Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/428

0. B. V. P. B. 00. V. W. U. TEifeORAPH 00. ^21 �time the plaintiff took possession of the lînô, which wasdone by removing the pins in the switch board of the Atchison office, and thus disconnecting the defendant's wire, it filed i^a bill asking that the contract be decreed null and void, and praying that an account be taken of the dealings between the parties. The value of the property of the'^efendant taken by the plaintiff, and which it offers to return or account for, was not, comparatively Bpeaking, of great value, and was so connected with the plaintiff 's property as to make it impossible to interfere with the one without affecting the other. There is another difficulty in this case: Under the contract ail the operators on this Une are the employes of the railroad Com- pany, and the offices or stations belong to that compariy, Now, a dissolution of this injunction, and granting another in favor of the defendant, might nominally restore the de- defendant's connection over this line of telegraph ; but what praetical benefit would that be to the defendant unless the employes of the railroad company could be compelled to work the line, or the defendant company be permitted to place operators in the stations of the railroad company to operate the wires ? �This question involves largely the right of the defendant to bave a decree for the specifie performance of the con- tract. �Is this a case in which a specifie performance could be had if the contract was legal ? To say the least, it would be very doubtful. MarUe Co. v. Ripley, 10 Wall, 339, 358-9; Rail' road Co. v. Railroad Go. 13 Ohio St. 544. �In brief, this contract being absolutely void, and the plain- tiff having taken peaceable possession of the property, ac- companied with legal proceedings to have the contract de- clared null, and for an account to be taken between the par- ties, in my judgment the defendant cannot compel a restitu- tion of the property under the contract pending the proceed- ings. �A temporary injunction may be continued until the ses- sion .of court. ����