Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1879-09-06
SALE OF THE L., L. & G. B. B.

SALE OF THE L., L. & G. B. B.
i For some weeks there have been q
kinds of rumors on the street, regardin
the sale of the above railroad, and, as
, is q subject OF the greatest interest t
our people, we have taken some pain
to gather the facts regarding it.
The Lexington, Lake & Gulf railroa
company is a defunct corporation. whic
attempted to build a railroad from thi
city, Through Butler. in Bates county.
Subscriptions of stock were made b
various townships. as will be remem
bered, and with the proceeds OF th
bonds sold, a road bed was built
more or less complete, from this cit
through Butler, to a point some eight o
ten miles further south, in Bates county
We only desire to give here the his
tory of this matter in so far as 1t apple
to the proposed sale OF the road.
i. In January, 1872. q deed of trust wa
recorded in this county. signed by Col
John Reid as president. with DIR. M
Chapman as trustee. on all the rights
title, and franchises ct the road, to Sc
cure the payment of two notes. ont
given to Monroe & Co., for $10.682 "a
and the other to Lawrence Dean, fol
81, 900, both tor labor done in building
the road.
These notes were afterward assigned
to Messrs. Henry L. Newman and Johr
W. Waddell, and on February goth
1877. the trustee sold the property under
the provisions of the deed. Mr.. Johr
w. Waddell bid it in for the sum OF S.,
600, and a deed was subsequently made
to Henry L.. Newman. as trustee for the
parties then the owners of the notes
Messrs. Henry L. Newman, John w.
Waddell, John Reid and Tilton Davis
For some weeks there have been sew.
eral attempts made by different parties
to purchase the road from the gentle.
men above mentioned, or rather to &C.
cure the option OF purchase. Nothing
came of the negotiations until this week,
when. on Tuesday. Mr.. c. H. Brown,
of Carthage, Mo-, obtained the option OF
purchasing the road. To secure this he
has deposited one thousand dollars to
be forfeited unless he buys the road and
pays a stipulated price for it within
ninety days. The contract made with
him gives him the option of purchasing
the south end of the road as far as
Pleasant Hill, or Odessa,a as he may elect.
at certain prices, or to Lexington at
another certain price. We regret that
we cannot now state positively what this
sum is-the general rumor places it for
the whole line at fifty thousand dollars.
Look at this TRANSACTION as we may,
we cannot help considering it as leopard
izing very greatly the interests of Lex
lngton and Lafayette county. Mr..
Brown, according to his own account,
is a SPECTATOR in railroads, who has
just effected the sale of the Joplin rail-
road for a big price, which he built for
a small price. This is all very well and
good, and nobody here a find fault
with him for his success. But that sue
cess wal achieved upon the carrying
out of business principles. and success
in this instance will only attend the
same course. Now, the gentleman has
the right to buy this road only to Pleas
ant Hill, If he so desires, and it becomes
the interest of the Missouri Pacific rail-
way. . prosperous and powerful corpo-
ration. to stop it there. If that company
will pay Mr.. Brown and his associates
enough money. we greatly fear the road
will be built no further. The gentle
men who sold him the franchise made
no attempt, as We understand it, to sell
the road with the condition that it should
be built from end to end. and in this we
think they neglected a plain duty. 1t
may be said that the road is their prop
erty. and that they have a right to do
with it as they please. It needs no ar
gument to prove that the people in this
county on the line of this road have
rights which these gentlemen ought to
respect-especially the two who reside
in Lexington and their first claim
seems to US to be that the south end OF
the road shall not be Topped off for spec
ulative purposes, leaving the north end
undesirable to other parties. As a rail-
road from Lexington south, persons will
surely be found to build and equip it
as q railroad from Lexington to Pleas
ant Hill, with adverse connections there,
it would never be built.
Having given our views thus plainly,
it is only fair to present the statement
made by Mr.. Waddell. He says. while
Mr.. Brown desired the option OF stop
ping at Pleasant Hill, and even asked
(Which proposition was not entertained)
for the option to purchase only to the
crossing of the Kansas City & Memphis
road, still that he positively asserts that
he intends to build the entire line, and
that he will Immediately place an engi-
neer corps at work to ascertain what the
| cost will be. Further that it is the in.
tention of Nh. Brown and his associates
to build and operate the line, not only
to Bates county, but through Vernon,
Barton, Jasper. Newton and McDo nald
counties, Mo-. and Benton and Washing
ton counties. Ark, to Fayetteville. This,
we hope, will be done; or, at any rate,
that the road will be built from Lexing-
ton to tho point in Bates- county to
which it is graded.
Mr.. John Lee, Of St. Louis, who rep.
resented the Pennsylvania construction
company, and who was seeking to pur.
chase the road. stated, last Tuesday, that
he had offered for it $4,000 in frs
mortgage bonds, and $4,000 in cash
thirty days after the completion of the
road, and to enter into a bond to com
plete the entire line within a few
months. This, however, MI. Waddel
denies. and says that the only offer Mr.
Lee YER made was for an option tt
purchase the southern end OF the road,