Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1894-07-21

Harney Peak Tin Mining, Milling and
| Manufacturing Company, was done By
Samuel Untermeyer, the president Of
| that concern.
The proceedings yesterday grew out of
the appointment by Judge Lacombe a
short time ago Of a receiver for the above
| mentioned mining and milling com paBy.
Albert X. Ladoux, the receiver in ques-
ton, had been appointed very suddenly
and very quietly on an ex parte state
! ment of the English stockholders, who
held the property was being grossly
| mismanaged. 1t was i'll order Yesterday
for the president and trustees Of the
company to show cause why the receiv-
! ership should not be made permanent.
They were represented ia this effort by
Lawyer Louis Marshall, of the firm of
Guggenheimer, Untermeyer d Marshall.
who opened the proceedings by announc-
ing his clients were greatly grieved and
Inundated by the manner in which the
receiver had been appointed and had
acted. He (the receiver) had suddenly
swooped down on the Office of the com
pany without warning and taken forcible
possession of everything in sight He
had refused the officers Of the company
access TO the books in the safe, thereby
greatly embarrassing them in preparing
their case TO show canse why he should
not be continued as receiver.
Excuse me-" interrupted Lawyer Cole
at this point, "but | do not think you
are stating the facts quite correctly. If
it please the Court, the safe has what Is
known as a combination lock. The
combination is known only tothe former
officers of the company, and the contents
of the safe are at present inaccessible to
the receiver. The officers of the CON-
pany, the other day, requested the re-
| ceiver TO be permitted to open the safe
and examine such hooks and papers as
they saw fit. and the receiver told them
that if they did so they must leave the
safe open SO that the books would be ac-
cessible to all others concerned. They
refused those conditions, and he forbade
their opening the safe"
"And he was entirely correct in so
doing" added the Judge. "Now," said
he, turning to Mr.. Marshall, proceed
with your argument" The contention
of the lawyer, who spoke for several
| hours and read voluminous affidavit
from President Untermeyer. was that
the mining property had been managed
! in the best possible manner, and the
| English capitalists who had raised the
present rumpus and cried for receiver
| had done so in order to crawl out OF an
agree ent to advance certain sums OF
money tor tie development Of the prop
| erty. He claimed the president and
trustees (among whom are included Geo.
| Ehret, Lewis May, William Remsen and
| others) were all men of large means and
abundantly responsible for their acts in
the management of the company, and
| that as matter of fact they have in
vested large sums in the enterprise and
were interested to much greater finan-
cial extent than the persons who asked
| for the appointment of a receiver.
At the conclusion of Lawyer Mar
shal's argument Mr. Cole arose and
made the dramatic announcement that,
pany were locked up in the safe out OF
the receivers reach, few important
books. fortunately, were not in the safe
at the time of the receivers swoop down
on the office. A very tell-tale letter
book and the company's check book had
| by some oversight, he presumed, been
left outside of the safe, and through
them he was able TO show additional
reasons for the appointment Of the re-
| ceiver.
Against the vehement protests Of Mr..
Marshall, Mr.. Cole then read entries
from the stubs of the check book, show.
ing most extraordinary expenditures OF
moneys. A dozen checks were drawn
for sums varying from $500 TO 81 200 to
pay expenses Of entertaining Lord
Thrrlow and party of English capital
its, who had been persuaded to visit this
country two years ago by the trustees
with a view to inducing them to take of
the hands of the trustees some of the
large blocks of stock which the trustees
own. 1t will appear from these items
that if Lord Thurlow or any member o.
his party spent a penny OF their owr
money from the time they left England
until they returned. it was without
cause. One check of $500 was drawn q
the order of the resident engineer oftbs
mines. which, by the way, are in South
Dakota, to pay for the expenses of en-
tertaining the aristocratic visitors while
at the mines. Whether the entertain
ment embraced o trip to Deadwood ans
visit to the elephant in that vicinity
was not specified. There were two
checks drawn to President Untermeyel
for two visits to England. One was fol
$4,000 and the other for $4,000.
Lawyer Cole also read an aiyidavi
from Swsde named Ole Sneve, of Gus
ter county, s. Oak, declaring that il
July, 1892, he was directed by the resi-
dent engineer of the company, Jerome
S. Childs, to erect cyanide mill q
Deadwood. He swears that by the di
rection Of Childs he took quantities o
lumber, iron. tools and machinery o
various kinds belonging to the HarDel
Peak Mining, Milling and Manufactur
ing Company, and used the same il
constructing the cyanide plant at Dead
wood, and that during the time he wal
engaged in this work for other parties
he was paid by the Harvey Peak Com
pany.
II Lawyer Cole said in the ten years o
the cOmpany's existence. and although
SIS ZOO, 900 Of stock had been issued, tn,
total amount Of tin taken out Of tn,
mines was 20,473 pounds, having a com
mercial value of 81 .545.45.
Judge Iacombe late In the afternoon
adjourned the bearing until Monaal
next In order to give the counsel for thu
trustees an opportunity to meet the nev
anidayits. In the meantime the re
ceiver remains in charge, with rhs SAT
locked.
Regarding the charges noted Abov
the company's superintendent. MI
Childs. IL reported by the Deadwoo'
Times as having said that the supple
removed from the companys propeit.
were 30 removed becalise they were II
danger Of being destroyed by fire 0
stolen by trespassers. Accordingly. the
| were disposed Of at market prices ant
the money used In paying the employe
of the company and for other necessar.