New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-11-02
THE LESSON or ERIE.


honest and intelligent public Is now unanimous
for radical reform, and the great rcpro@h Vi
our Constitution will to-day, we trust, DC swept
away. The Erie suits, as may be read more iu!ly
in the admirable Chapter OF Ere oy MI
Charles Francis Adams jr., lately reprinted
with additions, from The North american
Reyiec. all grew out of the efforts OF Two
rich rivals to secure possession OF the road
for their private purposes. When COmino-
dore Vanderbilt wanted to corner Nr. Drew IN
Erie. Judge Barnard promptly tied up Mr. Drew
with an Injunction; then suspended him from his
office of treasurer; and finally enjoined the Erie
board from issuing any more stock. Mr. Drew
instantly ran to BinghamtOn and persuaded
Judge Balloon to order a stay of proceedings
in the suits before Judge Barnard; Mr. Van
derbilt nuifed this order by an adverse one
from Judge Ingraham; and the Erie party got
a mandatory injunction from Judge Gilbert
which restrained proceedings in the Barnard
and Ingraham cases both. lnJunctlons anu
counter injunctiOns now became so many ana
so puzzling that the shrcwdest counsel could
hardly keep account of them. Judge Clerke
enjoined Judge Barnard from appointing
receiver, his clerks from entering the order IL
one should bc appointed. and the receiver from
accounting il if it were ordered The injunction
was served upon Barnard rs he sat upon tho
bench, and he Immediately proceeded 10 va
cate the order and appoint receiver; the en-
Joined clerk made the entry; and the receiver
was enioned az soon as he could DO caught.
The tange finally became so hopeless. that by
a sort of agreement of parties Judge lngra-
ham issued a general order forbdding every
body from doing anything, and so the rubbish
was swept away. And what had been the ro-
sultf Mr.. Drew had escaped to Jersey City
with S7,OO0OOO and deiied the courts. Mr.
Peter b. Sweeny had been appointed re-
ceiver after there was nothing to receive and
had been allowed $4,000 by Judge Barnard,
for his trouble in taking care of nothing.
few ten dollar fines had been imposed for
contempt of court; and $4,000 had been dl-
vided among the Erie counsel This was all.
40 far az the cases really before the courts
are involved. But incidentally there had arisen
some startling inquiries about the purity OF
Judge Barnards court In the application to
Judge Gilbert for an injunction, Barnard
had been described "a an accOmphce in van
derbilt's operations. Then came scenes so
extraordinary that no honest citizen can
recall them without blushing. Judge Barn
ard declared from the bench thai he en-
ployed spies to watch the parties who
were litigating before him. The old scan
dial of his accessibility to certain counsel
was revived and openly made the subject
of cross examination before him; and Mr..
John b. Haskin testified that where great in
terests were involved he had sometimes un-
dertaken TO personally influence the Judge;
that he might have" influenced his action
"as . judge but only, of course, on the side
of right and he would not swear that no had
not used his influence to get n decision in
favor of some person in litigation whose cause
he had espOused
A truce and division of profit and loss now
ensued. Vanderbilt and Drew received several
millions each, and the Erie Railroad was left
to Messrs. Fisk and Gould, who straightway
made an alliance with the Tammany
Ring, and began new series OF legal
scandals. We remember how at their
request Judge Barnard issued an injunction In
bed and appointed Jay Gould receiver; how,
in defiance Of law of the State (to say moth
ing of orders Of COURT. he authorized the COM
pany after running down their own shares in
the bear interest to 40 TO buy them back at 80,
in order that they might arrange the famous
Erie corner; how he called upon the Grand
Jury 20 indict the newspapers which COM
mented upon his extraordinary orders in the
interest Of the Erie Ring, but let the prOsecu-
ton drop when the jury complied with his
suggestion; how CardOzo afterward took Bar
nard's place; and Judge BalcOm again At Bing-
hamton and Judge Peckham az Albany, be-
sides several judges in NewYork took part
all together In the war, until law became more
than ever reprOach, and the processes of court
a laughing stock. And we remember too that
every order from the bench was defeated either
by counter order or by insOlent and unpun-
ishcd defiance. The parties to the conflict set
tied their differences at last by a corrupt COM
promise at Albany.
Next came the affair of the Erie and Susque-
hanna roads. Here again the battle of in
functions ragged for q while, and the swindle of
receiverships was revived in full force. At
critical moment "the Erie Judge" happened
to be in the neghborhood of tho Erie Railroad
offices one night at 10 O'clock just in time TO
sign an order appointing James Fisk, jr., re-
ceiyer Of the Albany and Susquehanna Com
pany and start him off by late train. But
even so Jealous a Judiciary as this could not
settle the dispute. The rival companies flew
TO arms, tore up tracks, sent locomotives butt
ing against each other under head of steam,
and paralyzed the trade Of whole district,
until the Governor took possession of the dis
puted property by force, and ran it as a mill
tary road
The latest scene in the case of Erie and the
courts is the great gold speculation which has
just cOnvulsed Wallst Here again, after the