Henderson v. Board of Commissioners

13 L.R.A. 169, 28 N.E. 127, 129 Ind. 92, 1891 Ind. LEXIS 24
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJune 12, 1891
DocketNo. 16,153
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 13 L.R.A. 169 (Henderson v. Board of Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henderson v. Board of Commissioners, 13 L.R.A. 169, 28 N.E. 127, 129 Ind. 92, 1891 Ind. LEXIS 24 (Ind. 1891).

Opinion

McBride, J. —

This was an application by the appellees, the board of commissioners of the State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, for a writ of mandate against the appellant as auditor of State.

The controversy can be best stated by quoting the complaint, which is brief, and, omitting prefatory matter, is as follows:

“ Your petitioners, George J. Langsdale, Thomas W. Bennett, Mahlon D. Manson, George ~W. Johnson and DeWitt C. McCollum, respectfully say that they constitute the board of commissioners of the State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, provided for by the act known as ‘An Act to provide for the erection of a State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, or Memorial Hall or Monument and Memorial Hall combined, according to the discretion of the trustees in this act provided for, and declaring an emergency,’ approved March 3d, 1887; that said board of commissioners, soon after its [93]*93organization, proceeded to erect a Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, as provided in said act, at an estimated cost not exceeding two hundred thousand ($200,000) dollars, the amount appropriated by said act; that the sum of ninety-nine thousand and four hundred and forty-one dollars and eleven cents ($99,441.11) has been expended in structural expenses upon said monument, and that contracts are outstanding for additional work to be performed upon, and material to be used in the erection of said monument, to meet and discharge which the further sum of ninety thousand nine hundred and eighty-two dollars and sixty cents ($90,982.60) will be required; that other sums of money have been expended, as incidental expenses, by said board of commissioners in the discharge of their duties, • which have devolved upon them, no part of which incidental expenses has been' applied in payment of the structural expenses hereinabove referred to, and which your petitioners are advised and believe are not properly payable out of the amount appropriated by the act for the erection of the monument in question, as follows:
For payment of architects, including plans and model.................$10,348 35
For commissioners’ per diem, travelling and hotel expenses................ 8,879 82
For engineering.............. 15 00
For experts............... 1,404 25
For attorneys’ services........... 165 00
For office and miscellaneous expenses .... 1,892 23
For printing and stationery......... 1,401 77
For superintendence............ 2,265 50
For advertising.............. 795 11
For removing Governor Morton’s monument out of the way . . .............. 203 25
Making a total of..........$29,187 53
[94]*94■‘Your petitioners say that said several sums of money are merely incidental expenses; that no part of them are structural expenses; but notwithstanding the fact that said sums are purely and solely incidental expenses, they have nevertheless been paid by the treasurer of State upon warrants issued by the auditor of State, and against and in the face of the repeated request of said board of commissioners not to do so, and their repeated protest against so doing, have been by said auditor of State charged to and against the fund of two hundred thousand ($200,000) dollars created and set apart by the above recited act, for the erection of a Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, known as the ‘ Monumental Fund;’ that they, said petitioners, have demanded of John O. Henderson, who is the present auditor of State, that he shall transfer the several sums, all of which are purely incidental expenses, from said ‘ Monument Fund,’ and charge the same to and over against the ‘ General Fund ’ in the hands of the treasurer of State, for the payment of current expenses, and that the said John O. Henderson has failed and refused and still fails^and refuses to comply with their said demand either in whole or in part or in any respect.
“Wherefore, your petitioners pray that an alternative writ of mandate shall be issued and directed to the said John O. Henderson, requiring him to so transfer said several sums of money so paid and classified, as merely incidental expenses, from said ‘ Monument Fund,’ and to charge the same to and over against what is known as the ‘ General Fund,’ in the State treasury, as above stated, or else to show cause why he shall not or ought not to do so, and will ever pray. William E. Niblack,
“ Albert J. Beveridge,
“Attorneys for Petitioners.
“ George J. Langsdale, one of the above named petitioners, being duly sworn, says that he is the president of said board of commissioners of the State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ [95]*95Monument, and that he is fully conversant with the facts and matters set out in the foregoing petition; and that the matters and things alleged in the foregoing petition are true, as he is informed and verily believes.
“ George J. Langsdale, President.
“ Subscribed and sworn to before me, a notary public in and for the county of Marion, State of Indiana, this 20th day of April, 1891. Eva Edwards, .
“ [seal.] Notary Public.”

The appellee appeared, waived the issuance of an alternate writ of mandate, and demurred to the petition on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to entitle the petitioner to an alternative or peremptory writ of mandate. The demurrer was overruled, and the appellant, excepting to the ruling, declined to plead further. Judgment was rendered awarding a peremptory writ of mandate, and from such judgment this appeal is prosecuted.

The questions presented call for a construction of the act approved March 3d, 1887, known as the State Soldiers’ and Sailors’Monument Act. Acts of 1887, p. 30. Elliott’s Supp.,. section 2048.

The appellee insists that the sum of $200,000 appropriated by that act was intended by the Legislature to be devoted solely to the structural expense of erecting the monument ; that no part of it was to be used for the payment of incidental expenses, and that all incidental expenses are to be paid from the general fund in the State treasury. The appellant’s contention is, that the sum appropriated was intended to cover the entire amount to be paid by the State toward the erection of the monument, and that there is no appropriation of any other sum for the payment of incidental expenses.

The provisions of the act in question are, substantially, as follows:

“Section 1. The sum of two hundred thousand dollars * * is hereby appropriated, out of any moneys in the [96]*96treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of erecting a State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, said appropriation to be used in connection with such other funds as have already been, or may hereafter be, donated and contributed for said purpose.”

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Bluebook (online)
13 L.R.A. 169, 28 N.E. 127, 129 Ind. 92, 1891 Ind. LEXIS 24, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henderson-v-board-of-commissioners-ind-1891.