The record-union., 1895-12-11
BIG SALE AT AUCTION.
ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND SANTA
FEE ROAD SOLD.
The Entire System Bid in by Edward
King for sixty Millions
of Dollars.

the Topeka passenger station or the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Rail-
road at o'clock this afternoon, when
]. B. Johnson, Special Master in Chan
Gerry, appeared to sell at auction the
company's vast system of railroad,
pursuant to the decree of the United
States Circuit Court of August 9th
| last.
| The notice of sale began with state
ment of the incidents leading up to 1t
and the various DEGREES of the court
and the amount now due, Sl40,
$40 OF. Mr.. Johnson then read in de-
tail the properties listed for sale, the
total sum of 470.0S miles of the Atchi-
son, Topeka and Santa Fe property, ex-
tending from the Missouri River at
| Atchison to the Colorado line, and all
| the appurtenances thereto belonging
necessarily to operate it; shares of cap
| ital stock of other companies held by
| the Santa Fe; bonds of other compa-
MES held by it, in all covering every
mile of railroad or vestige of stock,
bonds or other property held by the
| Santa Fe Company, the whole making
up the entire Santa Fee system of =, 343
miles.
He then, still reading this notice of
sale, announced that no bid would be
entertained without a previous de-
posit as an evidence of good faith Of
the bidder of 100000 in money, or GER
titled checks, or a quarter-million dol
lars of the general mortgage bonds of
the company; that no bid for less than
$100O0,O0O would be accepted, and
| that after sale the successful bidder
would be required to deposit, subject to
the order of the Special Master, $500
600 in money or certified check as part
payment on the purchase, and as a
/ r11a loo hot ms l<Q
his bid. Then followed other condi-
tons of sale and confirmation of sale.
| Then the Special Master quietly and
without any more flourish than II he
were about to sell a town lot to satisfy
boom mortgage" asked for the mill
| ionaireS or their representatives who
stood before him to make him an offer.
Judge Johnson was not equal to the
| task of reading the notice of sale
| throughout. In twelve minutes his
voice failed, and he turned the paper
over to w. II. Rossington, who read
eight minutes, and then was relieved
| by another, and so on until the reading
was concluded; and attorneys repre-
senting the minority of the bondhold-
ers of the st. Louis and San Fran
cisco system and of 5000, 600 of the
| Chicago, Santa Fe and California
bonds read a protest against the sale
of the property. This done, Judge
Johnson said that in pursuance of the
notice of sale just read, ne offered the
property to the highest bidder.
What am 1 offered?" the auctioneer
asked.
4 offer $6O,000,O0O," said Edward
King, in low voice.
do 1 hear any more bids?" cried
! Judge Johnson.
once, twice, the last call The prop
erty is sold to Edward King. Charles
c. Beaman and Victor Morawetz."
This ended the greatest auction sale
ever known, and the crowd dispersed to
| the Federal building, where Judge
Caldwell held session of court to con-
! firm the sale
| An intervening petition was filed to-
| day on behalf of the minority interests
| of the st. Louis and San Francisco
! system in the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe receivership case, praying for
an accounting between the Santa F'e
and Frisco companies. In the lam
| guage Of Santa Fe official, ut is the
same old fight in a new FORM and it
will not interfere with the proposed re-
organization of the Santa Fe system.
1t is filed now presumably before the
receivers let go of the Santa Fe. so as to
save the litigants any rights which the
courts may later on decree that they
possess. The articles of Incorporation
authorizing the reorganized company
| to do business have not been filed yet,
and Aldace F. Walker, who is to be
| Chairman Of the Executive Committee
of the new company, says that they
will not be till Thursday forenoon. The
/ charter will be taken out under the
laws of the State of Kansas, a special
enactment relative to preferred stock
having been passed by the Legislature
last winter to meet the necessities of
the Santa Fe reorganization.
While official information is with
held, it is stated upon the authority of
a Santa Fe man who is in position to
know that the old name of the COM
pany will be retained. There will be
couple of changes, but none that will
affect the popular name Santa Fe,
by which the system is known in the
West, or "Atchison," by which it is
known in the East. The present title
is "Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
Railroad Company" The new title
will be THE Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe Railway Company" The
word the" is put in the new title be-
cause since the original charter was
| granted the Legislature has made an
enactment requiring that word to be
a prefix in the titles of all corporations.
It is not given out either o4ncially or
unofficialy what amount the capital
stock will be fixed at.
Before the owners of the property
could agree on the title of the new
organization, there was a heated dis
cussion. Some wanted to drop any
semblance of the old name and accept
something new. but this was opposed
for business reasons. They could not
afford to drop the word "Atchison,' for
by that name the company's stocks and
bonds were known in the market. To
drop the words Santa Fe" was equally
Objectionable, as that had become the
company's trademark the world over.
To drop Topeka" would have been
offensive to the people of the Kansas
Capital, and might have caused politi-
cal trouble for the company, so it was
decided to accept George Peck's sug-
gestion, and the name THE Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Com
pany" was adopted.