The Van Buren press., 1872-07-02
LITTLE Rock. June 18th

1
To THE EDITOR oyyHs vaS BuREs PRKss-
Sir: have been shown a letter from . prominent
citizen of yeur place to gentleman holding high
position in this city which say, that in consequence
Of statements made by Judge Yonley while a re-
cent visit to Van Buren, your people had become ut
terly discouraged t. any further progress with the
Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad, and that real
estate had declined in value and all business was be-
ing much depressed. What particular statement,
were made by Judge Yonley / do not know. but II
the citizens of Van Buren, understand his status In
this railroad imbrogo they will, think, take all
be Gays cum orono sails. - When Judge Yonley
speaks, he speaks for those whom he is employed by
and IL is we'll known that he is the attorney Of the
sub contractors, Pierce. Steacy Yorston. His in
eress are tho same as theirs and his fees from
the squeezing process which they live by, and which
they have so far successfully carried out through
the strange action of the courts. Although the Lit
tie Rock 4 Fort Smith Railroad Company have no
transactions whatever with P, 5. * y, and never
had any contract with them to the amount Of dol
lar yet their whole road and property which they
have once paid for is attached. and by some strange
process the very franchise is taken possession
of and the right to the road and receive tolls
handed over to the attaching plaintiffs. Still further
than this although Mr.. Warren Fisher, who was the
companys contractor, had failed to fulfill his con-
tract and the company had therefore declared at
an end that they might be at liberty to make new
contracts for its completion, these sub-contractors
have sued out an injunction and the company is re-
strained from going on and completing their road.
unle, they comply with just such terms ~ may be
imposed by p, 5. &Y., one of which would of course
be contract with them. In the mean time thcu rest
perfectly content. They have what vugary termed
" soft thing. - They run the road for the benefit
Of themselves and their employse,eveThey are re-
sponsible to onohere is Of ess hk upon their
receipts and expenditures, and control of their
management Without tbs, they couida' possibp v pay
their tarvers fees, phich probably Judge Yontey ceii
nndersiands and occasionally, when it is absolutely
unavoidable to do something in the late laying of
ten miles Of rails to save the Land Grant, they arc
just in the exact position to squeeze. ." While { !
credulous creditors looking anxousy for the
millennium, which Mr.. !. g. steacy promised them
should come, he is getting bonus Of ten or twelve
thousand dollars for permitting the rails to be laid
down, and have yet to hear Of any of the creditors
getting single cent unles it be the counsel of these
contractors and perhaps two three other favored
individuals who inside the ring. Not merely
this bonus was paid, but doubt twenty thousand
dollars moro was distributed in select circle. Surely
Judge Yony don't care to this road progress so
long as ho year his fat fees out Of
such = squeeze as this Perhaps the Judge state
ments based on his confidence in his ability to
keep up this state Of affairs indefinitely. The wish
is father to the thought | believe, however, that
the people Of this State and more especially the
creditors of this concern, getting their eyes open
and that tho time is near at hand when they no
longer be hood winked by the parties in control
All have been bamboozled with tho idea that these
subcontractors have been wronged. that they have
put n large amount of money into this road and
they have led their creditors to believe that they had
but one single object in view in all their proceedings.
to get enough back out of it to relieve them. l am
well acquainted with the person Of whom the repre-
sentative man of this concern, borrowed two hun
dred and 6fty dollars TO pay his expenses when he
first out to this work. and now they claim that
somebody owes them eight hundred and forty thou
sand dollars for their Invaluable services!! Will
any man short of an idiot believe such bosh. Re-
pcatedly have they had offers that would have paid
all the creditors dollar for dollar, but this involved
the necessity of their letting up their brake upon the
progress of the work Hence these offers were re-
fused, but the creditors had to suffer. In the mean
time believe it be shown that p, 5. Y. have
received not less than eighty thousand dollars
and above any expenditure, since they have paid a
creditor dollar Surely here The most cogent
uhB neither these sUbconacIors their counsel be-
people of this State have no such and there
will be awakening and over hauling bye-and bye
that will convince the people Of your city that the
Hon. Judge is a false prophet.
ANTI-HUMBUG.