Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-08-22
From the Rutland Globe.
Vermont Courts and Vermont Railways.
RUTLAND, August s, 1873.

OF the trustees and mana gers went to pro
: test, there has scarcely passed n weel
which did not develop some new feature il
the warfare against their credit and reputa
tion or reveal some new fertilization erscte,
by the defence. The Boston Trarelie
mounted a mortar for that express purpose
and hurled shells, which exploded in tn,
stock markets, and damaged 1.-THE tw,
million and half loan," beyond hope o
repair, and many other papers, both in anC
out Of this State, scented the battle anC
trained their guns in the same direction
Then, of course, defenders sprang up anC
the war became spirited, unrelenting anC
bitter, and opponents were careless of the
weapons they used, 50 wounds could be in
flicted.
On the 9Th of December, 1872, the Yer.
mont and Canada Railroad filed its petition
for n summary order on the managers fol
the payment Of their rent due six days be-
fore, amounting to Sl2O, 600, and the eye,
of all parties interested were at once turned
to the Court Of Chancery for franklin
county in anxious expectancy. Ofthe pen
deney and disposal of that petition | shall
speak shortly. 1t was followed in rapid
succession by Others from the Vermont
and Canada, the mortgage bondholders
and various parties in interest, which have
kept the court harassed and busy even up
to the present time. The decisions rendered
upon these petitions have been in the az
gregate favorable TO the managers, or, as
some prefer to say, the monopoly" and
the last of these, given on the 2Ist of June
last, removed the trustees and managers
from their positions as such, by their re-
quest, and appointed the Central Vermont
Railroad Company. corporation, receiver
and manager of the vast and important
IL
the Vermont Central and Vermont and
Canada Railroads under bonds in the sum
of one million dollars for the faithful dis
charge Of its duty, under the orders of the
court. Almost Immediately upon the ren-
dering of this decision came lull in the
wordy storm which had been beating round
the outgoing officials, and the dogs of war
! were uulOOsod upon the Judiciary Of this
State. \ correspondent of the Springfield
| Republican, in an article published July
25th, struck the heaviest, most insulting
and most ignorant blow, which was fol-
| lOwed up by three-column editorial four
days later, and since then has been heard
the rattling of such small hammers a the
St. Adams Messenger, Woodstock Standard
and other papers which we should suppose
would be unwilling, hastily and ignorantly
to condemn the Judiciary of their own
] Ctult. on W men. ~ AR IL lIc NIllCf - IL
formed, no shadow of blame or doubt has
ever rested since the organization Of our
| government.
1t is not my purpose. however, to refer
to these articles in detail, that being more
| properly within your editorial sphere, and
| shall c0niine myself, as closely aS pos
| >ible, TO my specific purpose which | will
| define a. follows The articles and com
ments which have appeared in the public
| prints in relation to the various phases Of
this controversy have been for the most
| part in journals of good standing and many
nay most of them have manifested
| ability and learning. Some OF these to the
writer's certain knowledge have been the
work Of men of good, and even of high
standing in the legal profession ard ac-
| quainted with the forms and practices of the
| Vermont courts. The writer trusts and be-
lieves they have generally been honest and
/ Yet so far a. his observation has gone,
they have without exception contained
more or less false or mistaken assertions or
assumptions, and have universally shown
the ignorance Of their writers regarding the
true status of the great suit in chancery
1 which Is the centre and nucleus of all
! the Hflg1fioH connected with this railroad
war. Nor l. this to be wondered at, for
/ the case has no familiar precedent, If in
/ deed ant precedent case be found, and 50
different has been its course from the
course Of ordinary chancery practice in this
country that il may almost be said to be
" a law unto itself, - and only study of the
case can itself qualify man, be he never -
familiar with the paths that in his opinion
it ought To have followed. TO Judge Of it.
merits. From a careful examination, with
such aids as are accessible, it is my purpose
] ] l. -. ~
particular reference 10 It's recent features
and the action OF the Judiciary. 1t Is not
my purpose 10 follow the geneal0gy Of the
! Smith family or of any members of the
" Ring back into the third or fourth gen
Grafton, TO prove by moral induction the
propricty or Impropriety of their wealth,
but merely to define from a disintere>ted
| standpoint the status of the said = Vermont
and Canada Railroad Company vs. Vermont
Central Railroad Company and others, in
chancery.
For my purpose it will not be necessary
to 70 back Of the final decree which at the
same time ended and began this cause. ex-
cept for brief explanation. The suit was
commenced in 1855 ostensibly upon the
same ground Of complaint as that of the
| proceedings instituted last December, name
ly. the nOn-payment Of rent to the Vermont
] u
| lcasehold estate by the Vermont Central
and by the terms Of their contract, in case
Of failure to pay rent By the Central. the
Canada was to have the right to enter upon
and run both roads until its claim should be
satisfied. This contract was held tc he
valid and binding by the court, and accord
ingly on the l7th of May, 1855, an order
was made putting the Canada Company in
| possession, and it continued TO run and
operate the roads for about the space of one
year, when an agreement was made by the
parties in interest, and on the 9th Of May,
| 1856, all parties in interest appearing and
asserting, an order was made by the Chan
! cellor that possession of the property be re-
stored to the trustees of the first mortgages
to be managed by them as receivers of the
| Court of Chancery in the interest of the Sc
curity holders. The measures, it would ap-
pear, were intended as a temporary pro-
vision for the care and management of this
vast estate pending the final decree of the
Court on the Orators petition. In April,
1860, this decree came, granting the prayer
of the petition. \ prompt appeal from this
decision to the Supreme Court was taken by
| both parties and the case was heard by the
Supreme Court at its January term, 1861 ,
and is reported at length in the 3ith Yer
mont In the opinion of the Court, de-
livered by Judge Barrett, the rights of the
Canada company under their contract with
the Central are recognized and established
80 far as to entitle them TO their rent, which
is fixed at the sum of eight per cent per
annum upon s ,3lS, 800 the cost of eonstruc-
tion of their road, bat, says Judge Barrett,
''ln the present position of the case, the
Court being unable to decide that the
Orators are entitled to the possession of the
Il. i.
view of the character of the property and of
the various interests involved that the only
proper and practicable course is to have the
roads and property remain in the hands of
the receivers under the control of the Court
of Chancery. \ mandate will be drawn
in detail according to these views and points
OF decision and sent to that Court
1t should be remembered that the orator
had prayed either for the possession of the
roads or the appointment of receivers. Thus
the matter was settled and in obedience to
the mandate referred to we have the
Decree Of 1861" continuing the possession
and control of the roads and property ''iu
the present receivers, Lawrence Brainard,
Joseph Clark and John Gregory Smith
subject to the orders and directions of this
Court with power of removal at all times -
Considerable stress had been laid upon the
iaOe tuut shis uOclee was nut 1ecOrueu III
the clerk Office until after the entry of
the next decree in 1864. The writer has
been unable to learn any reason for this
save the natural supposition that its pre-
paration was delayed by supplemental
proceedings which were pending between
its rendition and enrolment and perhaps,
too, by the extreme length of the document
itself, but in the decree of 1864 occurs the
following clause: ''lst, The decree in the
original cause to be drawn up and enrolled
pursuant TO the decision OF the Supreme
Court therein" The explanation and con-
struction of this leave to legal friends and
proceed to the decree of 1864 which was
the IS Compromise Decree" so much de-
pended on and discussed by the press and
the parties.
All parties in interest appeared personal
ly or by authorized representatives and as