Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-10-09

Not long since was published the mate
rial portion of statement made by
CYRUS w. Field regarding a business
transaction between himself and Tilden,
in which the latter was charged with
treachery and dishonesty. 1t will be
remembered that the substance of the
matter was this: Field held large
amount of the stock of the New York
Elevated railway; rising in value, it be.
came desirable as an investment, and
Field sold Tilden considerable portion of
what he held of this stock. At MIR.
Tilden's request the stocks sold him
we're transferred to Pelton, and he was
made vice-president of the company,
Tilden, as he said, not wanting to APP.
pear in any manner in such an enter
prise, as it might injure him as public
man. Field decided to go to England
and dispose of some of the stock among
capitalists there; but in order to accom-
plish this purpose it was important that
the price of the stock in this country
should be maintained at the high price
which it had attained, and to Sc
cure this end it was necessary that
there should not be any large amount
of it thrown upon the market. An
understanding was, therefore, had with
Tilden and other large holders that they
should not sell until Field had had full
opportunity to effect his negotiations in
England. Tilden very cordially assent
ed to this arrangement, leading Field,
by words and manner, to understand
that he was fully committed to the
policy; but no sooner had Field got we'll
out on his voyage than Tildon sold a
large part of his stocks, thus defeating
Fields mission.
To this charge Tilden, after some
delay, entered long and general denial,
rid:culing the idea that he should enter
into any such arrangement. Field
rejoina in a very forcible article, in
which he more than sustains all the
charges previously made. Below we
give the principal portion of this second
statement so far as it relates to the
charges of Implicitly and bad faith:
But all these are minor issues, which
brush aside to come to the main point, in
which charge Mr.. Tilden with deception
and alsehood--falsehood both acted and
spoken. The point is this that when he
sought my aid in large business transac-
ton, which could only be done on one con-
dition, he thereby accepted the understand
ing, which had all the force of positive
agreement, that he should not i'll my
absence do anything against our common
interest, and that this understanding he
violated as soon as | was out of the way,
and therein practiced a gross deception for
his own profit and to my injury. This is
my accusation, which | make as plain as
words can make it, and which / have sup
ported by proofs the most circumstantial
and precise. And now, after reading over
his long statement very carefully, cannot
see that it disproves in single particular
the facts / have given, or the inevitable
conclusion which they involve. How does
he answer me?
First, he makes reply that others sold as
well as he; that the directors sold freely,
and not only SO, but that they sold before
he did, and he is at pains to produce from
the books of the company long list of
transfers of stock before | sailed. Very
well what of that? That is no news to me.
| knew all that before. They did what they
had perfect right TO do; nor did | ever
dream of abridging their liberty in this
respect, or have the slightest feeling because
they chose to sell. What they did was
done in perfect fairness and frankness. 1t
WAS done openly and above.board. 1t was
reserved for Mr.. Tilden to keep in the back
ground, with his intentions concealed;
10 take sweet counsel with his
friend, from whom he was about to
part; to follow him to the ship and
bid him tender adieu, lulhng his suspi-
cious by giving him the full impression that
he was gong to do all in his power to keep
up the market and not to break it down;
and then hasten from the ship to his brokers
and tell them to sell out as fast as possible!
This was certainly an adroit manauvre,
worthy of stock broker if not of states
msn. (By the way, il was another coinci-
dence not less curious and interesting than
that noted above in the case of Mr.. Have.
never, that the brokers who sold stock the
moment my back was turned were the
brokers with whom $4,000 had been depos-
tied to be used in Oregon during the count
ing OF the electoral votes in lS16)
Mr.. Tilden says: CATER | had heard of
Mr.. Fields proposals to the directors to
undertake to sell stock for them he made a
similar offer to me-" Indeed, Mr.. Tilden !,
Is that quite the way to put 1t? is that the
truth, and The whole truth To say that /
"made an offer =" would reply that volun-
teered it. On the contrary did not the pro-
possl come from you? Did you not come
to my house and ask me to do this service'
And did ! not accept only on one condi-
ton, As TO this condition will you deny
that said to you again and again that " the
market must be maintained here?"
That makes all the difference in the world
between you and others who sold. The
want OF good faith Was not in the selling
but in the manner and the time of it.
What the directors did was one thing, what
you did was another. What they did was
fair and square, in broad daylight. What
you did was done secretly, unknown to
your " friend " who was on the ocean. You
sent letter after me the very next day after
| sailed. Why did you not impsrt the
cheerful intelligence that YOU were already
beginning to unload" You telegraphed
to me in London. The despatch came