The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-06

. 90 MlL 10 EH. NN NIe Es4ENLLAs EaIlsa =
/ the Parsons lines reduced their fares 70
I / cent and even on one line TO one-haif a
/ cent. Mr.. Collins says: The City and
I Suburban and the Savannah. Thunder
7 bolt ana Isle Of Hope people have never
] hesitated 90 proclaim their motive 90 be
! that Of destruction 20 the property and
! the Electric Railway Company OF Savan~
| nah. Mr.. r. j. Thomas a director Of the
] City and Suburban railway. announced TO
me as coming from Parsons that ] had
better trade with Parsons on the terms
I he proposed and ~ not / would have 20
I thank him for anything ] might have
/ left The position OF the Parsons
/ lines has always been that they were
first upon the streets OF Savannah AID
that subsequent lines were trespassers
and unless the concessions demanded OF
/ them were granted. involving the purchase
Of their property at an extortiOnate figure
by the Electric railway. or as an alter
native the tearing up OF the Barnard
street and Price street tracks, the wal
would continue on the principle that as
Parsons was man Of wealth. the bond
holders OF the Electric railway, who were
mostly men OF moderate means, would 80
to the wall"
MT Collins charges Director Hartman
Of the city and Suburban railway with
iustigatiug the suit OF Mrs. Josephine
Dieter involving an approx Innate amount
OF the Electric railway and Savannah and
Isle Of Hope railroad; Mrs. Dieter, he says,
protests that she knew nothing OF the
suit. had paid nothing for its maintenance
and heard for the first time on March i,
last that she had sued dep0nent He
mentions that the suit was fled and con-
Quoted by the attorneys of Hartman and
the Parsons lines. Mr.. Collins also re-
fers to Mr. Harrimans Electric railway
bond deal and the subsequent effort to
put the Electric railway into the hands
OF n receiver, made by James J.. Logan
with the assistance Of Hartman, as shown
at the hearing of the petition in the SUI
periOr court
He further says that he has made con-
slant and repeated efforts at some just
and equitable conclusion of the existing
difficulties, but has been met at every
turn with such frivolous suggestions as
mileage basis and audaclOus demands TO
tear up miles of the tracks OF his COM
pany as the ultimatum Of the Parsons
lines in regard TO restoring fares, to have
yielded TO which would have ruined the
business of his company. The conspiracy
he says. has wrought great injury 10 the
Electric Railway Company and its bond
holders.
The affidavit Of Mr.. Wrenne deals prin-
cipally with his efforts to adjust the diff
ferences between the two companies and
the threats OF MI thurman 10 run LNt
Electric Railway Company into bank
ruptcy. Il told him." says Mr.. Wrenne,
in his affidavit, that his prop
positions were manifestly unfair
and that his conduct and the policy
of his companies were unfair, reckless,
and not justified by any principle of right.
Justice or fair dealing. / called his atten-
ton to some of the characteristic meth
obs he had adopted to injure, wreck and
destroy our properties or compel us to
buy his on terms ruinous to our security
holders or trade with his people on just
as ruinous terms. Among these methods
/ enumerated the reduction of fares; COW
ertly attacking as i believed the charter
OF our company in the Dieter case; buy
ing the coupons of our bonds and sending
them through different banks of the city
hoping thereby as / believed to have them
in each case protested for non-payment;
attacking the credit Of the Electric Rail
way and those actively engaged in its
management and largely interested in it's
securities; selling its bonds short, thereby
hoping 10 precipitate a receivershp and
to further destroy its credit; causing a
suit TO be instituted by creditors Of the
company to wreck it's credit and put it in
the hands of a receiver; asserting that IT
operated its lines at great loss; that II
made no net earnings; that many of its
lines were worthless not necessary and
that we had no business building the
lines that we would have to suffer the
consequences and that he had to do these
things for the protection of his company.
Substantially that this was wa and the
result of war; that that there were too
many tracks in the town and that some
of them must come up"
To Mr.. Wrenne's affidavit are attached
two very interesting letters received by
him from President Johnston. The latter
comes out plainly in his letters and says
that the Barnard street line is the bone
of contention"
I'VE would like to see 1t removed al
together" he says. our Whitaker street
line can do all the business. 1t has done
all the business prior to 1891, and has been
doing the most of it the last six months.
If you cannot afford to remove it then
sell II TO us, say from Bay to East Broad
street through Barnard and Anderson
streets. This Barnard street line has
hurt US more than any other. We and our
successors and you and your successors
can never live in peace and quiet so long
as these two lines remain in the hands
of rival companies. We were doing very
we'll on Whitaker street before your peo-
pie dropped down on Barnard street"
In his second letter, dated Feb. 8, 1895
Capt. johnson says: Your putting a line
on Barnard street cost us $4,000 a year for
the little woman selling tickets on Bar
nard street. good on the Whitaker street
line, is costing that line at the rate of
$4,000 a year. l do not care to argue which
line should come up, Barnard or Whita-
ker; 1 could advance reasons in favor of
both. 1 simply say 1t is unnecessary to
run both" He refers to the contract of
the Barnard street line with the city to
open up Barnard street from Anderson to
Twelfth. and predicts that it will cost
the Electric Railway Company $685. 900 to
$4,000 to carry out its contract. He says
that the Parsons lines do not want the
Electric railway system, but would pre-
fer to make some arrangement as to
territory by which each company
would have a we'll defined territory of its
own not subject to competition.
The affidavit of Receiver J. R. Young
simply states that in his capacity as re-
ceiver he approached the representatives
of the Parsons lines for the purpose of
inducing them to restore the customary
fare of cents. In conversations which
he had with Messrs. Hartman and E j.
Thomas they stated that the Barnard
street line ought TO be torn up and the
| Thunderbolt line abandoned. Mr.. George
Parsons in conversation with him made
the same observation.
A report of the proceedings in the SUI