Evening journal., 1919-03-07

Of 2o,'oO shares it appears that some
correspondence followed which Is OF nJ
legal hearing on the case. but which
shows that Pierre sllll had Ia mind The
/ possibility or dcslrahllily OF Coleman
carrying out his original plan. Thus on
/ January 18th. Pierre wrote Coleman
/ that Doe bad not seen William DUPONT
and had not committed Coleman in any
way and expressed his disappointment.
in the meanwhile. the common stock
which Coleman had offered at Si60. as
/ tho proofs show. was on january 20lh.
| selling at sls. aud on January Goth it
/ had reached si90 This meant that Cole
mans oflcr at Si60 was then over six
hundred thousand dollars under tho
market price From that time no fur
| Tier spnndencc was had In refer
enco 90 carryinc out Colemans plan.
which silence was doubtless due 10 the
/ fact that no one would expect him 10
renew his offer 20 The company under
such conditions
But on February iith Coleman. OF
I his own initiative took a radical step
on a totally different line Instead Of
trying 90 sell 90 The company FOR tie
benefit of rs emplC yes. Coleman deter
mined % sen forty thousand shares on
h,s common stock outright a. 500 per
share. and following this 0fier 90 SCH
his cntiIe holdings
we have 10 hreak the regular Sc
quenco OF events % note that this puF-
pose ~ Colemans 20 sell his entire
holdings. created a condition OF grave
concern 90. the Powder Company. as 20
what might be the result II C0lomans
stock was bought by interest hostile 10
the Allies So vital was this stock
holding 90 The ALLIES that the mere
humor OF iis possibility had led The Al
lies 10 send q messenger from Europe
20 ascertain It's truth. These facts weco
known both 90 Coleman and Pierre but
Pierre was satisfied ON January 2jth,
1915. no such danger existed. and 80
wrote Coleman OF the rumor, the COM
ing Of ihe representative Of the Allies
from Europe. and his own belief that
no such danger existed. as follows
The decision points out that the deci-
sion of Coleman 60 scll his large hold
ines created a grave situation and one
that called for prompt action.
Unless the company or those IN ac-
cord with rs policy bought a., 10 might
fan into hostile hands. In addition 10
this. as we shall hereafter see, thece
were at the time such grave problems
OF manufacturing capacity, extension,
embargo and other questions OF pro-
duct legislation confronting The COM
pany as made the purchase OF this
stock one OF such large risks as might
well deter men making the purchase" "
The Judges then quote from the tes-
timony showing how Pierre DUPONT ar
ranged for the purchase by himself and
his associates OF Colemans entire hold
ings and they point out thai- the criti-
cism Of this purchase made by William
and Alfred dupont did not hold that
} Pierre had violated any agency. though
[ they both insisted that the purchase
should have been made for the COM
pany. The discussion Of this idea that
! Pierre's purchase should have been
made for the company continued FOR
several days until on March Pierre
/ addressed q letter 20 the company 10
which be stated, AS our transaction
was made In the form Of an Offer 10 r.
C. dupont. ] give the company similar
I opportunity % make an offer 30 me and
i
: dupont states his understanding of the
acts Of bad faith which Alfred ami
William dupont charge against him IN
acquiring Colemans stock. In That re-
spect the letter says: ION that date,
March ?, ! received the following tels-
gram from Mr.. William dupont. Paper
states you have purchased Colemans
stock. presume for the company. Any
other action I should consider o breach
OF faith Mr.. Alfred J. dupont express /
ed 20 me verbally q similar opinion. I
ln taking exceptions 20 the accusation |
OF bad faith. learn that the meaning .
attached 10 these words Is as follows /
That I could not have made the pur-
chase Of this block Of stock unaimed I.
by the company: that. therefore The 4
company Is entitled 90 the stock. There
seems 90 be no contention that my p0-
sition In the company enabled ,dis-
abled?l me TO receive an offer from Mr..
T. c. duP0nt-the point being that ] |
could not have financed the purchase .
Of the stock without using company /
credit"
1T further appears from the minutes |
0f the directors meeting Of March 5th, !
that William dupont and Alfred du-
Pont were present al this meeting, that
the subject matter OF this letter was
discussed. and that no objection or ex-
ception % the correctness Of Pierre's
statement Of Alfred's and Williams
position was made by them. nor any
assertion that Pierre had been consti-
tuted an agent by the Finance Commit
tee at its meeting Of December 23rd.
THE letter was referred to the FL
nance Committee, which considered q
at a meeting held March Sth, and again
at a meeting q the directors on MARCEL
10th. Both these meetings Alfred du-
Pont and William dupont attended, but
the minutes do not disclose that any as
sertiOn was made by either Of them
that Pierre had been constituted an
agent to negotiate az the Finance Com
mittee meeting OF December 23rd. In
deed, that such allegation was not then
made by Alfred or William dupont Is
not a matter OF mere inference drawn
from its non-appearance in the minutes
but in the brief Of the plaintiffs coun-
sci II Is afiirmatiyely stated no such
statement was made by anyone. IN
that regard the brief says: NO dis
closure was made for the beneft Of the
directors not members Of the syndi-
cate that Pierre had been instructed by
the Finance Committee to continue ne
sotiations for purchase by the company
or that the correspondence had ensued
which had been attended to-
"As Pierre dupont has always con
/ tended he was not so instructed by ne
finance committee, it Is manifest that IL
his content on was true he had no IN
forr,,ffo~, e. r-f,-a m that uOint, anu