The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-31

l K, S. Ao~ five Massachusetts stockholders, Henry
 A. Wise began yesterday afternoon m
 the United States district court a ia- bility and restitution suit for more
 than s160, 100000 against ex-officers. directors and counsel of the New
 York, New Haven & Hartford Rail-
 road Co., The suit is based on testi-
 mony taken at the recent Sherman
 law criminal prosecution in the disso-
 lution suit, and at hearings before the Interstate Commerce Commission and
 various state industrial and railroad
 commissions.
 | Plaintiffs in the suit hold New Ha-
 ven stock worth $1,250,000. They are
 Edwin Adams, Julius c. Morse, George c. Fisk, James F. Ray and Mary M. 1 Clark.
 Among the defendants, who are res- | idents of this and other cities are: William Rockefeller, Charles M. Pratt Lewis Cass Ledyard, George Maccul- ] loch Miller, James S. Hemingway, A. | Heaton Robertson, Frederick F. Brew ster, Charles F. Brooker, James 5. | Elton, Henry K. McHarg, Edward D. Robbins, John L. Billiard, Robert w. i Taft, and Charles s. Mellen, J. Pier pont Morgan. Herbert l.. Satterlee, William P. Hamilton and Lewis Cass Ledyard are named defendants as ex- ecutors under the will of J. P1erpont Morgan, Florence A. V. Twombly IS named a defendant as executrlX under the will of Hamilton Mex Twombly, deceased. The railroad company is al- so named as a defendant
 Finding by Commission. The Interstate Commerce Commis- sion, in fixing at approximately $204,- 100000 the amount of the moneys, funds, and credits of the railroad com pany expended outside its legitimate sphere, said:
 "The result of our research into the financial workings of the former man agement of the New Haven system has been to disclose one of the most glaring instances of maladministration reveal ed in all the history of American rail- roading. Its greatest losses and most costly blunders were made in attempting to circumvent govern mental regulation and to extend it's dominatio beyond the limitations fix ed by law"
 The complaint states that the suit has been brought in the Federal Dis trict Court because of the diversity of citizenship of the parties to it, and sets forth, lon information and belief' that from time to time .and continu- ously from July, 1890. until December 1914, the defendants pursuant to and in furtherance of an unlawful combin- ation and conspiracy, and to effect the object and purchase thereof" have di- rectly and indirectly purchased and acquired, for the New Haven Com pany, stocks and bonds, of other cor porations; purchased and leased their properties and thereby obtained con- trol of still other corporations.
 Charges in Complaint.
 In this way, the complaint alleges, the conspirators laid out and expended the moneys, funds ,and credits of the New Haven Company to the amount of 13O,OO0,OOO, and by reason and be- cause of this the stockholders of the New Haven Company have sustained an actual loss and damage exceeding 3,000,0O0.
 By the fixing of rates, apportion- ment of territory, and elimination of competition in the business of trans porting passengers and freight in the New England States, "the conspira- tors," the complaint alleges, caused loss in revenue in excess of $2,0OO, 900.
 The complaint continues that du- ring the existence of the "conspiracy' and for the purpose of "distract1ng the attention of the public and of the stockholders and of decelVing the "conspirators" paid out of the com pany's funds more than $1,500,0 900 to writers and so-called newspaper pub licity men and to magazine and pe- riodical publishers for articles purport- ing to be news articles, and for adver- Using and semi-advertising matter and other forms of publication.
 Charges Big Losses.
 In defraying the expenses of ope- rating steamboats and steamships "se- cretly owned or controlled by the New Haven Company and used to transport persons and property be- tween the city of New York and va rious ports in the New England States by way of the East River, Long Island Sound, the Atlantic Ocean and tribu- taries and on which the charges were ldCtudlly less lHdu liIc SooI Oi SuSh transportation service, the complaint alleges the conspirators, as officers and directors, caused losses to the com pany in excess of $3,000,000. The complaint next charges that, du- ring the existence of the "combina- tion," the "conspirators'' diverted and misapplied $50O,O00 of the New Ha- ven's funds in payment to lawyers and litigants for instituting, maintaining, and conducting litigation in the courts of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Isl- and, Massa achusetts, and Vermont. against sundry corporations owning or controlling the construction and ope- ration of transportation lines.
 Three million dollars more of the New Haven's money, the complaint al- lleges, was diverted and misapplied by the conspirators in making payments to members of the Legislatures and to other public officials in the States of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massa chu- setts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. and in the Dominion of Canada, and contributing to campaign funds of can didates for election to such Legisla- lures and to other public officers, and h the payment of sums to so-called po- ,itical leaders and bosses in those States and in the Dominion of Canada and in payment of other moneys to so- called persons of influence and to lob byists, political news writers and to egislative agents not registered as Such reouired hV law.