Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-04-25
CHAPTER XII.
THE MAN IN POSSESSION.

coin of street gossip. the legal seiz-
ure Of the Trans-Western figured
mainly as an example of the failure
of modern business methods when ap-
piled to the concealment of a work.
ing corporations true financial condi-
tion.
But In the state at large the press
was discussing the event from a po-
litical point of view; one section,
small but vehement, raising the cry
Of trickery and judicial corruption,
and prophesying the withdrawal OF all
foreign capital from the state, while
the other, large and complacent,
pointed eloquently to the benefcent
working of the law under which the
cause of the poor woman, suing for
her undoubted right, might be made
the whip to fog corporate tyranny In
to instant subsection.
As for the dispossessed stock-hold-
ers In the faraway east. they were
slow to take the alarm, and still slower
to get concerted action. Like many
of the western roads, the Western
Pacific had been capitalized largely
by popular subscription; hence there
was no single holder, or group OF
holders, of sufficient financial weight
to enter the field against the spoilers.
But when Loring and his associates
had fairly got the wires hot with the
tale Of what had been done, and the
much more alarming tale Of what
was likely to be done, the Boston
inertness vanished. A pool Of the
stock was formed, with the members
of the advisory board as a nucleus;
money was subscribed, and no less
legal light than an ex-attorney-general
of the state of Massachusetts, was de-
spatched to the seat Of war to ad-
wise with the men on the ground.
None the less, disaster out-travels the
swiftest Of Limited" trains. Before
the heaviy-feed consulting attorney
had crossed the Hudson in his western
Journey, Wall Street had taken notice,
and there was a momentary splash In
the troubled pool OF stock exchange
and a vanishing circle Of ripples to
show where the Western Pacific had
gone down.
In the meantime Major Guilford,
somewhile president Of the Apache
National bank of CASTOR. and ante
cedent to that, the frowning antocrat
of a 25-mile logging road in the North
Carolina mountains. had given bond
in some sort and had taken posses
sion of the company's property and
the offices in the Quintard building.
His first official act as receiver was
to ask for the designations Of a dozen
heads Of depa -tments. beginning with
the general manager and pausing for
the moment with the supervisor OF
track. That done, he filled the vacan-
cies with political troughsmen; and
with these as assistant decapitators
the major passed rapidly down the line,
striking of heads in daily patches un-
til the overflow of the Bucks political
following was provided for on the rail-
roads pay-rolls to the wife's cousins
nephew.
This was the work Of the first few
administrative days or weeks, and
while 1t was going on, the business
attitude of the road remained un-
changed. But once seated firmly in
the saddle, with his awkward squad
we'll in hand, the major proceeded to
throw a bomb Of CONSERVATION into
the camp Of his competitors.
Kent was dining with Ormsby in the
grili-room of the Camelot club when
the waiter brought in the evening
edition OF the Argus, whose railroad
reporter had heard the preliminary
fizzing of the bomb fuse. The story
was set out on the first page, first
column, with appropriate headlines.
WAR TO THE KNIFE AND THE
KNIFE TO THE HILT.
TRANs-wEsTERN CUTS CoMMoDI-
TY RATES.
Great Excitement in Railroad Circles.
Receiver Guilford's Hold-up.
Kent ran his eye rapidly down the
column and passed the paper across
to Ormsby.
81 told you so," he said. They
didn't find the road insolvent. but they
are going to make it so in the shortest
possible order. A rate war will do i:
quicker than anything else on earth. u
Ormsby thrust out his jaw.
"Have we got to stand by and see
'em do it?"
The man from Massachusetts, says
yes, and he knows. or thinls he does
He has been here two weeks
now, and he has noSed out for himself
all the dead-walls. We can't appeal
because there is no decision TO appeal
from. We can't take it out of the
lower court until 1t is finished in the
lower court. We can't enjoin an Off.
Ger of the court; and there is no au-
thority in the state that will set aside
Judge MacFarlane's order when that
order was made under technically le'
gal conditions"
"You could have told him all that
in the first five minutes" said Ormsby
81 did tell him, and was mildly sal
upon. To-day he came around and
gave me back my opinion, clause fol
clause, as his own. But | have nc
kick coming. Somebody will have tc
be here TO fight the battle to finish
when the Judge returns, and our ex'
pert will advise the Bostonians to re-
tain me-"
Does he stay?" Ormsby asked.
"Oh, no; he is going back with Lo-
ring tonight. Loring has an idea OF
his own which may or may not be
worth the powder it will take to ex-
plode it. He is going to beseech the
Boston people to enlarge the pool until
1t controls safe majority of the
stock"
What good will that do?"
None, directly. It's merely safe
preliminary to anything that may
happen. l tell Loring he is like al
the others: he knows when he has
enough and Is willing to stand from
under. I'm the only fool in the lot
Ormsby's smile was heartening ant
good for sore nerves.