Stephen Johnson Field

“ There were only three directors of the company, two of them residents of Detroit and one of New York, and as the company could not maintain a suit in the federal court against the city, they devised such a case of refusal on their part to take the necessary legal proceedings to protect the property and rights of the company as to give jurisdiction to the federal court of a suit brought for that purpose by the non-resident director and stockholder. The three directors discussed the matter among themselves. The president represents himself to have been very belligerent in his disposition. ”

“ The company accepted the terms of the ordinance; erected its manufacturing works in the township of Hamtramck, just beyond the boundary of the city; laid mains and service-pipes in the streets, and in November, 1872, commenced distributing and supplying gas to private consumers and to the city, and continued to do so up to the time this suit was commenced. During this period, and previously, another corporation, known as the Detroit Gas-light Company, was in existence and was also supplying gas to private consumers and the city. ”

“ The case comes, therefore, within the purview, if not the letter, of the provisions of section 5 of the act of March 3, 1875, defining the jurisdiction of the circuit courts of the United States, (18 St. at Large, p. 472, c. 137.) ”