The new era. (Walden, Colo.) 1906-19??, 1907-10-17
THE KING OF
ALL FRAUDS
NEW YORK TURNS OUT GIGANTIC
SCHEME THAT CAUSES 9TH
ERS TO FADE AWAY.
S3S,365,00O THE sum
ANTICIPATED EQUINE STREET
CAR SYSTEM INFLATED AND
SOLD IN THE DARK.

New York.-Amazing as was the
story of Anthony N. Brady's Wall and
Cortlandt streets ferry railway deal
with the Metropolitan Securities Com.
pany, and the incidental loot of nearly
$1,000,000, 1t will be dwarfed by eY
posures to come. In similar syndicate
operations the same coterie of finan
ciers IN five transactions realized the
staggering total of $3S,365, 900.
All the transactions were along ex
actly the same lines as the Wall and
Cortlandt street ferries deal, and the
loot was secured by pundering the
Metropolitan Street Railway Company.
The Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth
street car line never improved, and,
using the same horse cars which it
operated in 1896, was purchased by the
syndicate for $4,000 and turned over
to the Metropolitan for bonds and
stocks, which at the time of the tran.
saction had par value of $3,OOO,OOO
and a market value of $5,550,000.
The Fulton street line, similarly pur'
chased for 100000. was sold to the
Metropolitan for securities of pal
value of 100000 and a market value
of s1,S50,000.
The Thirty-fourth street cross-town
line was loI 3lOu,oVo anu
sold to the Metropolitan for securities
of par value of 100000 and mar
ket value of s2,3OO,OO0.
The Pavonia line, constructed at Il
cost of 81, 100000, was sold to the same
company for securities of IL par valua
of S1O,OO0,O00 and a market value Of
100000.
The Columbus and Ninth avenue
line, constructed at a cost of about
s45 900, brought securities of par
value of $6,000,000 and market value
of S11, 100000
On all the transactions the summary
reveals the amazing fact that the in
siders paid out $2,235,000 for roads
which they turned into the Metropoll
ton for securities of a par value of S22.
900 900 and market value of $41, 7O0.'
900. At the time these transactions
were taking place the stocks and bonds
had been marked up to where there
was an average price of $3.50 share
for the stock and s120 Cor the bonds,
and 1t was at these fancy figures that
the looters parcelled out the stocks
and bonds to the public and made
quick realization in cash.
The men involved in the syndicate
were the same to whom Anthony NJ
Brady referred to in his testimony be-
fore the public service commission on
Tuesday. 1t was the little coterie of
insiders that during the Reconstruction
days and until the present have con
trolled local traction interests. The
men are:
THOMAS F. RYAN.
WILLIAM C. WHITNEY.
P. A. B. WIDENER.
THOMAS DOLAN.
WILLIAM l.. ELkINS.
Whitney and Eiliins are dead, Their
holdings having passed to their estates
Taking the transactions in chrome
logical order, the Twenty-eighth and
Twenty-ninth street lines take prece'
dence. On September 80, 1896, this
line, bankrupt. defaulted on its bonds
and, losing heavily, was sold at auction
at the real estate exchange, No. IL,
Broadway, for $4,000. The sale was
patched up and an agent named
Charles W. Truslow acted as pur-
chaser He really represented the
Ryan interests, and Edward Lauter-
bauch represented the sellers of the
bankrupt road.
The same day, it is a matter of rec
ord, this bankrupt line, purchased for
s25 900, was sold to the Metropolitan
Street Railway Company for Sl,o00,0oO
worth of stock and similar amount II
guaranteed five per cent. bonds. 1t is
losing 100000 Il year.
The Fulton street line was purchased
in 1892 from Dady G. ORourke, con
tractors, for 100000. At that, they
were allowed to make 100000 profit.
Five hundred thousand in bonds and
$500. 900 in stock was paid for it by the
Metropolitan to this syndicate. The
line owns only thirty-nine miles OF
track. 1t is still horse line and loses