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Show , ; - - - - - ,. . i j . . t f w i .; -..r -r 1 1 . N .. . ' v.- - c:r? lincclis Call Demurrer j AiuIVIIoIfl Jr.:f People's Ccntentiohs?lreV7dIl ; r Fc:nC2v, TIius Forcing tEieyCase to ; TricI; Up to Citizens to ProYe Charges. - The light and street railyway. trust franchise steal will bo probed to the core in court. rA telling victory was won t7 Alen T.' Stanford in the District court today, when . Judge Morse overruled the demurrer of the defendant in the case of Thomas Homer to test the validity of thet action of the notorious "solid eight" of the last City Council in ( making the trust a present of franchises worth millions "f dollars. . ' - ' , . I l Judge. Mose holds that the contention of Mr. Sarif ord lnat tjie Mormon church is a stockholder in the light trust; and that seven members of the: City Council, being-officials f or members of the churcV directly .and pecuniarily intef-' intef-' ested in the granting of . the .valuable franchises, .was veell : founded. This puts it up to Mr Sanford to prpve that .the ! status of these Councilmen is as he charges in his petition. In overruling' the demurrer, Judge Morse holds that Mr-. Mr-. Homer is legally qualified to prosecute the suit in the . name of the State. , - -:- -J - - - - . : " The develonments of todav will, force the case to triaL It will beTecalled" that soon after the' suit was filed Mr. Sanf ord discovered that a clause had been inserted in the -tICrfCy dvtrater right. deed which the light itrust turned over to the tdtyrproriding that if the fi-anchises'asked for by the light trust were modified or altered in any way, that the property so eonveyed to the city was to revert to: 1 the trust witll all its improvements., . , The Morris administration, either ttoough carelessness careless-ness or worse, had overlooked this outrageous, clause, and - when Mr. Sanf ord exposed it, they hastened to eliminate ; it.' Under this clause the trust would have held the city in its fist, for if the franchises had not been made to suit the trust it could have seized the Big Cottonwood portion , of the city's waterworks. Many congratulations were extended to Mr. Sanf ord :. by old lawyers today. Mr. Sanford says that the case will now be pushed to a finish. , . facti it is contended that the grant of uch franchise waa void. I am of the opinion that this contention is well founded. It ia, howerer, contended on behalf of the defendants, that the plaintiff merely as a resident resi-dent taxpayer has no capacity to' maintain and prosecute in the same of the State as relator, re-lator, this action. I am of the opinion that under the procedure - aa established in this State, the plaintiff may prosecute as relator in the name of the Bute auch an action. The demurrer to the complaint, therefore, must be overruled, and the defendant will be firen twenty days to answer. ... . The very life, of the valuable fran-' fran-' ehisea granted the light and street railway rail-way trust by the notorious "solid ' eight ' of the last City Council, includ-- includ-- ing Hartenstein, is imperiled by a decision de-cision handed down by Judge Morse of the District eourt toda. S More than a year ago Thomas Homer, .-iaeting for the taxpayers of Salt Lake Tfiij, filed suit to test the validity of ; the trust's million dollar gift from the ; City ConnciL It will be recalled that the Herald, Tribune and ' TELEGB AM fought the proposition to make tha light trust a present of a million dollar ' franeise, the News championing the ; trust." . The Herald's Flop. Suddenly and to th surprise of every citizen of Salt LJtke the Herald and ' Hartenstein went over to the trust on tha eve of the vote in the Council and Jthe trust secured its franchises. Alien T. Sanford, in the name of Thomas Homer, at once filed auit to test the validity of the outrageous grant. A determined fight has been made by the attorneys for the light trust. Judge Morse's decision in full is given: Judge Morse's Decision. IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF SALT Lake County, Utah. Thomas Homer, etc Plaintiff: Salt Lake City. et. al- Defendants. the Stat, of, Utah. .( relation of Thomaa Homer, afainat Bait Lata City t. al., a demurrer to the amended com-plaint com-plaint haa been argued and submitted. It if alleged in the complaint in this ease that the Church of Jesua. Christ of Day Sainta, ia a voluntary association of .individuals .in-dividuals orranixed. amonff other thinrs, lor the purpose of enjaginf in commercial Jesuits; Je-suits; that the defendants, R. 8. WeUa, W. J. Tuddenham, A. F. Barnea, J. H. Preeee. F. 8. Fernstrom, E. H. Davis, F. J. H'wiett. members of the City Council of Salt Lake City,, and R. P. Morris, Mayor of Salt Lake . City, were members of thia association, and aa such were co-partnera with all the other members of saii association; that aaid association asso-ciation was engard largely in commercial enterprises, en-terprises, by and throufh Joseph F Smith, as trustee in trust for the. said association, that the aaid trustee holds and controla ana has the legal title to a part of tha atock of the Utah Light apd Railway Company, which is held for the benefit of the members copartners co-partners of aaid church, including tha defendants defend-ants above named: that the City Council of Salt Lake City at the dates mentioned in the complaint, consisted of fifteen members; that ' on the fourth day of August, 1805,. the said W--noil granted to the Utah Light and Rail- ;y Company a valuable franchise; that the ns4d franchise waa granted by the vote of eight of the members of aaid Council; that ' jamong the eight voting for said franchiae, were the aereu members above named, and their votes were necessary for the adoption of the ordinance granting aaid franchise; and that by aaid action the aaid defendants granted grant-ed to an association of which they were members, mem-bers, and in which they were co-partners, thia franchise in which they had a direct pecuniary pecuni-ary and valuable interest; and from these . |