Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-21

i1cU cOluSS =
selection as we'll as petitioner, shows that
the physical condition of the defendant
railway to be bad. That it would require
from $500 to $500 per mile to put it in
fair running condition. That about 20
per cent of the traffic of defendant
railway had been diverted to the Missouri
Pacific railway and others; that the de-
ficit, since 1886 to date of June, 1888,
was fully $500 600; that there
had been steady annual de-
felt since 1881 amounting to over
81 800 900; that the outstanding bonds
of the defendant railway by virtue of a
first mortgage is 81 1854 900; and a sec
ond mortgage of 81 .054 600, per cent.
interest per annum, payable semi-anual-
ly, which had been issued and sold in
1881, when the defendant railway was
leased TO petitioner for nlnety-nine years;
and the said petitioner had, in 1881, Sc
cured a lease of the Galveston, Houston
and Henderson railway, with its prop
critics, which was afterward extended to
ninety-nine years. Said committee re-
port that your petitioner is the owner, by
reason of owning all or substantially all
the stock of the defendant railway and
its branches, $50 miles, all of which will
more fully appear by an inspection of
said report.
Petitioner further charges that, being
the stakeholder of quite all the stock of
the International and Great Northern
railway, that it owned the railway and
its rights and properties subject to the
aforesaid two mortgages and was in
terested in having said property main
tanned and kept in good condition ac-
cording to the terms of the lease. But
that plaintiff so used his possession of
said property as to greatly injure the
value thereof and destroy the property
as profitable investment. That every
portion of said property was allowed to
run down, the material to become almost
worthless and the property itself to be-
come unsafe for passenger and freight
traffic; that the condition was so notori-
Gus that a large number of suits for
damage were brought and judgments
obtained against it; and finally the state
of Texas filed quo warranto suit against
the defendant railway to forfeit the
charter and cancel its privilege Of ex-
emption from taxation. That under the
charter amendments the defendant In
ternational railway had an exemption
fromall taxation whatsoever for the pc
riod of twenty-five years from March 10,
to defendant railway the sum of $500 900.
That upon the@trial of said cause in the
district court of Travis county, Texas,
Judge TONNES on June 20, 1888, deliv-
cred the opinion and finding in said case,
declining to forfeit the charter, but can
ceiling the said exemption of taxation.
a report of said finding, giving copy of
that part of the Judges opinion and
Judgment, marked exhibit 1, Is
hereto attached and made part hereof.
Petitioner charges that by reason of
said plaintiff managing said defendant
railway and allowing it to depreeiate and
deteriorate in value and become almost
useless as a railroad, that he induced and
caused said suit by the state, the result
of which has greatly injured your petit
toner and deprived said property of a
valuable privilege of the reasonable
money value of $500, 900, which is here
plead in reconyention against said plain
tiff in this suit, and as an Offset to his
claim set forth in his petition. Petitioner
charges that the said plaintiff unlawful
ly leased said defendant railway to the
Missouri, Kansas and Texas railway, and
unlawfully leased it to the Missouri Paci-
fic railway; that he cut it loose and sew
cred the same by a resolution of the
board of directors of the Missouri
Pacific railway company and
the Missouri, Kansas and Texas
railway company about April
2, 1888, andt hen and there deprived it of
all connections terms of said lease, and
then and there seized upon and took
the possession of said 825 miles of railway
and its property, and has from thence
hitherto used and operated the same for
his own use and benefit; that such pos
session has been and is wrongful and
without authority in law or justice and
greatly to the damage of your petitioner.
That the annual rental value of said 925
miles of railroad is reasonably worth the
sum of $500 900 over and above all cur
rent expenses, betterments and fixed
charges, which sum is wrongfully with
held from petitioner, and which sum Pc
titioner here pleads in reconvention in
this suit.
Petitioner charges that the cause of
action declared on in plaintiff IS petition,
it is advised and believes and so charges,
is not a just claim against the defendant
That said plaintiff and his
board OF directors of the Missouri Pacific
railway and of the defendant railway are
one and the same and that note exc
cuted by one to the other or to plaintiff is
the same as the plaintiff executing note
to himself: that petitioner is advised if
the said defendant had been fairly and
honestly operated by plaintiff, and the
properly applied without diver
sion, that the defendant railway would
have been abundantly able to pay all the
current expenses and fixed charges and
kept its road and equipment in good re-
pair. Petitioner charges that the rents
and profits, the traffic ana earnings have
been mis-applied and diverted from the
payment Of the current interest due or
fixed charges, and that the
plaintiff has had sole and
exclusive control and management
Of said property since 1881 and the in
come has gradually decreased under his
Petitioner charges that
plaintiff is liable to the Missouri, Kansas
and Texas railway and its property; that
your petitioner is not liable to plaintiff,
nor is the International and Great North
srn railway, as the stakeholder,
for the treatment and wrongs
inflicted upon said defendant
railway, the property of petitioner,
liable to plaintiff for said sum or any part
thereof; on the contrary, that plaintiff
S due to your petitioner large sums of
money for the violation of the agreement |
by and between your petitioner
and the Missouri Pacific railway. Petit |
TONER charges that all the wreck and in
1r,sx- 1Ova hos haor, nv tho Y,IainSiR