"Plaintiff
states that at all the times hereinafter mentioned the
defendant was and yet is a body corporate duly incorporated
as a drainage district under and by virtue of article five of
chapter one hundred and twenty-two of the Revised Statutes of
Missouri, 1899, and by virtue of the proceedings in the
county court of Lincoln county, Missouri, in a certain cause
therein pending entitled--'In the Matter of King's
Lake Drainage and Levee District,' and by virtue of the
certain findings, orders and judgments of said court in said
cause duly made and entered of record therein on the 25th day
of May, 1895, and on the 29th day of November, 1904.
"Plaintiff
further states that the lands embraced and included within
and affected by said drainage district lie partly in Lincoln
county and partly in Pike county, both in the State of
Missouri, and that the greater part of said lands lie in the
said county of Lincoln.
"That
heretofore, to-wit, on the day of , 1894, there was filed in
the office of the clerk of the county court of said Lincoln
county a petition duly signed by the majority of the owners
of all the lands in said above mentioned district and by the
owners of more than half of said lands, all of said
petitioners and owners being adults of lawful age, praying
and applying for the organization of a drainage district
embracing said lands by the said name of 'King's Lake
Drainage and Levee District,' and with the boundaries
thereof proposed, setting forth said proposed name and the
necessity for said district and the organization thereof, and
for the construction therein and thereby of drains, ditches
levees and other works, and the maintenance
and keeping same in repair, with a description of its and
their proposed starting point, route and termini, and a
general description of the said lands, proposed to be
affected thereby, with the names of the owners of all said
lands, and praying and applying for the appointment of
commissioners for the execution of such proposed work
according to the provisions of the act aforesaid; and which
said petition was accompanied by an affidavit giving the
names and places of residence of such of the owners of said
lands within said district as were nonresidents of said
counties of Lincoln and Pike so far as known, and so far as
unknown stating that upon diligent inquiry their places of
residence could not be ascertained.
"That
thereupon the clerk of said county court of Lincoln county
duly docketed said matter and cause on the docket and record
of his said court for further proceedings therein under and
by the name and title, 'In the matter of the King's
Lake Drainage and Levee District,' and that all the
proceedings in said court hereinafter referred to were had
and done in said matter and cause and under the name and
title aforesaid, and that he caused due notice of the
presentation and filing of said petition to be given in all
the modes and within the time provided by law to all the
owners of said lands and all others interested therein; which
said notices contained a statement that said petition had
been filed in said court, the date when same was filed, the
starting point, route, termini and general description of the
said proposed work, the boundaries of said proposed drainage
district and the said name thereof, and that the petitioners
would ask a hearing of said petition at the July term of said
county court then next to be holden at the courthouse in the
city of Troy in said county.
"That
thereafterwards such proceedings were duly had in said county
court, that, on to-wit, the 17th day of
August, 1894, at and during a term and sitting of said court
duly held in the courthouse in said city of Troy, the hearing
of and upon said petition was duly had by and before court,
and the said court, after hearing all competent evidence
offered before it for and against said petition and the
various matters involved in said proceeding, duly found and
adjudged that said petition had been signed by a majority of
the owners of all the lands in said district and by the
owners of a majority of all said lands; and it further then
and there appearing to the said court that the said proposed
drains, ditches, levees and other works were necessary and
would be useful for the drainage of the said lands proposed
to be drained thereby for agricultural and sanitary purposes,
the said court then and there duly so found, declared,
ordered and adjudged; and thereupon by its further order and
judgment in said proceeding said court appointed William J.
Seaman and William H. Baskett of Lincoln county and Frank L.
Wilson of Pike county as commissioners to lay out and
construct said proposed works.
"That thereafterwards the said commissioners after
having been duly qualified and having entered into bond
according to law, duly conditioned, filed and approved,
entered upon the duties of their said office and at their
first meeting after their appointment and qualification duly
appointed one of their number, viz., the said William H.
Baskett, as secretary.
"That
thereafterwards and within the time as directed by said court
the said commissioners went upon and duly examined the lands
described in said petition proposed to be drained and
protected and the lands over and upon which the said work was
proposed to be constructed, and thereupon determined and
reported to the said court by their written report duly made
and filed therein on the 6th day of March, 1895, as follows:
First, that the starting point, route and
termini of said proposed work and the proposed location
thereof were in all respects proper and feasible. Second, the
probable cost of the said proposed work, including all
incidental expenses and the costs of the proceedings
therefor. Third, the probable cost of keeping the same in
repair after the work should be completed. Fourth, what
lands, with a particular description thereof, would be
injured by said work and the aggregate amount of such
injuries, and awarding to each tract, lot, easement or
interest, the amount of damages so determined by them. Fifth,
what lands, with a particular description thereof, would be
benefited by the construction of the said proposed work, and
showing that the benefits exceeded the aggregate cost of
constructing said work, including all incidental expenses,
costs of proceeding and damages; and therein apportioned and
assessed the estimated cost of the same on the said lands so
benefited, setting down opposite to the correct description
of each tract, lot, easement, interest of servitude, the
proportion of such costs assessed as benefits thereon. Sixth,
that the proposed district as set out in the said petition
filed would not embrace all the lands that might be damaged
or benefited by the proposed work, and setting forth and
reporting what additional lands and a particular description
thereof would be benefited or damaged and the amount of
benefits and the amount of damages to each said tract of
additional land, in the same manner as though such additional
lands had been included in the said original petition. And
the said commissioners reporting in their said report that
the whole cost of such said proposed work would be less than
the benefits resulting therefrom, they located, designed,
laid out and planned same in the manner as to them seemed
best designed to drain and protect the lands of all the
parties interested with the least damage and greatest benefit
to all the lands to be affected thereby, and had proper
surveys, profiles, plans and specifications
made for such proposed work and reported to the said court in
their said report their conclusions thereon, with a copy of
said surveys, pro files, plans and specifications and their
recommendations as to the best and cheapest method of doing
the said proposed work.
"That
upon the filing of said report by said commissioners, the
said county court, to-wit, on the 4th day of April, 1895,
duly made and entered of record therein an order fixing the
16th day of May, 1895, as the time, and the courthouse in the
city of Troy as the place, when and where all persons
interested in said report or in the work referred to therein,
might appear and contest the confirmation thereof. That
thereupon the clerk of said court caused due notice of the
said time and place of said hearing and of the amount of
benefits and damages assessed and awarded by the said report
of the said commissioners and containing a description of the
lands affected, by publication thereof for three successive
weeks prior to said day so set for such hearing in the
'Lincoln County News,' a newspaper published in said
county, and also by duly serving a copy of such notice on
each of the persons and corporations affected thereby who
reside in either Lincoln or Pike county aforesaid, at least
twenty days before the said day so fixed for said hearing.
"That
thereupon such proceedings were duly had in and before...
