The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-12-13
1T is OPEN WAR.
StuyVeSant Fish Files His Aft.
davit in Court.
LIN Reply to One Put i'm by
Hartman.
WILL PUT HIM OUT.
Says Hartman Will Go Off
Board if He Can Make Him,
Considers It a Service to the
Road and Country.

chicago, Dec 13.-f'If I obtain a.
majority of proxies to be voted at the
annual meeting of the Illinois Central
hallway company I shall depose Ed
ward H. Hartman as a director" de-
clared Stuyvesant Fish in an affidavit
filed today before the superior court
He also declared in the affidavit
TO everybody in the country, the re-
moval of such an individual as Harri-
man is shown to be, would be a well
come sign Of returning morality in the
management of great corporations of
the country
Mr.. Fish reiterated the statement
that Mr.. Hartman is seeking to con-
troll the Illinois Central in the inter-
est OF the Union Pacific. Mr.. Fish in
his affidavit, which is a reply to the
one filed yesterday in the name of Mr..
Hartman and other directors of the
illinois Central, declares that he has
been a benefactor of ]. T. Harahan,
now president of the Illinois Central
He asserts that he saved Harahan
from dismissal several years ago when
Hartman and George A. Peabody de-
clared that Harahan had outlived his
usefulness to the company.
Mr.. Fish sets forth that there was
perfect harmony in the company un-
til the winter Of 19O4-O5 when Harri-
man and Peabody sought the estab-
liShment of an executive committee
to which discretionary powers were to
be delegated. He declares in the af-
hdavit that he incurred additional en-
nifty when he refused to become a
party to a report withdrawing the
officials Of the Mutual Life Insurance
company.
Says They Broke Faith
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 w. NJ. |
Grinnel Hartman he says, attempt |
ed to secure the election of Henry w. |
DeForest, an attorney for Mr.. Harri- |
man, who was also a director of the |
Southern Pacific which Is dominated by |
the Union Pacific. Mr.. Fish declares
in his affidavit that since 1877 it has
been the custom of the railroad to loan
it's idle funds to officers or directors of |
the railroad or to firms of which they |
were members, or to corporations of |
which they were officers. Mr.. Fish in
sists that Hartman and Peabody were
among those who took advantage of |
the custom of the company in loaninG |
the funds. He declares that all of his I
loans were recorded on the books of
the company and that the collateral
was good and sufficient.
Referring to the loan of $57, 900 to the
Trust company of the Republic, Mr..
Fish asserts that it was good, but that
In the panic of 1908, the collateral de-
300 has been paid and that the company
will lose nothing. Mr.. Fish charges
hat the accusations of mismanage-
ment made against him are untrue
He admits being director of the Mis-
souri, Pacific railway which is to some
extent competitor of the Illinois Cen
trail, but says that the charges that he
iesires domination over the affairs of
the Illinois Central for the benefit of
he Missouri Pacific are false and SLAM
1erous.
Put Hartman OF.
In the affidavit made by Mr.. Fish,
he following is included: "It is true
that If I obtain a majority of the prox-
board of directors of the Illinois
Central. I have pledged myself to do
his and deem it my duty to do so.
n the interests of myself as the holder {
IF 12.452 shares of stock in the in &;
.erests of the patrons OF the road, of
he people of Illinois and of the Unit !
I'd States to whom the removal of
,uch an individual as Hartman as is
shown by the interstate commerce ]
report No. 942 would be a {
Welcome sign Of returning morality in !
o the management of the great cor !
oorations of the country" |
After the reading of the Fish affi-
iavit the formal arguments against
making permanent the injunction OBJ I
aimed last October by Mr.. Fish re- /
training the voting of stock held by |
he Union Pacific and the Railroad Sc $
urities company, were commenced. {
Attorney John J. Herrick, opened for !
Ir. Hartman. Ii
He declared that the statutes of IL +
tnois do not prohibit the requirement ,
r exchange Of stock by connecting {
ailroads, and that the holding of IL
[nois Central stock by the Union Pa
iflc Is not illegal. He also asserted
hat Mr.. Fish had produced no facts
o substantiate his allegations that his
emova1 from the presidency of the
illinois Central had ensued because
10 opposed the election of DeForest
s a director.