Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-04-11
CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD.

CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD.
Such is the Charge Made Against James
B. Power, Late Land Commissioner of
the Northern Pacific--His Chief Clerk
and Other Parties Also Implicated.
"The true inwardness,' as Mr.. Beecher
would say, of the eruption which last winter
dispossessed Mr.. James B. Power and Mr..
Charles F. Kindred of their offices in the en-
ploy of the Northern Pacific railroad company,
is exhibited in the tenor of certain voluminous
bills in equity, drawn by Messrs. Gilman 81
Clough of this city, on behalf Of the railroad
company and said to have been filed Saturday
in the clerks Office of the United States cir
cult court in this city. These bills, four in
number, are for instituting suits, one against
James B: Power; another against Power and
wife, F. E. Snow and wife, @. F. Kindred and
wife, and w. A. Kindred and wife; third,
against Power and wife and G.. A. Kindred and
wife; and, fourth, against Power and wife, G.
F. Kindred and wife and Mark Paine. Two
other suits are also reported to have been
begun by the railroad company against the
principal defendants above in the Territorial
court of Dakota. The bills and complaints hav-
ing reference each to number of transactions,
the alleged details of which are minutely set
forth with proper legal formality and particu-
larity, are so long that even an attempt at
synopsis would he useless to newspaper read
ers, who would not care to give hours
of reading to gain an understanding
of the proceedings. But statement of the
general nature OF the allegations on behalf of
the railroad company may be made briefly.
Power and Kindred were employed by the
railroad company, the former as land commits
sioner or chief land agent, and the latter as
head clerk of the land department and land
agent, under Mr.. Power, for the company.
They were dismissed from the service Of the
company, it is alleged, by vote Of the directory,
after an investigation of their land transac-
tions IN few counties of Dakota, which was
conducted for the directory by Col. R. M. Now
port, the company's auditor. Mr.. Kindred
was retired in December last, and Mr.. Power
in February.
1t is charged that while in the employ of the
company as its agents, Power and Kindred,
separately, together, and In conspiracy with
Snow, VIM. A. Kindred and Paine, disposed of
the lands of the company for their personal
benefit and to the injury Of the company and
of persons who sought to buy lands. That
they selected the most valuable lands and those
in most request, which they sold to themselves
or to the other parties Joined as defendants,
which latter hold, use and sell the lands
so sold in trust for the benefit of
Power and Kindred, the principals. 1t is
alleged, probably incidental to the other gen.
eral and specific allegations, that Power and
Kindred, when they received cash at the ap-
praised valuation for the company's lands,
turned over to the company in lieu of the
money at par preferred stock of the company
which they could have bought at small per-
centage of it's par value.
AS to the relief sought in the premises 1t is
to be presumed that the company is proceed
ing for an accounting and restitution on the
theory that an agent cannot cell to himself
and that If he sells to others to hold for his
personal benefit he is guilty Of conspiracy to
defraud. If the company should establish Its
case, as set up in the bills and complaints,
the court might annul the fraudulent transfer
and give the company Its further damages
against the other property Of the defendants.
Ex-Gov. G. K. Davis has been retained by
the principal defendants. On being questioned
regarding the case by representative of the
GLOBE he expressed decided dsinclination to
try law suits in the newspapers, but desired If
anything was to be said as to the attitude of
the defense that 1t should be stated, on his
authority, that Mr.. Power and Mr.. c.
F. Kindred, since being made
aware OF the charges brought against
them have not at all sought to avoid the pro
ceedings now instituted. On the contrary, they
have invited legal investigation of their acts
as the company's agents and of their transac-
tions with the company. Gov. Davis has not
yet been able to examine the voluminous pa
pers but, understanding that they iacluded
charges that the company's stock, worth less
than par, had been returned by defendants In
place of money which they had received for
lands sold, he said that such charges would be
denied and proof challenged. As to the sales
of company lands to Mr.. Power or to
Mr.. Kindred, he understood that the
executive committee of the company ct New
York made the sales and executed the trans
fers on pr opositions and tenders submitted to
the committee by Mr.. Power and Mr.. Kind
red, each as he would have submitted any
other PERSONS proposal to buy. If this un
derstanding is correct it is not plain to be
seen how the company can justly claim that
defendants sold the land to themselves.
Most, If not all of the directors and execu-
tive officers Of the company, present and past
are reported to be large holders of lands form
erly belonging to the company; and 1t is com
monty known or supposed to be known that
the great wheat farms of the Red River country
and Northern Dakota, in which sharehold-
ers, trustees, and officers and friends of the
company are partners and sole owners, were
acquired as Power and Kindred may have ac
quired their lands by accepting the public
offers of the company to receive its preferred
stock at par In payments for lands at their ap-
large profit in such deals when the preferred
stock could be bought in open market at ten
per cent of its full value, and the chance for
profit is not gone by although the stock
is now worth seventy-three per
cent. of its face value. If, as will be claimed
for the defense, Power and Kindred, in their
land speculations, were purchasers from the
proper officers of the company, their connec
ton with the company as its agents to receive
and forward proposals to buy lands, to receive
and turn over proceeds of sales, and to deliver
contracts and deeds approved and executed by
their superior officers, does not invalidate or
faint their purchases.
But as the trial in court cannot well take
place before December next, and as the evidence
to be taken will be even more voluminous
than the pleadings, it will be but fair to all
parties to the suits for all other persons to so
restrain their interest in the matter as not to
anticipate the proper decision of the proper
courts. Only, it would be we'll to remember
that the charges embodied in the complaints
are of sufficiently grave a character to entitle
the defendants to be regarded as innocent
until proved guilty, especially in view of their
standing in the business and social circles of