, 1881-04-09
The Northern Pacific.


The following has been received by 3
Portland paper from Mr.. Wizard; 1t Is
his statement OF how he acquired the
control Of the North Pacific stock;
All you have said regarding our OBJ
tanning control cf the Northern Pacihc
is substantially true. For this purpose q
fund Of si2, ,OOO, 600 Was made up IN
Jan ,ary, Of which the . blind pool, as
the newspapers have called 1t, contributed
3. .OOO, 600, the remaining A,O0,Wo
being provided by loans to the pool WITH
sl0 .OO0. 900 nf this money acquired con-
trol Of S27 900, ,G0yof common and pre-
ferred stock, buying common from " up
and preferred from 10 up The out
s:andius enmmoa and preferred STOCK
was then $50 ,O0o, 900 of preferred and
S3I 10000 of common, thus making
abou; SS4, ,500, 900 AN absolute majority.
had, in addition, offers of irrevocabie
proxies from outside stock TO insure us an
absolute majority but IN order 70 conclii-
ate existing interests, went to President
Billings, told him frankly what | had
done, and invited him and his friends to
come into the combination with their
holdings, or 10 sell out to me at their own
prices. He declined to do either. There
upon | gave him TO understand that |
would have to make up an absolute ma
iority against him. He expressed great
anxiety To come 10 harmonlus under
standing with our interests, saying among
other things that we ought Ia have an
immediate representative on the board.
Al the request of some of his directors
prepared and printed statement Of our
views as to what the relations OF the two
companies should be. which | viii send
you for publication, and which will show
that the statement that We are trying to
prevent the construction of Cascade
branch is an absolute falsehood.
This statement was submitted to the
Northern Pacific beard last Thursday,
and special committee, consisting ct
Potts, Ellis and Garrison, appointed to
consider and make recommendations
upon the relations Of the two companies
and our representation in the board. On
Friday last, however, after the adjourn
ment of the fuI board meeting, and the
departure Of most Of the out-of-rOwn
members, Billings called the remaining
members OF the executive board secretly
together, and prevailed on them to pass
resolutions directing the immediate issue
of over eighteen millions Of common
stock still in the hands of the company,
the object bein. Of course TO maintain
Billings and friends IN power, as he and
they grabbed most Of the additional issue
under pretended claim growing ont OF
the organization No notice Whatever
Of the proposed issue was given to the
other directors, three Of whom, including
Messrs. Ellis and Bullitt, the two direc-
tors representing the syndicate, headed
by Dre1el, Morgan & Co, and Winslow.
Lanier 6 Co, which recently placed
twenty milliors of Northern Pacific
bonds, have already denounced this pro-
ceeding officially as an outrage, which
fact am authorized To pahlish.
Having been advised by most eminent
counsel that the issue of stock is utterly
Illegal, and in direct violation of their
trust, making the guilty directors per
sonally liable, have therefore instituted
suit against them, and this morning oh
tanned an injunction III the superior
court inhibitins the sale, transfer and
voting Of the stock. Ny counsel have no
Doubt that the grabbers will be compelled
to restore every share to the company.
Billings appropriated to himself $1,000
shares, and his confe'lerates many thous-
ands Of shares each. You will receive
full particulars Of the case by mail.
H. WILLARD.