Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1902-12-24

Brief mention was made a few day 2 since of the new suit filed in Pheni. d recently in the famous Cobre Grand litigation. Since then copy of tn n complaint in full has been received
 at this office and while complaints il
 actions at law are ordinarily yer!
 commonplace affairs and dry reading
 this particular complaint is interest
 ing reading, particularly to any on'
 familiar with the litigation which ha. been carried on in connection witl
 the above company.
 The contest over the title to the
 Cananea mines between the Cobrt
 Grande Copper company and the : Greene Consolidated Copper company
 commenced in the fall of 1899 and
 since then has been actively litigated
 in various forms before the courts of
 Arizona, New York, Mexico and Texas; but according to this com
 plaint filed at Phenix on the 9th inst
 by Axel W. Hallenborg and John
 Edward Addicks against the Greene
 Consolidated Copper company and
 others, no valid adjudication has ever
 been made upon the question of
 title and the whole controversy is
 still open for decision upon the
 merits.
 Last September in a suit tried be- fore Judge Sloan, he refused to ap-
 point a reciever for the Cobre Grande
 Copper company, upon the applica-
 tion of Hallenborg and Addicks upon
 the ground that receiver of that cor
 poration was not necessary for the
 protection of their rights and that
 they were entitled to bring an action
 that might be necessary in vindica-
 tion of the rights of the corporation.
 Judge Sloan there laid down the
 broad and comprehensive rule that
 where, as in the case of the Cobre
 Grande Copper company, the board
 of directors had an interest adverse
 to that of the corpOraticr a minority
 stockhOlder might maintain any suit
 which the corporation might main
 tain for the purpose of preserving or
 enforcing its rights against any
 other persons and passing themselves
 upon this ruling HalIenborg and Ad- dicks have now brought the suit just mentioned to obtain an adjudication as to the title to the Cananea mines, which they allege belong to the Cobre Grande Copper company, but of which the Green Consolidated Copper com pany has since the fall of 1897 been | wrongfully in possession.
 In this suit a number of points are | made which have not before been dis | tinctly brought before the courts by | any direct proceeding. According to i this bill of complaint the funda- | mental facts upon which the title rests are very simple, although they | have been so overlaid by a mass of | litigation that to the general public | they appear complicated and perplex- ing This new complaint states them in very siple manner and bases the claim of the Cobre Grande Copper
 
 Very briefly summed up the com plaint sets out that in 1898 William c. Greene sold the mines to George Mitchell tor s25O, 900, of which SIP, 800 was paid down in cash and the Ea-a... vas to be paid in install menus, of which the first installment of S37, 800 came due on November 26, 1899. Under the contract to purchase Mitchell had the right to go into possession and work the mines, it be- ing the intention of the parties that Mitchell should have the right to ex- tract ore from the mines to assist him in paying the purchase price Nit chell also agreed to put up smelting furnace upon the property. Under this contract Mitchell went into pos session and commenced operations, and subsequently, in May, 1899, and Mitchell formed the Cobre Grande Copper company and Nit chell's rights were transferred to it.
 The Cobre Grande Copper company went on with developments and in October, 1899 had completed the furnace, done large amount of development work and was carrying on a successful business. At this time Greene and Mitchell. who had held all the stock of the Cobre Grande Copper company, had parted with most of it and finding that the mines were likely to prove very valuable formed a plan to get back the mines into their own owner ship. With this idea, Greene, Nit chell and Treadwell, who were three directors of the CObre Grande Copper company. held pretended directors 1 meeting at Bisbee and assumed to re- move Costello and Wood then respec- lively president and secretary of the company, and appoint Greene as presi- dent and Scott White as secretary and directed Greene to go Mexico and take possession of the mines. Upon this Greene, Mitchell, Tread we'll and White, taking with them some other persons, went down to Mexico and took possession of the mines, driving off the employees of the company who were there, Greene { claiming to take such possession as | the duly appointed president and |; chief executive of the CObre Grande , Copper company. As soon as he had , taken possession as president of the 7, company Greene claimed to hold the l, mines, not as president of the com pany but in his own right and to be , the owner of them and thereupOn I made deed of the property to the l Cananea Consolidated Copper com a pany, a corporation which had been I by his attorney, Norton f Chase, and himself under the laws of { Mexico for the purpose of holding title. All the stock of the Cananea z Consolidated Copper company was then transferred to the Greene Con ,olidated Copper company, which had been formed under the laws of West Virginia, with a capital stock of B, 900, 900, and the stock of the Greene : Copper company was i then put on sale in the Eastern $ market. After Greene had in this ' manner got into possession, he made 4 he claim that if the payment of s37. r 800 was not made to him on the fol - lowing November 26th. when by the ' -erms of the contract it fell due all he rights of the CObre Grande Cop a per company would be forfeited The | CObre Grande Copper company how a sver, claimed that the covenant to c make the payment on the day ap- a pointed and the covenant for posses 'iOn and right to work the mines were what in law are known as mutual and dependent covenants and that when Greene violated his covenant to allow he Cobre Grande Copper company the l