The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1891-08-07
The Gregory, Ballou u Co. Case,

been in charge since October. 1886. An
custodian of acceptances and storage &C
counts. All acceptances issued by Nat
ional Transit Co.from November 20, 1888
to August, 1887 ARE in my control. an
not at liberty to deliver any one OF those
acceptances issued between those dates
to Gregory, Ballou and Co. / am advis
ed by the solicitor Of the company that
the law makes it a misdemeanor for
pipe line company to part with cancel
led certificates or acceptances, but they
shall be filed and preserved in the prin-
cipal office of said corporation. All rec
ords, certificates and acceptances are al
it's principal office in Oil City. / have in
my possession all certificates which were
issued between November l, 1885 and
July 81, 1886. The form used was the
same for all acceptances issued between
those dates. The certificate reads as fol-
lows:
Acceptance No. -, Oil City, Pa. National
Transit Company, through its United Pipe
Lines Division, deliver to - or order. one
Thousand barrels of crude petroleum lot AZ
gallons each) on the following terms which
are agreed to by the holder thereof. 1t is
agreed that the petroleum mentioned in this
order is held by the National Transit Compa'
ny subject to transportation charge of (20)
cents per barrel and storage charge OF i've.
Fights of one cent a barrel for each Is days or
fractional part thereof from and after date of
issue and that the point for delivery of said
oil shall be at the option of the National Tran
sit Company and within it's United Pipe Line
division. 1t is further agreed that this order
shall be returned to the National Transit
Company for exchange within six months
from date of issue or be subject to storage
charge of one tenth of one cent barrel daily
thereafter until returned. tits further agreed
that the National Transit Company shall not,
in any event, be liable for any loss of crude
petroleum resulting from lightning, fire,
storms, or other unavoidable causes, it being
distinctly understood and agreed that any
such loss or losses shall be charged pro
rata upon all petroleum in its custody at the
time of such loss or destruction and that the
quantity of petroleum called for by this order
shall be reduced by its proportion OF such
loss or destruction. 1t is further agreed that
and all accrued storage charg-
es shall be paid on the amount SO deducted.
Our storage charge was, from one day
up to - days, (50) cents per thousand
barrels per day. For -, IA and Is days
the charge was Al 2-3c per day per 1000
barrels. Storage charge to be paid at
the expiration of six months from the
date of issue of the certificate. When
certificates passed from one owner to an
other, the seller usually paid up the stor-
age charges to the time of making the
sale. The storage charges were the
paid to the National Tran
sit Company as a consideration for its
services and capital invested in storing
and taking care of the Oil and as cover
ing the shrinkage in the quantity of oil
from evaporation. The number of &C
ceptances was limited by the quantity of
oil in the custody of the lines at the par
ticular time. The company never issued
certificates in excess of the quantity of
oil in its actual custody. We always de-
liver to the owner of any certificate the
actual amount of oil represented by it
upon the payment of its pipeage and
storage charges, either into tank cars at
delivery points on railroads, or in the
tanks of refineries, Or some delivery sta
ton of the company. The holder of
certificate can always have the quantity
of oil represented delivered upon de-
mand, if he furnishes receptacle in
which to receive it. From September /,
1886, to April 80, 1887, the storage
charge was 40c per thousand barrels per
day. May l, 1887, the rate was reduced
to 25c day for thousand barrels. BY
the rules of the company before May 1,
l SS7 when the acceptance was permitted
to remain outstanding beyond six
months, the company had a right to col
lect 81 day for each day such certifi-
cate remained outstanding after the ex-
piration of six months Since May 1887,
the expense has been reduced to SOC a
day on one thousand barrels. L have dis
tinct recollections of fling away return
ed certificates which bore the endorse
ment of Gregory, Ballou & Co. could
find them by an exhaustive search, but,
without knowing the dates and num-
bers, it would involve great deal of
time and labor. If had the dates and
numbers, could find them in a very
short time. No person but one of the
officers or employees of the company
could secure access to the vaults of the
company where these papers are filed.
The papers and documents filed away in
the vaults represent many tons and it
would be a very difficult matter for a
stranger to accomplish much in search
ing through the vault, while it would
totally disarrange the papers and bust
ness of the company. We are always
willing to produce any papers in our
custody, if any reasonable information
is furnished by which to make the
search for them and produce them for
the inspection of parties interested, at
the principal office in Oil City. In reply
to question of Lawyer Tweedy, as to
whether the company would permit GER
tificates issued by them to Gregory, Bal
lou & Co., or cancelled by their endorse
ment, to be taken by an agent of the
company to Connecticut for use on this
trial, if they could be found, the witness
replied that he could not answer the
question without consultation with the
officers of the company and further said,
in explanation, 81 am informed by the
solicitor of this company that such a
course could be done, provided the ac-
ceptances did not at any time pass out
of the custody of the company's agent
or representative in charge of them; but
such a course would not be followed, ex.
cept in a case where the production OF
the certificate out of the State was clear.
ly necessary to further the cause of JUS
tice. am advised that, as yet, no such
necessity appears to exist in this case