Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-04-24
ROARING RA1LROADERs.
LIVELY Discussion of Narrow Gauge
Affairs between the EmmIaG Faction
ana the springfield RIns''-WhTte-
Iey's PrOpOsItIOn-EmmiI and Jones
IN bad Luck
Springfield Gazette. April 18th.

Springfield Gazette, April 18th.
For some time S. J. & P. stockholders
at the other end of the line, led by James
Emmitt, have been holding Indignation
meetings at what they called attempts of
the Springfield Ring" to gobble the road.
Not accomplishing anything in this way,
they created per cent. subscription en-
1 terprise to raise funds to prevent the sale |
of the road. In the interest of this fund |
meeting was called for this place, Wednes- |
| day night, by Col. Higgins. of Wayerly. |
| The critical condition of affairs on the |
! road brought out a large crowd. Capt. |
Balentine was Chairman and G.. E. Fol-
ger Secretary. Col. Higgins made the
opening speech, stating the object of the
meeting and advocating a change of Re
ceivership from an interested to disin-
terested party, and practical railroad
man. He was opposed to allowing the
road to be pushed to sale by the bOnd-hold-
ers, and said the stockholders along the
road believe the road may yet be made to
sustain itself and pay of its Indebtedness.
He said the sale of the road would deprive
; the stock holders of all they had in it and
urged them to combine to defeat the pro-
posed sale of the road. He "scored' the
: Board of Directors and charged them di-
rectly with fraud in creating the bonded
debt of the road and hypOthecating the
r bonds. He severely criticised the ex-
S penditures of the management as being
, excessive, especially in the erection of
D repair shop here. The gentlemen spoke
n in a calm, unimpassiOned manner and
S was frequently applauded. Hon. James
u Emmitt and Col. Jones, of Waverly, also
S made pungent speeches to the same effect.
d Emmitt couldn't help letting out a little
Il personal venom against Springfield.
e At this point Geo. Fl. Frey let loose and
b there was music in the air. He charged
i the preceding speakers with mlsrepre-
> senting the case and devoted himself es-
II pecially to Emmitt, whose real trouble,
he said, was tile suits of the Company
h against him for what he honestly owed l..
q He charged him with leaving the road
y nearly $500, 900 in debt with but a small
Is part of the work done. He denied the
, purchase of bonds by Directors except a
l. small amount by himself through an ad-
= vance to a contractor at time when the
- bonds were very low. Faithful efforts
p had been made to sell the bonds legiti-
Ie mately but without success. He reviewed
J. the necessity of appointing a Receiver
"a and denied that it was done clandestine-
)" ly. He defended Mr.. Whiteley's course
n and charged the Emmitt party with try
rs ing to cheat him out of what he had hon.
IF estly putin the road to complete it.
Receiver Whiteley arose, amid a loud
" storm of applause, and spoke about hall
ID an hour in his cool, sensible way. He
n gave detailed history of the road, tht
IL appeal to Springfield to help complete il
. such n condition that Springfield mus
ok help complete it or 1T would die. 1t wa!
6 only this that induced him and others tt
no take hold of it. He was perfectly willing
s; to have anybody examine his course a
lis Receiver. All he asked was to get some
IT. thing for the money put into the road.
lot would do no good to raise 2 per cen
N. fund for litigation as the necessity 70
- selling the road was inevitable unless
is rescued by funds subscribed for its in
. debtedness-now about $S00,0 H
ut, therefore made the proposition that hi
FOR firm would discount their claim of $3.50
~, 600 at so per cent, taking $125,OO0 70
10y what they put in the road and deliverin
IN up all their securities.
lot After some sharp cross firing betwee
ted Geo. Spence (whO seemed to be anxiou
- to work off some wind purely on part
" principle) and Geo. Frey, the audienC
me bolted without waiting for an adjourn
I'VE ment, and without taking any defini
,ar action on the per cent business. 1t
- understood the subscription will be COT
'eu tinued, however. Although there wei
OF several Springfielders in the Hallin syn
no pathy with the Emmitt side, and in f
dr. vOr of a change of Receivership, yet til
The general sentiment was unquestionably
an. favor of the present management.
After the meeting the discussion col
mg tinued informally at the hotel and gre
SO hot that Col. Jones called Mr.. Frey
Or liar, and drew off to hit him, Whereupol
lm Ward Frey, the latter's son, punche
of Jones' frontispiece, dropping him on th
Ike floor. The beligerents were separate
ely and there was no further trouble.
at At the close of the meeting, depu
cts Sheriff Foley served two summonses {
be- Emmitt-one in a suit of the Compar
oil against him for a balance of $4,000 3
ere legged to be due plaintiff, and the other
red the case of L. NJ. Dayton, interested
lad the mortgage on the road, notifying hi
r1e of the intended sale. Altogether it w
mas an Improbable days work for the Ell
ho mitt folks.