Year: 1874




circulated the fact largely. Those
persons might be perfectly right
in saying what they had done,
and he had an equal right to find
fault with them. 4 short time after
The organization of the company he
had been called upon to go on the
board; this was after the property had
been received. Having been on tie
board but few weeks he saw there was
trouble ahead, and, being an old Cali
fOrnian, and a member of the board, he
had been pitched upon to go out and
see what the matter was. lie did so
at the request of the board, and he
had a great deal of trouble, which he
would not occupy the time OF the share
holders by recapitnlating. Enough
for him to say that when he got there
he found that the company had paid
far too dear for the property. At the
time he was the largest shareholder in
the company, excepting the vendors,
and, therefore, lie considered that he
had a perfect right to give his opinion
on the property, and he did so without
fear. The vendors of that property
were his friends, one of whom he had
accompanied to the property. This
friend had asked his candid opinion
what he thought of the property, and
he as candidly replied that he thought
the Richmond Company had been
badly sold. The visit had caused a
great deal of unpleasantness, and when
he returned to England he had been
anxious to get rid of the Richmond
Company's affairs. lie had quarreled
with one with whom he had been on
the most intimate terms, but rs this
| friend disputed his opinion he could do
nothing more. He said nothing thea
against his friend, nor did he now, and
he would not relract II word. Whether
his opinion was worth anything or not
those who had visited the property
would be able to say. On his first Wis
| it to Eureka he toreSaw legal troubles
| would probably arise, and this had
come right, but he had not considered
it policy to lay the matter before the
| shareholders at the time. Previous to
his second visit he had made up his
| mind to 20 to the Pacific Coast ON his
own business, and to remain there for
some time. lie went to look after his
own affairs, and attend to them; and
he said to the directors that if they
would send some one with him who
could stay at Eureka, and go thorough
ly into the business, and inform the
directors what was the true position.
he (Mr. CorriganD would do the next
best thing-he wonld go to Eureka
with that gentleman and look into the
ease, and give his views upon it; but,
at the same time, he would send in hi,
resignation as Il director of their board.
Great fault had been found with him
for his conduct in this case; some said
he had deserted the ship, and 5. great
many other thing which he knew or
cared very little about. However, he
did send in his designations; but in Il
few weeks, during which time he had
employed the best counsel that it was
possible to obtain, as well as the best
experts, as he was determined that
notsing should be left undone that
could in the interests of the company
have been done, he withdrew his rc>ig-
nation by cable, as he was very much
afraid that the Richmond Company
were going to lose the property. In
Withdrawing his resignation he did an
injustice to himself and his private in
tere>t>, but did not want the company
to lose the property if he could be the
means of preventing it. (ChcerS.) He
(Mr. Corrigan would make one OBJ
servation with regard to their enemies
in the lawsuit, for there seemed to be
an idea that the enemy was Il black
mailer, but this impression was "a false
one. The Eureka COnSOliu:, ed Min
ing Company of San Francisco be-
lieved they had as good claim to the
property i'll dispute as the Richmond
Company, and Went into it with the
honest intcn ion of fighting 1t out-;ls
thev did id-untortunatciy for them, get
ting the worst of it. lie merely said
this to remove an impression that they
had been attacked by thieves and ras-
Gals; he could publicly tell them that
such was not the case. (llear, hear.)
He did not believe that more honora-
BILE men existed than the board of that
company. lie had represented this
company at Eureka ever since its for
nation, with the exception OF q few
weeks. and he still continued to repre-


sem the company there. cloud checrS.)
In the lawsuit he had gone in tor the
benefit of the Richmond Mining Com
| panv, with the intention of winning, if
possible, fearing neither friends nor
| foes, and he had won-fOrtunately for
them. cloud cheerS.) The property
Gil his last visit -four weeks ago. was
looking better than ever, and with
greater evidences of its permanency.
lie did not cxagrerate the case or take
too sanguine view of it; he had been
connected with mining too long to be
caught in any such trap. The proper
ty had greatly improved in the past two
months. With regard to the manage
ment of the property, the board in
London had had Il serious time OF it, as
he could say truly for himself, far
more serious than he had perhaps got
credit for; however, he had done
everything on tine property which he
thought would be to the interest of the
company. (IIear, hear.) He had I'M
deraken the superntendence of the
properly, and he would superintend it
to the best of his ability. lie quite
corroborated Mr.. Probert's remarks as
| 10 the way in which the property had
been rushed during the past year, and
this had been rendered necessary by
| various circumstances. Respecting the
dividend, he thought it was very dry
thing for shareholders in London to
invest 1900, 900 or f,0O, ,OOOin properly
and have it drag on for two years with
out dividend. Such, unfortunately,
was too frequently the case. lie
thought the shareholders should have
u dividend as soon as one could be
safely paid. The company were great
| Drnhnyt for thp