The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-12-20
FISH CUNNING
FOR HARTMAN
Promises TO Do Things to Big Rail-
road Boss If He Gets Control.
A MORAL OBLIGATION
Strenuous Contest for Upper Hand in Con-
troll of Illinois Central Will Soon
Reach the Climax.

"If ] obtain a majority of proxies
to be voted at the annual meeting OF
the Illinois Central Railroad company,
/ shall depose Edward H. Hartman
as a director" declared Stuyvesant
Fish in an affidavit filed before the SUI
perior court in Chicago Friday.
Mr.. Fish reiterated the statement
that Hartman is seeking control of
the Illinois Central in the interest OF
the Union Pacific.
Mr.. Fish, in his affidavit, which Is
a reply to that filed Thursday in the
name of Mr. Hartman and other di.
rectors Of the Illinois Central, declared
that he has been benefactor Of ].
T. Harahan, now president of the ILL
nois Central. He asserts that he
saved Harahan from dismissal several
years ago when Hartman and George
A. Peabody declared that HaPahan had
outlived his usefulness to the COM
pany.
Mr.. Fish sets forth that there was
perfect harmony in the railroad COM
pany until the winter Of 904-05, when
Hartman and Peabody sought estab'
hshment of an executive committee
to which discretionary powers were
to be delegated. He declares in the
affidavit that he incurred additional
enmity when he refused to become a
party to a report embarrassing the Of
fcials of the Mutual Life Insurance
company.
The assertion is also made that Har-
riman and Peabody broke faith with
Fish in 1906, when they agreed that a
man Independent Of any faction was to
be elected to the directorate to fill
the vacancy caused by the death of
William Morton Grinnell Hartman,
he says, attempted to secure the cleo
ton of Henry w. DeForrest, an at
torney of Mr.. Harriman's, who was
also a director of the Southern Pa
wife, which is dominated by the I'm
ion Pacific
Mr.. Fish declares in his affidavit that
since 1877 it has been the custom OF
the railroad to loan its idle funds
to officers of or directors Of the rail-
road or to firms Of which they are
members, or to corporations of which
they are officers.
Mr. Fish insists in his affidavit that
Hartman and Peabody were among
those who took advantage Of the Gus.
tom of the company in loaning these
funds. He declares that all of his loans
were recorded on the books of the
company and that the collateral was
good and sufficient Referring to the
loan Of $4,000 to the Trust company
Of the Republic, Mr.. Fish asserts that
it was good, but that in the panic OF
1903 the collateral deprecated. OF
the total amount $4,000 has been paid
and that the company will lose moth
ing.
Mr.. Fish charges that the accusa-
tons of mismanagement made against
him are untrue. He admits being
director of the Missouri Pacific rail-
road, which is to him competitor Of
the Illinois Central, but says that the
charges that he desires domination
over the affairs of the Illinois Central
for the benefit Of the Missouri Pacific
are false and slanderous.
In the affidavit made by Mr.. Fish the
following is included:
TT is true that il l obtain major.
ity of the proxies propose to put
Hartman off the board Of directors
of the Illinois Central. l have pledged
myself to do this, and l deem 1t my
duty to do so, both in the interests OF
myself as a holder Of 2,462 shares Of
stock, in the interest Of the patrons
Of the road, of the people of Illinois
and of the United States, and to whom
the removal of such an individual az
Hartman is shown to be by the inter.
state commerce commission report, No.
DAP, would be a welcome sign of re-
turning morality in the management OF
the great corporations Of the coun.
fry >