The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-06-07
SUIT TO RECOVER
M|SUSED MILLIONS
Boston Stockholders of New
Haven Road Plan Action
for Gigantic Sum.
NOW IN HANDS OF ATTORNEYS
Proceeding Will Be Against Nor
gan Estate, Rockefeller and
Other Directors.

estate, William Rockefeller, Lewis
Cass Ledyard and other directors of
the New Haven road IS being planned
by Boston stockholders. Tho suit will
be the first step in a great battlo in
the courts to force the lootcrs of the
New Haven and the Boston and Maine
TO disgorgc the millions of which both
roads have been robbed In the past
ton years.
Tho direct purpose Of the legal pro-
ceedings is to compel the Morgan eB-
tate. Rockefeller, Ledyard and the
other New Haven directors to make
restitution to the stockholders Of the
vast sums which they believe have
been taken from the railroads treas
ury and hagrantly misused for i'm
proper and Illegal ends In absolute de-
fance of the law.
The suit will be epoch making.
1t will be the first time under like
that railroad directors
Will have been brought to book for
permitting the railroads which they
control to be pillaged with impunity.
The suit Will involve at least
500 Ooo,o00-probably more. This tre-
mendous amount covers the entire Pc
liberate plundering OF the New Haven
system.
One estimate tonight was that the
total loot which the stockholders aim
to recover is between S120.000.o00 and
s25o.0o0.O0o. The former nguro 10
the most conservative estimate.
INFLUENTIAL CITIZENS
BACK OF GIGANTIC SUIT
Back OF the fight are influential Bos-
ton and New England men. They arc
all New Haven kholders. They are
determined to prosecute the directors
to the full extent of tho law, they say.
They declare that action in the courts
is likely to prove the only way TO
bring back TO the New Haven tho
millions which have been pilfered from
il. They say that the agreement
reached between the New Haven and
the Department of Justice at Wash
ington will not. restore these millions
to the road and the Boston and Maine.
They feel that the national government
should have made restitution a part OF
the agreement.
They have retained Sherman L.
Whipple. one of the ablest attorneys In
Massachusetts,. to lead their fight to
win back the misused funds. They arc
will be revolution in the method OF
warning on predatory railroad inter-
ests.
Mr.. Whipple will undoubtedly be as
sisted by other attorneys.
Here are the millions which these
atockholders seek to have restored:
The s20.o0O.o0o lost in buying up
Boston and Maine stock in defiance OF
the law.
in the trolley gobble" in defiance OF
the law
The sll.o0o.oo0 wilfully squandcred
in the notorious Westchester deal.
The millions certain directors are
accused OF having turned into private
personal profits through commissions
or otherwise on Illegal investments of
New Haven money.
And all the other millions taken out
Of the New Haven till and expended
in Illegal investments
CHARGES MADE AGAINST
CERTAIN OF DIRECTORS
And these are the charges against
certain directors:
That they have been guilty OF mis-
feasance.
That as directors they arc responsi-
BILE trustees who have violated their
trust.
That they have defed tho law in
admittedly illegal acts.
That they secretly secured the con-
troll of the Boston and Maine through
the purchase of large blocks OF stock
in utter disregard of the law.
That again and again they nouted
the laws OF the State and the Legisla-
turc and continued buying up Boston
and Maine stock in the face OF solemn
pledges TO the Legislature to keep their
hands off.
That we'll knowing the law. and
without seeking the permission of the
Legislature. they acquired within three
years prior to June. 1906. nearly 500
miles of trollcys in Central and West
ern massachusetts. and later more
brazenly swallowed up other street
railway systems.
That they disobeyed with impunity
the Massachusetts laws forbidding the
issuing stock without the consent OF
the railway commissioners.
That they disobeyed with equal i'm
punity the laws forhidding them from
issuing more bonds than stock, and the
laws forbidding them from acquiring
steamship lines. and similarly defied
the laws forbidding them from con-
solidating with other companies.
That in their monopoliZation OF the
transportation field In New England.
they invested many millions OF the
New Iaven's money, most of it ille-
gally.
That they should be held to account
for the S11,e00,00 "mysteriously miss
ing" in the Westchestcr deal.
That they are responsible for the
breakdown of transportation In New
England; for the wrecking OF the
Boston and Maine: the practically
bankrupting of both the Boston and
Maine and New Haven: for the heavy
depreciation in the market value OF
securities.
And that. as the responsible persons.
they must be made to return to the
railways that which the directors IL
legally invested
OPENS UP BEST WAY FOR
RHGITING THE WRONG
That is the outline of what may be
one OF the most important legal battles
In the railroad history II is revealed,
for the first timc to-day. Those be-
hind the suit claim that 1t opens up
the best way for rlghting the wrongs
which have done the New England
railways year after year. and that 1T
furnishes the only means for real
rehabilitation OF the Boston and Maine
and New Haven roads. as. If success
full 1t would mean q return OF the
millions ito put the roads on their
fan