The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-06-15
BIC TUNNEL SOLD.
The Great Bore Under the
Hudson River Brings
Only 100000.
AMERICAN BoNDHOLDERS BUY.
They Will Reorganize and
Push the Enterprise
to Completion.
AMERICAN BONDHOLDERS BUY.

| After repeated delays and postpone
| ments t1le old Hudson River tunnel was
| sold this afternoon by Randolph Parm-
| lv Special Master in Chancery. The sale
| was held under decree of the Court CT
| Chancery in the suit brought by the
| Farmers Loan and Trust Company OF
| New York trustee of mortgage Tor
| S4 coo, 900 given to secure bonds OF the
| tunnel company There were present at
! this mornings sale Henry S. White, sol
| ieitor for the Trust Company; FrfederlcR
| Jennings of Stetson, Jennings d russell
ex-Pres. dent Cleveland's S firm, who repre-
sent the American bondholders; Mr.
Blanc, representing the firm of LORD, Day
& Lord, counsel for the English bondhol-
ders; Edward keasby of Newark counsel
for Pearson & Son, of London, England,
the contractors who were building the
tunnel when the work was suspended, and
Henry Pearson, the younger member OF
the firm.
At fifteen minutes after twelve O'Clock,
Mr. Parmiy mounted a pile of lumber ana
began the sale He read the legal notice
of the sale and also the conditions under
which the property would be sold The
sale is to be subject to claims of $4,000
of Pearson & Son, and ten per cent. of the
price bid was required to be paid down.
All taxes, water rents, ETC., which the
purchaser might pay, are to be deducted
from the purchase price.
There was only one bidder, Mr.. Fred
erick Jennings and he offered S3O0,0O0 AT
ter due warning Mr.. Parmly knocked the
property down to him and Mr.. Jennings
passed over a certified check for SSO0oo,
and signed the contract Of sale. The sale
of the New York end of the tunnel, to-
gether with all the property of the com
pany in that State will be sold tomorrow
noon at the Real Estate Exchange In
New York City. 1t is understood that
Mr. Jennings will buy the New York prop
erty also for the American bondnolders,
who will soon reorganize the company
and complete the tunnel
The history of the Hudson River tunnel
is interesting. The scheme had its in
spiration in the pressing demands of com
merce for better shipping facilities at the
termini of the trunk railroad lines center
ing in the port of New York. 1t was in
1873 that the project was first put in def
mite shape and from that time until work
on the tunnel ceased, after the great acci-
dent July q, 1880, when twenty-one lives
were lost, and the work practically
ceased although some was done after
that the history of the tunnel scheme has
been one of hard struggles. Opposition
was offered at the very outset by the rail-
road companies the tunnel was designed
to benefit. The original idea was that the
tunnel should be used in common by the
railroads entering in Jersey City and Ho-
boken, but petty jealousies and fears of
unequal advantages as well as the amount
| f1,o
railroads to wage bitter war against the
scheme. In this they were Joined by the
New York Central Railroad Company.
Many months were spent in legislative
contest at Trenton. Finally, however.
Colonel Haskin, the prime mover in the
scheme, secured from the Legislature
charter and organized the Hudson River
Tunnel Railroad Company. The follow
ing were chosen officers of the company
President and General Manager, Dewitt
c. Haskin; Treasurer, c. G. Lincoln;
Secretary, L. C. Fowler; Directors. c. @.
Franklyn. Trener W. Park, G. G. Lincoln,
]. s. Weathered. William NJ. Force. J.. c.
Fowler and D. c. Haskin.
The securing of the charter was only
preliminary step. The hardest strus-
gle was for the right of way After suit
after suit had been tried and determined,
the difficulty was finally overcome by
purchasing the necessary ground at the
foot of Fifteenth street from the Della
ware, Lackawanna and Western Rail-
road. The railroad demanded $5000 600,
but the court decided the property was
only worth $4,000 and that price was
paid for it. In New York State similar
obstacles were encountered. The New