The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-03
AFFAIR FRIENDLY
RECEIVERS FOR THE KANSAS CITY
"a GULF FAVORABLE TO
STILLWELI.
APPLICATION RATHER HURRIED
A FEDERAL JUDGE CALLED FROM
HIS BED TO SIGN THE NECES-
SARY PAPERS
PORT ARTHUR CANAL CAUSE

Delayed by Legislntion So Long
That the Company Was Unable to
Meet Its Bonded Debt Interest
Step Was Taken to Prevent SIM
liar Action in the East-The His
tory of the Trouble.
KANSAS CITY, Mo-, April 2-The re-
Ceivership for the Kansas City. Pittsburg
& Gulf railroad, granted IN this city late
last night by Judge Gibson. of the circuit
court, will, according to the company's
officials. interfere in no way with the op
Grafton of the property, and the reorgan-
ization plans, which have been making for
some time, will, it is claimed. go forward
without delay. The receivers, all of whom
are Kansas City men, are friendly to the
president of the road Arthur E. Stiliwell,
who has engineered the property from its
inception. The act, they declare. is
friendly one, and was made necessary 10
head off unfriendly Eastern stockholders,
who contemplated similar action.
The history of the Kansas City, Pitts
burg & Gulf railroad and it's joint enter
prises, the northern connecting lines and
the Port Arthur ship canal, contains prac-
tically a realization of the long desired
short line to the gulf.
The construction of the road was ac-
complished mainly through the efforts of
A. E. Stillwell, formerly vice president
and now president of the road. The road
grew out of the old Kansas City, Nevada
& Fort Smith road, of which E. L. Mar
tin was president. The Nevada & Fort
Smith line was projected to run to the
gulf but only a comparatively short part
had been built when Mr. Stillwen took
up the work. The road was built during
the financial crisis of 1928 and was an
undertaking which few men believed
would ever be completed The original
purpose was to make Sabine, Tex, the
southern terminus. kountZ Bros, of
New York, owned 10000 acres of land in
and around Sabine. Stllwell made a
proposition to build his road to Sabine if
the owners would give him 81 per cent of
the interests there. The offer was de-
clined Mr.. Stillwell then went to Hol-
land and interested Dutch capitalists in
the enterprise.
TEXAS TOWN SELECTED.
1t was finally decided to make Port Ar
thur. Tex, the roads terminus and to
build a ship canal from that point, eight
miles to Sabine Lake. The last spike was
driven on Sept. II, 1897, and the first
through train reached Port Arthur on
that day While the canal was building
Injunction followed injunction to delay
the work and 1t was only finished on
March 25 last. when the first shipping was
brought up to Port Arthur from the gulf.
In the meantime Mr.. Stillwell assumed
the presidency Of the road, E. L. Martin
being made vice president. Branch roads
becoming necessary for northern connec-
tions, the Pittsburg & Gulf company
bought and built lines giving them the
Omaha and Quincy connections. These
latter lines are not included in the re
ceivership. A bid for the Alton road for
a Chicago entrance was made, but fell
through.
The long fight to complete the canal
made it apparent several months ago
that the road would not, for the present,
be able to meet the interest upon its
bonds and a reorganization of the whole
property was planned Mr.. Stillwell
snent three months In New York working
on the project, and when he returned to
Kansas City last week it was announced
that satisfactory plans had been decided
upon and would soon be announced.
A few days ago 1t was learned, ac-
cording to the local officials of the road,
that the State Trust Company of New
York which holds the roads bonds to
the amount of 100000, was prepared
to take decisive action, If the interest
payments of $575, ,O00 due on April 1, We're
not met Yesterday learning, as they
claim. that certain Eastern stockholders
were intent on applying for a receiver
ship, 1t was decided by the local officials
of the road to head them Off
HASTY RECEIvERSHIP.
Accordingly c. E. Grannis, of New
Haven, a heavy stockholder, who is IA
vorable to the local interests applied for
a reccivership, arousing Judge Gibson, of
the circuit court, from bed at late hour
last night to appoint receivers. The
men appointed, E. L. Martin, Robert GILL
ham and J. Med. Trimble, are respec-
= lively vice president, general manager
and general counsel of the road, and
are friendly to Mr.. Stillwel. Mr.. Still
we'll asked not to be included, stating he
believed he could better serve the stock
holders If his hands were left united.
Mr.. Stillwell says: 1.-The uncared for
Indebtedness of the company, including
coupons. is only s1,000,000, or per cent of
the capital. The earnings Of the road
for March were 1886. 900, far in excess Of
anything that 1 had expected before the
canal was completed. With this amount
Of Indebtedness, 1t would be very easy
job to reorganize the road to put 1t on
its feet in very short time.
Had the road had three or four
months more uninterrupted it would have
easily paid its floating debt without any
trouble and would have taken care
of its coupons of $575,000."
The general impression of the receiver
ship is that the road is insolvent in that
1T was unable to meet the interest on
Its bonds, which falls due on April /.
which amounts to s575,OO0, and Is unable
to clear away other debts which reach a
total Of between 100000 and s40o,ooO.