Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-08-19
THE INSIDE HISTORY
OF a Celebrated Stos X Speculation.
Atlanta Constitution,


Those persons who have indulged in stock
speculation during the past year will re-
member the sudden rise in Memphis &
Charleston Railroad stock to SO short time
since. There are some who will remember
this too well-but of that no matter at
present.
We have learned the true inwardness of
this movement, and will give it to the
public. AS is well known, the East Tennes-
see & Virginia Railroad several years ago
leased the Memphis & Charleston Railroad.
This lease was made after the East Tennessee
| & Virginia Railroad had advanced heavily
! to the Memphis & Charleston, which
was then in broken down condition The
lease provides that the lessees shall manage
and run the road, but that it shall be run in
| the interest of the stockholders At q
meeting held in July, we believe, this lease
was ratified for IL years, the balance of the
| 20 years for which it was originally made.
When Colonel Cole bought the East Ten
nessee and Virginia Railroad he of course
! bought the lease of the Memphis aud
| Charleston, and this line of course made one
of his western connections.
! In the past few months a syndicate was
! formed for the purpose of buying up control
of the stock of the Memphis and Charleston
Road 1t was not understood why they
were going for the stock, as the lease car
ried control, and the stockholders could not
| get hold of the road for II years. 1t trans
pires, however that the syndicate will at
| tempt to break the lease by suits in court.
If the lease can be broken the road reverts
| to the control of the stockholders, and il
becomes important then to get majority OF
! the stock. The suits will be begun at once,
we believe.
! In the meantime the syndicate, which
claims to have secured the majority of the
| stock or $1,000, is in the market, seeing
| what it can get for its wares. As we under
stand, it offers to sell the controlling shares
to the highest bidder. 1t was rumored thai
the Louisville and Nashville Railroad hai
already bought it, but this, we learn, il
without authority. 1t is probably based OF
the rumor that certain friends of the Louis
vile and Nashville Railroad, who have alst
been bitter enemies of Colonel Cole, are
| heavily interested in the Memphis anG
| Charleston pool We understand that tnt
syndicate demands round bonus for thei
stock and think they might get guarantee
of per ceut on the stock. The syndicat
is mostly made up of Nashville people.
/ In the meantime Colonel Cole is easy ant
happy. He and his associates looked into tn
lease very sharply before they bought an
had the best legal opinion upon its inviola
biity. They do not wish to buy the major
ity of the stock, for they already have con
troll of the road by lease, and this contro
they can maintain in the courts. Anothe
thing is very plain-the East Tennessee, an
Virginia Railroad is vastly more importan
to the Memphis and Charleston than tn
Memphis and Charleston is to it. No one ca
buy the Memphis and Charleston except tn
Louisville and Nashville, aud it could only bu
it for the purpose Of choking down opposition
and establishing complete monopoly. Thi
would prove very costly experiment, an
} we do not believe they viii try it on.
gentleman who is well acquainted with tn
plans of the Cole Syndicate insists that th
Memphis & Charleston Syndicate has bit Of
more than it can chew. They had to fore
the stock up to SO in order to buy up
. majority of the shares, and as soon as the
: withdrew from the market the stool
tdmbled. In this tumble it is reported tina
some Georgians got badly damaged TIL
stock is still gagging lower and lower, an
is now quoted at so and less In the mean
time anxious folks are figuring to see no,
far Colonel Cole would have to build t
complete his line from Meridian to tn
Mississippi and thus be independent of tn
!. Memphis and Charleston, or how muc
, diplomacy it would take for him to max
arrangements with the Erlanger people fo
the use of the Shreveport and Merida
Ina2