The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-02-06
DRAWN BY A MASTER HAND
Living Picture of C. P. Hunting
ton on the WitneSs-Stand
Twenty Years Ago.
CoHEN's scATH1NG INvEcT1vE.
The Magnate's Lapses of Memory.
Brand of Perjury Indelibly I'm
pressed Upon His Forehead"

q
| DDS and practices, in and out of State and
National politics, and in private financial
matters, are being widely discussed. and
when public suspicion, to put it mildly, is
directed to the attempts of Mr.. Hunting
ton and his satellites to foist upon the peo-
pie measure that reeks with injustice to
the whole country, and especially to the
people of California; when this same Mr..
Huntington is being paraded by his paid
supporters as q man who is being
wronged by a cruel press, and who is
suffering from unjust attacks upon
his reputation for honesty and We
| racity; at a time when such man, with
the air OF injured innocence, is masquerad-
ing as patient, much abused person from
whom the people have withheld praises
due ana of whom the people now dare to
demand some 1.-THE of what belongs to
them-at such time it will not be unin-
teresting toireaders in general to behold
the picture that is revealed when the light
is turned upon the past career of g. P.
Huntington, that past career which he
would give millions to have erased from
the records and buried in oblivion.
| Few men were in better position to
| thoroughly know Huntington than the
| late Alfred A. Cohen. He had been in the
employ OF the railroad company ana had
large dealings with 1t, but finally he had
won the hatred of members of that corpo-
| ration and they struck at him blow that
| was intended to Shatter his influence and
standing. The stroke had boomerang
| effect.
Cohen in 1868 owned ferry system be-
! tween this City and Oakland and Alameda,
and he sold it to the directors of the Cen
| trail Pacific Railroad in 1869. After that,
| Cohen managed the property for the pur-
chasers until August, 1870, when it was
consolidated with the Central Pacific Rail-
road Company. Then Cohen became
agent and attorney for the company, at an
annual salary, with the proviso that the
| duties should not interfere with his private
! business. This arrangement continued
| until 1875, when Cohen withdrew from the
railroad company's service.
Now, in the year 1868 Cohen and others
purchased part of a ferry slip at the foot
| of Second street, known as block 9, from
Henry B. Ticnenor, the latter retaining
ne-fourth interest. The purchase price
was $2G0, 600. In October. 1869, Hunting
/ ton, as represented by the Contract and
Finance Company, obtained an option
from Tichenor to purchase block 9 within
| a year for $3.50, 900. The option was exer-
cised and the property purchased for that
| price. ears passed; a social quarrel
| sprang up between Cohen and one of the
members of the corporation in 1876.
Cohen left the company's employ and
advocated bill before the Legislature for
the regulation of freights and fares on the
company's line, whereupon the corpora
ton, to destroy Cohen's influence, raked
up transaction seven years old and
brought suit against Cohen, alleging that
the latter in 1852 acting as the com pany's
agent, had purchased block 9 for 5000, 900,
| and by secret arrangement with Tichenor,
had reported the price to the company at
$3.50, 900, the defendant (Cohen) fraudu-
| lently retaining $4,000.
| For this latter sum the railroad COMPANY
sued Cohen. The action is entitled Cen
trail Pacific Railroad Company vs. Alfred
! A. Cohen, and 1T as tried in the Twelfth
District Court OF San Francisco in October,
1876.
| The case served to show up the members
| of the corporation. 1t was heard before
Judge W. P. Daingerfeld, who, having
| heard all the evidence and listened to the
| able arguments of both sides, without
taking the case under advisement, imme-
diately announced his findings IN favor of
Cohen, the defendant.
In that case, Huntington was q leading
witness for the plaintiff. His character is
painted on the records of that court
Mr.. Cohen fully comprehended the in
lQuitous power of the corporation which
has become the great Southern Pacific
Railroad Company of to-day. In begin
ming his remarkable address in that case
he averred:
know that the power of this great corpora
ton, which has been not inaptly compared to
that of the devil-fsh, has been extended in 81
most every direction. know that the clank of
its golden letters has been heard along the
floors of legislative halls. know that the
mildew of It's corrupting influence has crent
over the desk of Supervisors and Assessors I
know that its gilded finger of menace has been
raised to make dumb voices that should have
been heard on the side of the people in caucus
and in convention.
In discussing the evidence given in the
suit in question by the man who is now
the controlling power in the Southern
Pacific, Mr.. Cohen says:
Mr.. Huntington is the urbane member of
the corporation. He is the Ephraim Smooth
the Congressional OPERATOR the legislative
broker and financial manipulation of this great
corporate Kraken. Mr.. Huntington is the
diner and winer of the Washington DEPART
ment of this deyil-ish.
Mr.. Huntington possesses a memory like one
OF the rocking stones of the ancient Drdids-
the finger OF friend placed on the right SPOT
can cause 1t to vibrate to the very center, but
the batter1ng-ram OF foe cannot move it one
iota from its stolidity. Before a Congressional
committee and in the witneSs-box or in The
taking of deposition, Mr.. Huntington is the
representative know nothing of the nine
teenth century; he is very centennial speci-
men. Mr.. Huntington obtained hisyast wealth
from the Contract and Finance Company-of
palpabe but affluent incorporeal monster MT.
huntington was part to the extent of one
fourth.
The Contract and Finance Company, COM
posed OF Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins and
the CrockeTs, was in partnership with the
Central and Western Pacific Railroad Com
pany, composed of the Crockers, Huntington.
Hopkins and Stanford. 1t was a partnership
which resulted in the first corporation owning
all the property and the second Corporation
owing all the debts. The railroad corpora
ton proper, the debt-saddled and curse-in-
| numbered corporation, still lives. 1t lives to
elude assessors, to debauch legislatures and to
cover at the doors of Congress- seeking only
immunity and oblivion. Once its cry was that
OF the daughters of the horse-leech, .'Givel
GlveH' Now its refrain is, ''Let us alonel Let
US alonei'
On September 10, 1875, in San Francisco,
the members of the Contract and Finance
Company voted to put an end to its life,
and Mr.. Huntington voted one-fourth of
the whole capital stock of the company in
favor of disincorporation. Mr.. Cohen,
therefore, makes the supposition that the
Contract and Finance Committee is no
| more, and he continued from this point as
follows: