Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-13
ILLEGAL BATTLE
In Which Rx-Governors and Famous
LAWYERS Will Handle the Guns.
READING RAILROAD THE ENEMY.
Descendants of Robert Norris After Land
Worth 100000, 900.
INSIDE FACTS ABOUT THIS BIG SUIT

The largest realty suit ever commenced in
this State was formally brought yesterday
by the Robert Morris Land and Coal Com
pany against the Reading Railroad Com
pany, the bill of complaint being filed in
this city with the clerk Of the United States
Circuit Court, by Arthur d. Vinton, ESQ.,
of New York city. one of the counsel for
the plaintiff company. The papers are sup
Elemental to six suits OF ejectment and
three suits for mesne profits fled recently in
the same court, the realty in issue being
s.949 acres Of coal lands in Northumberland
county now operated by the Reading Coal
and Iron Company and the Reading Rail-
road Company conformity, partly under tax
titles and partly under leases from the Lo-
Gust Gap Improvement Company and the
Fulton Iron Company.
The suit takes a sensational complexion
on account of the vigorous allegations that
the Reading Company is insolvent; that
the lands in question are mortgaged for 9
sum far above their value, and other
specific charges, upon which are based
demand that receiver be appointed for the
Reading Railroad pending adjudication
upon the title of the lands.
HISTORY OF THE BIG SUIT.
Mr.. vinton is son of Rev. DR.. Vinton,
of New York. He arrived in the city on
the limited express yesterday morning,
transacted his business with Clerk Nc
Candies and returned East upon the 4:30
p. NJ. train. Prior to his departure he told
a DISPATCH reporter the inside history of
the suit He said: 1.-THE Robert Morris
Land and Coal Company has been recently
chartered under the laws of New York
State with a paid up capital of $4,000, 900,
for the purpose of fighting the suit entered
to-day. Stewart Newell, of New York, is
President, and a number of the lineal de-
scendants of Robert Morris, the first Secre-
tary of the United States, are interested.
Those who have taken stock in the company
embrace the foremost fnanciers in the coun-
try. The mere announcement of the
formation of the company created a furry
in Wall street, tumbling Reading down
four points and lowering first mortgage
bonds from to 2 per cent. The land at
neighborhood of $50, 900, 900. The Robert
Morris Company claims the possession of
the land under the original warrants
granted to Robert Morris by the State of
Pennsylvania and the subsequent legal
titles of record covering the period from
1898 to the present time. The claim Is
made that the titles are in fee simple
and easily traced in the Northumberland
county records, that county having been
one of the original counties ofthe State. A
vast amount of research has established be-
yond doubt-we think-the authenticity of
the titles under which we are moving.
! "Early in the '60s the Philadelphia and
Reading Company entered into alleged pos
session of portions of the lands by buying
out a multitude of squatters, one by one.
The balance of the lands were bought upon
tax titles, which we shall endeavor to inyal-
ldate. By these means 20 contiguous tracts
were secured, but we shall attack the whole
series of requirements as being In non-con-
formity with legal provisions. Since its
first entries upon the land the Reading has
opened and operated 80 or 40 collieries, from
which at least 9. .OOO, 900 tons of coal are an
nually mined and sold, approximating at
least third of the annual business of the
Reading Railroad and constituting one of
its most important coal fields.
"The present proceedings are the culmina-
tlon of six ejectment suits filed over a month
since, which were intended to lead to a
comparison of titles. At the same time the
company Drought IDree sultS IOr damages 70
the extent of s., ,000, 900 based on mesne
profits. The formal bill of complaint filed
to-day alleged succinctly the above facts,
and also set forth and alleged that the
p Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, and
the Reading Coal and Iron Comparative
separate offenders, but Joined in the issue
are practically bankrupt and are unable to
be responsible for anv coal mined from the
lands while these ejectment suits await
adjudication. We also allege that the two
companies are about to
ENTER INTO A TRUST,
the Readings pet scheme, for the control of
the anthracite coal market. / believe that
the evidence we have goes to show that the
Baltimore and Ohio, Pennsylvania, Lehigh
Valley, Delaware and Hudson, Delaware
and Lackawanna, Erie. Jersey Central and
Reading Railroads were to be the compo-
nent members of the trust, which was to be
of great magnitude. We therefore ask that
the Reading be enjoined from entering this
trust or from mining and carrying away any
coal from these lands pending a judicial de-
termination OF the title thereto, and the al
Tentative relief of a receiver for the property.
The bill of complaint also charges that
quantities of valuable timber are being cut
and carried away, and asks for relief from
that injury"
Speaking of the general aspect of the suit,
Mr.. Vinton said: "In addition to the cita-
tion of damages, we further claim that the
lands are mortgaged for far beyond their
value to the detriment of the title, and that
the creditors of the two companies have
been traudulently misled. We also claim,
and 1 think shall prove. that the assets of
the companies are extinct, and that the
wrongful possession of these lands enables
them to prolong corporate life to the direct
injury of the Robert Morris Land and Coal
Company. We also claim that since March,
1889, the Reading Company has ceased to
issue reports as TO financial condition and
the discontinuance is because the report, If
issued, would show increased financial de-
fciency and insolvency. We also ask for
an injunction against the transfer of
any land during the pendency of
the litigation. The President OF
the road, Mr.. Austin Corbin, was
injudicious enough to rush into print, stat
ing that. right or wrong, litigation would be
maintained long enough by his company to
enable it to exhaust the coal lands and de-
preeiate their value thoroughly. This utter
aDce somewhat hastened our action, besides
making our bill of complaint much more
comprehensive as a matter of selfprotection.
The allegations we make in regard to the
pending trust in the anthracite trade will
make sensation in trade circles, but it, as
well as other allegations in our suit, are
based upon most searching inquiry and a
painstaking collection of evidence having a
bearing upon all phases of the suit.
BIG LAWYERS INTERESTED.