The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-05-24
TIE Way the Terminal Sees It.

The Richmond Terminal has not yet got
through growing over its failure to
strengthen its grip on the Georgia Central.
The financial editor Of the New York Sun
seems TO be in its confidence and
to sympathize with It. In the Sun
day issue of the Sun he devotes
half column to Richmond Terminal affairs,
calling particular attention to features Of
Georgia Central recelvership. He could
hardly have got farther from the truth il
he had tried After giving it as his opinion
that the litigation for breaking the lease Of
/ the Central to the Georgia Pacific had for its
object the personal advantage of the counsel
who instigated it, he says: THE Georgia
! Central, though entirely solvent, was placed
in the hands of receiver by Judge Emory
Speer, OF the United States district court,
on a petition of a woman holding fifty
shares Of the stock, and simply because the
plaintiff alleged that the property was being
mismanaged by the majority stockholders,
that is, the Richmond Terminal Company.
That property, having value of $50, 200, 900,
was taken from the control OF its owners
without any notice whatever to them, at
the instance OF a young attorney who is said
to sustain close relations to the judge who
took the property under his own jurisdiction.
The next action Of the court in these entirely
ex parte proceedings was to order a new
election on the ground that the board of di-
| rectors consisted Of persons who should not
be tntrusted with the management OF the
property. When that election was held
Judge Speer dtsfranchised the stock which
is held in trust for the security holders of
the Richmond Terminal Company, and at
the same time permitted the minority
stockholders to re-elect nine of the thirteen
directors who had been previously declared
by the court incompetent to manage the
property. The four changes that were
made were unimportrnt. The next step in
these remarkable proceedings was to COM
pei the lessee company to surrender the in
ventory that it had made Of the Georgia
Central property. A certified copy of the
inventory was offered to the court, but a
United States marshal demanded the origi-
nal document"
II the able financial editor Of the Sun will
look up the record he will probably find
that all the parties interested were notified
The failure Of some of them TO put in an
appearance was their own fault. The order
for new election was made in connection
with the order enjoining the voting power
of the shares held by the Richmond Termi-
nal. Neither order was made by Judge
Speer alone, but by Judge Pardee and Judge
Speer together. and the attorney who filed
the bill to break the lease does not sustain
close relations to either judge, as far as the
public knows
The Central Trust Company asked the
privilege of voting the shares Of the Rich
mond Terminal, but it presented no salts
factory reasons why it should have it, and
its request was denied.
The complaint Is also made that the
Richmond and Danville was compelled to
give up an inventory Of the Centrals pro-
perty, which had been taken by
the superintendent of the Central.
under the direction of the
president of the Centrars board of d.
rectors. What right had the Richmond and
Danville to the inventory? That it got hold
OF it at all is regarded as remarkable. That
the financial editor of the Sun thinks the
action Of the court In forcing the Richmond
and Danville to give tup was an outrage
shows he knows nothing about the facts.
and, hence, shouldn't attempt to enlighten
the public
The Richmond Terminal and the Central
Trust Company have no ground for com
plant. Those who have suffered are the
minority stockholders and the owners Of
other Central securities. The Central is in
much safer hands now than when the Rich
mond Terminal controlled its affairs.