Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-01-19
What the Gentleman frOm Iowa
Knows sAJut the Dlscredita-
BILE Credit MOblller.
he Does not See that His Invest
ment In that Stock Con-
Germs the Public.
Regrets Very Much He Did not
Have More of It-He Puts a
Bold Face on the Matter.

Credit Mobillier this morning B. NJ
Boyer, eX-member of Congress from
Pennsylvania, voluntarily appeared
He said he had nothing to conceal; tool
seventy-five shares in his own name
and twenty-five az trustee for his wife
and have 80 held it; regarded ii as lie
gitimste stock transaction; during tn
time he was in Congress neither tn
Credit Mobilier nor the Pacific railroad
required legislation; all subsidies an'
grants had been voted on before he wa
q Congressman; he invites a critical ex
animation into his Congressional record
James Wilson, of Iowa, made the fol
lowing statement: ! once bought an,
paid for ten shares of the capital stOcl
Of Credit MobilieI; the par value of tn,
shares was one hundred dollar
cash, in all one Thousand
dollars The purchase came about il
| this manner: When Oakes Anfes wa
soliciting subscriptions he asked me t
subscribe for five thousand dollars of it
which / declined to do. 1 heard moth
| ing more of this stock until some tim.
in '6S-what time cannot state, but no
earlier than May-when l met in thil
city H. S. McComb, with whom l haC
been acquainted some years ago, anC
against whose character l had nevel
heard any reproach; and who, dur
ing a conversation had between
us, asked me if l had any Credit Mo
bilier stock? l told him Ames asked
me to subscribe for five thousand dol
lars worth of it, but that | declined
McComb replied that l could get thai
stock; that he wished l would do so.
told him that knew but little about it,
and inquired its value. He said that
would depend somewhat upon circum-
stances, but l need not hesitate because
Of that; that he thought he could
get it at par; that he would take it, fur.
nish the money to pay for it, and allow
me an advance, which would have been
liberal compensation for the negotia-
ton. He then related the circumstances
under which he had subscribed for a
number Of shares; that he had made
the subscription in good faith; that the
company refused to recognize his sub
scription and were trying to cheat him
out Of his rights under it, and that be
was determined to have the stock; that
If he could not get itquietly and peace
fully, he would enforce his rights at
law; he did not want to have or make
any unnecessary trouble about it.,
but he would not be cheated out
Of it; he was willing to do anything for
peace short of surrendering his rights;
that to go to law would lead to strife,
delay and expense, but that he would go
through with it all il driven to it. The
impression which he made was that if
he could get stock, even by indirection,
he would rather do that than resort to
the courts, and in this connection he
said there was other stock in the
same pOsitson as that, which he said
l could get; and that there was no
excuse for the company
treating him as they had done. AS a
result of that conversation, had an in
terview with Oakes Ames, and inquired
if there was not five thousand dollars
Credit Mobilier stock that / could have;
he said, mo; you declined to subscribe
it, and now it has been disposed Of" /
replied that ] had been informed that
that amount and more was
undisposed of, and that I could
have fifty shares. He replied
that the stock was disposed of, and that
whoever had told me what / had stated
was mistaken. / communicated this to
McComb, who said it was just like
Ames; that if he could take care of him
self and friends, everybody else might
whistle for their rights, and said, "See
Ames again and tell him that there
is no mistake about the matter,
and that / (McComb) know there
is not" l did see Ames again,
who said McComb's statement was not
true, and repeated his former statements.
l then asked him If it could not be
changed 50 that / could get the stock.
He replied he did not know that it
could; but he was soon going TO New
York and would see what could be
done. Some time afterward Ames told
me he had arranged for ten shares for
me at par, seven per cent, four prior
that ii was the best and most
he could do then, but he would see if
be could do any more. took ten
shares, and asked him to arrange for the
rest If he could, but no more was ar
ranged for. When | subsequently told
McCOmb he said, "Well, that is another
Of his tricks; he don't want TO DO any
better, but if you insist on it, he will"
He (McComb wanted stock on the
ground floor, just as the rest had had
theirs. had talked so much that con-
cluded to await his movements; that
further would look too much
like importantly; but, as l have stated,
he never arranged for any more stock;
ten shares were on my hands; l held
stock until some time in the winter of
1859, when l sold it, the reason for
which l will state. A good deal of con.
tentiOn had sprung up among the par
ties interested in the Union Pacific rail-
road and Credit Mobilier, relative to the
of the affairs of said COM
pany, and an effort was to be made at q
meeting of the stockholders of the
Union Pacific Railroad Company,
in March, 1869, TO change
part of the Board of Di-
rectors. My opinion was asked for con-
cerning the right of stockholders in the
Union Pacific Railroad Company to
vote shares held by them, regardless of
any proxy, which was said to run with
the stock under the terms of the con-
tract and agreement existing between
said Company and the Credit Mobilier
and certain parties designated as trus-
tees. In order to enable me to understand
the question submitted, copies of certain
papers were placed In my hands, some
Of which have now in my possession,
among which were a contract between
Oakes. .Ames of the first part, T. G. Du-
rant, Oliver Ames, John B. Alley, Sid
ney Dillon, G. Y. Bushnell, Henry Nc.
Comb and Benjamin 6. Bates, 0f the
second part, and the Credit Mobilier of
America of the third part; an agree
ment between the aforesaid parties of
the second part, in which they bound
themselves 10 vote their own stock, for
which they held or should hold proxies,
which was represented TO embrace
all that was Issued or to be issued under
0akes Ames' contract in the manner
provided in the agreement; some other
papers not bearing directly on the
question were submitted; examined
the question, and gave an opinion to the
effect that the stockholders of Union
Pacific stock could vote their own shares
of the proxy running with il;
that the affairs of the corporation could
not be tied by the hands of few indi-
viduals in the way attempted by
the terms of said contract, and the
agreement that the scheme of
Credit Mobillier was one which
might render every officer and director
Of the Union Pacific railroad company,
which was party to it, accountable to
the latter company for the profits accru-
ing to him from the construction con-
tract. Down TO the time these papers
were placed in my hand, / knew moth
ing of the organization and details of the
Credit MobiiieT, or of the value of its
stock, but then / saw that there was
abundant ground for further trouble and
and, as one of the results, ]
s)ld out my interest, and have at ne
time since been in any manner interest
cd in the Credit MObilier, nor did l at
any time, or in any manner, have any
interest Of any kind in said company,
other than as hereinbefore stated.
So far as Ames Is concerned, his action
was the result Of my application TO him
Tor the purchase Of stock. Ny sction
Srss fndIIfed snTPiv he t.onverza{fonE had