New-York tribune., 1918-04-24
|Levering Grilled
At Metropolitan
Petroleum Meeting
Tells His Story of Sale of
Gusher Property to
Island Oil

For full four hours yesterday al
ternoon Richmond Levering, promoter
and organizer of the ill-fated Metro
politan Petroleum Corporation, stood
the grilling of the principal stockhold-
ers of the concern, who sought COM
plete explanation Of why the Metro
politan management sold its best
property in Mexico, developing TO-
barrel oil gushcr, to the Island Oil
and Transport Company, also organ
lied by Levering. The meeting was
held in an assembly room in the
Equitable Building. Sore and dis
gruntled stockholders who lost thou
sands of dollars in last years collapse
in Metropolitan stock came several
hundred strong to take a hand in the
pow-wow.
Levering, in reply to questions
thrown at him in a steady stream
from all directions, told the whole
story of the Metropolitan Island Oil
transfer without a bubble. His calm
ness in the face of the questions fired
at him rufflcd the temper of some Of
the more belligerent stockholders.
The meeting lasted from 3 p. m. to
Z and closed with the appointment of
a stockholders committee, consisting
Of Judge Delevan Holmes, of Holmes,
Street, as chairman; Charles c. Match
ett, of the Stock Exchange firm of
Markoe, Morgan e. Co., and Harry
Wilson. This committee was empow-
cred to make a thorough investigation
of the books and affairs of the Metro
politan and report to the stockholders
at another meeting to be held May Z.
Levering was not slow in laying his
side Of the case before the stockhold-
ers at yesterdays Session. With the
formalities of organizing the meeting
scribe how unfairly he thought he had
been treated by the stockholders, who
had called him "everythng from a
horse thief down." 1t was for the pur-
pose of giving the stockholders a
chance to air their grievances before
him, he said, that the meeting had
been called by his representatives. He
explained how his firm, Richard Lever
ing Co., was not brokerage house,
but was engaged rather in the oil busi
ness, buying properties and drilling
business in the Mexican fields for fif
teen years, he stated, and started the
Metropolitan Petroleum Corporation
on it's career in 1915, when he put
together a group of several Mexican
properties, embracing hundreds Of
thousands of acreage of territory, in
the oil bearing region.
With frequent Interruptions in the
form of pointed questions from stock
holders, Levering went on and told how
he had expended several hundred thou
@11 - II in
trying to get the property on its feet.
Failure to obtain satisfactory financial
backing to develop the Metropolitan
properties and build the pipe line nee
essary to get the oil to the seaboard
finally resulted, according to Levering's $
story, in the organization Of the Island
Oil and Transport Company, which
bought the property on which the big
gusher was brought in.
When it came to this point the diff
ferent personally appointed spokesmen
of the stockholders in turn tried to
obtain from Levcring an admission
that he had positive knowledge of the
existence of the big gusher before the
transfer of the property was made by
the Metropolitan to the Island Oil.
He denied this, and stated with en-
phasis that the property was trans
ferrcd in February, 1917, whereas the
great we'll was not brought in until the
latter part of May. 1t was brought out
in the course of the discussion that the
Metropolitan received small amount
of cash and S2,4OO000 Island Oil and
transport stock, the latter being the
principal assets of the Metropolitan
other than it's remaining Mexican prop
critics, on which accrued rentals approx
innate 100000 to $5OO,OOO. Develop
ment Of the Island Oil concern is now
being pushed by A. B. Leach & Co. and
other strong interests, which are build
ing an extensive pipe line system to
get the crude oil to the gulf.
! Levering, in the course of his re-
marks to the stockholders, declared
that the skyrocket career of the Metro
politan shares on the curb, which so
injured the credit of the concern as to
make it impossible to raise money for
development work, had been engineered
by Wall Street firm which has since
| gone out of business. 1t was charge d
that this concern made a market some
days for thirty or forty thousand
shares of the Metropolitan stock on the
curb when it actually had in it's hands