Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-06-09
From the Boston Globe.
A Bit of Railroad History.

ing Ills pea llc cOnSlucritIlou IL OBSERVES.
the following statement. The maker of it
is neither a bondholder, stockholder. an
attache of the road. nor in any way con-
nected, directly or Indirectly. with any one
! that is Circumstances have given him 4
pretty thorough knowledge of the history
! of railroading in Vermont for the past
twelve years, but he never would have
dreamed of putting this knowledge to any
special use had not his Indignation been
thoroughly aroused by 4 recent operation,
which. had it been successful, would have
been, to put it mildly, a great misfortune
to the State of Vermont and the city of
Boston. The operation referred to is the
attempt. by Gov. Page of the Rutland and
Burlington road to- get control of the Cen
trail Vermont In this he was aided by
other directors in his own road, by two
| lifelong personal enemies of Gov. Smith,
at St. Adams, directors in the Vermont
inc. that these three have been the main
spirits opposing the late attempts of the
Central Vermont toward purchasing the
Vermont and Canada; and that they based
their opposition upon the fact that the rem
tai paid by the Central Vermont upon the
lease it held of the Rutland and Burling-
ton, was absolutely ruinous to the CONSOLE
dated roads represented by the Central
| Vermont. To get at the real history and
significance of the recent raid on the Cen
trail. we must 90 bacs, Il little. Soon after
GOV. Smith became President of the trus-
tees of the old Vermont Central property,
it became evident that he intended to do
two things to make the road first. class in
every re~pect-he certain has done. and
TO give Boston Il through line by the North
to the Lakes and the West. In carrying
this project out, several roads had to be
| leased; one the Rutland and Burlington,
being Il rival road and having the same
starting point, Burlington. and the same
| terminus. Bellows Falls it was especially
necessary to lease. otherwise a cutting I'M
! der policy would have ruined both. OF all
| the leased roads. this one, the Rutland and
| burlington alone, had been Improbable.
its revenue falling far below the rental
paid for it. This, [ surmise is largely
due to the fact that The Indebtedness OF
the Rutland and Burlington road turned
out to be 50 much larger than it was rep
resented to he to the Trustees of the Cen
trial. According to the representation. IN
which the lease WAS executed, the llablll-
ties of the road were $4,000. When the
lease was made and the stock that had
| been carried WAS unlollcd, it was found
that the real Indebtedness of the concern
was 81 100000. This was not the last
straw. but the whole gigantic mountain
that broke the camcIS back. After the
breakdown of lS12, something had to be
done to prevent utter ruin all around
That something was consolidation of the
Vermont Central and the Rntlind and
Burlington and the purchase of the Yer
mont and Canada. \ basis for the divi>-
ion bet cen the two corporations OF the
net IN ONE of the whole concern, Satisfac-
tory to the vast majority of the >tochhold-
er> on both sides, satisfactory. as it was
supposed 10 Gov. Page himself, was de-
tcrmincd upon. Negotiations for the pur-
chase of the Vermont and Canada We're
entered upon. which would have been
ended to the signal advantage Of all inter-
cSt> ut stake LONG ago. had it not been for
the opposition of these two cOntumaclouS
spirits 1T St Alban> and the Boston lawyer
already referred TO. But their opposition.
though it DELAYED matters for years, added
immense burdens to men already over
laden. and Deprecated the stock of the va
riouS roads, was like that Western high
way. which Philips tells about, that, be-
ginning Il the broad avenue of Il city, he
came a country road. then n bride trail
then 4 COW oath. AMI finally 4 squirrel
tr.,.k 1h,, van mn , tree The opno,itiou
found lis tree when. Nav l.. Judge Bar
rejt lifted the injunction that these men
had caused to be laid upon the Central
restraining lis Treasurer from paving the
purchase money for the Vermont and Can
ada.
\ FEOVIDENTIAL OCCURRENCE.
%,,- = o,.o,,rr,I,;r,, :, r,;Iro,a;nr ,ros
'.;I.;,.r :, TX l;f ,r-af .I.', i,
- ~, ,r,'.;. ,in1,- Il f,rca
nir.,.,,l., of tho Central 10 Immediately
',,u,,1., ,f hunJrnI ,hnn..,nI JnIl,rs
IJ,,.;n,r,r, L,n1 ,r,,,nrth ~. assets If IN,
Cnmn5nv ..ork tn thr amount Of 13.s
-L.,rt. 1hn Dir.r,,r. voted 10 sell it which
,hrv ia me min ,nrch,scr brinr J,me.
: Il I,nr,lon of Nlnntpclirr. Now. on,
word in reference to ,hi, gentleman. TIL,
an. f,,, thar l.. !. In. ,,rin,in,l t;oura !,
,lit,n.r,,i,, nf nrr,h,lin,, ,i,,t StorL !.
rnnurh tn free. il from every imputation o
heinz an unfIir. ILLEGAL. Fraudulent or di-
: honest transaction. Those who know
hjm.-aud what tinancicr, what buSincs
man in the GREAT cite. of the W.s,. !,
Canada. in New England or New York
J docs uo;.-tho>c who know him. | say
-
T. inr hiIl. ,h,t ov,rh,nr Ii, native tow,
: .,ncinr , liz os ,h,t Jlmrs Il I,nrJo,
i vould have. ,,art or parcel in any opera,io,
\ n Ih,. least ,Ierrer lavurinr Of dnplici,y
p ,viud1inr nr fraud. His name on ;hc self
e constituted. non.,lcrtel hoard of Gov.rno
n Pao, !. hnt :, blind. How and where h.
stands in the whole matter is illustrate,
{ hv mi. Iittlr incident On The morning ,
Il that memorable election dny, Nav 18th. a
" =. Adams, the two gentlemen. GOV. Pa@
: and Mr.. lHn@don met at the Treasurer
window lor the purpose of having the stocl
recently purchased 10y them transferred t
4 their account. When GOV. Page saw Mr.
G Lnngd"n> transfer. he nj once cried out
n II hat Is 4 fraud; 1t l. trlck-lt Is illegal
| shall test that before the courts. MIR
: Page. replied Mr.. Lan-ton. in that calm
mild-manncrrd way he has of speaking
: "ln the course of Il long life. this is tn
, first time have ever been accused of fraud
If there j. trickcrv in this business. tim