Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1905-11-23
Gould to Wage Railroad War.


HCpoEAUk = EAkns ~ oCs "0D&Su
into Washington.
Decision that the Old Southern Mary
IGad Line Belongs to the Washington,
Potomac and Chesapeake Company
Settles Long .Stfadiag Litigation
and Big Railroad Companies Want
hs Line.
From the Washington Post.
A bitter fight between the Penn
sylvania and Wabash railroads, a.
the resultof an attemptof the latter
70 gain entrance into Washington. i
predicted ID local railway circles is
the outcome of the decision, Mon
day, November 13, of the Supreme
Court of the United States against
the Chesapeake Beach Railway Com
pany.
The decision was a final affirma-
tion of a decision of the Court of
Appeals Of the district of Columbia
recognizing the title of the Washing
ton, Potomac and Chesapeake Com
pany to slightly over two miles OF
the right OF way and roadbed in the
District, to which the Chesapeake
Beach Road had laid claim on the
ground of abandonment. Both the
Wabash and the Baltimore & Ohio
roads, it is said, have watched in
tently for the outcome of this litiga-
tion, the former anxious to get the
property to gain entrance into the
District and the new union station,
and the latter, which is an impor-
tant branch of the Pennsylvania
system, equally anxious to obtain it
to shut out the competition of it's
bitterest rival.
GoULDs WATCHING WASHINGTON.
That the Goulds long have had
their eyes Gn Washington is well
known; that the Pennsylvania has
taken every precaution to safeguard
the exclusive entrance of it's lines
in the District is equally well known.
Thus the decision of the Supreme
Court yesterday may be seen to
have broad significance. Even
in anticipation OF the decision, it is
said on reliable authority, both the
Wabash and Baltimore & Ohio have
begun negotiations to obtain posses
sion OF the much-prized property.
The great value of this strip OF
land is traced to the of Congress
that provided for the construction OF
the new union station and confining
its use only to the Terminal Railroad
Company, or such roads as use its
tracks to get across the District line.
With the title to their right of way
into the District now cleared, an op-
portunity is thus afforded the own
ers not only to enter the city, but to
use the station without paying rev.
enue to the Terminal Railway Com
pany.
That this line down the Potomac
and the Bay, formerly known as the
Southern Maryland road, will now
be completed the officials of the
company say there is not the least
doubt. They propose to set about
at once to perfect the connecting
links into this city and to the oppo-
site terminal, Point Lookout, on the
Bay. This, they say, will provide
a much needed road for the rich ag-
ricultural communities of Southern
Maryland, and only the consumma-
ton of negotiations with one or the
other of the two roads now said to
be bidding would prevent the pres
ent owners from putting the line in
operation from one end to the other.
BUILDING PRoeREssED SLOWLY.
The Southern Maryland Railroad
Company was incorporated by the
Maryland Legislature In 1868. and
its right to enter the District and
construct and own its own road and
real estate was granted by. Congress
in 1882. Most of the roadbed was
constructed later and several miles
OF track were laid. but for some rea-
SON the work made little progress
for several years thereafter.
In 1898 the Chesapeake Beach road
is said to have taken possession of
the property on the ground that the
Southern Maryland road, the name
OF which through a deal was, in the
meantime. changed to the Washing
ton, Potomac and Chesapeake Rail-
road Company, had abandoned it
and had no title to it anyway.
The plaintiff opened up the fight
10 1901 to recover the property and
got the decision of the lower court.
Then the case was appealed, and the
original verdict favoring the plain
tiff was sustained. Anappeal to the
highest tribunal followed. and final
ly has been decided in favor of the
original holders of the property.