The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1879-12-05
A RAILROAD SALE.
The vicksburR, Shreveport aud Texas
Railroad. and its History in
the Courts.

Canal street entrance of the Custom
House, between the hours of IL and 8
the Vicksburg, Shreveport and
Texas Railroad, under a foreclosure of
the mortgage in the case of Henry r. |
jackson ct al. VS.. the Vicksburg,
and Texas Railroad Com
pany ct al. The property is subject to
a lien and privilege of the defendants
for the amount of $294, COG OS, with
interest at per cent, from April Is,
1876, which amount must be paid
before March 4, 1880: The special
master, F. A. Woolfiey, will also
exact, in accordance with the decree of
the u. s. Circuit Court, a deposit of
CSC, 900 cash from the bidders to cover
costs of suit, sale, receivers charges.
etc. .t
The court has granted permission for
q majority of the bondho1ders holding
valid bonds, proved in tho cause, to
make an agreement to purchase the
road for themselves and such other
bondholders as shall assent to the agree.
ment within fifteen days after the sale,
who will, in case they are the highest
bidders, be credited with the proper
ton due to them as bondholders. They
are required to pay the proportion due
the nonassenting bondholders within
fifteen days after the sale, or upon con-
firmati0n of the report of the special
master.
This railroad has had somewh hat
eventful career, and has been a prolific
source of litigation. Under the general
law in 1853 the State Subscribed for
$S00, 600 of the 81 ,000, 900 of the capital
stock of tho company, and paid over
1926, 600 toward the construction of the
road, the balance of 81, 1872 900 being
contributed by other subscribers. The
line as originally located ran from
Delta, Louisiana, on the Mississippi
River, opposite Vicksburg, via Monroe
and Shreveport, to the Texas boundary,
a distance of about 100 miles. The
section from Delta to Monroe, ~ miles,
was completed in January, 1861. The
portion west of Shreveport, from that
town to Marshall, Texas, was COM
pleted by the Southern Pacific Railway
Company, under a lease of twenty
years, effected in 1862. subsequently
the lease was extended to 1888. The
gauge on the road to Monroe was made
st feet, and from Shreveport to Mar
shall feet 81 inches.
There is gap of ninety-six miles
between Monroe and Shreveport to be
| filed in.
BY an act passed on September 1st,
| 1867, a mortgage was made to John
hay or bearer, to secure $76l 900 first
mortgage bonds, to become due Sep
TENDER LIST, 1877. A large land grant
of several hundred thousand acres was
also made to the company. In 1868
the bridges along the line from Delta
to Monroe were burned by order of
Gen. Kirby Smith, and portions of the
track torn up. After the war was con-
Guided it was estimated that $500 900
would be required to put the road in
running order again. There was due
$16s, 160 on interest coupons, and $780,
600 floating debt. December %, 1865,
w. r. Gordon, the owner of four
mortgage bonds, upon which coupons
amounting to $720 were due, obtained
an executory process from judge in
chambers, and on this order the pro-
perty of the railroad was seized, APP
praised for $4,000 on the day of the
sale, February 8, 1866, and finally
adjudicated to John T. Lude1ing and
his associates for the sum of S5O.OOO.
This proceeding led to the cause ceiebr,e
Of jackson vs.. Ludeling, the details
of which are too we'll known to require
repetition. In October, 1874, the Su-
preme Court of the United States set
aside the sale OF 1866, and ordered the
sale OF the property of the railroad for
the benefit of the bondholders aud
other creditors Of the company.
But to refer 10 events which occurred