The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-22

| said Brown and Fox, Jrauuulcnlly lnteEu-
| ing to create an indebtedness on the part Oh
the company for their individual beneht 10
| the Injury of the plaintiff and to defraud
| him of bis shares Of stock 10 the west Con-
| solidated Virginia, baye caused the latter
corporation to acknowledge liability ana
Indebtedness for doing the said joint work
| which was and is wholly false and fraudu-
| lent; that no part thereof was ever adj
vanced for said corporation or paid by
| Brown and Fox to the Andes"
The plaintiff claims that in June, 1889. the
secretary Of the company. Andross, fur
niShed him with a statement of liabilities
! for the year amounting to S4700, but that
he has since learned that q portion of the
money charged TO have been expended on
mine account was and is false, fraudulent
| and fictitious aud made for the purpose OF
absorbing the funds and moneys Of the
corporation, in order that the plaintiff
would be compelled to sell out his interest
| in the shares. That. owing to the skill.
cunning and deceit of the defendants. j. W.
Brown and NJ. W. Fox, he could not until
within two weeks last past have discovered
the facts of the falslty and fraudulent
character of the charges of the expenditure
of the money on the mine account of the
| corporation defendant"
Going step further in his story of alleged
:................."..: conspiracy, Steele AYERS
Why the Stock that Brown and Fox in
January, 1889. represented
was Not Listed that an opportune time
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; had arrived to list the
stock, but that in order to make it a sue
| cess it was necessary to have the aid of
great financial backing. and TO obtain
81 - no ~ for oil no ipG in
the pool TO contribute a portion of their
shares; that the proportion of shares he
would have to give would be y $50; but
that they, the defendants. were in honor
bound not to disclose the names of the par
ties with whom they had closed negotiations
aud that he must trust to their honor and
integrity to place such stock with these
persons; that the same representations
were made to Samuel T. Curtis, who also
| caused to be given an order for 7440 shares.
his proportion Of said shares.
After a reasonable time had elapsed for
listing the stock Steele says he made in
| curry of Brown and Fox regarding the dis
] position of his stock, and was told it would
/ be all right. Bot it was not all right, for
says Steele:
said mysterious persOnages have not as
| of the defendants. j. W. Brown and NJ. W.
| Fox were made TO this plaintiff and the
same were so made with the design to OBJ
tain said order"
/ The plaintiff next AYERS that Brown and
| Fox having become possessed of the order
| for the stock withdrew from the pool the
number Of shares represented by the order
and have sold or caused TO be sold q por-
| tion thereof, and now claim TO be owners Of
/ the rest.
In the process of work Steele says in his
| complaint that valuable ore bodies have
| been discovered, greatly enhancing the
value OF the stock, and that Immediately
afterward Brown and Fox. "fraudnlently.
and with intent 10 wreck, ruin and defraud
the plaintiff, " conspired together not to list
| the stock and sought 10 depreciate the
value Of the mine so that they could gobble
! Up the stock and control a mine they knew
TO be very valuable from the discovery Of
the new ore.
A further claim Is made that Brown and
| Fox ran up lot Of unnecessary expenses
| such as salaries and office rent, and that
these were created to eat up and absorb the
| moneys realized by the sale Of the working
| capital stock.
| Another averment Of Steele's is that the
! shares Of the company have been trans
ferred into the names Of persons. so as 10
place them out Of the actual CUSTODY of
] Brown and Fox, to defraud the plaintiff
| That lately Fox told him all the stock was
intact and under his authority ard control,
and that if he (the PLAINTIFF would allow
| him Fox to remain in control he would
make him a large amount of money. but
that If he did not he would slap on 25-cent
| assessment Steele also AYERS that Fox
told him that Brown had turned over all the
| pOel stock to him, so that none of it had
been sold.
In his prayer to the .-........................
court Steele asks that Wants the Agree
| the court set aside the
original agreement be- nieh' SCI AS'oe'
| tween himself and ''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Brown and Fox, and that an injunction be
| issued against the disrossl of any part Of
the stock by the defendants: that an in-
junction may be issued against the further
transfer of stock. and that an accounting be
had of all acts. doings and transactions Of
said Brown and Fox with the CO., 600 shares
Of stock of said corporation. Judgment is
also asked for against Brown and Fox for
the shares Of stock claimed by the plaintiff.
Such is the complaint containing the
charges Of fraud and conspiracy against
prominent mining men, read by Joseph NJ.
Nougues, the well-knOwn attorney and
legal representative of the plaintiff Steele
in Judge Stacks courtroom yesterday after
noon
Although no announcement had been
made of the case coming up, yet a mum Der
Of prominent mining men were in the court.
room. and took great interest in the pro-
csedings, especially when some spicy letters
were read about the famous mill ring of the
ComstOck.
Fox was present beside his attorney, Bag
gett, and frequently prompted him. Ex-
Judge Van Reynegom also appeared for Fox
Steele sat beside his attorney, Joseph Nou-
CUES.
After the reading OF the complaint Attor-
nsy Nougues stated that he would invert
the order Of his testimony little by call
Ing Samuel T. Curtis, one Of the oldest and
best-kn0wn mining superintendent in all
the ComstOck. The veteran mining en-
gineer aud expert took the stand, and
hardly appeared TO look as old as he rea lily
Is although his mining experience goes be-
fore the days Of Mackay, Flood, O'B!ien.
Hearst or Fair
Curtis testimony gave credenee 10 the
allegation IN the COM
Curtis Tale plaintof the discovery
Of the new ledge Of
VI 'e Dig '"u gold in the west wall.
:.s.".........'.......... and was listened to
with interest by the mlningmen present.
Curtis testified that he had been the
agent of Brown and Fox In represen ting
Steele at Virginia City; that Brown was a
man of great wealth. prominent broker
In San Francisco. and that Fox was an in
dustrious man with limited capital and
knew the ms and outs of making stock
deals; that he Curtis believed these rep