The Indianapolis journal., 1890-11-06

Mr.. Yerkes Tells How He Got Hold Of HE
Great Chicago Lines.

Mr.. Yerkes Tells How He Got Hold of His
Great Chicago Lines
Chicago Post
How did i manage to secure possession
of the North Chicago Street-railway Com
pany's propertyw said Charles T.. Yerkes,
respecting query put to him by the Sam
terer. Before coming West / had been for
way business either as officer OF a di-
rector. In Philadelphia / was associated
with two different companies, but soon
after removing to this city / sold out my
Philadelphia interests and was quietly
looking about Chicago to see what chances
there were for an investment of that kind.
/ had an eye on the North-side street rail-
way for some time, but was always under
the impression that Volney T.. Turner was
so much in love with the corporation that
he never could be induced to give il up.
During a trip from New York to
Chicago over the Pennsylvania road
[ met an acquaintance who was
engaged in the business of building cars
and from whom had bought cars while
was identified with street-railway manage
ment in the East. We were soon engaged
in discussing street railways, and during
the course of that talk my acquaintance
mentioned the fact that v. c. Turner and
Jacob Rehm wanted to sell out their inter-
est in the North-side railway corporation.
The very day i arrived here 1 visited the
Office OF the North-Bide road to meet nv
L.
Rehm. MIR. Turner at the time was in the
South. Mr.. Rehm at that meeting made
me an offer in the name of himself and Gen.
Turner, Volney Turner's brother, of a con-
trolling interest in the company and he
named his prIce This was 5000 per share.
the face value being 500. 1 asked them to
show me the accounts of the corporation SO
that could inspect the company's busi-
ness and see whether or not the stock was
worth the price asked and whether OF not
there was any prospect for an increase.
These gentlemen treated me In the most
courteous manner. They literally threw
the door wide open and gave me every OPP
portunity for investigation that could
wish l soon saw that the proposition
made was good one for me and they al
lowed me two days in which to come TO q
definite conclusion. ! made further in
vestigation the next day, and on the day
after told Mr.. Rehm that would take the
stock. This decision was reached early in
March and was given until April 10 pay
for the stock. Then / gave some
thought though to the men with whom l
purchase. At first it was my belief that
the better plan would be TO take in a
number of Chicago people. But the NUM-
Der OF those who understood the street-car
like rny other enterprise. If you ask man
to invest his capital in it he must have
every detail explained to him before lie
understands the project thoroughly. bad
no tlIue IOT dTRuIltut, anu no tlluc 10 COu-
vince people that the project was good
one, because, you must bear in mind, tho
purchase money had to be paid in a COM
parativoly short time. So i went East and
presented the matter to several of my
friends in Philadelphia, among them w. L..
Elkins and p. A. Il. Widener, with whom I
had been interested in street-railway prop
critics in Philadelphia. They agreed to sup
ply me with what money / might need, and
then started for Chicago.
gave the owpara of the ef0pk ratica
that they should get it ready to deliver to-
me at the Merchants National Bank, where
Rehm and General Turner and L met and
consummated the deal. The amount of
bargain was closed and the stock trans
ferred every one wanted to come in. L ex-
pected that. and SO let some of the former
stockholders into the new company. In the
course of a short time we concluded to Ca
BILE the lines. extend the road, and, in fact,s
put the property in very different shape
than it had been in. The consequence is
that in four years the North Side, instead
of having thirty-five miles of single track
and horse cars. has now eighty miles OF
double track, twenty of which is cable and
oeer 5000, ,0O0has been spent upon improves
mente
ABOUT SIX months after the purch 3s Of
the North-side street-railway PROPERTY met
j. Russell Jones' the president of the Vest
side corporation, and discussed with him
the advisability of relieving him of the
arduous duties pertaining TO the manager
ment of that company. AT first ne locked
favorably upon the idea. but subsequently
changed his mind. However, as the aver
age age of the board of directors was over
sixty years, and that average included two
members who were only a little over forty,
felt sure that 1t was only a question OF
time when they would be willing TO shift
the responsibility upon other shoulders.
The West Side was clamoring ior
rapid and better transportation. The
South Side had already been ca
bled and the North-side company
was rapidly completing arrangements to
adopt the cable as motive power. The
inevitable was staring the owners of the
West-side company in the face. Finally
the directors, who were nearly all large
holders of this stock. came to the concln-
sion that they had better sell out and let
some one else take the helm and stand the
racket. So the price was settled upon and
controlling interest was purchased at the
| rate of $3.50 share. par value 800 The
stock bought represented a total of Il. Co.,
600. In this deal a large proportion OF the
| stockholders were Chicago people. and
| did not have to draw on Eastern capitalists
nearly 30 heavily proportionately.