Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-10-13


first charge against the profits, and as the
\ prosperity Of the works continued Tilden
Il Co. We're for o time content. II soon
became apparent to the shrewd lawyer,
however, that a crash must shortly come,
and, not being ,satis6edtwith the hand
some profit which he had already real
lied, he decided on more extensive opera
'tions. He and his friends held enough
of livestock to control the company, and
II was decided that a new issue Of bonds
must be made. The sum suggested was
half a million of dollars, and as the cap
ital stock did not exceed that amount
and did not seem sufficient basis for a
bonded Indebtedness of $1,000, 900, the
stock was watered up to $4,000, 900.
Then, against the further protest of Mr..
| Dudley, second-mortgage bonds we're
issued to the amount of So, ,000, 900, and
the gentleman at once Indignantly re-
signed the position of Superintendent
and broke off all connection with the
works. The second mortgage bonds
were nearly all secured by the con-
spirators--they can be called nething
else-and tho watered and valueless
stock was disposed of to all those who
were foolish enough to buy. OF course
these transactions of the man who has
recently christened himself the great
reformer" were not known to the public,
and the apparent prosperity of the works
and the expressed desire to increase
their capacity were advanced as excuses
for the issue of bonds. The workmen
and mine laborers had unbounded con.
| tidence in the solvency and good faith of
Mr.. sTilden's company, and many of
them invested their little savings in its
paper. .w ...... s..
Mr.. Dudley's retirement was con-
! sidered misfortune by the little COM
munity, but Mr. John Haines, who sue
ceeded him and who still lives here, soon
gained the goodwill of the men, and in
spired the same confidence that had been
enjoyed by Dudley, After time, how.
ever, 1t became apparent to the new
Superintendent that ii would be impossi.
BILE for the works to pay the interest on
million dollars of bonds and dividend
on two millions of stock, and he also
quietly withdrew. Shortly after his re-
tirement the Tilden bubble burst, and
the public became aware that the Brady's
Bend Iron Company was a ruined con-
Germ Before this, however, ." the great
reformer" and his intimates had disposed
of all their stock, retaining only part
of the tirst-mortgage bonds. They, there
fore, appeared after the crash in the
position of creditors rather than debtors.
AS it is, perhaps, unnecessary to state,
the victims in most of Mr.. Tilden's rail
road operations" or at least those for
Ii oh ho hoo oil
the country, were capitalists and men of
business. The result of his duplicity
and greed in the Brady's Bend case, on
the other hand, were more disastrous to
poor men and women who had to work
hard for their daily bread. When, be-
cause of his manipulation, the iron works
suspended, hundreds of men, women and
children were left penniless, without
work and without the means to get to
places where employment might be found.
Indeed, many of the poor people were
unable to leave the Bend for months
after the closing of the shops, and their
sutferings are described as having been
terrible. Their savings, the results of
years of labor, were either in the hands
of Tilden & Co. or sunk in the houses in
which they lived, and the latter, though
giving shelter, did not satisfy the hunger
of their children. The whole town was
dependent upon the work for support,
and when they closed property of all
kinds became drug in the market. For
this reason the people who owned houses
could not sell them at any price. To-
day Brady's Bend is little better than
wilderness. The long line of massive
workshops are falling into decay and
the cottages of the once prosperous work
men are closed and silent. The windows
are broken, the shutters off their hinges,
the fences down, and the gardens weed
grown and neglected. The men and
women who own these places, and who
were driven from them by hunger, are
now scattered all over the mill districts
of Western Pennsylvania With them
the name of Samuel j. Tilden is as ia
miliar as household words, but they
never speak it without bitter curse
Bradys Bend (Pa.) Cor. N. T. Times.