The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1906-04-06
. -.f|AN - . ~
Edward Wood Did Not Commit
= Contempt Of Court.
DECISION OF JUDGE BUM.
Grain Company Achieves a Big VIC
tory Over the Minneapolis Cham
~.
~ Der Of Commerce. s'i 80

.
filled ar order in the case of the Mime
Iapolis Chamber of Commerce against Ed
ward-WOod company, in which he finds
that the motion of the plaintiff to con-
Wet and punish defendant for contempt
tof this court, be, and the same is i'm all
things denied, and that the order to
show causei is discharged, and that the
defendant have Judgment that it is not
guilty of the charges, and that it recov-
Ter of the plaintiff the disbursements in
these proceedings.
On Aug. IL, 1906, there was issued out
Iof this court and served on the defend
ant a writ of injunction, in substance.
|enjoining the defendant for receiving.
.|using, posting or distributing the con-
Itinuous quotations or other quotations
of the Minneapolis, Chamber of Com
merce.
son Oct. l3, plaintiff presented to the
court the affidavit of George d. Rog-
ers, its secretary, charging the defendant
with wilfully violating the terms of the
injunction and specifying certain viola
lions.
Were the quotations posted by the de-
PENDANT on the days specified or any of
; them, the continuous quotations of the
Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce?
They were posted on defendants
blackboards under the heading -"Super-
Tor Board of Trade Quotations-Minne-
apolis Delivery"
When compared with the quotations
of the chamber on the same dates we
find that many of them correspond ex
laetly, willie many others vary slightly
land some materially. 1t is enough to
Isay that this similarity, while it may
be suspicious, is wholly insufficient,
standing alone or considered with the
evidence, as to where and how the quo
tatiOns were obtained to establish the
conclusion that they were the chamber
quotations. The evidence is practical
ly conclusive that the quotations were
obtained by wire from the Superior
board of trade, taken from blackboard
in the trading room Of that institution,
where they were posted under the head
ing Superior Quotations
Delivery"
| Plaintiffs contention is that the Su-
perior board of trade was scheme of
defendants, part of an ingeniously de-
vised plan, to get plaintiffs quotations
under the guise of their being the quo
tations of the Superior board of trade.
+ Defendant, on the other hand, claims
that the Superior board of trade is a.
bona fide institution, with an actual mar
ket and real sales, from which the quo
tations are made and posted.
Discussing at length the character OF
the Superior board of trade and its
lmethod of operation, the court proceeds
4 1t is possible that the whole Superior
market is a fraud, that the traders are
There to make quotations rather than
I
|'act,ial trades. that the quotations are
Imade solely for the benefit of defend
ant for its use in evading the law which
lforbids it to acquire or use the quota
Itions of plaintiff; but I cannot find
|these things on suspicion merely. There
are suspicious circumstances in the case,
the number of traders on the Superior
board outside those representing the de-
PENDANT is not large. Defendant is by
far the largest trader on the board.
| Prior to about Sept. l the board re-
ceived its Minneapolis c. N. d. quota
tions from the Western Union company,
which am clear it had the right to
do under the contract between the plain
tiff and the telegraph company.
After about Sept. 5 the board receiv-
other markets, under contract with
HI. M. Ward, who sent them by wire
from his office in St. Paul. Ward had
previously been connected with defend.
ant. He received his quotations from a
ticker Installed in his office by the
! Western Union, and from other infor.
! nation secured by him over the tele-
lphone. While there is some suspicion
that Ward may have secured some of
the plaintiffs quotations illegally, there
is no evidence that would warrant me in
finding that he did so. Even granting
that Ward obtained his quotations H.
legally, the evidence does not show that
these quotations were used by defend
ant.
; The quotations made in the Superior
board of trade and posted there as "Su-
Iperior quotations Minneapolis Deliv.
cry" were taken from the board by a
Western Union operator and sent over
a wire to st. Paul.
The evidence shows that the defend
ant paid the Western Union for these
/ quotations, and it does not show wheth
er or not the Western Union sold them
to others than defendant.
! They were received in defendants Of