The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-04-17
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES PLEASED
Frost May Now be Active in Plans for
the Reorganization of the Chicago &
Milwaukee Electric Gives Out State
ment on Verdict Of Jury.

the Chlcag0 % MllWduheo GAecClAo iVosAA
wav and the Kenosha Electric Railway
Company was acquitted OF charges OF
conspiracy to defraud the government
in the Alaskan coal lands case IN the
United States court in Chicago on
Sunday. The verdict Of the jury reach
ed seven hours after the case had been
submitted also provided for the release
of George M. Seward, Pierre G. Beach,
George A. Ball and Frank Watson,
who had been indicted with Frost UNI
der the charges brought by the govern
ment. The trial of the case had been
SIN progress since March 9th.
The verdict of the jury proved de-
cidedly pleasing to hundreds of friends
of Mr.. Frost and his associates in Ke-
nosha as the men here who had known
Frost well, some of whom had been
interested in his Alaskan enterprises,
were convinced that he was innocent of
the charges brought by the govern
ment. The enthusiastic manner in
which Frost went at all the enterprises
he promoted and the manner in which
be interested his friends in these en-
terprises is held by the Kenosha men
to have been responsible for his being
forced to stand the long trial.
The dealings of Frost with the peo-
pie of Kenosha made him popular in
the city and for this reason his acquit-
tai of the charges against him is de-
ridedly pleasing here.
Now that Frost has freed himself
from lot of entangling alliances it is
expected that he will at once make an
effort to regain some of the properties
he has lost through the prosecutions on
the part of the government. 1t is
known that he has been powerful fac
tor in the reorganization of the Chi
cago & Milwaukee road and the Cana
dian bankers who hold bulk of the
bonds of the road are expected to urge
Frost for the management of the road
under reorganization. Frost has stat
ed that he would be willing to under
take the task of recognizing the COM
pany in case he was freed from charges
brought against him by the govern
ment.
Following his discharge in the
United States court Mr.. Frost issued
the following:
"Whilc the verdict completely exon
Grating me from the charge brought
against me by the government is, of
course, most gratifying, had at all
times complete confidence in my final
yindication.
I'm the fall of 1904 I became inter
ested in the financing and construction
of the Alaska Central railway from
Seward, on the south coast of Alaska,
north to Fairbanks, distance of 4S3
miles, which contemplated an expen-
diture of over $20,000,000.
THE opening up and development of
the Matanuska coal fields was an i'm
portant factor in the success of the
railroad project, and induced a num-
Der of my friends, as we'll as some of
my employees and associates, to exercise
their rights as American citizens and
take for themselves a claim, which the
law allows and for which they paid the
government the $40 an acre required.
] had no motive to subserve. I employ
ed and consulted the ablest legal coun.
sci, whose advice L followed both in
spirit and in letter.
81 was never conscious of hayine,
done anything wrong; in fact, what /
did was for the development and wei.
fare of the country.
eff the government had permitted
me to lay before the department, or the
grand jury, the facts that were given
the jury at this trial, 1 am sure no
Indictment would have been brought
against me, or the other defendants.
who were absolutely blameless in the
matter.
AS regards The completion of the
Alaska Central railway, unless the GOV.
eminent changes its policy and en-
courages settlement and development
OF that country, and permits the devel-
opment of the Mantanuska coal fields
there can be no hope of financing the
road to completion and making it the
great highway from tidewater to the
navigable waters of the Tanana and
Yukon rivers.
"The attitude of the government to.
ward Alaska in the last eight years has
been most unfortunate and has throt
tied all development, and the population
of that great empire is today less than
it was eight years ago. On the other
hand, western Canada by pursuing a
policy Numerically opposite has not
only increased her population tenfold