The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-09-04
THE ROW ABOUT TT.
New York Merchants and the Broad.
way Surface Railway
Charge That $75O,OOO was Paid Al.
derm en- for the Right of Way
Jay Gould VS.. Hunt
1ngtOn.

NEW YORK, Sept. A number of mass
meetings will be held by the merchants of
the city to protest against the granting of
the Broadway street-railway franchise by
the board of aldermen The agitation will
start off with a gathering in Chickering hall
Thursday night, and, as there is great indig-
nation and excitement among all Broadway
business men, the affair promises to be in
toresting. The parties interested employed
two rival detective agencies to trace the
ei5h,OO0 bride said to have been paid to
tWenty-0ne aldermen, and genuine sensa-
ton is looked for before the week is out An
injunction forbidding the taking of further
steps i'll the matter is made returnable on
Monday next If the action of the
aldermen is declared Illegal the cable com
pany will renew its bid of 81 900, 00J
cash for the franchise and will probably ST.
cure it. g. T. Huntington, the Central Pa
ciiic railroad magnate, is said to be the prime
mover in the Broadway railway scheme,
and it is also said he found no difficulty in
buying up few poverty stricken aldermen
after many years of success among congress-
men and senators Wholesale merchants on
Broadway look with dismay on the probable
IL VI IL lbitl btlll1 btlit, anu every
one of them interviewed thus far is opposed
to it. Owners of property on the street say
that all their leases beginning May last
were made with a clause providing thai the
lease would become void if a surface road
was built during the life of the lease The
aldermen are simply defiant and will not
yield an inch
The World says: "As the strange actiO
of the board of aldermen in giving ava,
the street railroad franchise. valued at over
81 ,00O0 900, is discussed and Investigated,
men of greater public prominence than Jake
Sharp are mentioned as being behind
the scheme. 1t is now asserted on
trustworthy authority, that the great Cen
trail Pacific monopolist Huntington, is deeply
interested in the cable railway scheme now
under consideration and which, it is under
stood, is to be rushed through by the common
council at the proper time, A story dis
cussed by members of the third house is that
d. o. Mills, representing Huntington, or
ganized IA rapid transit commission, and
Gamble, the old Western Union tele-
graph man in San Francisco. was put
in charge of the cable system. Hunt
ington has been fighting Gould for years. and
was a warm friend of $. H. Kneeland wher
he made things so lively in the metropolitan
company said Wall street broker When
the cable railway company was organized III
California Halliday, of San Francisco
owned OF controlled it, and, believing it was
a good thing, syndicate composed of Hunt.
! ington, Stanford, and Crocker bought
| it and transferred it to the city
for operation. They put Andrews Al
| it, believing, as he was in charge
! of the Steam Heating company
| the cable company, II successful, coult
utilize this steam power much cheaper thar
| by the erection of engines and boilers Ther
came the fight for the control of Broadway
| Huntington's friends Boosting that he haC
bought congressman and could easily pur
chase aldermen Jay Gould, as the repre-
sentative of the elevated roads, has joinel
issue with Huntington and is lighting thi
/ Broadway scheme, and the aldermen vii
| probably be guided by the longest purse.