524 



MISSOURI. 



MITCHEL, JOHN. 



ing the year. Other bonds falling due in 1875 

 and 1876 are to be refunded, under the act of 

 the last session of the Legislature, by a new 

 loan of $5,000,000. The $701,000 falling due 

 in 1877, and $37,000 in 1878, will be paid out 

 of the surplus revenues. The new constitution, 

 in designating the order in which appropriations 

 shall be made, makes it the first duty of the 

 Legislature to provide for the " payment of all 

 interest on the bonded debt of the State that 

 may become due during the term for which 

 each General Assembly is elected," and requires 

 it in the next place to provide for an addition 

 of not less than $250,000 yearly to the sinking- 

 fund. These objects must be provided for be- 

 fore any other appropriations are made. 



The Supreme Court of the State decided in 

 June that a railroad could not claim exemption 

 from taxation beyond the amount provided for 

 in its charter. In the act of incorporation of 

 the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, 

 in 1852, provision was made for its taxation. 

 In 1871 a law was passed, constituting a Board 

 of Equalization for the assessment of railroad 

 property, and requiring the president, or chief 

 officer, of each company to make an annual re- 

 port of the value of its property. In 1872 the 

 Board of Equalization assessed the taxes of the 

 Hannibal & St. Joseph road at $30,648, of 

 which it paid $25,326, and refused to pay the 

 rest on the ground that the assessment was il- 

 legal. It claimed that the charter constituted 

 a contract with the State, under which it could 

 be subject to no other mode of taxation than 

 that provided for therein. The Circuit Court 

 of Buchanan County sustained this view, and 

 gave judgment for the company, but this was 

 reversed by the Supreme Court, which held 

 that the method of assessing the property of 

 the railroad, provided for in the charter, was 

 not a contract or franchise, but merely one 

 method of taxation, which might at any time 

 be changed for another. The supreme right 

 of the State to lay taxes could not be surren- 

 dered by inference or implication, and the prop- 

 erty of railroads, like all other property, was 

 subject to taxation at all times under the gen- 

 eral revenue laws. 



The United States Circuit Court at St. Louis, 

 in January, decided that securities taken in 

 good faith by a creditor from a debtor may 

 be held by the creditor, or one to whom he 

 has assigned them, as against the assignee in 

 bankruptcy of the debtor, in bankruptcy pro- 

 ceedings subsequently commenced. In this 

 case, a bank in St. Louis held notes indorsed 

 by the bankrupt and secured by a pledge of 

 bonds. The assignee in bankruptcy brought 

 suit to recover the securities on the ground 

 that a fraudulent preference had been made 

 within four months prior to the bankruptcy 

 proceedings; but proof was given that neither 

 the bank-officers nor the debtor believed the 

 latter to be insolvent at the time of the trans- 

 action, and on this ground it was held that 

 there was no fraudulent preference. 



A convention, composed of 869 delegates 

 from thirty-one States and Territories, gathered 

 at St. Louis in the latter part of November, for 

 the purpose of promoting the enterprise known 

 as the Southern Pacific Railroad. A paper 

 was read by Thos. A. Scott, President of the 

 Texas Pacific Railroad Company, and a long 

 series of resolutions was adopted, stating the 

 grounds on which " a Southern transcontinental 

 railway, from the waters of the Mississippi ma 

 El Paso to the Pacific Ocean, on or near the 

 thirty-second parallel of latitude, is imperatively 

 demanded," and should receive the aid of the 

 Government. (See RAILROADS.) 



Early in the year a conspiracy to defraud 

 the Government of revenue on whiskey was 

 discovered in St. Louis, and on the 10th of 

 May thirty-two distilleries and rectifying- 

 houses were seized by officers representing 

 the Treasury Department of the United States. 

 Subsequent developments showed that system- 

 atic frauds had long been carried on there 

 and at other points, in which not only manu- 

 facturers and dealers in whiskey, but revenue 

 officials and agents of the Government, were 

 implicated. Numerous prosecutions followed, 

 including those of John A. Joyce, special 

 agent hi the revenue service, and John Mc- 

 Donald, Supervisor of Internal Revenue, who 

 were convicted and sentenced to the peniten- 

 tiary. Indictments were also found against 

 Win. O. Avery, Chief Clerk in the Treasury 

 Department at Washington, and General O. A. 

 Babcock, private secretary of the President, 

 for complicity in the frauds. Avery was con- 

 victed in December, and Babcock was acquit- 

 ted in February, 1876. (See PUBLIC DOCU- 

 MENTS.) 



MITCHEL, JOHN, an Irish revolutionist, born 

 November 3, 1815 ; died March 20, 1875. He 

 graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, in 

 1836, practised law for six years, and then as- 

 sumed the editorship of the Nation. In this 

 capacity, as well as editor of the United Irish- 

 man, he came in direct collision with the Gov- 

 ernment. After an existence of three months, 

 the latter paper was suppressed and its editor 

 sentenced to transportation for fourteen years. 

 After passing ten months in the island of Ber- 

 muda, he was deported to Tasmania, where 

 he met his former companions, Smith O'Brien, 

 Meagher, Dillon, and others. They were al- 

 lowed almost entire liberty, upon their parol 

 not to escape. Mitch el resigned his parol in 

 1854, and escaped to America. Here he edited 

 various newspapers, and in 1874 made a visit to 

 Ireland, returning to the United States in Oc- 

 tober. On February 16, 1875, he was elected 

 without opposition to the House of Commons 

 from Tipperary County, Ireland. He landed 

 at Queenstown on the 17th, and was enthusi- 

 astically received. On the 18th the House, by 

 a large majority, declared him ineligible for a 

 seat, as he had been adjudged guilty of felony 

 and sentenced to transportation, and hfd nei- 

 ther endured the penalty nor received a pardon, 



