Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1878-07-18
A stakeholder of the ID. & 5 e. r. r. ON
ahe management of the Business.
o the Editors of the scioto Gazette

4HlS question Is Oelng asked daily and
hourly by a large number of men who
nave literally invested their money III the
enterprise, with hope, not so much of
realizing upon the stock, as of adding to
the BUSINESS facilities of our cities anoth-
er very important line of communication
with the outside world.
Within the past ninety days the affairs
eff the road have assumed an attitude
which, if persisted in much longer, will
render it easy work for the merest novice
to accurately foretell the final result
In discussing this question we shall en-
deavpr to keep in view the interests ofthe
whole list Of stockholders who under
took under special conditions, to build
this road; and while doing this we would
not forget that other very necessary and
| important class (Esthe bondhoIders'')
whose rights are as sacred, and should be
protected with the same degree of fidelity
and integrity as the former class. Let US
first look at the management of the road.
From the time work was begun, with S.
N. Yeoman as President of the Board of
Directors, down to January, 1877, there
was a eommendable degree of energy dis
|
of self-sacrifice manifested by the direc-
tory with the exception of few drones
who were attached to the Board simply to
gt0e character and standing to the concern),
while the balance of the Board stood
ready at all times, with their money and
their credit, to answer every demand in
times of need. AS fact, the work went
bravely on, the obligations of the COM
pany were promptly met, the stock and
the bonds of the company stood well in
the market, and public confidence in the
early completion and triumphant success
of the road as paying enterprise was I'M
impaired.
At the close of the year 1876, forty-eight
miles of the road were completed and in
operation, besides the right of way, ties,
and grading necessary to complete the
balance of the line, were provided to
very large extent. It now became appar-
ent that the ssNarrow Gauge" was soon
to be a success. It was also discovered
about this time that President Yeoman
owned large body of coal land in Jack
son county, and that he was going to COM
plete the road to his mines, and then mo-
nOpolize the coal trade, and not even al
low competitors to ship coal over his rail-
road. Other firm friends Of the road who
were deeply solicitous for it's future ~
learned that Yeoman was about to be
shifted to the neither side of fortunes
wheel, and it would be necessary to elect
a nsoReyed President for the next year to
give financial standing ~ to the tottering
fabric, and D. E. Mead was announced as
the standard bearer, who spent the whole
of the year 1877 in procuring and laying
twenty miles of iron from Washington to
Musselman's, on a road bed already about
completed by his predecessor-not only
so, but we find now, at the close of the
first half of the year 1873, matters remain
in statu Quo, except that the friends of the
read are deserting it like rats fleeing from
a sinking ship; and the reason is plain.
Long continued delays, unfulfl1ed pledg-
es, disregarded promises, a destruction
of the value of the cOmpany's bonds, and
bar to their sale at any price by the
Presidents purchase at less than half
their acknowleded market value, an i'm
modest and unjustifiable determination,
on his part, to hold office and WELD pow
er at all hazards-these constitute some
of the principal reasons for the lack of
confidence in the present management
With this very unpromising state of af-
fairs looming up before the stock sub
seribers. they were invited up to Dayton
early in June last, and asked to buy the
: balance Of the bonds of the company,
which the President had bought at 40
cents, at 80 cents, and pay over their hard
earned cash to this concern to disburse
for them. Is it necessary for me to give
any further reason why the &c fish aoOatId not
bite that day. if so, it is because "suckers''
didn't go to that meeting. When that
nome ntOus scheme of the President had
labored and brought forth nothing. the
= stockholders were politely invited to step
i in and shoulder the blame of ignominous
failure, and try their wits upon plan of
: ways and means. Ignorant of the true
Il inwardness of the concern, the committee
> of stockholders to whom the matter was
: referred, asked for time to look into the
affairs of the company and report a plan
at an adjourned meeting. After due de-
Il liberation the committee decided upon the
} issue of one million dollars 1st mortgage
|
a agree to surrender the first issue and re-
o ceive in lieu the same amount of the new
. issue, thus leaving a sufficient surplus t.
SC complete the road and equip it in good
j" shape, and leave it out of debt, aside from
- this mortgage.
81 At first sight we learn that the bond
holders were favorable to the arrange
IL ment, and thereupOn the Chairman of tn,
III Stockholders Committee called meeting
y of said committee for the Ist of July. Oh
III more mature deliberation, however, anC
u n before said committee met, one of TIL
i principal bondholders discovered the MIG
III ger in the aooodptIe; and, as we learn, be
8 gan to retract his promise, and inquir
~ how and by whom the balance of thi
IL million dollars was to be disbursed, an
~ what assurance could be given that &c
Gu would have finished and equipped roa
LII when that sum had taken wings.
all The gentlemen who have invested thei
money in these bonds, did so with vie1
IT. to make money-they did it in good fait
We supposing the road would be a success
us and all parties alike benefited. Now the
find the subscription to the capital stoc
Oi nearly all exhausted and nearly five huT
" 1red thousand dollars of bonds passe
: forever from the company, and piece
,eS road beginning at Dayton and ending
'o' mountain gorge ten miles west of Chi
ps' licothe, doing a business insufficient
i've meet operating expenses and pay its il
g terest on outstanding bonds, strangled
me its helpless condition by a floating debt
'oy nearly hundred thousand dollars, nett