The Portland daily press., 1899-01-21

A most interesting and important case
came up before Judge Strout In the Su-
preme court yesterday afternoon. 1t was
n petition for an injunction by the
Western National bank OF New York
against William II. Besse OF New Bed
ford, William Rogers OF Bath and the
Atlantic Transportation company Of New
Jersey to restrain them from the removal
Of barge, now completed and ready for
launching at William Rogers shipyard
In Bath, from out the jurisdiction of the
court and asking for the appointment Of
a receiver until the case now pending Is
settled
This case involves many thousand dol
lars and is somewhat complicated. 1t Is
but the prelude to what promises to be
one of the most interesting legal battles
which has been tried In this court in
years. Libby. Robinson and Turner and
Benjamin Thompson of Portland appear
for the Western National bank of New
York. the petitioners, A. G. Burnham of
the firm OF Carver and BlodRett OF Bos-
ton and New York, represents Mr.. Besse
with william NJ. Bradley of Portland as
associate counsel. Symonds, snow and
Cook appear or the Atlantic TRANSFORM
ton company, and Mr.. Charles Larrabee
Of Bath represents the interests of Mr..
Rogers, the Bath ship builder.
The story of tbs case is as follows:
William IL. Besse of New Bedford who
owned eight harges and two tow boats
transferred them some time last year to
the Atlantic Transportation company, to.
gether with contract which he had with
William Rogers of Bath for the building
of four new barges of 5000 tons each to
cost about $50 900 apiece. 1heicompany
agreed to pay MIR. Besse for these barges,
tow boat and the contract $44, 400. and
also gave him fully paid up and non.as-
sessable stock In the company amounting
to 81, 1896 roo. The agreement called for
the payment of the 1914, 400 as follows:
extending over some time Mr.. Besse by
this agreement was to supervise the con.
struction of the barges and hurry them to
mple,ion. The stock of the company
amounting as has been said to s.. 996, 700
was transferred, SO Mir. Besse claims.
back to other parties with the exception
of go shares, par value 500, which he
retained. The object of this transfer was
TO issue all the stock of the company as
fully paid up. Mr.. Besse claims that he
does not know to whom this stock was
transferred.
The first of the four barges which Mr..
Besse had contracted.with William Rogers
for and the rights In which he had trans
ferred by this agreement to the Atlantic
Transportation company was to be
launched in May, and one on the first Of
each succeeding month until all had been
launched. The war prevented the barges
being launched as early as was first
thought possible but on November first,
three of the barges had been launched and
the fourth barge the one In controversy
was still on the ways at Bath nearly ready
for launching.
The petition of the Western National
bank sets forth that about Novem Der
29th 1898, MIR. Besse requested the At
lantic Transportation company to antici
pate the payment Of some Of Its notes and
pay him some $4,000. The Atlantic
Transportation company in ORDER to
secure funds for this purpose and also for
their other needs arranged with the VAST.
ern National bank of New York city. for
a loan of 500, 900 secured by mortgages On
seven barges, including three barges al
ready built by MIR. Rogers at Bath. AT
the same time Mr.. Bssse gave the uom
pany an agreement reciting that the
fourth barge was about ready for launch
would be promptly completed and
launched. He also agreed In this docu-
ment to transfer TO the A. 7. company,
the fourth barge free and clear of all
claims whatsoever. The A. T. company
forthwith assigned all rights to this barge
TO the Western National bank and ef-
fected loan of 800. 900.
The bill of the Western National bank
alleges that the transfer of the fourth
barge was made after consultation with
and the consent of MIR. Besse and that he
received s5i,.3).i2 of the $500. 900 loaned
by the bank.
The A. 4. company, after the great
storm in November suffered an Interrupt.
ton of their business and financially
failed about January first of this year
and receivers of all their property have
been appointed In New Jersey and In all
other states where they had property
Mr.. Besse having refused to launch or
transfer the barge in accordance with this
agreement, as the petitioners claim, the
Western National bank has filed its It'll
in the supreme court to compel him so to
do Offering to pay any sums to william
Rogers on account Of the construction Of
said barge. The A I. company makes no
opposition to this bill but through its
president and TREASURER who have filed
atYdayits in the case, acknowledge the
Justice of tho banks claims which are re-
sisted by MIR. Besse alone.