The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-03-02
THE NARROW GAUGE.
Resignation of General Manager Patterson
of the Connection Railway.

of the ConnottOn Railway.
Some surprise will be manifested
when it is stated that General
Manager Patterson, of the COnnOttOn
Railway, has resigned, and his place
temporarily filled by Mr.. VIM. A. Lynch.
The following is taken from the CleYe-
| land Herald:
1T seems that narrow gauge roads as
well as the regulars, the standards,
must take their turn at the wheel of
litigation. 1t is the COnnottOn Valley
that now has an engagement of that
character. For several days there have
been rumOrs and rumbles which indI-
Gated trouble, but the exact nature Of
the impending difficulty could not be
discovered. 1t was made clear yesterday
afternoon, however, when suit was be-
gun in the Common Pleas Court for
$155,OO0 by Strong & Carey, contractors,
against Charles G. Patterson, principal
contractor and General Manager of the
COnnOttOn Valley Railway Company,
Last evening a representative of the
Herald called on Mr.. l.. A. Russell, of
the firm of Adams 81 Russell. who will
represent the contractors in the suit.
In answer to several questions Mr.. Rus
sell said: The firm of G.. III. Strong and
D. NJ. Carey, contractors, have sued
Charles G. Patterson, the principal con-
tractor and General Manager of the Con-
notion Valley Railway, for $155,OOO,
money due for material furnished and
work done in building the road, a large
part of it between Cleveland and Can
ton, and for work done on twenty miles
on the COnnOttOn and StTaitsville Rail-
way between ROweville and COshOctOn.
In the above claim there is $4,000 as
for damages for breach of the contract
and stopping work Hereunder. The
balance of the claim is for money al
ready earned. All the property of Mr..
Patterson, consisting mostly of real
estate, by him purchased in CuyahOga,
Portage, Lake and Stark counties, has
been attached in the above suit, wTits
have been sent to the several sheriffs.
The Sheriff of CuyahOga county went to
Bedford to levy the attachment on
large quantity of steel rails, spikes and
railroad supplies at that point, still in
Mr.. PattersOn's control. Messrs. Strong
~ Carey allege that the work between
Cleveland and Canton, under their con-
tract, is substantially completed.
The Boston Post, probably speaking
for the directors of the road, says: In
constructing the COnnOttOn Valley road
from SherOdsville to Cleveland, it is
stated on the authority of the chief en-
gineer, Mr.. w. +. Ellis, that Mr.. Patter-
son has expended over 100000 in inn
prOVements and perhaps more than was
required by his construction contract.
This has been done to make the road
efficient as far as finished, with the un-
derstandlng on the part of the contract
or that the company would ultimately
reimburse him. Under advice of cOun-
sci, however, the board of directors,
though friendly to Mr.. Patterson, find
they nave no power to adjust the claim.
If the roads were completely finished
under the terms of the contract, the sit
uatiOn would be quite different and
easy of solution. As it is, the step
above referred to has been taken with
mutual good understanding, and it is
believed will eventuate in the speedy
completion and consolidation of both
lines
The Herald's Canton correspondent
furnishes the following on the subject:
The change in the administration of
the road will have no outside effect.
| The regular business will continue and
the extension of the road southwark
will not be interrupted. Mr.. Lynch vol
unteered no explanation of this sudden
| addiction of Mr.. Patterson, who has been
| considered by the people along the Con-
notion line as the father of the enter
| priSing little naTrOw-gauge, but Dame
RumOr furnishes several. From un-
official but we'll authenticated sources
we learn the probable true cause of this
|
| COnnOttOn. To put the matter plain it
seems that Mr. Patterson assumed inan-
| cially more than he could fulfil. He
was chief contractor of the road and
had the letting out # all contracts Up
| to last December everything moved
along smoothly, and then only hitch Oc-
CURED. At that time it was whispered
| about that money was not forthcoming
| to pay the contractors. This was dis,
PEELED, shortly after, by the payment of
| the contractors, and work on the extern
sion southwark was suspended for the
winter. This is as it appeared to out
Siders, but it seems that Mr.. Patterson,
who was likewise the financial agent of
the company, failed to secure sufficient
funds in time to meet the bills which
were due for work on the new line. In
fact, Mr.. Patterson could not pay his
debts. A suit which was begun by
Messrs. Strong & Carey against Mr.. Pat
tersOn, in the Common Pleas Court of
CuyahOga county will bear out this as
sertiOn. When the line southwark
through COshOctOn county was first de-
cided upon, Mr.. Patterson, it is said,
sold some $4,000 worth of the stock of
that division of the road. This division,
however, was separate and entirely in
dependent of the remainder of the line.
The money realized from the sale of
these bonds Mr.. Patterson used in the
construction of the northern part of the
line into Cleveland. When this was ex-
hausted he was at the end of his string,
and the other members of the company
had to come to the rescue. These are
said to be the reasons why Mr.. Patterson
quit the COnnOtton. Whether he was
requested to do so, of course we cannot