Omaha daily bee., 1908-03-05
FISH OUT OF DIRECTORATE
Stockholders of Illinois Central Rail-
road Elect New Board.
HARTMAN PARTY IN CONTROL
It is Unable, However, TO Muster
Two-Thirds Votes Necessary to
Buy Two Branch
Lines.

CHICAGO, March 4.-The long struggle
for control of the Illinois Central was
ended, at least temporarily, yesterday when
the official adjourned meeting Of the stock
holders was held and four directors were
elected. With only formal protests recorded
by the interests headed by Stuyvesant Fish,
which havo been opposing the administra-
tion of the road. e. II. Hartman and John
Jacob Astor were reelected to the board
A. G. Hackstaff, who has been serving as
a director since the death of John c. Well
ing, was chosen to fill the unexpired term
and Joseph F. Titus was elected TO succeed
Stuyvesant Fish upon the directorate. Mr.
Titus, however, is to serve only a Few
weeks, President Harahan announcing to
the stockholders that J. ogden Armour of
Chicago will be chosen to the board in place
of Mr.. Titus as soon as the stock owned by
Mr.. Armour can be transferred TO his ac-
count on the books, thus making him a
stockholder of record.
Mr.. Fish was not present at the meet
ing and only O few Of his allies were there
to watch his interests. Neither were the
bulk of the proxies neld by Mr.. Fish pre-
sented to the proxy committee. The report
of that body showed that 5s4, ,6ss shares, out
Of total Of 400 outstanding, were en-
titled TO be voted OF these 5s1,456 were
held by President Harahan.
Branch Lines Not Purchased.
The comparatively small representation
of stock at the meeting had one effect
which was bit disappointing to the ad-
ministrative forces. with less than two
thirds of the outstanding stock voting, it
was found impossible to ratify legally the
action of the board of directors to purchase
two small branch lines-the Kensington &
Eastern and the Memphis & State Line
railroads. The charter of the railroad re-
uuires that 632,6OO shares shall be voted in
favor OF any proposition looking to the
purchase of other railways Today only
5S3, ,O46 were offered in favor of the plan to
purchase the two lines in question. The
Kensington & Eastern runs from Kensing-
ton, ILL.,, to Hammond, Ind, acting as a
connecting link between the Illinois Cen
tral and various roads. The Memphis &
State Line is a belt road around Memphis
Tenn. Both properties, it was stated by
President Harahan, have been constructed
with funds furnished by the Illinois Cen
trail. He added that the projects were be-
gun during the administration of Mr.. Fish
In addition to eecting the directors the
stockholders ratified the purchase of GER
tain terminal facilities in New Orleans and
Memphis. The value of these was stated
to be in the neighborhood of $1,oOO,oOO.
Statement by Mr.. Fish.
Mr.. Fish gave out last night the state
ment relative to his absence from the
stockholders meeting:
I refrained from taking any part in the
meeting because l deemed it best for those
stockholders whose proxies 1 hold, that
neither they ror l be in any manner bound
by any thing done at the meeting. My first
intention had been to attend the meeting
and not present any proxies, in which case
II might have been claimed that as l held
proxies and was personally present those
who had given me proxies were also
present.