Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-05-20

7 position as an exhibit: that he conside
the board first elected the legal boar
that the books showing subscription
I | stock are in his possession; that there
subscribed 767 shares, of $25 per shar
amounting to $40, 175; that the stool
holders are solvent and the subscription
bona fide; that $767 has been paid, bein
one dollar on each share; that no actio
has been taken toward building said roaC
not even preliminary survey has bee
made; that the S767 is in his possession
that the board he is connected with, an
which he considers the legal board, ha
never. employed any engineer or othe
person; the legal board authorized Thos
s. Smythe to go to Nashville and draw on
hundred bonds from the State, and he LET
for Nashville the day before th
-bogus board was elected; j. Ii
NJ. Grayson is President of tn
bogus board, and that r. II. Donnelly
secretary. and treasurer of the bogu
board, and that he is secretary and treas
urer of the legal board; that he files as ;
part of his deposition the order of thu
board of directors, directing Smythe 4
place said bonds in the Exchange anC
Deposit Bank of Knoxville; that the lega
board has passed no resolution in regard
to said bends since they were deposited
with said bank; that he gave notice in
October, 1869, to the Exchange and De-
| post Bank not to dispose of said bonds
upon the order of Grayson, and that GRAY
! son and the whole concern was bogus:
that they had better be cautious how
they dealt with them; that j. Fl. NJ. Gray-
son had for some months just been en-
gagged in buying lands and cattle; that
twelve months ago Grayson was man of
limited means and hard run for money:
that now Grayson has plenty of money
and is engaged largely in trading in lands
and cattle; that the State Directors are
nearly all stockholders, and two of them,
Il. IL. Butler and r. II. Donnelly, claim
to be company directors in the bogus
board.
The committee find from the testimony
OF John Baxter that he is interested in
the business of the Exchange and Deposit
Bank at Knoxville; that Thomas S.
Smythe deposited ninety-nine bonds with
SAID bank and hypotnecated one bond;
that the only officers of the Mineral Home
railroad that he ever knew was the said
Smythe and Col. j. II. NJ. Grayson; that
the bonds were sent TO the Bank of Amer.
lea, New York, in January, 1870, for sale,
and were sold on the 11th and goth of
January, 1870, at forty-six cents on the
dollar, less three cents for one coupon not
attached; that the bonds were sent to
New York by order of ]. H. NJ. Grayson,
President, and Thomas S. Smythe; that
he attaches an exhibit to his deposition
showing the condition of the &C
count of the road with the
Exchange and Deposit Bank, April
6, 1870. The statement shows
that there was placed tn the credit of the
road, from sale OF bonds $4,000, and
that there has been drawn from the Bank
So, 636 As, and that there was to the
credit of the Company, April 6, 1870,
$50, 1868 81. The Committee found on
file, in the Office of the Secretary of State,
aresolution of the Directors of said Compa-
ny, accepting the State Directors under act
of Feb. IS, 1868, and admitting them to all
the rights and privileges of Company Di-
rectOrs; said resolution was adopted June
2, 1868. The Committee also find the
certificate of the State Directors, sworn
by them, that said Company had complied
with all the provisions of the general in
ternal improvement law of the State, so
far as the same applied to said Company;
said certificate is dated Sept 4, 1868.
The Committee also find a res
olution of the Directors, that the
bonds appropriated by the act of
Dec. 10, 1866, shall be faithfully
used and applied to the purposes contem-
plated in said act, and to no other pur-
pose. The committee in concluding their
report upon the Mineral Home Railroad,
would most respectfully call the attention
of the Legislature to the fact that these
bonds were sold at less than par, being
sold at 43 cents on the dollar; and; con-
sequently. in violation of a positive pro-
vision of the law; that no work has ever
been performed upon said road at all,
even to the employing of an engineer, to
make the preliminary survey for the To-
cation of the road. In fact, the whole
matter has the appearance of pre-deter-
mined effort to swindle the State out of
one hundred thousand dollars. The only
thing they seem to have been DESTROYS
about, was to get the necessary papers to
draw the bonds with; and the committee
would respectfully call the attention of
the Legislature to the affidavit of
those State Directors who have been so
ready to assist in robbing the State
1t will readily be seen from the evil
dence that the whole company hive got
into quarrel as to who are the legal
directors, and one witness, claiming to
be the President of the legal board, and
who swears that he is in possession of the
subscription books and all the money
ever collected from private subscription,
states that the bonds and their proceeds
are under the control of a b gus Presi-
dent, and bogus board. In view of the
evident loss that was awaiting the pro-
ceeds of the bonds and their probable ap-
preparation, to prevent misuse the COM
mittee deemed it their duty to do a1in their
power to save as much for the State as
possible; they therefore took the response
bility of serving notice upon John Bax-
ter, President of the Exchange and De-
post Bank at Knoxville, to retain
eAbJ VI lIC JULIUS VI 1iIOCCONlS VI
the same that might be in the
possession of said bank, until some ac-
ton could be taken by the Legislature;
and the committee would suggest the i'm
pOrtance of immediate action in regard
thereto, fearing, lest something is at once
done, the State may lose all opportunity
to secure any of said one hundred bonds.
The committee would recommend to the
General Assembly to take action promptly
by enactment or otherwise, to secure the
State from loss, by reason of the improper
issuance of said bonds or misapplication
of the proceeds thereof, and direct such
other proceedings as the ends of justice
may seem to demand.
]. N. CLEMENTsoN,
A. THOMAS,
p. p. G. NELsss
J. RossoN, 1
A. L. SPEARS,
w. ON. PERKINS,
---. J. S. HART,
j. NJ FLEMING. .
IMMIGRATION.
The Walker BiII-Amcndment Sug-
gested-What One EnterprisinG
Man is Doing
To the Editors of the Union and American:
Ihave read with great deal of interest
the bill of Mr.. Walker, proposing to
"create an office, to be kept at the city of
Nashville, to be known as the lmmigrq-
ton State office"