New-York daily tribune., 1849-02-20
Award Of GOV. seward 10 thc case of hed'
field a.d PringIe u Greeley ~ hcLirnib'


dosrs va suu very large in lci2, All cOn.ist-d Of
lands the ant Of great territory and q contracts
and bonds and mortgages which had been acquired By
the sae si real estate. Hemsn J. keoneid and Benia
min Prnpie E.quires, Of Batavia in 1912 became
Agents at that place OF the Farmers Loan snd Trus;
Company for toe conduct and management Cf the e.
tate and their duties were 10 dispose judiciOusy Of
the un.od lands ana 10 collect the debts with mingled
energy aud forbesrsnce Each Of inese gentlemen had
maintained uhblemishsd reputation and disiin.
guished position in society for many years.
Ia the lal OF .sl, SIR. Redheld and Sir Pringe sew
ersiy Instituted actions against Messrs Greeley &
HcElratb Publishers Of Tie Ner York Iri5HHe % re-
damages for libes against them which appeared
In that very popular journal Of which Mf Greeley
the Editor. Tie de.ndlnis applied 20 the subscribar
70 act their counsel He was mutual friend Of All
the parties and was known such, and had once held
agency not unlike that Of the plaintiffs lie svsilec
himself oi this relation 10 mediate settlement or sc
c1mmOdatiOn between the parties The oeieu fauts
submitted Themselves b his judgment declaring thai
they willing 20 render any atonement % the plain
tits which the subscriber should think necessary for
their yindieston and the plaintiffs declared that taey
s0ushta vndcaton Of their ust fame and not 10 eXor
money by means Of their prOsecuiions
The subscriber would bave preferred - have heard
mutual explanations Informally. but q appeared that
the charges OF which the plaintiffs complained were
made chiefly by a correspondent or correspondents o.
The TTi5gHe, and that there could be no conclusive
satisfactory decision Of the msiter without sn open
formal trial IN which the authors Of the libel might
give evidence.
The sixth DAY Of July lsst appointed for such
hearing, at Batavia The two causes were brought on
together The plaintiffs appeared With hessrs. Isaac
A Verplsnck and John II Msrtndae IS their Counsel.
and Mr. Greeley appeared Tor bmseli and hr Mckrath
with Messrs. John l.. Taco,t and seth c. Hswey as
their Counsel
Autechnicallty Of pleading was dispensed with and
each party offered whs,evcr evidence was thought
proper by itself and testimony whatever was reject
ed BY the umpire.
The facts elected were az follows On The 9TH Of
January l-47 the defendants published in The IribnH,
a communication signed Old Genesee,' and entitled
Rspacity of Land Agents" The writer asserted that
the manner Ia which Messrs Redheld aud Pfnsle trans
acted business with farmers and other persons Indebted
by bond and mortgage to the Farmers Loan and Trust
Company was such "a to oppress the settlers win
enormous and outrageous costs and was calculated 10
ast0Dish the Company when II should come 70 tntlf
know ledge. That IL already proposed in one OF
the Counties 20 hold meetings 20 petition The Company
10 those agents aud that reiusa by the Com
pany would produce a whrlwind of popular ndigns
ton exceeding in impetuosty the one in which TIE
Chsutauque Land Once was destroyed. That one oi
the agents mad made misreprssen'atons 70 The
Company, and had wickediy abused their confidence
That the agents being lawyers had prsctced extOrton
under the forms Of actions A. law and Of mock or nc
tous suits sinst the debtors which were engenderDg
feeling Of mplacsble hostility among them, and that
these proceedings would ultimately awaken tue ven
gesnce OF an outraged and indignant people
No Editorial comment attended the article thus
recited
On the 18th OF January, 1sf7, the Defendants pub
shcd At the request OF the Plaintiffs answer authen
icated by themselves, in which they denied fully and
absolutely ali the charges and all the Injurious nfu
euces contained in the previous libel This answer
was accompanied by An Editorial comment IN these
words farther on this subject soon
On the 22d January, lsf9, there appeared in TIE
Tribune a letter dated at Buffalo and signed =. 10
which the writer st med generally the previous aega
ons OF Old Genesee and declared that five thousand
signatures petition for the removal of the OiiOus
Agents could be procured In Erie County and thattwen
y thousand persons in the four counties before men
toned would Join in an application TO the Legislature
10 remodel the charter Of the Farmers Loan and Trust
Company That there was point beyond which The
people would no. submit 10 outrage, and that that point
had been reached far az the Lawyer Agency OF thai
Company was concerned
This letter was followed by another In the same
column OF The Tribune subscribed Enquirer, IN which
the suthor pronounced the rufutatiOn and exposition
which Messrs Reoaeld and Prnsle had before pub
shed tissue of falsebOOds intended only 10 deceive
the President and Directors OF the Farmers Loan and
Trust Company, and assured the Company tina, the
writer OF Old Genesec' had no personal feeling in
regard to Messrs Redneld and Pnngle, farther than
justice concerned. Thesc two communications
followed by the following Editorial statement
viz
a. w have tie names Of responsible persons vouchers for Tie
above statement bot a. they are not gwen 20 The public We request
nam hs b. i.en Me.srs Redaes and Punse Who appear
he The Aeeu implicated have emphscay deued the csge
the. names, aud their statement 'ialt.
sooi until confronted by smother equally mpo.s aad -oaesi
u-hsd should nc be-. Aessrs X and F. stand 'ndicaied
On tho 22d of February lsis the defendants publish
ed in The Tribune another communication signed "Od
Geneee in which that correspondent stated that be
had obtained nearly all the necessary exhibit t.
the public the in which the plaintiff agency
conducted and he declared that II would appeaf
that the legal eNtortions which had been practced by
the plaintiffs had been such as would when exposed
convince the Company Of the necessity OF cobhdne tnt
agency 10 honest men not of the legal profession.
On the 25ih of March, ls47 an elaborate article ap
peared in The Tribune under the name OF "Od Gene
see entitled The eXsctions and expressions OF Land
Monopoly in Western New Ork
The writer declared that il was one page more
added to that silent and widespread war, which IN,
strong IN wealth, or in legal knowledge or cunning art
wsging against he poor the ignorant or the heies
laborers and against which but here and there voice
1. ralscd-goneraly hsscd down by the power OF tn
stronger party The author proiessed 10 have derived
the facts which he presented from public records, alc
authentic individual authority and he proposed 10 tho"
the Farmers Loan and Trust Company how they, as
well the poor farmers had been legally ricimita BY
the agents aforesaid and he confidently asserted that
the Company were lrsing uity thousand dollars aytW
through the rapacous policy pursued by the agents
The author then stated that the number OF neices OF
lis pSHdcEs (mcaning notices OF sIiis) hled IN Two
years in suits of foreclosure in the Court OF Chance
w. in five Counties subject to the agency OF the Plain
tlfis was 65j. of which 300 were IN Wyoming County
that proceedings of foreclosure under the statute had
been Instituted, within the same period, In the same
territory in many cases as 10 make the whole mum
Der of foreclosures OF mortgages commenced wlthin
two years Eleven Hundred and Seventy ave
That beside these Eleven Hundred and Seventy'ny
cases of legal and equitable foreclosure the agents had
debtors stating that suit instituted when IN fact
no such suit had been commenced, and then OF com
promising the pretended suits charging costs vary
from fifteen dollars 10 forty dollars, according TO cir
cumstsnces: and that not less than one thousand 10
stances Of this kind had occurred in two years, by
which the whole number OF real and fraudulent suits
of foreclosure within two years, mad been swelcd g
Two Thousand One Hundred and Seventy i've. The
writer farther asserts that the costs obtained by The
agents within three years amounted 10 Sl52O0 20 ana
submitted the following his estimate OF details w
Taxed costs Chancery. Sohtl- o1
Masters fees lov "
Cost. in proceedings seed before decree... 46IS 81
Goats 10 foreclosures al ftt2 ~
Commissions on collections. loVNV "
The writer alleged that one hundred thousand dosrs
of this great sum derived from the debtors snd the
balance from the Farmers Loan and Trust Company
The author farther stated that policy 90 rigorous was
unnecessary That in 1910 the persons who then were
agents required payments 10 be made by sending ereu
lar notices 10 the debtors which form Of proceeding
proved Intellectual that only nine suits were necesss
rly broughi but ths, this system bad been dseohtn
ued and thereby the debtors had been desgnedy ueo
into iorgetulness and thus subjected to actions Ire
writer then proceeded to specify, omitng dates sno
names, Of misconduct oppression and eStofuon
which fell under the general charges before recited
ard In addition one instance Of sale 10 spectators OF
lsnds held by honest and unsuspectng settler Ine
suthor concluded with threat addressed % the Farm
ers | and TINS unl,ss frlpCtuaI