The Topeka state journal., 1897-09-25
It Has Been Fastened ON the
Georgia Central Railroad.
One of His Men Assumes the
Presidency.
Had TO BE A RESIDENT
And Went to Savannah a Year
Ago to Get Citizenship.
j. p. is Proving Himself to Be
Second Jay Gould.

/ sept EOA1
| Morgan has scored another important
| point in his project for the control of
| all the railroads and steamship lines in
| the southern states He has won his
| long fight for possession of the Central
| railroad of Georgia.
| On October 1 the big system will TN
| dergo another reorganization. H. NJ.
| Conner, now its president, will retire
and John M. Egan, Morgan's man, will
| succeed him. The Georgia stockholders,
! who have retained control of the prop
erty despite that they We're in the mi
| nority, will lose their grip by this
change and will be at the mercy of
| Morgan and his associates
| Morgan's effort to gain this victory
has been prolonged. The minority
| stockholders were enabled to retain
| control of the system because of a
! clause in the charter requiring that a
citizen of Georgia should be the presi-
| dent. On this account H. M Conner,
formerly receiver for the system was
elected to the presidency a year ago.
AT that time, however, Morgan began
laying plans for the capture of the
management. He put in as vice presi-
dent, John M. Egan, formerly president
OF the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City
railroad and prominent factor in the
general managers association, in which
connection he played an important part
IN IN the prosecution and incarceration: of
Eugene V. Debs
Morgan sent Egansto Savannah with
instructions to make his home there
He has now been a resident for a year,
and can become president of the sys
tenn. His promotion to the place means
complete change in management-a
change that has already begun to be
Ielt in New York as well as throughout
tenn
The Central railroad of Georgia owns
ana controls $S,154,491 worth of trans
SSortatlon lines, including the Ocean
steamship company, whose steamers
ply between New York and Savannah
anu the New England Steamship COM
Pany with lines operating between New
1ork Boston, Philadelphia and Savan-
nan; The system has 1900 miles of rail-
road reaching all of the large cities in
Georgia and Alabama
Its chief competitor is the So11tharn
railway, controlled by J. Pierpont Nor
gan & Co. The Southern railway has
5BrunsWick. Ga, for it's seaport, and
snip company for New York The Cen
traI railroad, with Savannah as its port
ana the Ocean Steamship company as
US water line, IS the chief competitor
OF the Southern railway in this terri
tory: Therefore, in gaining control of
the central system, Morgan can run it
as ne chooses and wreck the property
II ne desires in order to give the
Southern. railway full sway in that
neId. This was what happened to the
Gentfai once before when Morgan
ahrough the old Richmond Terminal
company, had it in his power
John NJ. Egan, the man whom Nor
gan puts IN charge of the Central sys-
tenn, is a native of Springfield, Mass.
he mas been leading figure in the rail
road world for years, having been CHER
engineer of the Southern Minnesota
ROAD, general superintendent of the ca
madam Facific'S Western division gen
eral superintendent of the ST PAM
Minneapolis and Manitoba, general
manager of the Chicago Great West
ern, president of that system, and pres
City.
The New York directors of the Cen
tral OF Georgia are Samuel Spencer. G.
u haven and Charles Steele All the
remainder of the Is members of the
directorate are minority stockholders
VINO live in Georgia, with the exception
of Mr.. Egan.
H. NJ. Conner, the retiring president
is one of the richest men in the south
He IS president of the Bible Manufac
turing company of Macon. Ga, and of
the hrm of Conner, Hull & Co, manu-
facturers of fertilizers President Co
mer was receiver for the Central until
the Iast reorganization by a New York
syndicate. in 1895. The property was
one that earned rich dividends until Jaw
Gould gained control of it through the
Richmond & Danvilles road. Soon after
that it was thrown into the hands of a
receiver and was not rescued from, the
courts for years.
j. Pierpont Morgan has, evaded the
issue in the fight the people of North
carolina are making against him for
control of the North Carolina railroad.
he was subpoenaed as a witness in in
junction proceedings brought before
special Master Kerr Craig, at the Park
Avenue hotel
Mr. Craig had been appointed bv
Judge Simmons of North Carolina to
take the testimony of Mr. Morgan and
others accused of IN,
getting lease of the North Carolina
road for the Southern Railroad compa-
ny, which they now control.
Mr. Morgan was represented at the
hearing by his counsel, Fairfax Harri-
son, who was in constant communica-
tion with the banker by telephone Mr.
Morgan was finally excused on the as
surance of his attorney that he had no
knowledge of the lease other than that
it existed, and was now in litigation.
The estimated value of this lease is
$12, 500, coo.
The Southern Railroad company got
an injunction from Judge Simonson of
the Fourth United States circuit court
restraining Gov. Russell and Attorney
General Walser of North Carolina
from suing in the courts of that state
to set aside lease made in August,
1895, by the North Carolina road to
the Southern, or Morgan & Co, and
covering a period of 80 years. When
the injunction was granted, John G.
Carlisle, lately retired as secretary of
the treasury. appeared as special cOun-
sci for Morgan & Co. His associates
were Francis Lynde StetsoD, Henry
Crawford of Chicago. and a half score
other eminent legal persons whose Joint
fee was said to have amounted to over
$3.50 600.
The property in dispute is in South
Carolina, the road extending from
Goldsboro to Charlotte, 225 miles,
touching at all principal cities of the
state.
The line was built in 1854 partly by
convict labor, yet cost the state SS.0O0.-