Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1874-04-25
p@ SHsSAspoAH VALLEY RAILROAD.

J.6erson,) upon the subject OF the re-
cent i'll timed injunction, which has 'ied
the hands of the friends Of our Railroad
prevented the contamination OF sue
cessful negotiations for its early COM
ple,ion, and made resumption OF the
work depend entirely upon the slow and
doubtful contingencies of "a fat suit In
Chancery," for the benefit of q few OF
the legal fraternity and at the cost OF The
County of Jefferson /!
The writer Of the article referred 70
iustifes the restraining order upon the
grounds set forth in the er pare bill
submitted to the Judge who granted
the Injunction. we have not seen a
copy of the bill, but we learn from the
Courier, that its chief allegations OF COM
plant are, that, the original contract
made with the Central Improvement
Company, by President Borst and the
first Board of Directors Of the Shenan-
doah Valley Railroad, was fraudulent,
because of the extrayagant terms agreed
upon for the construction of the Road,
aud also because, at the time when said
contract was entered into, "a majority
of the Railroad Directors owned stock
in the Central Improvement Company.
Now, whilst we have no means of as
certaining, nor, indeed, care to know
how fay this latter assertion may be
true, one thing we do know, (Which we
take occasion to state emphatically and
without the fear Of contradiction that.
with the possible exception OF the first
President of the Shenandoah Valley
Railroad, not one of its Virginia Direc-
tors have ever held or have even been
charged with holding, either directly or
indirectly, a single share of the Central
Improvement Companys stock.
And, inasmuch, as we believe that
there have always been a majority of
Virginians in the Board it must necessa-
rily be untrue, as stated in the bill, that
a majority of the Board were stockhol-
ders in the Central Improvement Com
pany, when the first contract was made.
But be this as it may with the first
Board of Directors, and however impru-
IDENTIFY they may have acted in asserting
to the terms of an improper contract,
the writer Of the COurier's editorial
must know that the contract in ques-
ton, with which he and others have
found SO much fault, is no longer in
force, and has no existence now, hay
ing long since been set aside and super
coded by new contract, the favorable
terms and fairness of which, our friend
of the Courier will be the last man in the
world to question, when we remind
him that it was made under the close
scrutiny and with the full appreciation
Of Committee of the Directors of our
Railroad, ozone of whom ever held any
stock in the Central Improvement Co..
and one of whom-an astute legal gen.
tleman Of Clarke-has been very active
of late as counsel against the Shenando-
ah Valley Railroad Company, in de-
nouncing, not only the original contract,
(Which has been done away with,) but
also the existing one, which he himself
helped to make and to which he was
understood, when q member of the
Board, to have given his approval.
But we have no disposition to get in
to controversy with any OF our cotem-
poraries of the press upon this matter.
Since there is to be a judicial investig ga
ton of the affairs of the Railroad, we
hope it will be thorough and complete.
For, if there is any ''fraud" in the con-
tracts or management of the Company,
let it be terrctted out and have the
guilty parties exposed. That much, al
so, is due to the honorable gentlemen
who are connected with the enterprise,
and who are ready and willing always
to have their acts Investigated.
But for heavens sake let whatever is
to be done, be done quickly. For we
are impatient under the unexpected and
unnecessary delay, caused by this late
sweeping and unnecessary Injunction
we want 70 see the work 60 on and the
road fnished-and surely some other
process might have been resorted to by
those who sued out the injunction to
examine the nature Of the contracts and
investigated the character of those who
made them, than by the summary pro-
cess which cayors of the dog in the
manger policy, of neither doing them
selves nor letting any one else do, what
all desire to have done and that without
further delay.
say- Mrs. Gilmer, widow of ex-Gov.
Gilmer, and mother of the late Rev.
T. W. Gilmer, Pastor Of the Presbyte-
Ran church in Fredericksburg, died in