The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-11-27
CHIEF JUSTICE LUOELING AGAIN RE.
EUKED.

| EDITORS bulletin:
kilograms from Washington inform us of q
decision rendered by the Supreme Court of the
United States which is of the greatest import
well as to the parties Immediately interested
in it. We say .'importance because it re-
Dukes and checks the fraudulent proceedings
of many prominent individuals, which have
marked the history of the country in recent
times. It particularly convicts certain promi
nent citizens and public officers of Louisiana,
of the commission Of huge fraud BY setting
in motion the machinery OF the cours of the
State for the purpose of possessing themselves
of the property Of other persons, without
paying fair consideration therefor.
There is no crime against justice more
heinous and more to be reprobated than to
employ the machinery Of courts of justice for
the accomplishment of wrong. If this be
true of citizen merely, what shall be said of
the ministers Of the law-the officers Of the
courts-who set in motion proceedings in
those courts for the preparation of fraud and
the commission of robbery? The parties
who are rebuked in the present case are
Messrs. John T: Ludeling, John Ray. Frank
and others, lawyers of Monroe in this State,
two of them being jud.es of the courts-the
first named being Chief Jus ice Of the Su-
preme Court of Louisiana
The Supreme Court of the United States
in this case pronounces that the sale made At
Monroe, Louisiana, on the third day of Febru-
airy, 1885, of the vicksburg, Shreveport and
Texas Railroad was unlawfully made, and is
therefore =" fraudulent and void" This sale
was engineered and carried through BY the
parties above named, they being the pur-
thousand dollars, which to this hour has
never been paid. It is well known the prop
erty, even at the time and in the condition it
then was, was richly worth one million of dol
lars and upwards. How was this operation man
aged? Simply through tho personal influence
Of Mr.. Ludeling and his iellow-speculators
over the officers of the courts; through the
cunning which characterizes them, and
through the ignorance of the bondholding
J creditors of the road, who reside chiefly i'll
the State Of Georgia, who were unaware Of
the legal proceedings instituted by Mr.. Lude-
ling and the very accommodating character Of
| some of the officers of the Louisiana courts,
when they are subject to the influence OF such
astute gentlemen as Messrs. Ludelng and
Ray.
How could they know that property worth
one million Of dollars, subject to q mortgage
for more than that sum, could be judicially
and fairly sold after only 80 days notice, and
bought tor one twentieth part of it's value by
|
could they know that such a property could
be appraised at seventy-fve thousand dollars
so as to allow of its sale for two-thirds of that
sum Simply because such an operation has
never elsewhere been heard of. Such an adj
ministration of the law exists in no other part
of the world.
The road will now be resold for the benefit
of the bondholding and other creditors of the
Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Railroad
| ~ III 10
ling and Ray fondly hoped had gone ouG of
existence An important question is, What
will now be done with relation to the bonds
issued to Ludeling, Ray & Co.-eleven hum
dred thousand dollars-by Governors War
moth and Kellogg? These bonds, or some
of them, we learn have been funded under the
late act of the Legislature. Are they valid
and binding upon the taxpayers? They were
granted to Ludeling's Company-the North
Louisiana and Texas Railroad Company
upon the supposition that the sale of Feb
ruarv, 1866 was valid sale, and that Lude-
ling Co. owned the property. What dispo
sition have Ludeling Il Co. made of the pro-
ceeds of these bonds? Where are they?
Who possesses them? We mean the bonds
issued under the funding act and the others.
| We said above this decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States was important"
1t decides what has often been decided before,
| that directors OF corporation are trustees,
and cannot possess themselves. even for fair
price, of the property of that corporation by
means Of proceedings in the courts or other.
wise, to the injury of the stockholders and
Creditors It decides that in all Judicial sales
there must be fai, appraisement of the prop
erty sold for the benefit OF the c,ea;to-s It
decides that there must be no combinations to
buy in such property at unfair prices;
that there must be no advantage taken by CO.
creditors or trustees in bringing to sale
property mortgaged for the debt This is
equity. This is the law Of Louisiana itself,
although Chief Justice Ludeling has disre-
garded it in his attempt to possess this prop
erty at the expense Of the creditors to whom
it was mortgaged.
We hail this decision as another good omen
of a better time coming as an indication OF
the return Of moral sense in high quarters.
1t will also aid in restoring confidence in the
Supreme Court of the United States
To Tax Payers-A Bill Of Costs.
The following is fair sample ofthousands