Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-03

acceptance OF TruSt py MT. Oulauy
| Assured-Proceeding
Today.
By unanimous vote the creditors Of Thorn
| as E. Waggaman today elected Mr. n.
| Rozier Dulany trustee of the estate OF
! the bankrupt This was accomplished at
! a meeting of the claimants. or the attor-
| neys representing them. which was held
this forenoon in the grand jury room. at
| the city hall.
| The meeting was a Dulany one from
! start to finish, as the complimentary vote
| he received indicates, and when the result
| was announced a prominent attorney de-
clared that the result was "a hattering tes-
| timonial to Mr.. Dulany's ability and integ-
rity"
| The next important question was: "Will
| Mr.. Dulany accept the trusteeship?' This
| was replied to by another prominent attor-
| ney, who is warm friend and admirer Of
| the new trustee. His reply was:
He will undoubtedly accept
| At the conclusion of the roll call. Mr..
! Andrew Y Bradley, the referee, announced
| that "a votes had been cast, aggcegatng IN
amount $474,55s.s4. The number of votes
| necessary to elect would be AZ, aggregaong
in amount $237, Mr.. Dulany re-
| ceived 93 of the "a votes cast, and the en-
| tire amount represented with the exception
| of $50, which was cast by an attorney for
| his law partner, as either a compliment or
| q joke, it was stated.
| On motion. of Attorney Arthur Peter. sec
| ended by Attorney William F. Mattingly,
| the amount of bond was fixed at the Tor
| Iner figure, 100000.
Referee Bradley announced that another
meeting of the Waggaman creditors would
| be held Tuesday at O'Clock pm, when
tIa p1l mt nr1d a WI
| Mr.. Dulany's election will be required to be
| present and sign the certificates of ap
pointment of the trustee.
Mr.. Waggaman Arrives Easy.
Among the first arrivals in the grand jury
room this forenoon was Thomas E. Wagga-
man. He took seat in a corner of the
room, while a venerable Irish woman occu-
pied a prominent place in the front row Of
| chairs for the creditors and their attorneys
| The old lady gazed with interest at stall
wart colored man who entered the ROOM
carrying on his back a black iron adding
| machine Turning to man who sat near,
and speaking in a loud tone, she said:
rs that Mr.. Waggaman's money safe
and Is he going to pay off us poor creditors
| from it?''
mo, madam" replied the reporter, "that
| is a machine for adding figures"
Il am sorry" she rejoined. II was in
hopes 1t might be some sort of paying
| off machine"
When Mr.. Andrew Y. Bradley. the referee
in bankruptcy, entered the meeting place a
few moments later, the old Irish lady ap-
preached him and asked:
rs there any hope for us, Mr.. Bradley"
Not soon, fear replied the referee.
With sigh the old lady returned to her
seat.
| The attendance at the meeting of cred
| itors and attorneys today was not as large
| as at those heretofore held, but 1t was
| representative one wfthal. Mr.. Bradley
| called the assemblage to order at 1925
| o'clock. He stated that this meeting was
| necessitated by the declinaton of MFR.
| George Truesdell to serve as trustee after
| his election by an almost unanimous vote
| at the meeting held November IL
1T will therefore be necessary" said Mr.
Bradley, Ito do again what we did on that
date. and / hope 1t will be accomplished
with the omission of the exceptions and
| disorder which occurred at that time
Statement by Referee.
Referee Bradley then read the following
statement, which is self-explanatory:
Before proceeding to the election of
| trustee or trustees. 1 desire to announce tine
| rules under which this meeting will be con-
| Quoted.
| THE act confers upon the creditors of an
| estate the right to appoint trustee or
| trustees Section i, paragraph 8, defines
| the word creditor as any one who owns
| demand or claim provable in bankruptcy,
and may include his duly authorized agent,
| attorney or proxy. The words duly au-
| thorized' mean, regularly clothed with legal
! power, and they must be accorded this
| meaning in constituting this section. 1t has
| been held uniformly that the right to vote
| in a representative capacity al a meeting
| of creditors in bankruptcy is not an incl
| dent of the relation of attorney and client,
and that an attorney, as well as an agent
| or proxy. who desires to vote as SUCH shall
produce and file with the referee q general
or special letter of attorney.
Section 90 of the act provides the man
ner in which the appointment of trustee
or trustees shall be accomplished con-
struction of this section involves the con-
sideration of the following questions:
Does the word number refer to claims
or 'creditors?'
provides to be ascertained by computing it
with reference to all creditors present who
are qualified to vote, or solely with refer
ence to the votes cast?
What creditors are to be counted as
present?
Does the word number refer to claims
or creditors?
Creditors Equal Claims.
THAT this precise question is not res
judicata is doubtless due to the fact that
in the reported cases in which a construc-
| ton of this section is involved, the number
of creditors has been Identical with the
number of claims. This is not the fact i'm
this case, and it is therefore necessary to
determine whether creditor who has filed
more than one proof of claim shall or
shall not be entitled to more than one vote.
considered merely in its grammatical re-
| lation to the other words in this section,
| the word number might be construed to
| refer either to claims or creditors It has
| been tacitly and uniformly accepted by the
| authorities, however, as referring to the
| latter, and I am convinced that it should
| be so construed. 1t is evident from an
examination of Subparagra b of section
| SO that Congress intended the present act
| to conform in this respect to the act of
| 1857
1.-The apparent object Of section SO (a) is
| to impose mutual check upon a majority
| holding the smaller amount of claims, and
| upon minority holding the greater amount
| of claims. The bankruptcy act Is remedial.
and should be interpreted with a view to
| effect its objects.
Might Be Subversive Of Object.