The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-01
LEGAL INTELLIGENCE.

AGAINST THE PENEsYLvASlA RAILRoAD COM.
PANY.
Ig"SIS "A bI / in equity has been flied IN the
SnpiCme Court 10y the CITY Phiiade UnIa against
the Ieunsylyania Railroad Company, to compe tue
CompbBy to account as 10 the sOOsItOn made OF
tie Ount of the tonnage tax withheld by the
Company from payment to the oiae, until the ques.
ton OF the cOnstituIIUnalty OF the tax was decded
AccUl ding TO the bll filed the amount of che tax
thus rtta ned was Sl,66l, ,9l2
The supreme Court having affirmed he constItu-
uODal t. OF the acts imposing the saX, the Legs
tuIe subsequently, passed an act repeating the same.
OH condition that The company should pay certain
amount INTO tne state IIeasurs anu eNpend GER
tam oher amount In aid OF certain interior TailrOad
The abstract give OF the bill sets this more
particularly. Ii Is TO certain what disposition has
been mace of this large sum of money that tue bill
has been filed.
Tie following is a briet abstract of its averments
The bIll AYERS that the city large STOCK holder
in the Company, holding 100284 shares Of stock,
amounting value to S5,4l6 336 ID upwards; that,
by acts OF the Legislature of April 1916, aud March,
184S, tax duty ImpOsed on all tonnage
loaded or received ut ceran DO nts on SAID rairOad
ana carried ihereOver for the distance of twenty
miles or more, which tax was TO b. paid by he de-
fendants into the state Treasury; thaCthe Company
pad tins Tonnage tax until about Juv, 1865 when 1t
ceased 10 pay 1t, and retained aud set aside the
amount thereof and allow ed suts to be hrOdgnt by
testing the right OF tne o TO the tax and
the entire amount thus retained by the company
amounted on the 1tu OF March, 1861. 10 81 66l 912.
SUIT were brought by tue Commonwealth lOr the
amount OF the tax Withheld ,Ein whIcl fla judg.
ments we're entered against the Company. Cnst
the eupon the Company procured the passage OF
the act VI March, 1861, when repealed the Tonnage
lax acts in consideration that the Company shOu d
uay semi-annually into the ate treasury certain
largo lnstalments on account OF the debt OF The
Company, and upon the further CONDITION that the
Company sLould ID, IN and Of certain her Iroad
companies in the IN erOr and western parts OF the
State, expend the sum OF $3.50 900, by puj chasing
and no ding their first mortgage BONDS to that
amount.
That IN the fifteenth annual report of the Com
pRny, there is damned to have been paid over to
Commonwealth the sald sum Of 81 66l 9l2, when
fact, as appears by the report oil the AuGor General
less than hall o that sum has been ua received
by the Commonwealth. The ,arger proportion,
amounting the bin char. es, TO $3.50 600 aud up
wards has been retained and wltuhelo both from the
COmnOnw alth aud from distrl luton among the
stockhClo rs OF the Company, Inciudnp complain.
ants, and is i'll retained under Ine allegation that
the same has been expended, or will he required to
be expended in lid OF the raiiroad companies speci
fed III the act OF March, 1861
Complt lnantS charge tnat the repres"nt alton as
contained in the annual reports to the effect that the
said tonnage tax had been paid to the state to an
amount largely IN excess OF the truth, ana aiming
cre0u therefor, was wrong to the stock
holders, and Iurthor, that if the fact was, as
row admitted o be, that the SAID sum was not pad
to state, but that tue large amount OF $850,000
was set aside to await payment, tnen the defendants
bound to account to their stockholders inc udnC
cOmpAnaDts for he interest and profits of the SAID
sum dunnP the time II was Withheld.
The bull further AYERS that, among the railroad
companies mentioned III the said report as share
in the said sum OF S85O,0O0 Is included the Bald
Eagle Valley Railroad Company-a Company not
not entitled to participate IN the distribution of tue
SAID sum of S8o0CO.
That by the sixteenth annual report of the Com
pany a credit is CLAIMED for $453 99001 OF the net
earnings IOr 1862 Tor Appropriation to commuta.
ton rail Dads according 10 the act of the Legsla.
ture, including tie West Pennsylvania Railroad I"
and also a credit of $27, 400 Tor the purchase oil
bonos OF the Tyrone and u arield Railroad Com
pany, which two sums, added to the $3500o0 before
mentioned, make aggregate OF 81, 1881 390'01 re-
iained, sum, as is alleged IN the biI, large in
excess OF inc amount authorized to be retained Oy
q a nj n
That although by the said act the Company was
required to purchase and hold the SIX per cent.
bOndss OF theicompanes designed to be benefited Dy
the sald act, yet no report has been eXhibn
to the stockholders that such purchases bonds
with the exception of those of the Tyrone aud
CleaItield Railroad COmpan! TO the amount of
$27 4OO) have been made, or that the bonds now
IN the possession of The Company.
The comp ainants therefore Charge:-
l. That the Company has returned of the earnings
81 83l, $3.50, when 1t was not authorized TO return
more than $3.50, 900 for expenditure among the said
railroads aforesaid, and tina. tine amount OF said
earnings above S8600t0 has been wrOngiully with
held from am0Is On n ths so S ooo
have actually been reported as expended directed
by the act, ana ttat the balance, TO WIT, SS50,0O0
has been wTOngluly withheld from ex lendIture as
required by law, and from distribution among the
stockholders.
g. That tie payment of any portion of the said sum
OF $3.50 600 10 the Bald Eagle Valley Railroad Com
pany is wrCng to the stOckn .ders, and a gross
msappfcatiOn OF The funds of the Company.
4 hat the mission 10 purchase the SIX r cent
bonds OF the companies required to be aided by the
act OF 1861, and TO report the same IN the annual
statements, IS a wrong upon the stockholders, and
entiIes cOmplalhants to an account.
That the Company has eXh bited false and
unintelligIbe statements to the stockholders OF the
apL rOpr atlOn OIL the funds retained Tor the
tax, and of the disposition thereof, and OF other
funos retained, and have Withheld rom Lae STOCK
boldeIs full and satisfactory information upon the
subject cumD aimed OF.
Ihe complainants, therefore, ask for equitable
relief -
l BY Injunction restraining the Company from
laying any portion OF the saId $850,000 to the Ba
Eagle Valley RaIlrOad Company, II the said pay
mGnt has not aIea1y been madei and 1t made, thaC
, The Company be required 10 account therefor.
2 That II be uecreed that the Company and its
ctlcers may make tull discovery and account of
all aHOpnts accumulated, set ASIDE. or withheld
Iom pay ment by the Company, for or ON account
made OF said sums and as to what officers held or
used the same and howi and that II also
be creed that they make q full aud true
discovery of all the actual appropriations
of the fund so set aside; OF all sans
ac,ua y expended in aid OF the interior raj road
companies desiVned to be benefited by the act of
1851 with the names OF the compan so benefited
ana the amounts and date OF paYments; OF ali SO.
cuIites bonds. etc DO Ight Tede med from said
companies, with the amounts dates OF same names
of he companies from which they received or
purchased ana tie past and present disposition and
value thereof.
g. That he company may be compelled to distrib-
ute among Its stockholders all moneys found have
been improperly retained log the ''uujust and pre-
tended expenditures" cOmDained Of
In letter to the Euenigag Post, from j. Dis
turnell Ii Is stated that the hottest summer on