The St. Louis v. Ritz

• Decision Date: 01 January 1883
• Citation: 1 P. 27,30 Kan. 30
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court
• Parties: THE ST. LOUIS, WICHITA & WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY v. RITZ & PUTNAM

1 P. 27

30 Kan. 30

THE ST. LOUIS, WICHITA & WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY v. RITZ & PUTNAM

Supreme Court of Kansas

January 1, 1883

Error from Greenwood District Court.

ACTION by A. J. Ritz and M. C. Putnam, partners as Ritz &amp Putnam, against the Railway Company, to recover for goods and supplies furnished. The opinion states the character of the action, and the facts. At the May Term, 1881, of the district court, plaintiffs had judgment against the defendant company which brings the case to this court.

Judgment reversed and cause remanded.

John O'Day, for plaintiff in error.

Clogston & Fuller, for defendants in error.

HORTON C. J. All the Justices concurring.

OPINION

HORTON, C. J.:

This was an action by Ritz & Putnam against the St. Louis Wichita & Western Railway Company, to recover the sum of $ 281.33 for goods and supplies alleged to have been sold and delivered by them to the employes of Harding & Gilmore, whom they alleged were, at the time of the sale and delivery of the goods, contractors of the company, engaged in the construction of the company's railroad in Greenwood county, in this state. The petition alleged that the company did not take from the contractors a bond as provided for in § 35, ch. 84, Comp. Laws of 1879, to protect persons who supply contractors on railroads with provisions, etc. Upon the trial it was established that a railway corporation, called the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company, was organized under the provisions of the General Statutes of Missouri; that this corporation, on the 1st day of October, 1878, and thereafter, owned and operated a railway extending from a point near the city of St. Louis, Missouri, to a point at or near the town of Oswego, in the county of Labette, in this state; that this railway company acquired that part of its railway situated between the eastern boundary line of Kansas and the town of Oswego from the Missouri & Western Railway Company of Kansas; that on the 4th day of February, 1879, the St. Louis, Wichita & Western Railway Company was organized under the provisions of the General Statutes of Kansas; that this corporation was authorized and empowered to lay out, construct, operate and maintain a railway beginning at a point at or near the town of Oswego, Labette county, in this state, thence westwardly to Wichita, in Sedgwick county, and thence to the western boundary line of the state; that the line of the St. Louis, Wichita & Western Railway, as the same was authorized to be constructed by its articles of incorporation, and the tracks of the St. Louis & Francisco Railway connected and intersected at the town of Oswego; that on the 28th day of July, 1879, the St. Louis, Wichita & Western Railway Company leased all of its railway, constructed and unconstructed, extending from the town of Oswego to the city of Wichita, to the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company; that on October 1, 1879, the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company let to Harding & Gilmore, contractors, the work of grading and constructing twenty-five miles of the road-bed of the St. Louis, Wichita & Western Railway at certain prices and terms agreed upon; that on the 5th day of October, 1879, Harding & Gilmore sublet a portion of this work to one C. B. Lickliter; that in September and October, 1879, Ritz & Putnam, residing at Fall River, in Greenwood county, and engaged in the dry goods and grocery business, sold to Harding & Gilmore merchandise, consisting of provisions, clothing and like supplies, amounting to $ 93.60. Of this sum $ 60 was paid on December 3, 1879. In November and December, 1879, Ritz & Putnam furnished provisions and dry goods upon the order of Lickliter to the men at work for him, amounting in all to $ 247.73. An account of the goods furnished to Harding & Gilmore in September and October, 1879, was made out against the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company by Ritz & Putnam. The account of the goods furnished on orders given by Lickliter was made out by the firm to him. There was also some evidence tending to show that the St. Louis, Wichita & Western Railway Company never did any work on its line, and that it was constructed by the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company under a contract made with the St. Louis, Wichita & Western Railway Company. The court instructed...