The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-01-28
E. H. FTTZHUGH SUES
C.. Y. r. X. FOR 5000, 900
Charges Malicious Conspiracy" to Ruin
Him in the Railroad and Finan-
cial World.

Concord, N. H., Jan. 2S.--Suit has been
brought in the Merrimack county supe-
rior court by Earl H. Fitzhugh of New
London, Conn. against the Grand Trunk
and Central Vermont railroads and Off
GERS of those roads individually, alleging
malicious conspiracy" to ruin him in the
railroad and financial world. He seeks
100000 damages and has. filed attach
ments on property Of the defendants.
Mr.. Fitzhugh was formerly president
of the Central Vermont and ce-presi-
dent Of the Grand Trunk, and the cause
of the present suit is found in the cam
paign undertaken in 1912 and 1913 by
the Grand Trunk interests to extend
their lines in New England and establish
terminal facilities in Boston. An extern
sive propaganda was conducted at that
time to secure necessary authority from
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and
Rhode Island.
The individuals against whom Mr.
Fitzhugh proceeds are Alfred w. Smith
ers of London, England, chairman of the
Grand Trunk directorate; Edison J.
Chamberlain Of Ottawa, Canada, former
president of the Grand Trunk, and Ed
ward G. Smith of st. Adams, Vt, who
succeeded Mr. Fitzhugh in the presidency
Of the Central Vermont.
Former Justice James w. Remick Of
the New Hampshire supreme court is
counsel for Mr. Fitzhngh and has filed at
taehments and writs, attaching the
shares Of Smithers, Chamberlih and
Smith in both railroads, those of the
Central Vermont being now in the hands
Of Director General of Railroads Walter
d. Hines: and trusteeing credits Of the
three individuals that are in the hands of
Mr. Hines and credits in the hands of the
railroads. There were also served writs
that trustee the credits of these roads in
the hands of the Boston & Maine.
Mr.. Fitzhugh. in his plea sets forth
that when Charles NJ. Hays, who went
down in the Titanic, was president Of
the Grand Trunk, and Fitzhugh was first
vice president. sharing the executive
management of the Grand Trunk system
with Mr. Hays, campaign was under
taken with Mr. Fitzhugh personally in
charge, to secure charter rights from the
three New England states for an extern
sion Of the Grand Trunk and its system
to Boston and Providence, r. l., TO give
the system Independent connection with
the Atlantic seaboard. Believing that
the Grand Trunk system was acting in
good faith, he gave the people of New
England assurance Of an intention to de-
yelop the system for their benefit and on
such assurance had secured the necessary
charters from the legislatures of Rhode
Island and Massachusetts, and was about
to get them from New Hampshire.
At that time, he states that Mr.. Cham
berlin succeeded Mr.. Hays in the presi-
dency of the Grand Trunk and in con
spiracy with the other two defendants,
entered into an agreement with Charles
S. Mellen, who was at that time presi
dent of the New York, New Haven &
Hartford railroad, to abandon the plan
for Grand Trunk extension. He alleges
that the three defendants tried to have
him agree to this abandonment but he
(Fitzhugh) refused to do this because it
would be a breach Of faith with the
people of New England and against the
interests of the Grand Trunk system.
Subsequently, he states, he told what
he knew of the matter to United States
grand jury He alleges that "actuated
by malice because the plaintiff refused to
approve such agreement with Mellen)
and told the truth about the same to the
grand jury, the defendants maliciously
conspired to ruin the plaintiffs career as
a railroad executive and to discredit him
as man"
Mr., Fitzhugh, in charging that the
Grand Trunk set about to ruin him,
claims that on Jan. %, 1913, he was
forced to resign all the offices he held in
the railroads, and that two days later
the "conspirators' announced to the pub
lie of New England that Mr.. Fitzhugh
had falsely represented matters to the
public and had betrayed the trust rea-
tions of the Grand Trunk system and had
given false testimony to the grand jury;
that on Feb, Is the "conspirators" pro-
claimed publicly that the action of Mr..
Fitzhugh in seeking charter rights from
the people of New England had acted
without authority or sanction Of the
Grand Trunk or its former president, Mr.
Hays; that from that time until the
United States took over the railroads OF
this country, the "conspirators" mali
ciously did prevent the plaintiff from es-
tablishing new relations in the line of
work for which he had been trained";
and had kept this up after the United
States took over the Central Vermont
railroad.