers, there being difficulty in passing the draw openings or draw spans of such bridge by rafts, steamboat, or other water craft; and whereas, the following alterations, which have been recommended by the Chief of Engineers, are required to render navigation through it reasonably free, easy, and unobstructed, to wit: (Here follow specifications of proposed alterations) . . . And whereas, to March 15, 1907, is a reasonable time in which to alter the said bridge as described above. Now, therefore, in obedience to, and by virtue of, § 18 of an act of Congress of the United States entitled, 'An Act Making Appropriations for the Construction, Repair, and Preservation of Certain Public Works on Rivers and Harbors, and for Other Purposes,' approved March 3, 1899 (30 Stat. at L. 1153, chap. 425, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 3545), the Secretary of War hereby notifies the said Hannibal Bridge Company to alter the said bridge as described above, and prescribes that said alterations shall be made and completed on or before March 15, 1907.'

Similar notices were given to the Wabash Railroad Company and the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, respectively, each notice being signed by '...