National Republican., 1883-06-04
TALE OF A TELEPHONE.
How IL is Alleged that Gen. Tom Ewing
ana Others Fingered the Telephone
Stock OF n Washington Inventor.

How IL IL Alleged that Gen. Tom Ewing
ana Others Fingered the Telephone
Stock OF Washington Inventor.
]. Harris Rogers, of Washington, the cleo
trician at the capitol is the inventor of the
secret telephone. On Friday, in New York,
Mr. Rogers, in connection with his father, j.
Webb Rogers, the well known lawyer of this
city, served notice on the Union Trust com
pany not to deliver any portion Of tho stock
of the National Secret Telephone company
deposited with the company under pooling
arrangement with Thomas Ewing, Of Wash
ington, and others; and especially not to de-
liver to William j. Cahoono any of the stock,
on the ground Of his having failed to pay the
considerations therefor
Mr.. Rogers says Zone year and half ago
| secured number of patents, and among
those interested in them was Gen. Thomas
Ewing. lie bought an interest in them for
SO, 900 cash, and had further the option given
him for thirty days of placing $4,000 more
with strong financial men Those are the
words of the agreement. At the end of the
thirty days he came TO us and said he had
placed it with strong financial men men
tioning s. V. White, ex-Sccretary Boutwell,,
and others. A pool was then formed, and
the whole stock amounting to $5,000,000)
was deposited with the Union Trust company.
Gen. Ewing bound us not to sell any stock
except through S. V. White or some of our
own associates. We soon wanted to sell some,
and who are our associates2' we asked-the
agreement having been signed on the other
side by Thomas Ewing and associates and
nothing more. Gen. Ewing refused to give
us the names of any of these associates; and
then we learned that s. " White had not
acquired the interest which he was supposed
TO have, but that Gen. Ewing had asked him
to go into the scheme and he had refused.
"When we heard all this we at once adver-
tised in the New York papers and elsewhere
for our associates. You see we were bound
not to sell except to them or TO S. V. White (;
Mr.. White would have no interest in it, and
we wanted to know whom we could sell to.
The advertisements were no good but very
soon Major-or Judge--Cahoone called upon
us tbeing sent, as l can show, by Gen. Ewing,
and offered to buy the remaining interest,
which we held for $4,000. We accepted that
on the understanding that he was able to ar
range with all the other persons for their con-
sent. Cahoone gave us $4,000 in cash, 1000
in notes secured by gold mine in Mexico,
and $1,000 in transferred stock. The mine
in Mexico and also his notes have
proved worthless. The bill Of complaint
| which we are about to file prays that inas-
much as this company have been guilty of
many Irregularities in having sold stock
at less than par in having made no monthly
report, &C., therefore q receiver be appointed
| to take charge of the effects Of the National
Secret Telephone company, and that the
same be dsfranchised and dissolved The
grounds on which the Irregularities are
chiefly based are that Gen. Ewing was act
ing rs our broker and had no right to acquire
stock himself that he represented men as
holding an interest who did not and that
Gen. Ewing and Judge Cahoone were part
| ners at tho time of the latter's purohase.n