Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-17
No FRAUD INTENDED.
The Report of the Master in the Graf,
Bennett & Co. Suits,
EXONERATING EX-JUDGE BAILEY.
The Magnitude of the Mortgages Account.
ing for the Price
REALIZED AT THE AssIGNEES SALE

As a refutation of some very bitter charges
against Judge John II. Bailey, the late
Democratic candidate for Mayor of this
city, the report of the master, Jacob H.
Miller, in the suit of the Cherry Valley
Iron Company ct al, versus James Picands,
James M. Bailey and James W. Friend, re-
ferred to by counsel as "The Three Jims, q"
trustees, charged with fraud in connection
with the assignee's sale of the Millvale Iron
Works of Graf, Bennett & Co., is of unus-
ual interest.
Master Miller has finished his report, and
in reviewing the testimony, finds that Judge
Bredin, in bidding at the sale, was only a
"puffer," and that he admitted in his
testimony that he was not a bona fide bid
der; further, that j. M. Swearingen, counsel
for another bidder, testified to the same
effect as Judge Bredin. The master also
refers 10 the testimony of other witnesses
that no fraud had been committed. He
finds that neither trustees no agents made
any agreement to cease bidding. He also
finds that the trustees were not guilty in
purchasing at the assignee's sale.
DIDN'T MEAN TO BUY.
In the second place, the master finds that
neither Thomas Carlin & Sons nor w.
w. Dickey intended to become pur-
chasers, but bid without any intention of
having the property knocked down to them.
Thirdly, the Master finds that Judge
Bredin, counsel for Dickey and j. M.
Swearingen, counsel for Carlin, each stated
to counsel for the trustees that their clients
did not intend to purchase the property
offered by the assignees.
Fourthly, the master states that he lis
unable to find IRON the facts in this case, and
the laws as applicable thereto, that fraud
Oh Graf, Bennett & Co., or their creditors,
was either contemplated or committed by
the trustees of she syndicate or their counsel,
In the purchase of the property in question
at the assignee's sale or prior thereto. He
further finds that while this property sold
below its value, the magnitude of the mort
cages which encumbered it accounts for that
result.
The master finally finds that "he has been
unable to find that the defendants, the trus-
tees, have been guilty of fraud in the pur-
chase of the property of Graf. Bennett u
Co. at the assignee's sale or prior thereto.
1t therefore results that the bill and the
cross-bill must both be dismissed" and the
master submits a form of decree, recon-
mending the Court to dismiss both.
NO CASE MADE OUT.
Among the legal fraternity it seems that
the case is considered very thoroughly dis
posed Of, and the attorneys for the various
defendants, Knox & Reed and S. A. Nc
Chung, did not think it worth while to offer
any testimony or any argument, holding
that no case had been made by the plain
tiffs, who certainly did not suffer for lack of
counsel, having Dalzell, Scott & Gordon, G.
c. Dickey, T. c. Lazear and H. A. Miller,
a legal se1tet that are not only supposed
to know thing when they see it, but con-
siderable about law beside.
Rolling mills and blast furnaces, however
desirable, are not usually easily sold, even
when not surrounded by legal complications.
They cost a vast amount of money, and con-
purchasers are limited in number,
and, beside, many men who have the neces-
sary cash hesitate to take the risk of opera
ting such plants without special knowledge
their management and the extern
sive market territory necessary to support
them.