St. Joseph Company v. Steele

The St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad Company, describing itself as a corporation created and subsisting under and by virtue of the laws of Kansas and Nebraska, and as a common carrier operating a railroad as a continuous line from the city of Grand Island, in the state of Nebraska, to the city of St. Joseph, in the state of Missouri, which railroad passes through Doniphan county, in the state of Kansas, filed in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Kansas a bill of complaint against R. M. Steele, sheriff of said Doniphan county, and a citizen of the state of Kansas, seeking to restrain the said Steele, as sheriff of Doniphan county, from levying upon and selling the complainant's property situated in said county for taxes assessed and levied against the same for the year 1892 by the assessing authorities of Doniphan county.

The defendant answered; and agreed statement of facts was filed; and, after argument a decree was entered dismissing the bill at plaintiff's costs. Thereupon an appeal was taken by the complainant to the United States circuit court of appeals for the Eighth circuit, where the decree of the circuit court was affirmed. 27 U.S. App. 436, 11 C. C. A. 470, and 63 Fed. 867. The case was then brought to this court on appeal.

John M. Thurston, for appellant.

P. L. Soper and J. H. Gillpatrick, for appellee.

Mr. Justice SHIRAS, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.