Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-09-25
HITS BACK At FISH
President Harahan of Illinois
Central Makes Charges in a
Letter to Stockholders.
ACCUSES OF BORROWING
Says Funds of Company Were Appro-
priated 10 Own Use and Recov-
cred with Difficulty.

NIhtdGO, sept. -o.-N O!NClutHJ Will
the issuance Of the annual report. Pres
ident J. T. Harahan of the Illinois Cen
tral railroad Yesterday struck back AZ
ISruyvesant Fish. In unmistakable terms
he brands Mr. Fish as borrower and
falsifier, if not worse.
The charges are contained in a state
menJ issued to the stockholders of the
company in reply to the circular letter
sent out on Monday from New York
by Mr.. Fish.
say. He Loaned 10 self.
The most serious charge in this in
formal indictment is that when he was
president of the road Mr. Fish loaned
himself $I,5c0, 600 out of the company's
treasury. For this he is said to have
given the road questionable security.
which subsequently proved unmarked
! liable and insufficient The other direc-
tors. Mr.. Harahan claims. shielded Mr.
! Fish. and one Of them even loaned him
the necessary money when all other
! sources had failed
The security furnished for this loan
is said to have been the unmarketable
| collateral given the road and the pedg-
ing of MI Fish's New York residence
and his undivided interest in the estate
of the late Hamilton Fish.
Suppressed Out OF Sympathy.
It was oEt of consideration for Mr.
/ Fish, according to Mr. Harahan. that
these documents never were placed on
record and that the facts never before
were made public.
\ charge Of similar nature is that
while on the executive board of the
Trust Company of the Republic. Mr.
Fish was active in securing Illinois
lCentIaI funds for deposit in that con
lcern. This, too, after the credit of
the trust company was in question: =
All this money was ultimately recover
ed. but il took several months and
was the source of much anxiety to the
directors of the Illinois Central.
Helped Cousin, Also.
As an additional count it is set forth
that Mr.. Fish loaned to his cousin. Le-
. roy Dresser. president of the Trust
> Company of the Republic individually,
5 money from the Illinois Central funds,
J and that part of this has never been
I repaid or collected
r The charges in the Fish letter that
the Illinois Central interests have been
subOrdinated to Union and Southern
Pacific are branded by Mr. Harahan as
I absolutely false.
! Fish Replied to Similar Charge.
i New York, Sept. 25.-Mr. Fish, who
I was at his country place at Garrison
i said through the telephone operator al
. that place that he would not talk tC
= anyone last night. When the same
! charge-that of borrowing money from
the company of which he was presi
4 winter Mr.. Fish explained it as fol
Q lows:
l. He is quite right in saying that
d borrowed funds from the Illinois Cen
Il tral, but he should have added that th'
e loan was made at a time when th'
t road was desirous of putting out SOM
e of its surplus; that we went from banl
to bank to loan our money; that thi
4 particular loan was made on collatera
l. which was so uuqueStiOnably ample ant
Y, marketable that my personal credit wa
l. not an element of the loan; that sey
Is eral of the other directors borrowe
ie from the company indirectly and direct
. ly in the same way, and finally tina
IS Mr. Hartman himself. while a director
d. had borrowed from the company il
le directly and directly in the same MAJ
ner frequently and in sums aggregatin
millions.
n Not Regarded as Improper.
$ "As a matter of business l did nC
IS then regard my transactions as in
le proper. nor do | now. When in tn
er fall of 1898 | desired to repay the del
proposed to him TO negotiate a ne
III loan from Kuhn. Loeb & Co. Mr.. Harr
rs man asked me not to do so and volul
ne teered to lend me the sum himself, an
OF | accepted his offer and repaid the loa
ne at maturity
Dh Mr.. Hartman refused to comment {
ne Mr.. Fishs letter to stockholders fu
ther than in this way:
You can quote me as saying tn
lie the letter is all nonsense"