The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1906-08-24
CONDEMNATION PROCEEDINGS,
SusQuefanna Power Company Has
Juries Summoned In Hartford
and Cecil Counties.

and Cecil Counties.
Condemnation proceedings have
begun in the Susquehanna water
right controversy, che jury sum-
moned by Sheriff Reasin, of Har-
ford county, meeting at Berkeley on
the 18th inst. The ground viewed
by the jury including properties
extending along the river for a dis
lance of several miles.
The plaintiff is the Susquehanna
Power Company, the legal successor
of the Susquehanna Water Power
and Paper Company, Hartford
corporation, which from 1884 up to
a few years ago conducted and
loperated a paper mill near Glen
Cove, on the Susquehanna river.
The defendant is the Knicker-
booker Trust Company, of Philada.,
trustee Of the Mccall Ferry Power
Company and the Tidewater and
Susquehanna River Railroad Com
pany. A number of other defen
dants are mentioned, but they are
merely nominal, the realde PENDANT
being the Mccall Ferry Company,
which is building large plant at
a place by that name on the Sus-
quehanna river, in Pennsylvania.
The suit may be the first of a
series of legal battles in which
there are giants on both sides, as
each company has large financial
backing, says the Baltimore Sun.
The capital of the Susquehanna
Power Company has recently been
subscribed by strong interests in
Philadelphia. In a few days a
trust mortgage for $6,000,00 to
secure that amount of bonds will
be recorded. The Mccall Ferry
Power Company has a capital of
l$1O, 100000 so each side is well
supplied with cash. The interest
of Marylanders will naturally be
with the latter company, as it is
a State corporation holding out In
the near future a marketable
$4,000 horsepower, which under
the charter can be either taken to
Baltimore, Havre de Grace or Will
mington, as circumstances may
hereafter control. Its establish
ment in Hartford county will mean
the bringing of all the advantages
that ordinarily accrue to the local
community where such an immense
sum is spent, and it will also ma
terially reduce the county tax rates,
as it will add nearly one-third to
the present taxable basis. Besides,
the enterprise is being established
on much general lines as to offer a
future for large manufactures to
locate near by, such as have follow
ed the development of Niagara
Falls.
The decision of the Mccall Ferry
company to locate in Pennsylvania
left it owning a large amount of
valuable land in Maryland for
which it has no apparent present
use, and it is proposed to condemn
this and turn it to good account for
the Maryland corporation. 1t was
also necessary for the Mccall peo-
pie to purchase some Maryland
property in order to get desirable
holdings in Pennsylvania. An in
stance of this is the old Susque
hanna and Tidewater canal. There
are several miles of this in Mary
land, which belonged to George X.
McGaw and James FL. Harlow.
These owners would not sell part,
so all had to be bought.
The beginning of resistance to
the Maryland improvement was
shown in the case argued before
Judge Morris recently, when pre-
liminary injunction to stop the
condemnation proceedings was
asked.
The proceedings are of a judicial
nature, the Sheriff acting in the
capacity of a judge.
| Messrs. s. A. Williams and Fred
R. Williams, of Bel Air, and Ven
able, Baetjer & Howard, of Balti-
more, appear for the Susquehanna
Power Company, and Mr.. Walter
W. Preston, of Bel Air, and Willis,
France, Homer & Smith, of Balti-
more, for the Pennsylvania cor
poration.
The findings of the jury are sub
ject to the approval of the Circuit
Court for Hartford County.
A dispatch from Wilmington,