Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-05-31
S263,OOO AT STAKE.
william NJ. Forrest and j. j. Busby
Sued by c. q. Graham and q. w.
Maerae, 10 Recover
That Amount. of which They Claim te
Have Been Defrauded by
Defendant.

On Monday suit was entered in the
Chancery Court by c. c. Graham and G. W
Ma rae against the Memphis, Brunswick and
Selm raIlroad-Frederick Wolff, president
j J. Busby, vice-president; j. c. Grifing
a. lstaut secretary, and against ]. J. Busby
am. VIM. Nj. Forrest, as indiyiduals-Busby
bein, the real defendant and the railroad and
Forr. merely accessories. The amount in
yolveo caches the total of $263, 900. The
bill filed blythe plaintiffs sets forth that, early
in July last, Graham and Macrae delivered
to Busby certificates of lao shares, represent
ing ID, 900 of the capital stock of the Mem
phis, Holly Springs and Selma road, under
an agreement that he was 10 go 10 New York
as their agent and sell the stock at the best
price to be obtained, the limit being twenty
i've cents on the dollar of its face value.
On Busby's return from New York, he re-
ported that he had sold the stock at twenty
i've cents-the highest price he could get
and offered to pay over the proceeds, de-
manding OF Macrae and Graham the receipt
he had given them for the certificates of
stock and presenting bill for S14 pro rata
for the expenses of his trip to New York.
Busby, they allege. did not sell their stock to
Forrest at twenty-five cents, and he to Wolfe
at 100 cents on the dollar, to be put in irst
mortgage bonds of the railroad. That trans
action they allege was bogus, and the result
of conspiracy to defraud them. Forrest,
they say, made the sale to Wolfe before
Busby left Memphis. Busby left Memphis
on the Sd of July, and did not reach New
York before the 9Th. and on the 9th writ
ten contract for the transfer of all the stock
of the Memphis, Holly Springs and Selma
road, amounting to S263,000 was made be-
tween Forrest and Wolfe for that amount of
first mortgage bonds of the Memphis, Bruins
wick and Selma railroad. This sale Graham
and Macrae allege was made for Busby'a bene-
fit to the shares of stock for the sale of which
he was the agent, or for the Joint benefit of
himself and Forrest, for which they would
realize par or nearly par, while the owners
of the stock would get only twenty-five cents
on the dollar-a neat profit to Busby and
Forrest of something over 100000. Thirty
five thousand dollars loaned By Wolfe 10
Forrest at this time, for which Forrest gave
his notes, payable in twelve months with
interest, retaining the stock and bonds in
interest as collateral, was used by For
rest and Busby to pay the plaintiffs, Ora
ham and Macrae and other stockhold-
ers for the $263,000 worth of stock de-
clared to have been sold for them in New
York by Busby, as per agreement. To these
allegations and charges no answer has yet
been made, but Chancellor Mcdowell granted
an injunction as prayed for by.the plant
ifs, restraining the Memphis, Selma and
Brunswick railroad from receiving the stock
transferred by Forrest, and from issuing to
him the bonds for which the stock was to be
transferred.
Both Mr.. Forrest and Mr.. Busby are in
New York, and will not be back for two
weeks yet. An APPEAL reporter called on
Mr.. J ohm S. Too., Mr.. Busby's partner, yes
terday, and upon Colonel Jesse rorrest,
neither of whom could say anything about
the suit; but Colonel Josiah Patterson, OF the
firm of CAN'T & Patterson, the lawyers of Mr.
]. J. Busby, in reply to questions made the
following
STATEMENT
Colonel Josiah Patterson said: 81 have
always been adverse to comments in the
papers on suits in the courts with which we
are connected. They only involve private
rights in which the public are not inter-
ested. However, in view of the fact that
Major Busby and Captain Forrest are both
absent from the city, it is proper that 1
should say they deny the state ments IN the
bill, and will be able to show that the COM
plainants are laboring under a total misap-
prehension of the facts in the case. We
claim that these gentlemen will be able to
show not only that they are public-spirited,
and that it is through their agency that
Memphis is TO have another important rail-
road connection, but that they have acted in
good faith toward all parties, and have
been the means of enabling the compliments
in this suit to make very large profit on
wary