Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1855-12-20
HERALD Or THE TIMES.
THURSDAY December 20, 1876

" The Bogus Directors Of the New.
port Gas L,gh, Company, in their famous
Report, say, among other ridiculous and
false ihings,-
"Claims against tho Company which
accrued previous to February last, TO the
amount of about $4,000 have been pre-
scented for payment. The Board are, how.
ever, OF opinion that this apparent indebted.
uess of the Company will DO very much
lessened by liquidation Of the accounts OF
the late Superintendent and Treasurer"
Henry Bull knows all about these &c.
counts the remainder Of the bogus Board
know nothing about them therefore, why
do these four men, or rather three m en-,
William G. Peckham, Samuel Engs and
Silas H. Cottrell, Tor Finkler has not been
here since last February, and we do not
suppose he knows anything about this Re-
port,-we ask why these three men, two
Of whom. Engs and Cottrell, do not own
any Of the stock, undertake to express an
opinion in regard TO accounts Of receipts
and disbursements Of money Of which they
know nothing? They have not the most
distant idea Of the amount of money recev-
cd or expended, the nature Of the debts, or
any OF the transactions Of the Company up
to February last-and yet they confidently
assert that "this apparent Indebtedness of
the Company will be very much lessened
by a liquidation OF the accounts Of the late
Superintendent and Treasurer" Il Is
possible that they have availed themselves
Of the p,wers Of the Spirit Rappers, and
thus obtained a peep at the books their
human eyes havo not probably examined
them. These men have either VOL.
unteered an opinion in regard to matter
of which they know nothing, or else they
express this opinion because Henry Bull
wanted them to; they are entirely welcome
to either horn Of this perplexing dilemma
which their fancy may suggest for them to
select,-and either one, in the estimation
of all honest and sensible men, will be RI
diculous enough.
As we before said, Henry Bull knows
all about thsse accounts, as far as he Is
capable Of understanding business matters,
for they were explained to him over and
over again, and he examined the books
and took mcmorandums from them, as Of
ten as he pleased, up to February last;
and he was never refused access to the &C.
count books on any occasion.
Hs undertake., to convey tho idea that
ih3 accouats ara not correct, or rather
hints that he does not know how the mo-
ney has been spent. Lot US look at this
ma,tr little let Us put him before the
public by his oUn acts, and he certainly
oight not to bs afraid to be judged by
tn 'm,-inI th, wo shall see with what
grace he appears, and how lar the public
andI especially the stockholders OF this
Complny can place any reliance in his
Report" OF the affairs of tho Company.
Rem ,mber, Bull says that claims
against tho Company to the amount Of
about $5 1000, which accrued previous to
February last, have been presented and
he pretcnls to b,licve that this amount
'will be very much lessened by liquida-
ton of the accounts of the late Superin.
tendent and Treasurer" How, we ask,
!, the Company's debt to be lessened p
Now we are coming to facts, tern facts,
which Bull cannot deny or wink out OF
sight. At the Tina of tho annual election
last year, the Gas Company owed George
H. Norman about $500. About the
FIRST Of January, Bull examined the books
and Nprman told him at that { ime, that he
wanted portion of the money which was
due him Bull knew, perfectly we'll, that
there were no funds in the Treasury, and
when Norman suggested that the Company
should give their note or notes, Bull re-.
piled that that was all that could be done.-
He called meeting Of the Directors, and
they passed vote authorizing Bull to give
two notes for a thousand dollars each, to
Norman, OIL account; Bull executed these
notes as President Of the Company, and
delivered them to Norman ono was
payable in % days, We think this was
discount d by the Traders Bank the 9th.
er was payable in one year. and was dis.
counted by gentleman of this city
Whom Rull made these notes. of course ha
was SATISFIED that the Company owed Nor.
man $4,000, or else he would not have
signed them, because they were ordered to
bo given at a special meeting Of the Di-
rectors there are five director, and the
Bylaws require that a majority of the
phole Board shall vot, in favor of any
measure at a special meeting Ball was
one of the three Directors who attended
this meeting, and IL he had not voted in IA
vor Of giving the notes, Of course they
could not have been given; Is 1t at oil
probable that he would have voted In fav.r
had he not known that the money was duet
We leave this question for him to decide,
a. il is q matter between him and his con.
science. At the time these notes were
given, Norman told him that the Company
still owed him about 81 500 he had ex
smined the books and knew that the ac-
counts were correct, and asked Norman
u he wanted q note for the balance Nor
r.su rccl;od that hc did pof nj nrescnt