Litchfield enquirer., 1867-10-24
Cross County Railroads.


 among the different railroad interests whicl are directly and indirectly concerned in tn lines surveyed across Litchfeld County.
 Whether the re-survey of the southern route of the Boston and Erie via Danbury has been completed. we have not learned There is no question, however, that thi. route is much longer, and, we are told, con siderably more difficult of construction than the one through Morris, New Preston and Kent. The latter, therefore, may be safely considered the true line for the ex. tension of the Boston, Hartford and Erie, unless local considerations on the southern route are of sufficient importance to out. weigh our natural advantages.
 Just now, the proposed road from Fish kill to Springfield through the northern towns of this county is exciting considera- ble attention. This, if feasible, would ap- parently shorten the distance from Fish kill to Boston, but it seems as yet to have only the support of the local interests on the proposed line. These, especially at Salisbury, Canaan and Winsted are quite heavy, but hardly equal, we should judge, to the construction of an hundred miles of railroad through an extremely difficult country. The gentlemen from Springfield who came on to the Winsted meeting last week, were too wary to commit themselves, and the only person outside this State who seemed strongly interested, was Mir. Geo. H. Brown, formerly president of the Duchess and Columbia road, who is, we should guess, at the bottom of the present agitation. It was this gentleman who, last year, conducted the careful and expen- sive surveys by which the northern route of the Boston, Hartford and Erie was final ly located. It was said, at the time, that he was at this expense to induce the con- pletion of the road on that route No sooner, however, have the Boston, Hart ford and Erie made such arrangements as enable them to complete their line, than MT. Brown starts up the new Fishkill and Springfield project, and in his remarks at Winsted expresses great distrust of large corporations If the report is true, that the Boston, Hartford and Erie are en- to purchase that portion of the Duchess and Columbia road already con- structed, and that Mr. Brown will not as yet sell, might not the agitation regarding the Springfield route, have a considerable effect on the price?
 On the Sth inst, the annual election of the Directors of the Erie Railway resulted In the choice of new board favorable to a close connection with the Boston, Hartford and Erie railway. John s. Eldridge, Pres ident of the latter road, was elected presi- dent of the Erie, and it was voted to guar antee the interest on s4,0O0,O ,O00 of the bonds of the Boston, Hartford, and Erie road, which, it is claimed, will render avail able the &, 100000 loan from the State of Massachusetts, and ensure the speedy com pletion of the 100 miles of that road re- maining uncompleted. This action of the Erie Company has caused some stir and little opposition, as will appear from tho following article which we extract from the Daily Cowamt of Friday last:-
 THE BOSTON, HARTFORD AND ERIE RAILROAD.
 The Springfield Republican, under the above heading, with the word "swindle',' attached, calls the recent election of new board of directors of the Erie railway, and their subsequent action giving a guarded and conditional endorsement to the Bos- ton. Hartford and Erie, cone of the cool est pieces of railroad swindling and sharp practice ever known among professional It then quotes the follow ing from the N. Y. Tribune:
 The whole history of American railroads may be searched in vain for parallel to the scandalous operation by which the control of the Erie railway passed, on Tuesday last, into the hands of the di rectors of the Boston and Erie road. It is notori- ous that the Boston party were elected by proxles which they had bought at 2, 4per cent; thatthey ton than they organized the new board and pro- ceeded forthwith to pass resolutions binding the Erie for the interest and principal of $4 900 900 of bonds issued by the Boston and Erie road, and thus far absolutely unstable, and that this nefari ous transaction completed, but not till then, a complaisant director resigned, to make room for UIcW, WHO, WuHteNer ldtlilS IIldy nave Uetu, would never have consented to lay this last feather on the breaking back of this unfortunate company These things are we say, notorious It is further freely said by the Boston partys friends that all the stock which has been bought to accomplish this result has already been sold to credulous spec ulators who fancied that the new direction would 'put upr the price that profit of over $1,0O0,- oO0 has been realized on the operation, and that the Boston party, having accomplished their ob- iect prepared to resign in favor of the old board or any body else who wants to be director in the bankrupt concern. It is very doubtful whether any thing could have saved the Erie from ruin. Its nett receipts fall steadily below it's wants for rents and interest on its bonds Another re- cevership, sooner or later, seems inevitable. But if the ill-starred concern had chance of escaping bankruptcy, the Boston gentlemen seem to have resolved to destroy it by adding s4,0O0,000 to a debt already greater than the road can bear.
 It seems probable that neither paper un- derstands what it is so hastily denouncing. The misstatements are gross and palpable; and while we do not attempt full history of the late transactions referred to, we call attention to few facts.
 It is emphatically true that the Erie road has been an ssill-starred concern" and ''un. fortunate company" A glance at the mar shows that it ought long since or from the beginning to have been strong and pros
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