The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-01-17

nectiOns. it Will Prove a Powerful
Foe to she Pennsylvania and SOUTH
ern
Especial to New York Commercially
Atlanta, January 10.-The inside
facts relative to the Seaboard Air Line
deal are now exclusively announced
in the Commercial for the first time.
One of the strongest indications that
the purchasers are not allied with the
Southern Railway Company is the fact
that Thomas F. Ryan is playing his
last card for it's possession. With the
sale of the %Seaboard, Mr.. Ryan, it is es-
timated, will lose fully $4,000, as he
paid a very large price for the 5000
shares of stock which he now holds.
He has obtained an injunction to pre-
vent the transfer of the property, but
it is now known that the ransfer was
made before the injunction became eff
fective.
The purchasers are all southern cap
~italists, and not one has close relations
with the owners of the Southern sys-
tenn. 1t is now known that the Sea-
board will be back of an issue of 81
500, 600 worth of bonds to be f1oated by
the Richmond, Petersburg and Carolina
railroad to complete this line between
Richmond and a connection with the
Seaboard Air Line at Ridgeway, N. c.
This completes the competing system
from Richmond to Atlanta, Ga.
From Richmond to Quantico, Va, the
Seaboard has the right to use the tracks
of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and
Potomac railroad on equal terms with
any other line on account of a proviso
in the charter of the Richmond, Fred
e~ricksburg and Potomac. From Guam
tico to Washington is to be built o
thirty miles of line, including a bridge
over the Potomac river, which will
form a connection with the Baltimore
and Ohio. Consequently the building
Of this link completes the system from
Jersey City to Atlanta, Ga, in compe-
tition with the Pennsylvania, the At
lantic Coast Line and the Southern.
Another outcome of the deal, accord
ing to the best informed officials, is a
close traffic arrangement, or the lease
of the Florida Central and Peninsular,
which meets the Seaboard at Columbia,
S. c., and extends to Savannah, Ca,
and Jacksonville, Fla. The Baltimore
and Ohio, the Seaboard and the Florida
Central and Peninsula form a New York
and Florida line, which is two hours
shorter in time than any now in oper-
alton. The Peninsula railroad is owned
by southern capitalists, who are very
close to the purchasers of the Seaboard.
H. R. Duvall, it's president, is a south
ern> man, and intimately acquainted
with John Shelton Williams, who is
to be the new president of the Sea-
board.
The result of the deal can consequent
ly be summed UP as follows: A COM
bination Of the Seaboard Air Line,
reaching from Richmond to Atlanta,
Ca, and entering the cities of Durham,
Henderson, Raleigh, Charlotte, N. c.,
Columbia, S. c., Athens and Atlanta,
Ga, and having seaports at Whining
ton, N. c., Norfolk and Portsmouth,
Va, and Baltimore, through the Old
Bay Line, its water connection; the
Georgia and Alabama railroad, extend
ing from Savannah, Ca, to Montgom-
cry with the Mobile and Ohio, by which
it reaches the coal and iron fields of
Alabama, and the city of st. Louis;
the Florida Central and Peninsular,
reaching Columbia, S. c., Savannah,
Ca, Jacksonville, Fla, and the prin-
cipal winter resorts on the east coast
through a connection Of the F1agler sy-
stem OF railroads. The opportunities
which such a combination has when
1t is connected with the Baltimore and
Ohio and has the advantage OF the
Royal Blue Line service are obvious.