Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-04-21
ESTABLISHED 1910.

agents anu satellites, In q Oil IN cndu-
cery, filed yesterday by City At
torney Randolph and Messrs. Vance
q Anderson, representing the Missis-
sippi and Tennessee Railroad Com
pany. 1t seems that McCOmbs has
long looked with a covetOus eye upon
the Mississippi and Tennessee rail-
road. 1t might be made a great
feeder to his line from Grenada to
New Orleans, and all the wealth OF
the country within ten or twenty
miles Of Memphis, might be forced
southwark by McCOmbs over the
great road which heowns through the
pine barrens of Mississippi, even
through the lagunes and frog ponds OF
a wide district of Louisiana. Such a
road sadly needs feeders" and Nc
Combs, to feed it, ''goes for" every
thing in sight. Accordingly he in
duced Sam. Tate and W. B. Green
law, with many other cOnfding, hon
est people, to believe that he, Nc
Combs, the head center of the South
ern Railroad Association, intended at
once to extend the Louisville and Pa
ducah road through Troy to Memphis.
Juuge Swayne was then the acting
Mayor Of the city, and the contract
was made and the city's stock, $780,
600, in the Mississippi and Tennessee
road, was transferred to A. T. Lacey
as trustee for the city and Nc
Combs. Never were such beaUti-
full pictures drawn of the future
glory and grandeur Of Memphis
as were presented on maps Of the
railroad system Of Memphis with
which MeCombs' agents dazzled the
ewes Of our iIlustrious Aldermen.
They were caught. Even Colonel
Frank White, who had caused the
CITY government to make such stren-
nous efforts to save the stock, was
modified; his suspicious were allayed
and he withdrew his proposition to
-pav the $40, 600 for the city, the sum
(which McCombs had advanced as a
loan on the city's stock. The wool
was completely drawn over Colonel
Whites eyes; he beheld the pretty
maps showing how his blessed little
road from Memphis to Grenada would
become a mighty conduit through
which McCombs, like a mighty bar
te,,der. was funneling the wealth Of
the whole Northwest. LuXuriating in
dreams Of supreme beatitude and
copfidine. in the absolute assurances Of
NeCombs' whippers-in that the
Psducsb and EIemphis road should be
finished in two years, McCOmbs, as
4be representative Of the Paducah
road. was suffered to retaiD-the city's
stock in Colonel Whites rosd. When
1t was finally agreed that McCOmbs'
ring should have the stock condition
aUv and that it shonld not be redeem
ed bv Colonel White, who was
IN be substituted for the city,
the trite VirgiIian maxim, Tfme0
Dguaog ct d0na fsTeHtes, wss
not forgotten. The city fathers could
not trust McCOmbs. He was willing
to suffer Colonel Frank White to re-
main President for life, and even to
hold a perpetual proxy to represent
McCOmbs' ring in all elections. More
over, Colonel White was to own absO- !
lutely 0ne-tenlh Of this stock thus |
sought to be absorbed by McCOmbs. /
Misled, honeyfuggled, bambOOzled,
the innocent Board Of Aldermen pro-
ceeded to execute the agreement with
McCombs. They were about trans
Terring the stock to the Mississippi
River memphis and Paducah) Rail-
road Company, and not to McCOmbs
ring. when it was ascertained that
this railroad company was not author
lied by its charter to its own stock in
other corporations. Therefore the Al
aermen agreed to transfer the stock to
A. q, Lacey, who was to hold the
stock IN trust, to be conveyed to Nc
Combs when he had connected Mem
pbis and Paducah, or Memphis and
Troy. by q railway line within two
wears. These facts are recited sub
stantiauy in the written transfer as it
appears on the stock certificate of
$3.50. 900. A contract was written and
executed by Mayor Leftwich and
Colonel A. T. Lacey, setting forth the
hove facts and conditions Of this
trs, ,sfer Of stock, the chief Of which
yvss = nat the sale was invalid unless
NFcCor bs d Co. built the Paducah
road within two years. This con-
tract drawn by Chancellor (then City
Attorney hrsEgan, has disappeared.
Such are the statements presented
In the bill dled by tbs City Attorney
and the Mississippi ana Tennessee
Railroad Company against McCOmbs. |
1t is said that the facts stated ars
attested by Colonel Sam Tate, who, at
the time the negotiations for the stock |
were pending, acted as McCOmbs' |
representative before the Board OF Al !
,de-men. Colonel Tate then believed /
it was McCOmbs' purpose to build the /
Mississippi River road at once. 1t is 1
alleged in the bin that Colonel A. T. /
Lacey, who held the stock as the 1
agent of both the city and Of Nc
Combs, has conspired with Nc
Combs, the latter agreeing 70 give Mr.. |
lacey an absolute interest in the stock 1
81 RIcCOmbs' title prove valid and alb
soJute. 1t is averred that Lacey had /
no title to the stock, and could con-
.vev none to McCOmbs, and that, /
the, efore. McCOmbs' title is invalid. |
In fact this bill in chancery develops |
many curious facts tending to show |
that our railroads themselves have a |
hard road to travel. McCOmbs has
already cost this city from five to tii- /
teen millions Of dollars in trade /
drawn away, and in 3 railway system
subverted; and il Memphis merchants /
do not ward Of other and more fear
ful impending calamlties, his dream
that owls and bats shall yet occupy
our palaces viii be speedily realized.
TELE6RAMS.
A reward has been offered for the