The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-23
STILL FISHING FOR FACTS.
The Question Of Rebates Brought Up
al Yesterdays Examination.


Maj. Shellman Says Last Year was
the Poorest One for Railroads in the
South He has Ever Seen MI. Win
burn Questioned About Some vouch-
ers-Mr. Hopkins on the Stand
Again.
The Central examinations go on daily.
and the fishing process progresses, but so
far no very large hauls have been rappa-
rent, and while Brown 4 Sons attorneys
may have obtained the very information
they desired. the fruits Of their research
have not been apparent TO the casual OBJ
server.
The examinations for the past two or
three days have deem conducted by
Messrs, Pat Calhoun, and J. j. SpHlding,
and during that time they have been given
free access to all the books of the Central
II. r. in any department they chose to in
vestigate, and they have had Messrs.
Courtney. Bostwiclh & Upshaw, of At
lanta here assisting them in conducting
such Investigations Of and making such
extracts from the books and records of the
Central as they desired to make. They
have made use of a number Of such ex-
tracts and vouchers and before the mas
ter in chaneery have conducted an inves-
tigation in regard to them.
Meanwhile the evidence aCCumulateS at
the rate of 10000 to $4,000 words a day
The details of both the financial and the
traffic departments of the Central have
been brought out, and when these investi-
cations are completed everybody con
cerned will have a clear idea of how a
a railroad system is operated
A statement to the effect that MIR.
Calhoun had made the insinuation that a
letter had been distracted from one of
the files in the Office of the purchasing
agent, which appeared in yesterdays
report, might have created wrong
impression. 1t was shown during the
examination in Mr.. Corners Office, that
Mr.. Calhoun had previously asked for a
copy of the letter, and that the original
had been taken from the file by one of the
clerks in MIR. Corners Office in order to
make the copy as requested.
MR.. HOPKINS ON THE STAND.
The examination was resumed yester-
day in the Office of the master instead of
Mr.. J. w Corners office, where it had
been held before. Mr. Hopkins, Of Hop
kins & Schley, took the stand and the
cross-eXamination by Mr. Calhoun was
continued. Very little was brought out
that has not been stated before.
1t was shown that after Henry James &
Co, of Baltimore, had refused to 4ill that
famous lumber order to the Central, a let
ter had been received from the Z. d. AL
bro Company, of Cincinnati, showing that
the lumber priced by the Baltimore firm
was not Of as good a quality as was or
dered
Mr., Hopkins also stated that in doing
business his firm always put in their bid
and when accepted they bought the lum-
Der at as low a figure as possible, and had
1t billed to the purchaser at the figure at
which his firm had agreed to sell it. 1t
was generally billed directly to the pur-
chaser in order to avoid any unnecessary
delays. This had always been their Gus
tom and no objection had been made to it
before this time. This was the way in
which they realized on their transactions
ana no lumber sold by them had ever been
rejected
A QUESTION OF REBATES.
Maj. w F. Shellman, traffic manager
was the next witness on the stand.
Mr.. Calhoun and Mr.. Spalding produced
some vouchers which they thought showed
that rebates on oranges shipped from
Florida by the j. I. IL X. w. have been
given by the Central to the parties ship
ping them. Maj. Shellman was questioned
very closely concerning these vouchers
but IL was not shown that any state law
had been violated by the Central in issue
ing them. In fact they turned out to be
vouchers which had been issued to the
J. I. & K. w r. r. and the New England
Savannah Steamship Co. for differ
enee OF eight cents per box in one case, six
teen cents in another, in a case where
they had been undercredited for their
portion of the freight on some ship
ments of oranges.
The South Bound railroad and its rela-
tlons to the Central was also an interest
ing topic touched upon. Brown a. Sons.
attorneys, made another attempt to show
that the favorable determinations had
been made toward that road under the re-
ownership. They did not see how it was
that the South Bound had more cotton
out of Augusta last year than 1t did the
year before, while the Central had less.
Maj. Shellman thought it was because the
main offices of the p. Il. & A were located
there and traffic arrangement had ex-
listed between that road and the South
Bound: The South Bound also had an
ONCE there. The Central had made every
effort TO get all the business from
Autlsta that they could possibly OBJ
Maj Shellman stated that the Central
was doing all it could to prosecute a vigef,-
Gus competition against the South Bound.
and IN some instances he said the receiver
Aaq given instructions to make rates
which would exclude the South Bound
from certain classes of business.
ABAD YEAR FOR RAIL ROADS.
When cross examined by MIR A. r.
Lawton Jr Maj. Shellman said that he
had been in the railroad business since
1898, and that during great deal of that
time he had had experience in the traffic
departments, but that last year had been
the worst for railroad business he had ever
seen or known Of
The depression was largely due to the
heavy decrease in the cotton crop which
had fallen off by about 1000. 600 bales
and there had been nothing to make it up.
The Central depended largely on cotton
Tor It's business, and consequently felt
this decrease heavily.
The Central, he said, had COTTON fair
share of the business as compared with
o:her roads which operated in the same or
adjacent territory during that time, but
under veIy adverse circumstances A
heavy loss was experienced in the closing
OF the e. r. q c., by the caving in of the
tunnel on that road, and the fact
that the road was in a receivers hands, he
said, had also affected its business. How
ever, all the principal systems working in
the same territory had been hampered by
similar disadvantages and had lost very
heavily. The Central, under the circum-
stances, had done very well
How about the prosperity of the rail