George W. Kouns to Beriah Magoffin

KYR-0001-023-0028.xml

Metadata
Citation
Download

Accession Number

KYR-0001-023-0028

Document Genre

Correspondence

Repository

Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

Collection

Office of the Governor, Beriah Magoffin: Governor's Official Correspondence File, 1859-1862

Item Location

MG1-205 to MG1-206

Place of Creation

Grass Land, Boyd County, Kentucky

Date of Creation

9 March 1861

Dates Mentioned

1861-03-09

1852-10-13

1852-11-29

1861-03-20

George W. Kouns to Beriah Magoffin, 9 March 1861, Office of the Governor, Beriah Magoffin: Governor's Official Correspondence File, 1859-1862, MG1-205 to MG1-206, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, KY. Accessed via the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/KYR-0001-023-0028, (accessed April 25, 2024).

Download XML

Grass Land, Boyd Co. Ky
March 9^th 1861 --

Sir -- Eminent gentlemen will some times display their magninimity by soaring above extraneous considerations and using their influence in procuring an act of justice to an injured individual; and I trust you will pursue that course. You have been elevated to a high an honorable office by the vote of your fellow citizens, (mine included) and to use your influence in procuring justice for a much injured person, however humble he may be, will prove to the world that you are disposed to ornament the office you fill, and that you are not one of that class of governors who are willing to rest satisfied with the honor they derive from their official station. Permit me sir, to assure you, that, after a careful study of your character, so far as it has been developed by your messages and other ~~[...]~~official acts, I appeal to you with some degree of confidence to aid in procuring that justice which has been so long withheld from me.

In 1852 The Board of Internal Improvements leased me a section of the owingsville & Big Sandy turn pike road, under the provissions of an act which had been passed authorising it to lease that road in sections. My bid was accepted, and I was instructed to take possession of the road as soon as my bond was executed and put in the post office, to be mailed. The Bond was executed on the 13^th Oct. 1852 and put in the post office on the same day. It was received, approved, &^c The day it was executed I began to repair the road. I worked a number of hands, waggons, teams, ploughs scrapers, &^c &^c When I was nearly ready to set up a gate and collect toll, I recieved two letters from the Board, advising me not to proceed with my repairs on the road. The Board gave no reason for that advice, but it was understood to have been given in consequence of the passage of two acts, one giving the road to the counties through which it passed, the other giving part of it to a company which had been incorpoarted to construct a plank road from Catlettsburgh to Grayson. These Acts were passed subsequent to the passage of the act for leasing the road in sections.The county courts of
Greenup and Carter, at their first terms, after I began to repair ~~the road~~ it appointed overseers and began to exercise jurisdiction over it. Finding the matters involved in difficulty, I dismissed my hands, broke up my encampment and come home, on the 29^th Nov 1852, the day after I recieved the letters of the Board, having expended a fraction over $400, in repairing the road. I appealed to the Board with all the eloquence I could command, and with all the energy of a poor man, having a wife and ten children to support, educate &^c to do me justice. But my urgent appeal had no effect. Indeed the Board manefested so much apathy and indifference about the wrong it had done me as to create a strong suspicion of its integrity, in the opinion of some of my friends, one of whom, an able democratic lawyer, remarked: "The Board marked you for it, victim, for it knew when it leased the road it had no power to do it. Next I appealed to the legislature for justice, but it only passed an act authorizing me to sue the Sate for damages in the Franklin Circuit Court. I was advised by a democratic lawyer, Col. Rust, our Senator that the Act was a cheat, a humbug, &^c I submitted a proposition to Mr. Harlan, Atty General, through Mr. Page, to this effect. That I would institute the suit if he would agree in writing that I might take judgement for a sum sufficient to cover the principal and interest of the money expended in repairing the road, provided I proved the repairs were worth the money expended, but he replied he would not enter into any compacts on the subject. I submitted the papers to Mr. John Rodman, who is understood to be a whig lawyer and took his opinon; and he replied that I could not recover, that the state was not bound, &^c and concluding that I would have the cost to pay ~~[...]~~[the sum] not instituted. Mr Rodman stated in his letter that in his opinion there ought not to have been any difficulty in getting an act passed to pay me. It will be nine years on the 29^th Nov next since the $400 was expended on the road. Some members of the legislature, influenced I
fear by extraneous considerations may have favoured the passage of that Act for the purpose of involving me in cost, but I am pursuaded they were very few. I believe, however that the greater part of the members of the legislature did not understand the object and design of that act.

Now Sir, I appeal to you, not only as the governor of Ky. but as a gentleman and man of honor to do me the favour, and my wife and children the favour, to recommend to the legislature at its approaching extra session, on the 20^th inst. to take this claim into their consideration, and do justice in the premeses, which is all I ask. By making such a recommendation you will place me and my family under obligations to you, which will be remembered hereafter, with gratitude by us. Be pleased to accept the assurances of my high consideration

I am Sir,
Very Respectfully
You ob^t Serv^t
George W. Kouns

His Excellency
B. Magoffin
Governor of Ky.

Civil War Governors of Kentucky is always evolving. Help us improve the edition by suggesting a correction or addition to this record.

Suggest a correction