The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-18
HARTMAN TRICK BEATS FISH
HAS POWEB no GUST ILLINOIS
CENTRAL PRESIDENT.

NY breaking Proxy Agreement Head q
Union Paclno Gets Seven Directors and
Isln PeaftiOD 60 Change Reads Poll.
cies 10 Suit wan Street Speculation.
CHICAGO, Oct. I7.~-Stuyves&nt Fish pres-
dent Of the Illinois Central. won q tenn
porary victory in his fight with E H. Har-
riman Cor control Of the o In the
annual meeting Of the stockholders to-day.
but at the same time he laid the founda-
ton for his own defeat for reelection as
president when the directors meet in New
York next week.
President Fish did this when he cast the
sls, 7l3 proxies in his possession for j. W.
ID. Cutting as director to succeed the late
William Morton Grinnell. in the face OF
the protest OF seven Of the thirteen members
Of the board OF directors WHIT were COM
mitted to the election Of Henry w. De
Forest. Mr.. Harriman's choice. who Is
a director in the Sou thern Pacific.
As a result Of President Fish's action
the Hartman interests accuse him OF
treachery and threaten to carry the fight
into the meeting Of the board Of directors
when they meet to elect the executive
officers of the road for the coming year.
II they make good this threat and the
seven directors who were overruled by
President Fish to-day stand by Mr.. Harri-
man, Mr.. Fish will be retired from the presi.
denoy, a post he has held for nearly
twenty years.
The directors who went on record to-day
- ~..I d. D-.at1o.N Etahta nhNfOa fOR
director and favoring Mr.. Harriman's man
we're Edward H. Hartman, Charles A. Pea
body, Waiter Luttgen, John W. Auchincloss;
Robert Walton Goelet, Cornelius Wander.
bilt and ]. T. Harahan.
Two of these man, Mr.. Vanderbilt and MIR.
Harahan, were reelected to-day, and all
! seven will be members of the board whenthe
election of a president comes up ne t week.
President Fish realizes hat he may be
ousted from the presidency Of the road, and
at the meeting to-day said that with the
proxies in his possession he might appoint
his own friends on the board and make his
election sure.
1T is apparent that. throwing out the
| proxies sent me by what has been desig-
mated as the Hartmann uhn- Loeb Pea
body interests said Mr.. Fish, Il have
sufficient proxies here to-day to elect
four directors Of my own choosing. l
could follow the plan suggested by the other
men and appoint my own friends and my
counsel as members of his board, but that
l will not do, because l an not taking this
fight to secure my own personal interests.
I am standing for the stockholders Of the
road to forestall, il possible, an attempt
to turn over this road to those controlling
the Union Pacific"
The struggle began when the election Of
a director to succeed W.. H.. Grinnell, de-
ceased. came up. OF the roads twelve
elective directors One-fourth are elected
each year. Charles H. Beach, Cornelius
Vanderbilt and j. T. Harahan were reelected
without contest, but the GTinnell vacancy
was made the subject of bitter controversy.
1t was known that Mr.. Fish held proxies
for Goa, e40 out Of the 050. 100 shares, and
that his friends held several thousand
more. Mr.. Fish explained this. INC said
that o. 600 shares had been given to him
by the Hartman interests in New York
hen the truce arrangement had been
made.
"A powerful INT organized attempt was
begun in the interest OF men that owned
about one-fourth Of this roads stock, and
also v other railroads, to gain control
of the Illinois Central Mr.. Fish said.
They had obtained the list OF stockhold-
es and gone out after proxies. / issued
an appeal for proxies also. At a meeting
Of directors I'VE both agreed to stop our
fight for proxies. For director, in place
Of Mr.. Grinnell, / promised TO be with the
man whom a majority Of the directors
might recommend. But | insisted that he
should not be a director Of other roads.
Three votes in the directorate are all
ready controlled by those other roads,
n when l saw them creeping into the
management Of the Illinois Central l was
forced to take a stand against it.
This road has always been conducted
as an independent line. and l am opposed
TO permitting it to be- used for Wall Street
stock jobbing operations.
In consideration of this agreement
the shares collected by the opposing in
terests were turned over to me and l now
hold them. l am willing to vote them
as Mr.. Cromwell wishes. A majority Of
the Illinois Central directors signed a recon-
mendation OF II. W. De Forest as Mr.. Grin
nell's successor. But 1 have learned that
he is a director on the Southern Pacific
and the Union Pacific roads. l cannot
{, vote for him the proxies which were given
. to. me by my friends. IIl'vote the Harri-
man proxies any way that Mr.. Cromwell
says. How shall it be2'
we are here to ask that you keep your
word Of honor; that's ALL cried Cromwell,
~springine to his feet. Then followed a
denunciation Of Mr.. Fish.
Directors Vanderbilt. Harahan and Auch-
incloss, who had signed the recon-
mendation Of Mr.. De Forest, spoke in favor
Of him, but Mr.. Fish's words had carried
the day. Mr.. Fish did not vote the Harri-
man proxies at all, but every s~tockhoIder
present outside the three reelected directors
and Attorneys Cromwell and Shaw. repre-
senting Hartman; voted for Cutting.
Mr.. Fish In his annual statement to- stock
holders said that from the time OF Is origin
the company had been managed as an in
dependent road. free from all alliances or
controlling outside, in the interests Of the
stockholders and Of the public.
1T has been operated as a railroad and
not exploited as a Wall Street proposition, "
declared President Fish. Apart from
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