The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-01-23


against the action Of the board In declaring divt,
dend OF the benefits OF which he may partake. II
directors present at the meeting had made himself
liable for these certificates u they created an ndeb
ednss They were also liable e eng
ment on Judgment recovered thereon, end
should be deemed guilty Of Q misdssAeanot
SsaasS az e! sgs thai was in force at AZ
II it was these interest certificates were not debt
against the New York Central Railroad Company:
Nj. Vanderbilt, who swears that In his opinion he
regards them as on obligation. What ne meant by
a dd Rs sr e
as binding legal construction Of the legal enee.
Of these certificates. The next question raised BY
valid, were fraudulent. A full and perfect answer
to that was, "Fraudulent as to whom" Who had
counsel on the other side would read an AFFIDAVIT in
which jerks swore that he had heard rumors that
10 e e 0 ha
2 friend had told him that the Commodore had on
that dsy 600 shares Hesupposed they would take
Mr. Field ciphering just now, and he had got down
13o which he had multiplied by eighty per cent
But the Court would not decide this case upon ru
supposing Mr. Vanderbilt aid buy that stock Had
the slightest proof that he had purchased the stock
Whatever stock he owned on the 10th Of December
enough together with that held ~ his friends ' 10
control the election Of directors. Mr. Farchild con-
Cuueu Dy al eloquent endorsement OF the mandX6-
ment OF the road by Mr. Vanderbilt and asking judg-
ment that these injunctions be dissolved
Mr.. Field then replied briefly to some OF the minor
points Of Mr. Farchild's argument, stating that Mr..
vanderpoel had already said all that could be said on
the main questions Mr. Field concluded his address
as folows-And now, your Honor, 1t is for You TO
say-and the capitalists and dealers in railroad Sc
curtes are waiting for your decision in regard to
these certincatest Is for you 70 say whether this
clared lawful, and felicitate myself and the COM
munity that this case Is first to be decided
by one OF the Oldest and most eminent OF
our judges. When we get your decision
we shall know whether fraud because palpable and
undefcnded, like this can stand. lam not here to
abuse anybody, but we know, not only from the AMI
davit, which is uncontradicted, but from the avow
ais Of my friend that Mr.. Vanderbilt and his friends
owned more than half the stock OF this company,
which stock amounts to $2s, 900. He and his
friends own, therefore, more than 14Q, goo shares
They kept this q secret Vanderbilt and Clark con-
cealed 1t from their own cO-directOrS, because, as
they say, they could not trust them. The gentleman
said thai he observed me making figures, and while
do not attempt to be egotstical, will say those
figures are significant. Surprising it to be only
10000 shares that he hed the eighty per
cent Is So 00 The stock sold before this at 120
The moment you decide that to be lawful the certif
Gates 90 up equal to the original stock. The eighty
per cent IL l04 900 shares; that at 100 Is 2 4S 0000
but taking this at only the rise from 100 to 65 forty
It IL not for however, to divide the responsibility
between Clark and Vanderbilt In this transaction. /
can only say that Vanderbilt knew too little OF the
law TO understand what wrong he was doing, but
cannot say 80 much for Clark. This action was as
illegal as 1t was immoral, as immoral as IL was
illegal.
This closed the CASE and the Court took the papers