[Download] "State of Florida v. Anderson Et Al." by United States Supreme Court * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: State of Florida v. Anderson Et Al.
- Author : United States Supreme Court
- Release Date : January 01, 1875
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 71 KB
Description
This is a bill in equity filed by the State of Florida (by its attorney-general), on behalf of the said State and of the trustees of the internal-improvement fund of the State, against Daniel P. Holland and Edward C. Anderson and others, citizens of Georgia. Sherman Conant, the Marshal of the United States for the Northern District of Florida, is made a formal defendant by reason of having in his hands an execution at the suit of some of the other defendants. The subject-matter of the suit is a line of railroad in Florida extending from Jacksonville westwardly to Quincy about one hundred and ninety miles, with a branch from Tallahassee to St. Mark's of twenty-one miles. It consists of three divisions, originally built and owned by different companies. The first division, from Jacksonville to Lake City, was built and owned by the Florida, Atlantic, and Gulf Central Railroad Company; the second, from Lake City to Quincy, by the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad Company; and the branch, from Tallahassee to St. Mark's, by the Tallahassee Railroad Company. These companies were chartered in 1853; and after the passage by the State legislature, Jan. 6, 1855, of a certain act entitled 'An Act to provide for and encourage a liberal system of internal improvements in this State,' they severally availed themselves of its provisions, and issued bonds which were duly guaranteed by the trustees of the internal-improvement fund created by the act. This fund consisted of the five hundred thousand acres of public lands which became vested in the State under the grant made by Congress for the purposes of internal improvement by the act of Sept. 4, 1841 (5 Stat. 455), and of some fifteen millions of acres of swamp and overflowed lands granted by act of Congress of Sept. 28, 1850, to enable the State to construct the necessary levees and drains to reclaim the same. 9 Stat. 519. By the internal-improvement act of Jan. 6, 1855, above referred to, these lands and their proceeds were constituted a distinct and separate fund, to be called 'The Internal Improvement Fund of the State of Florida,' and were vested in the governor of the State, the comptroller, treasurer, attorney-general, and register of State lands, and their successors in office, in trust to dispose of the same, and invest the proceeds, with power to pledge the fund for the payment of the interest on the bonds (to the extent of $10,000 per mile) which might be issued by any railroad companies constructing roads on certain lines indicated by the act. The companies, after completing their roads, were to pay, besides interest on their bonds, one per cent per annum on the amount thereof, to form a sinking fund for the ultimate payment of the principal. The act declared that the bonds should constitute a first lien or mortgage on the roads, their equipment and franchises; and, upon a failure on the part of any railroad company accepting the act to provide the interest and the payments to the sinking fund as required thereby, it was made the duty of the trustees to take possession of the railroad and all its property, and advertise the same for sale at public auction.