Arizona republican., 1908-11-21
GREENE DIRECTORS
SUED FOR DIVIDENDS
RECEIVER OF WRECKED GOLD
SILVER CO. SAYS MONEY
WASN'T EARNED.
A Scheme of High Finance Which
Apparently Operated Only to the
Profit of Col. Greene.

The New York Times of November
| IL says:
Raphael Ling of 146 Broadway
started suits yesterday on behalf Of
Receiver Frank Fritsch of the Greene
| Gold-Silver company, against nine of
the directors and members of the
executive committee of the company
responsible for the declaration of two
per cent dividends on the Greene
/ Gold Silver s per cent cumulative
preferred stock in 1907.
The first dividend, which was paid
on February 20, 1907, was authorized
| by the board of directors and in
volved the disbursement of $42,S154O
The second dividend. paid March ~
of the same year. was authorized by
the executive committee, comprised of
| Leonard II. Hole, Alfred Romer and
Leonard d. Baldwin, involving the
| same amount of cash.
Outside of a few hundred dollars
realized on the remnants of furniture
from the companys one-time richly
upholstered offices in the Blair build
ing, "A Broad street, the receiver has
been able to locate practically nothing
in the way of assets of the defunct
company, and the recovery of the
total of S49.620.S0 alleged to have
been Illegally paid by the directors
and the executive committee, is the
, only chance of getting anything back
for the stockholders.
The directors sued individually and
collectively for the recovery of the
first dividend are Mark l.. Sperry of
Waterbury, Conn; NJ. VI. Parker of
Washington. Alfred Romer and Ed
ward g. Rice of the Produce Ex-
change, James w. Rowland OF Brook
lyn, Leonard d. Baldwin of the law
firm of Griggs. Baldwin & Pierce.
formerly counsel for the company;
John II. Martin, assistant secretary
and treasurer of the company: Rich
ard \. Jones. secretary of the COM
pany. and Leonard II. Hole of Bird
5. Coler's banking firm of n. W.
Coler & Company.
Stock Hypothecated by Col. Greene.
Evidence brought out in supple
mentary proceedings conducted by At
torney Link has shown that at the
time these dividends were declared
the company's holdings of the stock
OF the Greene Gold Silver Company
Il
title to the American company's in
terests in the Mexican mines for
which its stockholders had paid over
$1,000 900 in cash and $4,000 in
stock. had been hypothetical by Col.
Greene in Mexico
AT the same meeting Of the eXecu-
time committee on February p. 1907,
at which a second dividend of 4 per
cent was declared, the sale of 100000
shares of preferred stock was au-
thorized, which stockholders sub
scribed to at $3.50 a share. In the
complaints served on the officers of
the company yesterday, it is alleged
that the 1907 dividends were paid out
of money raised by the Greene Cold
Silver company from the sale OF its
stock. from loans obtained OIL its notes
and the hypothecatiOn of stock, and
not from surplus profits
Although no steDts have been taken
by stockholders, so far as could be
learned yesterday, to bring their case
before the district attorney, Section
594 of the Penal Code expressly COW
ers the same allegation as is put
forward in the civil suit.
The executive committee, in au-
thorizing the sale of preferred stock
at $3.50 a share between the payment
of the first and second dividends.
which it is alleged were paid out of
the assets of the company, is alleged
TO have approved a letter signed by
Col. Greene, which was the bait that
brought in the subscriptions to the
stock. the facts of which are directly
contradicted by the investigation of
ATTORNEY Link. In this letter Col.
Greene said:
Large Profits on Paper.
1.-The company is treating in its
mills now in operation about 200 tons
of ore per day, at an average valua-
ton in excess Of S25 a ton. The cost
of mining is about $3.50 per ton, and
of milling $3.50 per ton, leaving a net
profit on our present output of $4,000
per day, more than six times the
amount needed to pay the per cent
dividends on the entire 100000 shares
of preferred stock authorized. The
moneys realized from the sale of the
preferred stock will be used for in
creasinG the reduction capacity Of our
company to q total of 1000 tons per
day and for paying the remaining bal
ance due upon two of our properties.
With these two exceptions, all of the
ia mines of the company are entirely
paid for. Our coal properties and
lumber lands are also entirely paid
for
1.-The investigation conducted by At
torney Link has not only failed to
show that the company ever actually
owned any mines which produced
even a dollar of profit at this period.
but makes plain that Col. Greene's
statement of the company's owner
ship i'm his Mexican properties were
exactly the reverse of the truth. Only
two of the ia mines which stock
holders believed they owned at that
time had been maid for according to