The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-04-19
EUTV'S FIRST RTCETVTRSHIP
IT HAPPENED IN 1870 AND NO
RECORD WAS MADE or IT.
An Incident Of Early Troubles Of Road
ROlllnE stock Pledged 10 = Creditor
Part Of Daily Receipts Retained
Nearly Year to Pay q Debt.

Nearly Year to Pay = Debt.
GosHFN, n. Y, April lS,-Erie's recent
financial dificulties recall some peCulisr
transactions made necessary at the time
when the roads western terminus and
principal station was Goshen.
THE records Of Erie have it, said an.
old resident, shat the company has hat
three receiverships. but it has had four
The company's records do not mention
the first one, because there were no bother
some processes Of court or other legal
proceedings to characterize either it's be-
ginning or its closing That first Erie re-
ceivership was unique.
When the Erie vas trying 10 set ia
railroad bui III es far rs Goshen, Geor .
C.. Miller, a civil engineer, who he'd zone
much Of the surveying for routes Of the
pioneer railroads Of this country and who
made the drafts for the locomotive De Wit
! Clinton. which hauled the first lrsin NJ
passene ers on a ~ ilroad in New YORK.
lived 10 Goshen. He aud a brother took
the contract for putting down the super.
stn cture on a section Of the Erie between
Piermont and Goshen
This was in 1870. ard the Comw nv had
spent about all the money II had been abe
to raise. The contractors for grading
the roadbed for the su Perstructure we're
- hampertd in their wori; by failure ~
the company 70 provide funds that tie
Miller contract WAS Rreotly delayed. end
at last. at the request Of the comr2ny'S
engineer Of constr1 ctiOn. was given up
The company refu Sed to pay the Miller
claim OF some $1,000. and Geor e Miller
took an assignment Of his brothers share
OF the claim and notified the company the,
he would bring suit afainst II L Mess The
claim was paid or made secl ~. 700
Some time before Tbls tie company
had come in for. a rtdlar tnpiesss At
experience In being called upon 10 maliea
! settlement with Camp 4 Coz echtraclork,
who had been forced TO throw up their
contract with the company because ths
company insisted on paying for Work u
| scrip, which could rot be used eEceit at
biz discount. Camp A Co, had afcldu IL
$4,000 which the company ~disputedA NJ
Camp 4 Go. threatened suit. "A isSe.
suit was the last thing the Erie wantfdH
lIH NANNY ludi luNut " OA0 NOuNu hAiNk uN
another and Judgment against the company
in every case az certain, which meant.
foreclosure and sale OF the whole works
sBy an act passed by the New York
IeRislatufe In $50 the company was gu.
th6riEedt to receive from the New York Stale
Treasury q in State guaranteed stock in
the company for every 81 Of its own etock
the company sold This was TO be q bona
Rde sale, but the company Interpreted the
- -. kk,k 70 1aalA fala dnha0rTnfinua
for its stock from creditors and collect
twice the sum from the State in guaranteed
stock, which was a. good as cash.
1In this way the company was at that
time compromising with its creditors, or
AZ many OF them as would accept such
terms. and 20 when Camp 4 Co. insisted
that they would not a less than the
claim they had put In, Hezekiah Seymour.
who was head and front OF Erie then, 10:
formed the contractors that II they would
raise the money for the company the claim 5
would BE- paid, explaining his novel Prcpo-
aition by asking Camp 4 Co. TO subscribe
for $4,000 worth Of Erie stock, which would
ehtitle the company to $4,000 from the
state. Out Of this $4,000 the company
would pay the contractors til 900 in cash:
The $4,000 in Erie stock would represent
the balance ~ the claim.
s'Besides that, said Seymour, Il will
leave the company with 5000 cash In
hand, and II needs the money
Contractor Camp. being interested IN
important contracts elsewhere. agreed to
the company's terms 10 the extent OF one
third Of his claim, and II the original sub
scription books Of the Erie are in existence
Camps name will appear there as a sub
scribeT 10 R,l00 Of Erie stock, but the
record will not tell how and why he sub
scribed for it
when George Miller presented his clai n
to the company and threatened suit 10
compel settlement the Erie, not daring tn
risk a lawsuit, proposed the stock sub.
scription arrangement to him, such as ha
been made with Camp h Co. He declined
To settle on such terms, except TO the eV-
tent Of 1 1870. and on condition that the
proceeds OF 5000 In State stock shoulI
be applied entirely on his claim and that
the company secure the balance OF the
claim In a manner that he proposed, which
was the signing over 10 him the entire
rolling stock Of the c1mpaay-ths rail-
road havidg in the meantime been inishei
and opened 10 Goshen-to secure the pay
ment TO him OF $500 a month until the debt
was cancelled, he to name a receiver Tor
the business of the company and the re-
ceiver to retain an amount daily from it's
receipts that would make mp the monthly
instalment.
THE comps1y agreed n Miller's prnpo-
sttion. and Miller chosa as receiver Tall
man Waters OF the New York Custom House,
q former seer atary OF the company. For
nearly a year the Eris rolling stock re-
manned In pawn under this odd receiver
ship, while the company paid the debt in
instalnisnts. Then the company raise1
the money to pay OF the balance Of the
Miller claim In a lump, and the first Erie
receivership, OF which there Is no ofitial
record, was closed,
THE scrip, by the way, that the Erig is
sued In thoss early struggling days n lie,
career, and which employees, contractors
and others had TO take at par and Use at a
big discount, was bought on speculation
by men who had faith In the future Of ths
undertaking and held against the time
when II might be worth its face or nearly
30. One man In particular, Al employee
Of the company, collected this scrip TO an
amount representing several Thousands
Of dollars.
THE day came when it was redeemed.
With the proceeds Of his holdings he started
himself In business In New York, and died
Tour or five years ago worth a million"