The morning call., 1894-03-27
1t Was the Slaven Brothers Who
Upset the Coach.
DICK SQUARED STOCKHOLDERS.
True Inwardness of a Curious Suit
Brought by the Well Known
Railroad Manipulation.

bard. Stillman & Co., the New York firm
of lawyers.
The papers in the case were fled in the
United States Circuit Court yesterday
afternoon and are models of brevity.
In them Mr.. Chute's right to the
amount for which be sues is set forth in
rather indefinite way, the mere assertion
being made that ''on the 5th day of jan
uary, 1898, the defendants were indebted
TO plaintiff in the sum of $500 for work
and labor done and services rendered be-
fore that time by plaintiff in and for the
business OF said defendants"
Of course the filing of the suit created
considerable excitement and Immediately
gave rise to the rumor that Dick and the
railroad people had fallen out and that
some rare exposures of tricks Iikened unto
those of the Heather Chinee" were about
10 be made.
ms. however. does not prove to be the
case. Mr.. Chute and his railroad friends
are still upon the best of terms and his
suit has to do with an entirely different
matter.
Its origin must be traced back to the
days of the Panama canal excitement and
the many complications which surrounded
the Slaven brothers in their dredging ope-
Tations.
The services rendered" by MIR. Chute
were on behalf of the Slavens and con-
sisted mainly in convincing duped stock
holders that it would prove more profita-
Bile for them to accept 70 cents on the dol
lar from the managers of the concern with
which they had placed their money than
10 sue for the full amounts due.
The story of the Siaven Dredging Com
pany is quite familiar one to many San
Franclscans and deals in the main with
one or two unprincIpled men and their
many dupes.
Henry B. Slaven at one time owned the
drugstore in the Baldwin Hotel, but he
sold out late in the seventies and went
down to Panama. Work on the canal was
in progress at the time and money circu-
lated quite freely.
Slaven had been in the country but
very short time when he hit upon very
brilliant idea.
His brother, NJ. A. Slayen, was in the
contracting business in this city at the
time. in partnership with George c. Mer-
rill, and the firm owned several large
dredging machines.
These machines it occurred to Henry 3,
SlaVen could be used TO great advan tage
on the canal. and he at once began to
arrange for their introduction into the
Panama district.
The people who had charge of the canal
work gave Slaven. every encouragement,
and in short time quite a strong stock
company was formed.
The capital was obtained principally on
this coast, and NJ. a. SIaven and George
I. Merrill were among the largest share
holders.
The dredging machines were built and
put to work. and they proved quite sue
cessful. Then q contract to perform all
the dredging work was made, and the
Slaven Company became pronounced
success.
The terms of the contract with the canal
management were very liberal. and the
dredging company found itself in posi-
tion to make lots of money, but in some
strange way the money made always man
aged to disappear before the time arrived
when a dividend should be declared and
paid
This circumstance caused much COM
ment ana eventually resulted in an lnves-
tigation into the way in which the dredg-
ing concern was being managed.
The result Of the investigation prove d
quite startling. 1t demonstrated quite
clearly that Henry 3. SIaven was not
treating his business associates in quite
the proper way. This discovery resulted
practically in the dissolution of the COM
pany.
Previous to this time Merrill had dis
covered that he was not gettinga square
deal, and fearing that an attempt to freeze
him out was being made had commenced
legal proceedings to determine his interest
in the company.
The disgruDtl tied stockholders took sim j.
lar action when the exact condition of
affairs became known to them, and it was
then that Dick Chute appeared on the
scene.
Butler. Hubbard g. Stllman were the
attorneys for the Slavens, but as heir Of
flee was L. New York and the suits were
to be heard out here, the necessity of EN-
ploying local talent became apparent.
On the recomm endation of the railroad
people Creed Raymond was given the job.
and OF course his contract included Dick
Chute, who was then Haymond's right
hand man.
That Chute proved useful later develop
ments indicated.
Raymond, instead of going into court to
settle the suits. proceeded to arbitrate and
compromise them.
The work OF arranging affairs was left to
Chute, and proved quite d fficuit task.
Four men were interested in the pro-
ceedings. and overture after overture was
made TO them to cause them to withdraw
the suits, but for sumo unknown reason
each proposition fell through, until year
or two ago matters were finally disposed
of here.
Chute claims that in the final settle-
ment he played quite an important part.
and it is upon this claim that the suit for
S25,000 is based.
Just how much the defendants are i'm
pressed by tue proceedings can be readily
judged by statement made by General
Hubbard.
81 can hardly TELL" said he, "by lust
what right this money should be paid 10
Chute. Our firm never had any business
dealings W. tn him that / know of. nor was
he ever called upon to assist US in any way.