Year: 1874

Ger,


The meeting of citizens Of Brook
county, held yesterday in WellSburg,
! consider the affAirs Of the Pittsburgh
; Wheeling & Kentucky Railroad, wa
very largely attended. We have seldor
seen, within the walls Of tue old Cou,
House, such q representation Of the sui
; Stantial wealth and intelligence Of til
county.


The meeting was organized by the ap
pointment Of Joseph Applegate, CAall
man, and DR., Samuel Quest Secretary.
J.C. Palmer stated that as one Of thos
who had called for the meeting, he woulC
briefly announce the object. They ha(
. not come together for the purpose o
eliminating the officers who had thu
far conducted the building Of the road
They were men well known in the com
Imunity, and stood high in its estimation
| for strict integrity Of ofcharaeter, and he die
not think there was o man present who
would charge that they had directly or in
Idirectly conducted the affairs OF the rail
road to subserye their private interests. ID
believed that whatever those gentlemen
had done had been honestly done; that
whatever Of error they had committed
was Of judgment alone, and that there.
fore the object ol the meeting was not SO
much TO consider what had been done al
ready as to consult as to what was yet
necessary to be done to secure the com
pletion Of the rosdy and also the best
means TO be adopted for the securing ol
this result. He recognized that the &C.
tion Of the meeting could only be an indi.
cation Of the sentiment Of the atockhold-
era In the road and the Taxpayers OF the
county as to what ought to be done. That
they could not at the present meeting take
any decisive step In regard to the matter,
but that they could give an expression Of
sentiment that would enable the proper
authorities OF the county to act intelli-
gently in reference to anything that
might hereafter be presented with view
Of securing the completion Of the road.
There were three Wsys that presented
themselves by which the road might be
finished. If one Of them could be
agreed upon by the county au.
thorities il could be submitted to the
vote Of the people. The first would be
to secure an accurate estimate Of the
work necessary to be done and the amount
Of money necessary to pay for It. The
money to be raised, either by private sub.
scription or by county levy, and having
finished the road, make such terms as
they could with any company that would
iron and stock It. Secondly, they might
confer with the officers Of the Pittsburgh
& St. Louis road, with view OF having
them send their own engineer 10 make an
estimate Of the work, and upon his esti-
mate, TO agree, Tor specified sum Of
money, TO finish the work OF construction
themselves. Thirdly and lastly, they
could surrender the interest Of the county
in the road to some company that would
complete and equip II In satisfactory
manner. 1t was the province Of the
present meeting 10 give an expression Of
sentiment on the subject.


Mr.. Hervey stated that he had not been
in favor Of building the road, that he had
not voted ior the first levy, but that he did
vote for the second, and he now felt that
the road ought 10 be finished and he was
willing 10 vote for a third levy If the tax.
payers could be assured that such levy
would be fnal, and that the road when fin.
ished would be accepted by the Pennsyl.
vanis company, as they had agreed TO.
BE thought there would be no difficulty
In raising the money II confidence In the
successful termination Of their efforts TO
complete the road could be restored
The bonds Of the county were out on
which the interest would have to be paid,
and the principal too, when the proper
time came, whether they had a road or
not, and the question now Is whether we
shall pay more and make sure of the road.
There were many things about the man.
Rgement Of the road that he did not under.
stand, the lawyers had somehow a good
deal 10 do with It. he supposed, how
ever, that lawyers, like other people, must
live.


Joseph Applegate spoke at consider
able length with reference 70 the late
published report Of the Board OF Dlrec-
tors, a copy Of which he held in his hand,
commenting In rather severe terms upon
the meagerness Of the report, claiming
that 1t was unsatisfactory from It's want
Of detail. He would not charge the
Directors with having designed to cover
up any malieasance In their administra-
tion, although II there had been any It
could not be discovered from the report. It
showed that fourteen sections had been
completed and nine partially 60 while q
tenth had apparently no work done on 1t.
He claimed that 1t was impossible to tell
from the report whether some OF the con.
tractors had been over.pAid for their work
and others insuf1ciently paid, and that in
general wsy there was nothing BY
which the stockholders could determine
by what process the cost Of the road had
been swelled from two hundred and five
thousand dollars, the contract price Of the
road, TO nearly four hundred thousand
dollars, and upon this point he would
have beenlglad to have had more light, but
he had sought for II within the covers OF
the pamphlet In vain.


Lewis Applegate, President Of the P,
w. & K, stated that he had come to the
meeting for the purpose Of hearing what
the people had to say as to the best means
OF getting out Of the difficulties; he had
not intended to participate in the meeting
further than this, but he could not bear
tpat II should be insinuated that the d.
rectors had endeayored 10 cover up any
misdotngs; he had already enough 10
trouble him, but hoped that he would al
least retain his reputation as an honest
man among those with whom he had
been associated from his infancy. He Id.
clGred before High Heaven he had NOT
knowingly misappropriated one dollar oi
the funds thus voted for the building OF
tho road. BE had made mistakes but
all the time he had endeavored TO con-
scientifically do his duty. he had been
called to theposition against his viii, to
tho sacrifice lof his own private busi.
ness, and night and day he had given
i bta hat AH6Fka N0 cha ldORhr ~ h,,fidtn..