The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-03-15
SHAMEFUL STORY Of
DELAGOA BAY CASE
GROSS INJUSTICE PROLONGED
ny DILAToRY ARBrTRAToRs.
Although Portugal Admitted That
Her seisure Of the Delagoa Bay
Railroad from It's American Foun-
der and Owner Was Wrong the Ar.
bitration as to the Indemnity
Dragged for Ten Years.

three Swiss jurists who for ten years
have been meditating as arbltrators In
the Delagoa bay railroad case have at
last reached a decision justifies q re-
view Of the facts in this long drawn
out controversy. The version given
below is condensed from one which ap-
peared some months ago in the New
York Sun.
Colonel Edward McMurdo. Ken
tuckian living In London. man Of
great energy. had his attention drawn
to the richness of the Transvaal long
before Britishers took any interest in
Oom Pauls country. Many of the
Englishmen who in the early eighties
went to South Africa were in the pay
Of Colonel McMurdo. While Sir Thomas
Tancred and his staff of engineers
were building the Delagoa Bay rail-
road, capable agents were securing the
Transvaal and neighboring regions
then under native rule seeking for
mines and tracts of territory capable
of development by colonizers. So lit
tie did financial London know of the
Transvaal and its resources in those
days that it is told of Colonel McMurdo
that he actually had men give free
lectures, illustrated by lantern pic
lures. which persons from every walk
of industrial life were asked to attend.
McMurdo was recognized as the great
pioneer of South African development
and enterprise. Cecil Rhodes. Barney
Barnato and Belt followed the way
blazed by the American.
A FAR SIGHTED MAN.
AT the time Of his death, in 1889, Col
onel McMurdo was chief owner of the
st. Augustine diamond mine in KIM
berley, and controlled many other
promising ventures in South Africa.
He was building the Tehuantepec rail-
road across Mexico. connecting the
Gulf with the Pacific, and had lust
disposed of the controlling interest in
the Financial News of London. With
the loss of his master mind, many Of
his far-away enterprises failed to
thrive under the perfunctory manage.
ment of his successors, and gradually
passed to other hands. His genius
told him that to control the railway
connecting the Transvaal with its nat
ural harbor, and consequently with
the outside world, would amount to the
control of a nation. and that nation
occupying very rich soil. Colonel Nc
Murdo thus foresaw the potentialities
of Delagoa Bay. His name is affixed
to the Delagoa Bay railroad. and it
will probably always be known as the
"McMurdo Railway" whatever its
corporate title.
In the closing month Of 1888, Colonel
McMurdo obtained concession from
the king of Portugal for the construc-
tion Of a railway from Lorenzo Mar
ques to the Transvaal frontier. At
that time the condition OF the Trans.
vaal and the "hinterland" was widely
different from what it now is. The
existence of gold in payable quantities
was almost unknown, the commercial
and agricultural interests of the coun-
try were in a depressed condition, and
the Transvaal treasury was empty. A
concession had been granted previously
by Portugal for the railroad, carrying
a subvention. but It was so freighted
with stipulations and conditions, strin.
gent and ambiguous, as to keep people
from embarking capital in the proposed
enterprise.
AN UNHAMPERED GRANT.
McMurdo wanted a concession un-
hampered by conditions, one thar
would give the exclusive right of car.
rying passengers and goods across the
portuguese colony of Mozambique for
ninety-nine years. He desired no
subvention that would make of the
portuguese government a partner. He
PROBABLY we'll knew the shifty charac-
ter OF the Latin descended Portuguese.
At all events. he wanted a concession
that would give him a free hand so
long as its conditions were respected.
This he secured direct from the king,
carrying with 1t the exclusive right to
Tx freight and passenger rates. with
telegraph privileges. the gift of an
island In Delagoa Bay, and a land
grant calling for a goodly part of the
now important part Of the town OF
Lorenzo Marques. as well as vast tracts
OF wild lands along the line of the
road. Its terms were agreed upon in
direct conference. The late John NJ.
Francis. Of Troy, N. Y, founder and
longtime editor of the Troy Times,
and then United States minister at
Lisbon, lent Colonel McMurdo all the
assistance in his official power through.
out the negotiations.
THE ROAD COMPLETED.
Colonel McMurdo and his associates
In due time built the road from Della
goa Bay to the Transvaal frontier. 1t
was most expensive line to construct.
Bridges and ironwork were made in
England, and carried to South Africa
to be put together there. A fleet of
steamers disembarked in Delogoa Bay
the locomotives, cars, station build
ings, in fact, practically everything
needed Of a constructive character.
The concession called for the making