Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-11
ROAD TO BE SOLD TUESDAY
Sioux City tS Northern to he Knocked
Down Under the Hammer
This Week.

SIOUX CITY Dec. 10.-(Special. Under
an order of the Judge of the United States
court in the Northern district of Iowa,
western division, all the property of the
Sioux City & Northern Railway company
under foreclosure proceedings will be sold
Tuesday morning at IL o'clock by Howard
S. Baker, who has been appointed special
master in chancery to conduct the sale. This
is the second railway to be sold in this
manner in Sioux City this year. and from
all indications it will be the last one. The
| other line sold was the Sioux City. O'Neill
& Western, running from Sioux City to
ONeill, Neb., which property was bid in
by J. Kennedy Tod & Co. of New York,
who held the mortgage bonds. 1t is now un-
der the control of the Great Northern and
is known as the Sioux City & Western.
The Sioux City & Northern is a line run
ming from Sioux City norshward to Garrett
son. S. D.. and there connecting with the
Great Northern system. At the present time
it is under the management of two receiv-
ers, Judge Warwick Hough of st. Louis,
representing the eastern stockholders, and
s. j. Beals Of Sioux City, representing ]. j.
Hill, who owns a large block of the stock.
The road is to be sold to satisfy a mortgage
held by the Manhattan Trust company,
trustee, ain the sum of 81 ,920, 600 and inter
est from 1898. There is little question in the
minds of the business people of Sioux City
that the road will pass into the hands of
j. ]. Hill, president of the Great Northern.
and that it will henceforth be operated in
connection with the Sioux City G. Western
as a part of the Great Northern system.
This is one of the lines of road built by
| what was called THE Syndicate" composed
all of Sioux City men-James e. Booge, Ed
Haakinson. D. T. Hedges, A. S. Garretson
and John Hornick. All of these men since
| lost their money in the huge deals they were
trying to pull through.
They borrowed the necessary money to
build the road in 1889 and 1t was all placed
to the credit of John Hornick with the Union
Loan and Trust company as trustee. The
road was built and since that time been
| in constant operation. However, it failed
to pay it's interest on its bonded Indebtedness
and in 1898 the Manhattan Trust company
filed an action in foreclosure. Then came
up the question of the appointment of a
receiver. Two different factions were in
| terested and the court finally compromised
the question by appointing two men to take
charge of the affairs of the property.
! This receivership is about to be termin-
ated. 1t was at the same time, however,
that the Credits Communication company, sue
cessor to the defunct Union Loan and Trust
company set up a claim that A. S. Garret
son had hypothecated certain stock of the
Sioux City & Northern and bonds of the
Sioux City e. Western from the vaults of
the trust company and had disposed of them
to ]. Kennedy Tod g. Co. and a long line
| of litigation followed. The cases went to the
United States supreme court, which tribunal
| finally held the stock and bonds belonging
to the Tods, thus defeating the claims of
the Sioux City corporation So 1t now
! stands the Tods oEn the Sioux City &c
Western and the bulk or the claims against
the Sioux City g. Northern and it is possible
| they may yet get the latter road also.
| But the fact remains that the Sioux City
& Northern is a fine piece of railway prop
erty. 1t has paid very well since it went
into tho hands OF the receivers; men who
knew how to manage the business and make
money. 1t has paid off great deal of its
/ back interest and the property is in splen-
did condition. The road runs through a
very good territory and all along has had
really more business than it could conven-
! iently attend to. 1t stands as one OF the
monuments to the stupendous energy of the
! five Sioux City men, who stand now almost
! penniless, but who started out in the boom
days of Sioux City to either make or break
I in the attempt to build railways They
built two, but went broke on the deals
This is the last remnant of their property
] to be sold,