Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Postal Telegraph Co.

(after stating the facts as above). [1] We are of the opinion that the court below was clearly right in holding the attempted grant by the Southern Pacific Company to the Western Union Telegraph Company of the exclusive right for the construction, maintenance, and operation of a telegraph line upon the railroad company’s right of way void and of no effect. A similar question came before the Circuit Court for the Southern District of California in 1894, in the cases of Mercantile Trust Co. v. Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Co. (C. C.) 63 Fed. 513 , and Mercantile Trust Co. v. Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Co. (C. C.) 63 Fed. 910 . The railroad company there undertaking to make a like exclusive grant to the Western Union Telegraph Company was created under the act of Congress of July 27, 1866, entitled “An act granting lands to aid in the construction of a railroad *538 and' telegraph line from the states of Missouri and Arkansas to the Pacific coast” ( 14 Stat. 292 , c. 276), and in addition to contending that, the attempted exclusive grant was valid, the Western Union Telegraph Company further contended that the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company could lawfully withhold from the…