The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-22
WILLIAMS TELLS
OF SALE OF STOCK
INDEPENDENCE OF sEABoARD
HAS BEEN ASSURED BY THE PUR-
CHASERs.

Neither the Atlantic Coast Line Nor
the Southern Railway, MIR. Ryan
Assured Mr.. williams. VIII Have
Any Interest I'm the SeabOnrd.
Fifteen for the Common ana
Twenty-Five for the Preferred the
Price Ryan Gave for stock.
Richmond. Va. Aug. 21 John Skel-
ton Williams arrived in Richmond this
afternoon from New York and con-
| firmed the reported sale of the Will
Hams- Middendorf holdings of Seaboard
Air Line stock. To an Associated
Press correspondent, he said:
"Mr. S. Davies Warfeld. president
! of the Continental Trust Company of
Baltimore, endeavored a few weeks
| ago to negotiate a sale of the Seaboard
stocks owned by j. L. Williams &
Sons of Richmond and ] William
Middendorf & Co. of Baltimore to the
Ryan Blair interest, which for the past
six months or so have represented the
majority on the voting trust, but
| these negotiations fell through on ac-
count of the unwillingness of the pur-
! chasers to meet our ideas as to price,
and we had practically abandoned the
| idea of making a sale to Messrs. Ryan
! and Blair.
But Mr.. Warfield with his charac-
| terstic determination, decided that the
deal should go through. While in
| Baltimore yesterday morning, / receiv-
ed a telephone message from Mr..
Warfield, who was in New York, and
at his request l left for New York
on the afternoon train and met Mr..
| Ryan at Mr. Warheld's apartments
at the Manhattan Hotel last night
about 9 o'clock. | told Mr. Ryan that
it would be useless for us to discuss
the sale of our holdings Of stock at
any figures less than those we had
named to him at the outset, and that
if he wanted the property it would
be necessary for him to pay those
| prices TO secure it.
Price That Was Paid.
The figures named for our stock
We're 10 for the common and 25 for
the preferred. Mr.. Ryan assured me
that neither the Atlantic Coast Line
nor the Southern Railway would be
interested with him in the purchase,
ana that the property, If purchased,
would be maintained and operated as
an independent system, and he said
that he fully appreciated the impor-
| tance, both from the standpoint of the
road itself and of the people of the
South OF operating the Seaboard Air
! Line Independently and clear of con-
troll of the entangling alliances with
| other systams.
I'VE sold him $4,000 900 of the stock,
about equally divided between pre-
ferred and common at SIS per share
| net for the common and $25 net per
share for the preferred, the stock to
be delivered and paid for at once
| Mr.. Ryan told me that he was buy
| ing the stock on his own responsible
| ity that that it would not be decided
until next week whether or not his
associates, Messrs. Blair and Coolidge,
would be interested with him in this
| purchase.
/ Retire from the Board.
Il advised Mr.. Ryan that, as the
sale would embrace all of the stock
owned by myself and my firm, / may
desire to retire from the board of di-
| rectorsAas soon as the stock shall have
been delivered and paid for and that
1 thought it likely that my associate,
Middendorf, would desire to do the
same thing.
'As the Ryan-Blair syndicate is ac-
knowledged to have owned about 60,0O0
| shares of the stock prior to this pur-
chase, their total holding now probably
amount to about 100000 shares, or
about one-third Of the entire stock of
| the company.
"Of the balance of this company's
| stock most of it is held in Maryland
and the South, and is largely scatter
ed among comparatively small holders.
| If the company can now be assured of
a good and able operating manage
ment, in addition to the strong finan-
cial backing which 1t enjoys, stock
| to handsome returns upon their invest
ment at no distant day"
Will Use Money in Liquidation.
Mr.. Williams expressed satisfaction
! at the price which had been realized,
/ which. he said, was the price he and
| his friends at the beginning of nego-
| tiations had fixed for their holdings,
| and from which they had made no con-
| cessions whatsoever in the final trade.
THE sale has been made" said Mr..
| Williams, mot because OF any lack of
confidence in the future of the Sea-
| board property, but purely for the rea-
| son that my firm has thought IL de-
| sira'ble to realize on this stock In or
der to expedite the liquidation of its
affairs and the payment in full, prin-
| cipal and interest, Of all obligations,
| which / consider this transaction will
| assure"
Mr.. S. Davies Warfield was the me-
diator through whom Messrs. Ryan
and Blair first became interested in
tba nrOpartu qOrna nina r,aopfhe