Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-03-26
t5aichman s. Journal.
The RaiIrOad Suit.

discharged. The chancellor has refused to
order the trustees to pay the Vermont aud
Canada rent according to the petition has
given leave to the petitioners for the re-
moval Of tho managers, to withdraw, aud
has even made no order for a Master
in Cbanccry TO make up the accounts Of the
trustees. The court also ordered that the
trustees file their accounts with the chancel-
Tor. This decision leaves very little induce.
ment to the enemies Of the present man
agomont to bring any more suits against
tho trustees. Thus has terminated one
Of the biticrcst contests that has ever
been waged against the conductors Of a
railroad
1t is now more than year since parties
interested in the gripping Of the Central,
began their assaults on the trustees, and
their attempts to deprcciate its securities
10 the market, and defeat the efforts that
were being made to fuud the floating debt.
The Boston Trarelier was the organ Of
the ambitious rivals and foes Of the Cen
trail. Almost every issue Of the paper con
tanned some direct or indirect charge against
the trustees, Of dishonesty aul dishouor 10
connection with their trust. They we're
charged with appropriating The money be.
longing to the trust fund to their personal
aud political advantage with paying their
private debts with it, with depicting the
funds in every unwarrautablc way, aud
with operating other roads in connection
with the Central out Of TIE earnings Of the
Central for their own aggrandizcment These
charges were made in every possible form
and with the most unwHrrautablc aud mali
cious intent The charges were all gener-
al, and there were no specifications to prove
them. There were statements enough
made to damn the trustees to everlasting
infamy, if they were true but while they
have been repeated over aud over again,
there has not single fact been presented
to substantiate them. Gov. Smith had
built himself fine house. His enemies
said that he had built it out of the trust
fund. But they never gave a single item,
no. so much asa pound Of nails, or u square
foot Of lumber, that he had ever taken out
Of the road without payment, or that be
had ever taken at all. Aud thus all their
statements were general and never specific.
They were the imaginngs Of their own
brains They Attributed to Gov Smith &C.
tons Of which they knew they would have
been guilty had they been in his place, and
Of which they therefore alleged him to be
guilty. They felt that il they had been
in his position they would have stolen every
thing they could have laid their bands on
and consequently they said that he had
stolen every thing be could They obtain
ed surreptitiously aud dishonorably tn,
Governors private papers, the inventory
Of his property, short list Of lawyers h
had retained by the advancement Of small
! fees, and then they filed the SKY with the
outeries Behold" they said, "lhe Gov
: ernor is owner Of a handsome property
OF course, no stole it from the trust fund
He has retained counsel. OF course, it
for wrong purposes" And that was III
substance Of all the allegations made agains
B Gov. Smith, aud substance of all the proc
. given Of the truth Of the charges
: But the charges were reiterated so ofte
= and so boldly that great dlstrust Of tn
managers Of the road was engendcred i
9 the public mind. There must be some lir
Z where there is so much smoke, was the ger
: eral opinion. The efforts Of the trustees ,
!. fund their floating deb, were defeated. II
d capitalists OF Boston gave heed to II
o ISLANDERS of the hostile rivals Of the Centra
J, aud refused to take the bonds authorized /
!. the Court, to meet the liabilities Of II
,e road, and the paper of the trustees went
N protest Here is the Passumpsie road pc
J mitted to fund its floating debt Of a MILL,
= aud half, and no charges made against
"a direction. But the Central, with capt.
D. three times as large, aud business FIVE tim
he as great, cannot fall into debt much less
10 proportion, without the hue and cry bel
!. ~ raised against its managers. The reason
,e obvious. The Ceniral is a rival Of t
" South .rn roads for their Western busine
O. The Central has become, under the char
y Of Gov. Smith and his associates, n gre
y thoroughiarc for business The n.
:, Central, the Boston & Albany, and 9th,
to involved with them, mean to take adyants
ne Of IFS affairs to depreciatc its securities a
~ its management, and to get possession of
~ They have left no means unired, and vi
Nv their falsehoods, their outspoken slapde
IL, their petty suits, their trustee process
ia they have succeeded in preventing the Gu
". talists Of Boston from coming to the b,
N of the Central, and in greatly onbarrassi
a. the management. l
d. Last fall the trustees made IN expositi
'o' Of the affairs Of the road in full, in b
IA ton. Their statement was luminous, co
ms plete and satisfactory. 1t showed The
III. mense business Of the road, it's large
~, sources, its capaciIics Of expansion,
y. ample reasons for contracting its compa
a, lively small debt, and indirectly discloi
tie, the integrity, the honor, the capacity Q
nd the sagacious aud far-seeiug character
me the management. For while it silen,
"a. the calumnies Of the opposition, and
nd concerted their plans. 1t seemed as
ITS. Boston capital would come to the aid o
nal Boston enterprise. But the great fire
aa CURED, the resources Of the city were ci
an. Piled, and the rivals and enemies of
rid Central let loose their hounds again.
course taken by them has been to prod
the effects they desired They have :
the vented the funding Of the floating debt,
IVY the managers have been driven to use
ned earnings Of the road to liqaidate its pr