The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-11-25
THE n. L. AND T. RAILROAD.

y Yesterday mornings dispatches inform !
that the Supreme Court of the United Stat
has by its decree given the dsath-blow to OF
70 of tho most gigantic schemes of fraud ev
:. known in this State. It has declared that IL
\ sale at which John T. Ludelng, John Ra
and others purchased the North Louisiana an
y Texas Railroad was Fraudulent, null and voi(
The principal actor in that fraud, by whic
: seventy-fve miles of completed railroad
70 400, 900 acres of land and other property t
the value of 100000, were spirited away b
d the proper use of writ Of seizure and sale
the expenditure of $500 of hush money AM
7 of $468 Is Of sheriff's costs-the principa
manipulation as well as the principal bene
ficiary-is our present Chief Justice, John 7
Ludeling.
! John Ray, ex-State Senator and ex-would
be United States Senator, comes in for hi
share OF honor also, but as tool Of his lore
and master, the fugitive-hiding, truth-telling
chief dispenser Of law and equity for the pro.
vince of Louisiana. We shall some day write
out the history Of this N. L. & T. r. r. ring,
and show the influence it has had for evil
upon the whole of this unhappy State; but it
would be too long story for this place, and
We pass on to the consideration of the relations
between the State and this corporation.
Unless the remedy that We propose can be
successfully pursued, the State Of Louisianais
mulcted by the decision Of the Supreme
Court to the tune Of nearly : million and .
half of dollars.
On February B. 1866 Ludeling, Ray / Co.,
purchased the then Vicksburg, Shreveport
and Texas Railroad, at the fraudulent sale, to
which they were parties, and which has just
been annulled by the Supreme Court Of the
United States. Soon after that purchase the
suit just decided was brought; SO, that as
matter of public notoriety, the title to that road
has been surrounded with the gravest suspi-
cion, and with doubts of q damning char
acter.
This purchase was the nucleus Of the fraud;
the crime was impregnated, and only required |
nQurishment and the proper surroundings in |
order that the monstrosity might develop to
such proportions as the laws of its growth
would permit A happy medium was found,
in which the seed thus prepared was planted;
it was sown in the fecund bosom of the recon-
'tructed Legislature Of 1868, Of which John
Ray was the most prominent member, and in
due time it came forth in the shape OF Act
No. 1O8, Incorporating the North Louisiana
md Texas Railroad, and donating to it the
'redit Of the State in the shape of bonds,
secured by second mortgage, at the rate of
tx thousand dollars mile. This was simply
) loanlng Of money on the security Of a fraudu-
mt title. Under this act $546OOO Of bonds
we're issued to the road. The State paid the
interest on them in default of the company,
1hich had covenanted to do it. This did not
atisfy the corporators; the monstrosity re-
uired more nourishment in order that it "
hight wax in size. Not satisfied with giving >
1e State fraudulent title as the security for !
loan, it became necessary for the full &C.
ompllshment of their purposes, that the
tate should become paticeps cr;minis, and 81
lould partake of the title ITSELF
Thus, the after-birth. more fearful than the u
onstrosity itself, came forth as Act No. 81,
1872, which relieved the North Louisiana 9
ID Texas Railroad Company Of all liability
all the bonds issued and to be issued =
hich ordered the immediate issuance of y
more of bonds, making the aggre- N
te of bonds issued to this road reach 81, 22O.- III
U, and which accepted complete returns I"
d payment to the State of this enormous I'll
nation, 1920 shares of stock in this COM M
ny, which pretended to own the road under ~
fraudulent title. These 576 bonds, Of
'usand dollars each, were issued BY Mr.. IN
llogg, in direct violation of the Constitu- MI
n of the State and the adjudications SD
the Supreme Court. inasmuch as TIC
constitutional limit of the State debt mt
been reached long before Act No. 81 was Gel
sed. The bonds originally issued in 1868 va
1869 were unconstitutional and inasmuch ca
the act OF incorporation did not express
such object in its title, being simply San
to Incorporate the North Louisiana ana t nn,
las Railroad" without making any men, fea
l whatever of granting State aid thereto.
'aking these facts into consideration, the mo
ecent haste with which the Funding Board t;c1
ceeded to fund all these VIGOROUSLY illegal hin
DIS is suggestive. Thus it will be seen that
State is bound for one million, two hun o oo,
! and twenty thousand dollars of bonds, bu,
, interest, and has nothing to show for it kn'
an interest in the fraudulent title to the pee
Z. and T. R. R. ~ az
ow, the remedy that we propose, is repu- We
ion. II this cannot be legally done, then we
the duty Of the Attorney General of the Ei; Il
e of Louisiana to pursue the perpetrators tic,
his gigantic fraud upon the State, no mat uni
who they are, or what their positions may is n
1t is his duty to pursue them both civilly Il
criminally. 1.-The mills Of the gods c;rc
d slowly, but they grind exceedingly .-:
Il" Retributivs justice is not dead; SGT
has been only sleeping in order to gather it
myth to WELD her avenging sword One and
lendous blow has already been delivered snc
she strike and strike, and strike and :,