The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-05-20
FOX RIVER VALLEY r, &. STOCK.

5 FOX RIVER VALLEY 3, 3. STOCK.
The FREE TRADER tries to make it appea
q that because certain mortgage on the RAILROAD
0 was payable in Boston, and our interests wer
not represented there, therefore our right
5 were forfeited. All fraudulent proceeding
5 are void from the beginning. Ottawa neve
y was allowed voice In the matter, and she wa
no party to this or any other contract concern
ing this road, save that in which the bonds
) were unlawfully gotten from the people of thi.
) town in the manner stated The fact IS, thu
} stock is still stock lawfully issued and legally
in the hands of the town authorities, and &C
J ton should be taken to burst up the lease
which, whether by fraud or otherwise, ignored
Ottawa's stock-Otana Republican.
|, The remark OF the FREE TRADER last week
in reference TO the extinguishment Of the stock
of the Ottawa, Oswego & Fox River Valley
r. r., loosely referred to above, needs amplifi
cation to be made clear The financial history
of the road is something as follows:
The company was chartered away back IN
the tifties. The first serious organization
however, was not effected until about 1867
when the towns along the line of the road
were solicited to vote bonds and buy stock
We believe some $500, 900 worth of bonds we're
thus voted, and probably $4,000 in private
subscriptions to the stock were made. July
l, 1860, the bonds voted ana private sub.
scorpions having been used up, the officers of
the road decided to borrow g., 000,O0 where
with to complete the road issuing 1000 bonds
of 81 900 each bearing Z per cent interest, to
run 30 years. and the road and all Its property
In possession and in posse were conveyed to
NJ. II. swift and Edward Eames in trust to Sc
cure the principal and interest of the bonds.
But no money could be raised on these bonds,
none ever having been sold.
So IN July 1870 another mortgage was made
TO the same trustees this time for 81 $50 000 at
8 per cent. interest, the bonds 70 run 30 years,
with the usual forfeiture clause, that In case
OF non.payment of principal or interest within
30 days after due, said trustees should have
power to sell the road, &c.
These bonds, on an agreement of the Chlca-
90, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company
to see them paid, Cuhsman 81 Force, the con.
tractors, agreed to take and went on and built
the road How the G., B. Il Q. company came
to guarantee the bonds il shown by the lease
Of the road made to that company month
later-August 10th, 1870. BY that lease the
whole Ottawa, o. Il f. II. V. Railroad from
Streator to Geneva-70 miles IN length, with
all Its right of way, road bed, property and
franchises, its possibilities and expectations,
was conveyed I'm perpetulty" to the G., B. Il
Railroad Company, on the sole condition that
it should pay these bonds, and 1t was to do It
IN this way: After the road was put in run.
ning order, on the Let day Of July of each year
it should pay 40 per cent of Its gross earnings
ut certain place in Boston, to DO designated
each year by the said trustees Swift and
Eames) In o notice to be inserted in daily
newspaper published IN the city of Boston, to-
wards the redemption at par, with accrued In.
terest, of such of SAID bonds as should then and
there be presented. lfno bonds were present
ed, then the said per cent. were to be merged
for that year in the ordinary receipts Of the c.,
b. & Q. Company. The same ceremony IN
regard to the 40 per cent was to DO kept up
each year until the bonds were all paid, or If
not so paid, finally tell due at the end of &c
years that is, A. D. 1900, or until the holders
of the bonds should proceed to forecose the
mortgage by which they were secured
OF course all this flummery about setting
aside 40 per cent. OF the earnings of the road
and paying it in July each year. &c, was q
sham and humbug. The c., b. Il Q. had Ia
ken these bonds of Cushman IL Force and paid
them the money for them, and whether she
burnt them up then and there, or went through
the mummery of presenting them each year
for redemption, was not of the slightest consc
queDce. AS she has never undertaken to fore
close the mortgage to enforce their payment
the probability is they are laid aside IN hel
strong box, to be presented in A. d. 1900 with
accumulated interest," should anybody at tina
remote date undertake to bring her 10 a lega
accountability for her disposition of the sale
40 per cent. earnings of the Fox River road
i The point we are aiming at IN this recital II
this That the officers of the Ottawa, Oswegt
& Fox River Valley Railroad having, on til,
10Th Of August, 1870, conveyed that road will
oil Its property IN possession or in expectancy
to the G., B. Il Q. Company lin perpetuity'
on the sole condition that the latter should pa,
the bonds for 81 600 the former had issued
and the latter having paid those bonds within
six months after such conveyance by purchss
ing them of Cushman e. Force became thence
forward the owner of the o. IL +. II. V
railroad out and out, and whatever stock any
body else ever held in the road was by tina
iconveyance necessarily and forever cAtiu
. guished.