The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-17
MOVING PLAN
 IN THE AIR May Not Lift the Moses
 Building. CONTRACTORS FEAR SUITS Delays from Injunction Would
 Interfere With Plans. Wells Brothers Company Make De- mands Upon Prospective Purcha- sers to Make Good Any Loss < That fs Incurred.

Negotiations for the removal of the
 Moses building to site near Lee and | Montgomery streets, were almost ter-
 minated without successful issue yes- terday morning, and after two confer | ences between the purchasers of the
 building and the prospective contrac- tors for its removal remained unset- | tied last night.
 At the conference of the parties in- terested last night, it seemed possible that mutual concessions would result | in a resumption of the negotiations, and that thus the preparations for the stupendous> engineering feat would be continued to consummation Of the plans of Messrs. Jones, Marks, Gayle and Ray, the purchasers of the build ing, and of the hopes of all the citi-
 gems of Montgomery.
 The conference Is to be resumed at 10 o'clock this morning.
 Walter T. Smith, representative of the Wells Brothers Company. who had proposed to move the building, de- clined last sight to make any state- ment whatever,
 Earlier in the day P. A. Wells, member of the firm had said that on account of inability to agree with the purchasers, the company would not take the contract. It was after this that another conference was held. According to e statement by William
 B. Jones, William A. Gayle, William M. Marks and John W. Ray, who pur- chased the Moses building. the obsta-
 cle in the way of an immediate agree
 ment was the proposal by the repre-
 sentatives of the Wells eompany that hitherto unconsidered provisions be in
 serted in verbal contract which though not formally drafted, the pros Hpective owners, considered final and binding.
 Propose New Conditional
 we have conferred with the repre- sentatives of the Wells Company fre- ouently since ce opened negotiations for the removal of the Moses building, said one of the owners last night. ana until this morning such provisions as they now propose were never mention ed.
 According to their first proposal they offered to move the Moses build ing intact from It's present site to the site near the corner of Lee. and Montgomery streets, there set it upon its foundations and leave 1t as com plete as when they accepted the con tract for the construction Of the tirst National Bank building, which is to replace the Moses building. Our part of the work was to be the obtaining of concessions of owners of property along the right of way, the necessary permission from the city, the right to remove signs, poles, wires and other obstructions; and we were to tndemni- fy the contractors against loss from delays caused by injunction suits.
 we fully carried out our agree ment.
 MT. Smith, representing the com pany, this morning submitted provis- ions which we had never thought ol' and they had never spok or to us: He asks that we mai-~ bond. not through a bonding company but per sonally, in the sum of $20,0O0 to pro tect them against the loss or $zo'ooo which Is the amount of profit they ex pect to make from the construction or inc First National Bank building. so that if the removal of the Moses building in any way prevents the company from completing the bank building according to contract they will still have their profit.
 "The company asks that We guaran- tee that if the first floor of the bank building is not completed by August 1 the payment by ourselves Of the daily forfeiture of $10O for each day beyond that time; and that if the en- tire building is not completed by oc- tober 1, we shall guarantee the TOT feitures, which would mean practically q navment of the rentals of the build ing, perhaps $80,00O year, propaoly 1 more.
 eve are requestetd also to indem- nifty the company against loss rom damage suits resulting rom the loss of life or property.
 At first the company asked that we
 orf Nf hA Rtfnnl4tAd nrlC6 upon the day the building was placed upon grillage, but we objected to this and they acquiesced to the rejection or the provision Now they wish the pro- vision inserted.
 we regard the requests as unrea- sonable and we are surprised by them We think we have already contract with the company for the removal of the building We are willing, however, | to make reasonable concessions. We are to have another conference tomor- row morning, and I sincerely hope we shall agree upon terms.
 MT. Wells said early yesterday af- ternoon that inasmuch as the company and the owners had not been able to agree, they would not remove the building intact but would begin to tear 1t down. The company, he said, had l not sufficient assurance that 1t would | be unhampered by inJunctions and Oth- l CT obstacles ana that thus IL HlBnnC De subjected to a loss of the contract for : the construction of the First National Bank building.
 He spoke of five days notice clause in the contract the Wells Company mas with the First National Bank, which clause provided that if the company delayed unreasonably in it's progress of construction the bank had O right to annul the contract. This clause. Mir. Wells explained, might easily become effective, if, after the building had been placed upon rollers, an injunction would cause stoppage of the work.
 He expressed regret at not being able 10 take the contract by which he said the company had expected to make a
 handsome profit.
 Last night after the conference with the owners of the Moses building, the
 representatives of the company, Messrs.
 Wells and Smith, declined to make
 statement about the matter.
 Tt is a private business matter, MT
 Smith said, "and have nothing what
 over to say about it."
 It was reported on the streets yes terday that the Montgomery Light ana Water Power Company would seek restraining injunction against Wells Brothers Company, if the contracting firm should attempt to move the Moses building. This report was strongly | denied by General Manager h: J. | Chambers last night. who stated ne had no intention of trying to inter | fere with the building plan