The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-11-13
..ROLINA CENTRAL.

The rumor that Mrs. Matthews. of
New York, the holdeF u : hlaJority
of the stock of the ro-
railway, has offered to 100 800 .,ioh
ninety-nine years to the .oau 49,
pays the highest rental is vtFy e. =
ing. Some years g there A.
very interesting suit about the owTAer-
ship of this road.
The above appeared a few days ago
in a Letter OF The Messengers Raie'sn
correspondent, and has caused a goou
deal of comment. It was generally
| supposed that control of the Carolina
Central railroad had passed out Of the
| hands of Mrs. Matthews some time
| ago, and that the property was now
owned by the Seaboard Air Line Rail-
way Company.
The Carolina Central has changed
! ownership several times, both by sale
under order of court and by private
sale of controlling interest in the stock
| of the company. 1t would be a stu
pendous undertaking to trace it's his
f; tory through all it's changes.
We find recorded in the register of
! deeds office in this county an instru-
ment which shows that the Seaboard
Air Line Company owns a majority of
both the common and the preferred
= stock of the road. That is a deed
in trust made by the Seaboard Air
Line to the Continental Trust Com
pany, executed April IA, 1900, in
which the company places a mortgage
on all it's property to secure a pro-
posed bond issue. Among the different
properties conveyed are the Carolina
Central railroad. also 14,455 shares of
the capital stock of that road, out of
a total. issue of Is, 900 shares, of which
9.640 shares had been pledged to the
same trust company by the Raleigh
and Castor railroad; also 4,640 shares
of preferred stock of the same road
out of a total issue or 5000 shares
2.4G1 of which had been pledged to the
same trust company by the Raleigh and
Castor railroad. This would show
that the Raleigh and CASTOR Railroad
Company and the Seaboard Air Line
Company together owned the control.
ing interest in the Carolina Central.
Since that deed in trust was exc.
cuted all the different railroads form.
ing the Seaboard Afr Line system
have been merged into n company
the Seaboard Air Line Company-ant
their different interests adjusted. This
merger Of the roads of the system
lying in this state was authorized by
an act of the legislature of 1901, which
provided that the agreement of mer.
ger made in pursuance of that act
should be filed in the Office of the
secretary Of state. and such an agree
ment was entered into shortly there.
after and so filed.
We cannot understand how it is
that Mrs. Matthews claims 20 hold the
majority of the stock Of the Carolina
Central If the facts set out in the
deed of trust above referred to are
true.
When the late John Robinson was
president of the roacs then forming
the Seaboard system that system Sc.
cured control Of the Carolina Central
by some means. whether under lease
or purchase Of stock we cannot say
but we have some recollection of a
statement by him made at the time
that he had to pay d very high price
for the stock in order 70 secure enough
to give him control Of the property.
The stock vas bought by him, we
think. in the name of the Raleigh and
CASTOR Or of the Seaboard and Roanoke
railroad; as to these matters, how
ever, we are not positive.