Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-05-08

statement of the transactions OF the
Billiard CO. with the New York, New
Haven & Hartford Railroad, its ON
GERS and subsidiaries, was made be-
fore the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion today by John L. Billiard, VINO
organized the concern. He outlined
the methods by which, with the ala
of Charles S. Mellen. then president
of the New Haven and a loan from the
New England Navigation Co, New
Haven subsidiary, he took over the
stock of the Boston & Maine Railroad,
owned by the New Haven, which the
Massachusetts courts decided the New
Haven could not hold. After holding
the stock a year, Billiard said he re-
sold il to the Boston Railroad Holding
Co. another New Haven subsidiary,
at a, profit of $25 a share on 1o9,94S
shares. In payment for the stock, he
said, he took S16.250,000 in gold notes
of the New England Investment and
Securities Co, a New Haven concern,
and the Billiard Co. was formed to
handle this transaction. He paid 81
100000 into the Billiard Co, he said,
and sold 1t the New England Invest
ment Co. notes, receiving the $2,0O9,0OO
cash and s14,250,000 in Billiard Co.
notes in payment. These Billiard notes,
in accordance with an arrangement
with Mr.. Mellen, he said, were bought
by the New England Navigation Co.
MIR. BILLIARDS. Statement
The statement which Mr.. Billiard
nut in the record was in part as fol-
lows:
I'm 1907 the New York. New Haven
S Hartford Railroad Co. held 109,94S
shares of stock of the Boston &
Maine Railroad, which as I understand
it, according to a decision of the
Massachusetts supreme court, it had
no right to hold under the Massachu-
sets law, as 1t then stood. The New
/ Haven Co. hoped in time to get the
law changed so as to permit it to hold
| this stock.
ST wrote Charles S. Mellen, the
president of the railroad company
offering $3.50 share for this stock,
about the market price. He telephon-
ed me that if / would give $125 a
share he would help me finance the
purchase. This I agreed to do. l paid
a part of the purchase price with a
note and the balance in cash, having
borrowed for the purpose from the
National City Bank of New York.
No Protective Understanding
There was absolutely no under
standing by which I was to be pro-
tected against a fall in value of the
Boston & Maine stock of by which 1
was under any obligation to keep the
stock or to sell it again to the New
Haven Railroad Co. My note I subse-
quently paid in full. The purchase
that l have described was not suffi-
cient to give me majority of the
Boston & Maine stock, and | thought
that my position would be strengthen
ed by the acquisition of additional
shares of this stock. To aid me in such
purchase, / arranged 10 borrow $1,000
600 from the New England Navigation
Co.. on a note which 1 subsequently
paid in full. l also borrowed money
for the purpose at banks in New
York. / purchased in addition to my
former purchase altogether between
$4,000 and $1,000 shares of common
stock and between 5000 and 5000 shares
of preferred stock.
After / had held for about a year,
the Boston & Maine stock that ac-
quired from the New Haven Railroad,
the Massachusetts Legislature incor-
Co, as a subsidiary of the New Hav-
en-, with authority to hold Boston &
Maine stock and the New Haven then
wished to re-acquire the stock it had
sold to me.
Risked Whole Fortune
I'm the purchase of this stock | had
risked my whole fortune. At one time
the Boston & Maine shares had fallen
in the market so that my purchase
showed me a loss of over a million
dollars. I had bought the stock at
about market price and sold it back
at about the market price. l received
$3.50 a share, showing me a profit of
$25 a share on my original purchase of
109,94S shares.
81 was not at that time a director
of the New Haven Co. and both in the
purchase and resale of this stock
the negotiations between me and the
railroad company were absolutely free
from any secret arrangement or under
standing.
Il did agree, as is shown by a writ
ten contract dated June 80 1909. in
view of the profit I was making, to
take over from the New England Nav
igation Co. in payment for the Bos-
ton & Maine stock, over $4,000, 900 of
gold notes of the New England Invest
ment & Security Co, Massachusetts,
voluntary association which controlled
the street railways in Worcester and
Springfield. These were to be guaran-
iced by the New Haven Railroad Co.
Finances Acquisition
In the contract of June 80 1909,
he New Haven agreed to allow me to
finance this acquisition. 1t was I'M
lerstood at this time between me and
the president of the New Haven Rail-
road Co. that I should organize cor
poration whose notes, similar to the
notes of the New England Investment
and Security Co., should be taken over
oy the New Haven Co. or the New
England Navigation Co. also desir-
I'd TO form the corporation as a meas
are of self protection and also to avoiG
complications in event of my death
Nothing to Do With 3. g. NJ.
THE Billiard Co. never had anything
10 do with the Boston & Maine stock
it's capital was originally $4,000 but
VAS later increased to 100000. This