The San Francisco call., 1905-06-21
Western Dredging Company
Strife Leads to Arrest of
r. Hesse, a Capitalist Who
FleeS With Office Record
WARRANT SWORN OUT
BY WOMAN SECRETARY
Conflict Between A. Boschke.
the Inventor, and Board
of Directors Over Sale
to Another Corporation

OAKLAND. June 2O.-Trouble in the
Western Dredging Company, with offices
in this city. led this morning to the. ar
rest Of r. Hesse of 67S Twenty-first street,
capitalist and heavy stockholder in the
company, on a charge Of misdemeanor
eIpbezzlement preferred by Mrs A L.
Astor, secretary of the corporation, it
being alleged that he had stolen the min
Ute book.
Mrs. Astor tried bravely to hold the
fort in the interests Of the faction she
represented. but she wound UP in a de-
serted and bare office with hardly a chair
70 sit on. Hesse, il is alleged, tucked the
minute book under his arm and ran down
the street The lOOting Of the premises
thus begun by those who had interests
did not cease until the secretary found
herself holding down a headquarters
from which even the carpets had been
taken.
After a brief scrutiny of the pages of
the minute book, the capitalist placed
IL under his arm and ran from the office
in the Central Bank block, despite the
protest Of the secretary. When Mrs. As
tor was seen to-day she was seated in
barren office. All the furniture and prop
erty had been removed. and. it is said, is
Tow in the possession Of some of the
warning stockholders. She refused to say
anything about her action in securing
warrant.
c. II. SOoy the attorney who repre-
sents the old board Of directors of the
Western Dredging Company, made the
following statement:
BANKER CLARK INVOLVED.
This is an attempt on the part of
Banker Clark of Sacramento TO seize
the invention He and his crowd have
taken out some contracts to do some
dredging at Point Richmond. / suppose
that Hesse is standing in with them
"Boschke, like all inventors, is a child
IA business, and has been imposed upon.
He put $4,000 into the dredger and spent
years of labor in completing il. 1t was
The intention of the directors to transfer
the rights TO the patent to the Pan
American Dredging Company. Hesse's
seizure of the minute book forestalls this
temporarily. In my opinion the so-called
board Of directors elected by Clark have
no jurisdiction Clark owns 81. 900 shares
of stock in the corporation. That gives
him the controlling interest"
The Western Dredging Company's
troubles arise from a conflict between
Boscllke and the corporation. The com
pany reorganized after getting into deep
financial mire, but found that Boschke
had board Of directors who claimed to
have sold the stock to the Pan-American
Dredging Company. 1t is asserted by
Attorney E. c. Robinson that Hesse's
action in removing the minute book to-
day was authorized by the new board of
directors. Robinson. who represents
Hesse, said:
my client owns nearly 10000 shares of
the Western Dredging Company stock.
which was in jeopardy, we claim, because
Boschke had organized the Pan-Ameri-
can Company. and there was every rea-
son to believe that he intended to try to
get the patent out Of our hands. The
Western Dredging Company built the
dredger andS.owns the patent. We think
it is a very valuable one, and our fight
is to prevent Boschlxe from controlling IL
after selling to this company.
A FREEZE-oUT GAME.
''The new directorate is composed of d.
r. McGraW, J. Levin, Frank r. Patton.
Boschke and myself. The old board in
cludes Boschke, Mrs. Astor and two
others. We desire to rehabilitate the
Western Dredging Company, while
Boschke. apparently. is on freeze-out
programme. The company is hard
pressed. Banker Clark of Sacramento
holds a judgment against il for 5000 for
money loaned. The office furniture was
taken to-day on a chatteI mortgage held
By DIR. Dodson. We claim our board is
the legal board and we do not recognize
tt4S 6Al0EcO Sdlc BH Inc OiO DOdIQ 10 the
Pan-American. That is the situation
from our point of view"
Hesse, when seen at his residence to-
night. said action will be brought
against the Pan-American Company to
Recover the title of the patent and that |
criminal proceedings will be brought |
against Inventor Boschke for selling the /
patent twice. According to SHesse |
Boschke sold his right to the dredger,
which has already cost SIS 900, to the |
Western Dredging Company for $1,000 |
shares of stock and recently he sold the |
same right 70 the Pan-American Com
pany for LI75,0O0 shares Of stock.