Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-05-26

His Adventures BY Sea aad Laad-H0w he
Swlms-Hls fame and sloFy-His
Lack aad Fearful MlsfsFtsnss.
How he Rose, and How he Genes B0wa-Rls
Successes and FaIluFss-Hls At
tempt to Swallow GsloBsl
WhIts-Et0,

which can only be sold by orders of the
courts. Three hundred Thousand dollars
of this stock is owned by President Frank
White and his friends.
To show how earnestly men are devoted
| to him, and the interest felt in this rail
road war, Colonel Charles MerriWether, of
DeSOtO, died a few days ago, and in his
will directed his stock in the Mississippi
and Tennessee road, exceeding $50, 600, TO
be conveyed to Frank White, who con-
trolls it absolutely as his own for the next
four years. Two hundred and fifty thou
sand dollars Of this stock, formerly held
by the city, and conveyed to A, T. Lacey
on the written condition that the Missls-
sippi River railway should be completed
within two years, cannot be used a. a
means of power in controlling elections
for years to come. It is in chancery, and
goes to Supreme Courts, State and Fed
eral. 1t is thus palpsble, as shown by the
books of the Mississippi and Tennessee
road, that McCombs cannot, by any posi-
bic means, control 8 majority Of the stock
in any election of directors. In fact,
N'OOHBs Is IN A BAD WAY
He cannot secure, with all the wealth
Of his ring, a majority of the stock that
may be utilized. and thus he cannot make
the Mississippi and Tennessee road a sim
pie feeder to his ravsnOuH. Impoverished
lines south Of Grenada. He cannot de-
strOy Memphis hat he may be enriched.
Seeing this, Mr.. MoCombs, a man Of CAPT
tai, good common sense,
CHANGES HIS TACK.
! He comes to Memphis with his hand in
his mouth. His breeches are down. He
is in a bad way, just as Memphis was
when he had the world in a
swing, when Stanton, our greatest ben
e%factOr, was struggling across Alabama
from Chattanooga TO Meridian, and when
Louisville had not become p|scuniarily in
terested in enriching the road from Hum
bcldt to Memphis. Our sale Of the Mem
phis and Ohio road to Louisville, and the
competition of StantOn's road, and Frank
Whites pluck, and that Of his friends, in
investing large sums in the bilious stock
of the Mississippi and Tennessee road
these are the incidents and facts wen cal
! CuIated to touch McCOmb's heart through
his capacious pocket, The nerves that run
down in that direction are said to be mar
vsllOusly sensitive, and when Mr.. Nc
Combs cannot have things his own wayne
will adopt yours rather than kick
very vigorously against the pricks.
SOLEMN FACTS.
Only a few days ago Providence seems
to have interviewed in u behalf. NJ Combs
has cost Memphis ten or more millions of
money. He mas been IN and out with the
Padu0sh "ring," and We are not sure now
that the public is suffered to comprehend
his relations to that body of excellent
gentlemen, who have their -head-center in
New York. McCOmbs had contaminated
all his grand schemes. He had cOddlsd
the soft Legislature at Jackson, Missis-
sippi. He had induced that illustriOus
body of statesmen and law givers to in
vest him with franchises involving and
conveying greater power OYer the lives,
fortunes and d]estinies of the
State than were ever welded by
any citizen of any American State.
IN FACT, M'CONBs WAS IN CLOVER.
He not only controlled eight hundred
miles of railway lines at viii, but had
become a partner Of Commodore Morgan.
Like another Alexander, he went that
there we're not beyond Texas and Mexico
other worlds to conquer. He possessed
himself of iron steamers, and his name
and JrIumphB were heralded by the
winds,s borne along with the billOws'
c~rests, and whispered by soft zsphyrs
Of q unn CLINE wherever the Ameri-
can name and flag were known among
the islands and bays OF the MeXi-
can Gulf. McCOmbs was a mighty
leviathsn Of The deep, an igua-
nOdOn that went smashing things
both on sea and land, Very trivial events
often disturb the plans and thwart the
schemes Of the prOfoundest thinkers. At
the very time that Stanton completed his
road IRON Chattanooga to Meridian there
came q mighty flood, and McCOmbs' road,
for many miles above New Orleans, wal
deluged. Stanton presented his route to
New Orleans and New York travellers,
aud McCOmbs' trains went rattling emp
lily like hollow whisky kegs from the
Crescent City. The whole travelling
community was forced at oncs to
haraHHnn narDHunnH AF Hha loot ILL
there was another cheaper, shorter
and quicker route to New York
than that furnished by MCCOmbs' roads.
Neither time nor advertising were r6-
quired. Stanton became, by q providen-
Jlal food, at once supreme master of the
situation. He reduced the time frOmNew
Orleans to New York ten and then twenty
hours, and poor McCOmbs was undone.
Two such blows, one delivered by Stanton
and the other by the storms and Father of
Floods, never bsfore fell upon the braWny
shoulders of MCCOmbs.
he WAS STAGGERED.
He was not blind or drunk, however, but
saw that the losses sustained at the hands
Stanton must be made good by the rob-
berry Of Frank White. He q for White,
with what result has already been shown.
His only recourse, after losing the travel
that the Louisville road transferred to the
Mississippi and Tennessee. and after
losing ell the wealth of which he was
robbed by the great Hight0qy-man, Stan.
ton, was In the seizure of the haPless Mis-.
sissippi and Tennessee road. In fact, Mr..
McCOmbs deemed himself huge enough
TO swallow Colonel Frank White
without a grimace. How Colonel White
escaped from chat frightful nav, in which
myriads of minnOws nave been enRulphed
and lost, has already been recited.
THE LAST CHANCE
for McCOmbs is the one he should have
adopted from the first. He has expected
from the beginning to secure the Mem
phis and Paducah mississippi River rail-
way on his own terms. He made a con-
tract, and escaped from some loose place
In it's ~joiner's work, but when he passed
out al the c%revice, his pockets, as g6nsr-
ally happens, we're well lined. He "tOted
of" about $500, 900 of Shelby county
bonds, on which he had advanced perhaps
Sl70, 600. By pOstpOning the execution of
a more definite contract than that from
which he and his ring we're recently re-.
leased, the debt for which the bonds arc
held as collaterals would mature and Nc |
Combs exact his own terms. The very
Indebtedness Of the existing contract
with the Messra. Norton, and the condi-
tiOns, non of which provide for the cOun-
ty's security in case of our failure to pro-
vide an additional subscription Of$500, 600, |
have led people to suppose that there was
at least an understanding between the
Messrs. Norton and McCOmbs. The con-
ditiOns Of the Norton contract not being
complied with, and the county finding
itself incapable Of r%efunding the ossh adj
Yanced by McCOmbs, for which he holds
the bonds as collateral, he and the Nor
tons could impose their own terms upon
the helpless County Court. There is
FIXED FACT,
that the contract, as it exists on paper, is
impossible Of execution. In other
words, we have no contract that
cOmpels the construction Of the road, and
without an opera glass of forty-horse
power, We can see the Shelby county
bonds slowly gliding down into the cav
ernous nav of the blessed McCombs.
HappilY the accidents by food and field,
to which we have referred, drive the ship
frsighted with the commercial fortunes
Of Memphis into a fsirsr haven. A few
gentlemen Of fortune have agreed, if the
worst come, that they will combine, pay
ths debt due McCombs next winter,
and leave him without a through northern
route capable of competing either with
to New York or NeWcOmbs'from
Memphis to Louisville. Happily, too, for
Memphis the little road from Paducsh,
short as it is, is a second class elephant,
incapable Of lOcOmotlon, on the hands Of
Messrs Norton. Memphis may be I'M
fortunate in the absence OF IN airline
through Paduoah snd the coalheldB
Of Kentucky, or TO- ndianapolis and Vim
,ennas, but other highways to Louisville
and Norfolk and New York are
; On and we cannot starye. Our
5le great danger is provided against
when we have provided against the loss of
he Shelby county bonds. b done,
here is such a pressure brought TO bear