Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-10-05
is HOT AFTER RYAN.
Continued from Page 1.

Ihat Is simple sum in division. and
any one can work it. or the twenty
miles. the Seaboard Air Line RAILWAY
ALREADY controls 100 per cent. of the
Sapltai stock of thirteen companies.
between 80 and 100 per cent. of four
more. between 30 and 100 per cent. of
the e., Z. d p, and nearly all the G..
d a., leaving only one road 81 miles
long, of which it controls between rs
ana SO per cent, and of which latter
road Ryan has about 20 per cent. or
.Sss oi STOCK. Ryan and the alleged
nave prepared the report from which
THESE published statements are taken.
may seek to evade responsibility by
SAYING that they included in the bonded
uept all bonds in eXistence-some in
the treasury of the Seaboard others re-
tired and to be retired under the an
| nounced plan of organization but this
VIII not save them from the brand of
| dishonesty they have put upon them
selves by their own act
sIhe allegation that certain stock
| holders OF the Seaboard Air Line Rail-
way have entered into q void pooling
| arrangement Is also false. Whoever
| told It, or wherever it was told # Ia
contrary to the facts, and there Is no
evidence or fact to support or suggest
IL, ana no reason why anybody should
| believe ii.
| The allegation that the Seaboard rep
|
| taking of testimony is fiagrantly false
and contradicted by all the facts and
| records. We welcomed the appoint-
ment, several months ago, of commits
sioners to take testimony. and have
been ready all that time to begin with
It. but Thos. f. Ryan, who had begun
| the suit, made no move to have the
testimony taken until after the filing of
his application for supplemental bill
Then the commissioners and Ryan's
counsel agreed that testimony should
not be taken until the question of the
supplemental bill had been decided.
Ii the history of the organization of
| the Greater Seaboard system and all
the transactions connected with it can
be recorded under oath and cross-ex-
animation Mr.. Ryan will be discredit-
ed personally and out of court. and we
| will be impregnably and forever en-
trenched against all the falsehood and
malice he can devise, and he knows
| 1t.
The allegation that the new issue OF
the first mortgage bonds Of the Sea-
board were not first mortgage, but
| were collateral trust bonds, is stupid
untruth. designed to injure our securi-
ties, contradicted by the faces of the
bonds themselves. by the opinion of the
best lawyers and by the actual facts.
If these are not first mortgage bonds.
there are no first mortgage bonds in
existence.
The suit against myself and others
| brought by Mr.. Ryan and neglected by
him for months is not intended to pro-
tect any rights. He has no rights in
the Seaboard Air Line Railway and
represents none. He has never owned
a share of stock on n bond in the Sea-
board Air Line Railway. or the S95,-
900, 900 of securities of the Seaboard Air
Line system. which embraces the Sc
curities Of all component parts thereof,
Ryan's only interest. as known, In adj
dition to less than $1,000 worth of stock
in the r. e G.. and r. & a roads, is
his alleged ownership of about 1900
shares of stock in the S. & Il. road.
eighty-one miles long, which cost him.
according to n statement made in my
presence by his attorney less than 81
year ago, less than 500 per share. His
talk of annullng the Seaboard mort
gage and its new Issue of stock is
twadde. He has the same right and
hope for annulling the first mortgage
on the Pennsylvania or the New York
Central
/ have long believed that he was in
all his succession of suits and publica-
lions against us conducting a black
mailing operation on a large scale. He
| is the same man who was connected
! with the State Trust Company's trou-
bles few months ago. According to
| the newspaper reports at that time he
was guilty of forcible coercion of mi
nority stockholders and borrowed ST.
600, 600 on his office boys note from the
| company of which he was trustee, be-
ing more than the entire capital stock
| of the company. His character is in
| teresting, because he is the chief wit
ness for the plaintiff in this case.
He has done the Seaboard service,
because by his persistent attacks he
has forced practically every move of its
reorganization to be made under the
| scrutiny of the courts and to receive
Judicial sanction The system has heen
literally built under the eye of the
| Judge and every rivet in ii has been
| tested by all the strain of the law. 1t
| stands established as the most thor
lOughly known and tried railway system
| in the world.
We are not afraid of the courts, for
Mr.. Ryan has led us through them all.
nor of publicity, for we have nothing
! TO hide and every reason to desire that
| the public should know all the truth
| about us Fortunately our securities
have so commended themselves TO IN
Vestors and men of large means that
| they are not to be made footballs OF on
| the exchanges.
| procured the publication of the false
hoods I have recited and refuted, for
| the purpose of injuring our securities,
| having failed to accomplish that pur-
| pose by his legal proceedings NOT sat :
| isfied with securing the publication OF
| such false statements, he sent out. or
| caused to be sent out through the
mails. divers marked copies of the New
| York Times containing his contempti-
| BILE article with no other object than
! the hope of innicting injury. / will
| welcome the opportunity to meet him
| in the courts on direct issue, giving
him the opportunity to disprove all the
| assertions they have made. While
| have no doubt they have endeavored to
| shield themselves with bubbles and
| evasions from the general criminal and