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RAILROAD CASE DECIDED
The famous railroad case brought by J. C. McCoy, et. al., against J. M. Campbell and John P. Payne to
compel them to pay their subscriptions
of $250 each, to the O.K. Railroad Division fund, tried in the Chillicothe Circuit court upon a change of venue
from this county, was finally decided by Judge Broadus on last Thursday. The case has awakened
a general interest among our people and the final decision was eagerly watched for.
A brief history of the circumstances of the case might be of interest to our readers and we therefore give a
few of the main facts which led up to the suit. In the year 1897 the people of Milan were informed that the
O.K. Railroad Co. would extend their line of railroad from Trenton to
Pattonsburg, thereby filling up a gap, and connecting with the St. Luois,
Pittsburg & Gulf R.R. and would then have through trains to both
Omaha and Kansas City. That the road was under the control of the
Pittsburg & Gulf Co. and that a general Division headquarters of the
road would be established at some place along the route from
Pattonsburg to Quincy, and that Milan would be considered. Upon
being assured by the officials that if Milan would raise a subscription of
some $15,000, for the purpose of building a roundhouse, general
headquarters building, coal chutes and tracks her chances would be
good, some of our citizens went actively to work to raise the amount.
Several mass meetings were held and our people were all plead with to
aid in the great enterprise for the upbuilding of the city. Most of our
citizens responded liberally, not only in the city, but from the
surrounding country, and within a few weeks it was settled that we could
raise $15,000. (Heading the listof subscribers were Isaac Guinn,
Addison Payne, Sr., and Caleb Payne. They each gave $500, and many
others gave lesser amounts-- 312 people subscribed.) Trustees were then
appointed to take charge of the funds and look after disbursement of
the same. These trustees were J. C. McCoy, Wm. McClanahan, J. H. B.
Smith, T. S. Poole, J. A. Nible, Sr., and Warren McCullough.
After the $15,000 had been subscribed, a tract of land was purchased
from Smick & Bailey (near the railroad tracks) on which to build the
round house, coal chutes and division headquarters building all of
which, were, by the terms of the subscription contract, to be created on
this land and were to revert to the subscribers with the land purchased
whenever the railroad company failed to maintain division headquarters
at Milan.
Attorneys J. M. Campbell and John P. Payne had each subscribed $250
to this fund but before the subscriptions were turned over to the Trustees
they both went to N. J. Winters, one of the solicitors and asked that their
names be taken off as they did not desire to stand. This Mr. Winters
refused to do. They then refused to pay their subscriptions and finally
the Trustees sued for the recovery of their subscriptions with the result
as above.
The Trustees were ably represented by Attorneys J. M. Winters, J. W.
Childers of Milan and Frank Sheets of Chillicothe. The defense was
equally represented by Attorneys W. F. Calfee and Wattenbarger &
Bingham of Milan, Ellison & Campbelll of Kirksville and L. A.
Chapman of Chillicothe.
The defense was upon the following grounds. The subscription was for
the purpose of purchasing ground near the O.K. depot and putting
certain improvements on it all of which reverted to the subscribers on
failure of the company to maintain division headquarters at Milan.
The court after weighing the matter carefully made the following
findings. 1st That the defendants withdrew their subscriptions before the
subscription paper was delivered to the Trustees.
2nd That the plaintiffs failed to prove that the Railroad Company had
established Division headquarters at Milan as required by the
subscription contract.
3rd That the Trustees wrongfully misappropriated the subscription fund
by paying out money on the Ike Guinn building near the square and
entirely away from the land upon which the improvements were to be
placed.
The plaintiffs have made up the records for an appeal and we learn will
take the case to the higher court.
As the case now stands a court of law has decided that the money
subscribed was spent in violation of the contract, that the building of the
headquarters building up town with the reversionary interest in Isaac
Guinn was contrary to the provisions of the subscription contract as well
also as to building to coal chutes on the right-away of the R. R.
Company.
Our people have a right to know what became of their money. It was
given for a specific purpose and should have been used for that purpose
only.
We understand some of the Trustees were not consulted about the
distribution of the trust funds and although we would not unjustly
condemn anyone who acted as Trustee, yet someone has erred. We have
no division worthy of the name. Our people have about $3,000 in a
building uptown to which Mr. Guinn carries the key, and which by the
terms of his contract with the R. R. Co., legally belongs to him. In fact
over $16,000 was spent by our people and what have we to show for it?
It won't do to say that Payne and Campbell acted in bad faith, when
court holds them mjustified in their suit. Blame should be placed where it
belongs, our people should have been dealt with fairly. The money
should have been used for the exact purpose for which it was
subscribed. Every provision of the contract should have been complied
with and last but not least the Railroad Company should have kept faith
with our people.
As the case will probably be appealed, we will wait the further action of
the case before further comment. (End of article taken from October 5,
1899 Milan Republican newspaper).
December 20, 1900 A later paper states that the plaintiffs took the case
to the Kansas City Court of appeals and in December the Court upheld
the decision in favor of the defendants as pronounced by the Circuit
Court in Chillicothe.
The 1890's could be described as the period of construction in Milan.
Through the years the town had been visited by many destructive fires,
and during the nineties most of the wooden buildings around the square
were replaced with two-story brick buildings. Milan was fortunate in
having a variety of skilled craftsmen, and they erected business
buildings and residences as beautiful and substantial as those found in
any part of the country. According to the Milan Standard, June 16,
1901, two brick plants in Milan were turning out more than 3,000 bricks
a day.
In July, 1897, The Milan Republican reported that Milan was now
recignized by the Q.O. & K.C. Railroad as the proper place for
division. The company had not asked the citizens of Milan for money,
but requested land, a round house to be built of brick or stone, a
two-story brick office building and coal chutes. The building should be
38 X 84 feet, two stories and a basement, with 18 rooms. About forty or
fifty clerks were to be employed.
The Office Building was favorably located for visiting railway
executives. After a day's work, they could attend entertainment next
door at the Opera House and spend the night at the Hotel Stanley
(erected in 1892) across the street.
The new building was indeed quite handsome. It was constructed of
buff colored bricks capped with an elaborate pressed metal cornice
about 15 inches wide. The entrance was through a circular archway
leading to double wooden doors. The doors open into the foyer which
leads to the offices on the lower floor or to the open stairway leading to
the second floor. The stairway steps, decorative newel posts, and
balustrade are constructed of beautifully grained oak. The construction
started in late 1887 completed 1888.
Although the round house and machine shops were soon occupied and
buzzing with activity, there is no evidence that the division offices were
ever moved to Milan. The March 9, 1899 Republican stated "What's
wrong with Milan? We have a Railroad Division located here, a round
house, a R.R. Headquarters Office--a large handsone building supplied
with modern lighting and heating facilities, but it is not occupied, except
with rats and bats, window sills are covered with moss and dust,
cobwebs decorate its frescoed ceilings--all lifeless--really dead."
The building apparently remained vacant from its completing in 1898
until July 2, 1908, the day the Sullivan County Courthouse was
destroyed by fire. The old courthouse, built in 1859, stood in the center
of the town square. Because it was constructed of hard native lumber, it
burned slowly--enabling all the county records to be saved.
This was researched and compiled by Betty Cochrane.
For many years, a framed, printed copy of this report hung on the wall
in the first floor south hall. In 2012, it was decided to make it into
a hand-out brochure so visitors could take it with them to read at their leisure.
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