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Show EMMA MINE "SWINDLE." Charles 0'Conor and W. W. Baxter Bax-ter say that the Company can Recover $5,000,000 from Park, t al. Trenor W. Park Denies Fraud in the Sale of the Mine, and Comes Very Near Proving it. HE CLAIMS THAT THE PROPERTY IB STILL VALUABLE, BUT LACKS DEVELOPMENT. The pending Buit against Trenor W. Purl:, Senator Stewart and Gen. Baxter, Bax-ter, brought by tho Emma Mining company in tho courts of Now York, to recover the whole of the purchase money, ($5,000,000.) will create a wide-spread sensation. - Eminent counsel, V. W. Bjxter and Charles O'Conor, have advised the company that they havo good grounds of action, and that the defendants are amply able to pay tho judgment, if the decision deci-sion should be aguinst thorn. Mr. McFarland writes to tho English solicitor soli-citor of the company: 1 We are now posaeefeu of substantially substan-tially the entire history of the scheme, ar,A nrii tu facts touching its conception and execution, ex-ecution, which only needs to be put in legal form for use. Speaking with that due prudence and caution with which a lawyer should always speak touching the probable result of abaction, abac-tion, I do not hesitate to say to you that it is my very decided opinion that we shall be able to recover for your company a very large verdict against the defendants. , The friends of Mr. Park deny the allegations of fraud, and state that he can clearly establish his innocence of the charge. His son-in-law, vico-president vico-president McCullough, of the Panama Pana-ma railroad, submits the following statement, mado by Park on a pre- by reason of his connection with the Emma mine. It is a very plausible defense: My connection with the Emma mine and its sale is as follows: In April, 1S71, I went to Utah with Geu. H. H. Baxter, and we examined the Emma mine and the title to tho same, which was involved in serious litigation. We purchased one-half the mine, and paid cash for it. We worked the mine vigorously after the purchase, and in the July following declared a dividend of $250,000 from the earnings. In July, 1871, I went to Utah with E. J. Phelps, Esq.,; as counsel, to attend to the litigation, and,while there examined the mine again, and found its appearance had improved. Mr. Phelps visited the mine with me. In the August following fol-lowing the litigation was settled, and we obtained a United States patent, which made the title perfect. There were then twelve owners in the mine, and, after obtaining the patent, it was determined to Bell the whole, or a portion of it, and to ofler it in England, Eng-land, for the reason that England is the great market for the mines of the world. She owns most of the valuable mines, and is fully informed concerning them, having a number ;of able journals devoted to mining matters solely. The cres of the Emma Em-ma mine, both before and after our purchase, had been shipped to Bath i Son and Lewia &' Sun, owiuont English merchants, and they knew ihe exact products, and we had received re-ceived various offers for the mine I fromEnglish parties. ' Early in beptember tho lion. VV. M. Stewart, senator of Nevada ( who had an interest, also, in the mine) and I went to London to negotiate a sale, acting for all the owners, but did not expect to sell the mine without with-out an examination by the purchasers, purchas-ers, or an expert to be selected by them, as that is the usual- way, and we took no report of the mine with us. Soon after our arrival in London we had a proposition for tho purchase of one half of the mine, we to take stock in an English company to be formed for the other half, the sale to be subject to a satisfactory report to be made by any one to be chosen by the purchasers. We accepted the , proposition, and the purchasers boHc- ited professor B. Silliman, of Yale collage, to make the examination and ever with Professor Silliman, had never seen him, but knew that he possessed a high reputation in England Eng-land and America. In October, 1S71, Professor Silliman made a careful ex-: amination of the mine and a report on the same to the purchasers. The report was satisfactory to them and the sale was consummated. The mine had been producing for a long time previous over $75,000 per month net profit, and, the oro all having been shipped to England, the purchasers pur-chasers had before them the exact figures fig-ures as to the products I acted as agent in making the sale, and the conveyances were executed in New York according to the agreement. After the new company was organ ized, in consequence oi statements that had been made about the mine by parties interested in depressing its value, I rofused to sell any of the stock (we had reserved one half) until the English directors had sont over one of their own number and made an examination of the mine Accordingly tho directors selected E. Bridges Willyams, M. P., and were influenced in selecting him, from the fact that he had purchased largely of the ores before wo sold the mine, was largely interested in mines, and was supposed to have a knowledge of them. Mr. Willyams examined the mines in February, 1872 (four months after Professor Silliman), and made a report more favorable than Professor Silliman, and he purchased, after his examination, 3,000 shares at par and above -over $300,000 gold. Alter Mr. Willyams mado his report I sold the shares belonging to the owners for whom I was acting, but purchased OU my OWll uiuuuai wya "I""" at above par, and did not sell them until months .after my return to the United States. I held for nearly a year shares nearly equal to my interest in-terest in the shares we received on tho sale. -- I returned from England in June, 1872, and early in July had advices that tho mine was flooded with water and had caved, and that a portion of the mine was taken possession of by pnrties claiming adversely. I at once went to Utah to protect tho company 1 against the treup utters. Judge Poland i uccompauicd mo as counsel. We , procured an injunction and obtained possession, and then I again examined exam-ined the mine, the first time (or a vear. While I was at tno mine at this 'timo, Colonel J. C. Stanley, : another of tho English directors, was there, and reported to the company favorably of the min, and the shares advanced on the roporU So well pleased was I with tho condition of the mine that while in Utah at thie time nine months after the mine had been sold, I wrote to the president oi the company, offering to purchote il back at $0,000,000, although $000,- 000 hud been paid in dividends. I also telegraphed to O. A. Gager, of New York, my agent in London, to purchase 2,000 shares (in addition to the 5,000 I had left with him), for which ho paid about 15 per cent, premium. During tho fall of 1872 my agent being about to leave England Eng-land for the United States, sold most of my shares, and I have not visited the mine Bince my visit of July, 1872. In September, 1872, the company sent its president, George Anderson, M. P., to Utah to look after its interests in-terests there. After he had seen the mine, he wrote to me at New York as follows; "Walker House, Salt Lake City, fcient. ati. 1S71 My Dear Kir: I havo boon through tho mlno, and am farmorAthun satiated witb what X lmvo seen. I think it it Quito impossible im-possible for any one to go through without with-out il full conviction that it is a mine of iiamonae wealth, and lliat wo aro in possesion pos-sesion of n splendid property; the solo difficulty ia the being allowed to hold it inpoace. Yours faithfully, GKOROK AjJDKnSON. To the Hon. T. W- Park." This was a year after my sale, and after ten dividends of $75,000 each had been paid, and it is proper to say that Mr. Anderson and his friends owned very largely in the Block, and after his visit purchased muck more at above par. In October I went to Utah to try the case against the claimants, and obtained a final judgment judg-ment for the company. Mr. Anderson Ander-son was still there and visited the mine again, ana irom ms report my health did not permit my going with him), and the reports of the others, I ordered 2,000 Bhares purchasedjat the market price, and all that could be got at par. My agont purchased 2,015 shares ot above 18 per cent, premium. It will be seen from what I have written that part of the mine was purchased on the strength of their previous knowledge of the mine, and of an examination by a competent party, selected by the purchasers themselves; that these different English Eng-lish directors examined the mine at intervals of about three months, and were more than satisfied with their purchase; that nine months after the sale I was willing to re-purchase thel mine at what we sold it for (nnd at tnat tirao it would have sold for much more); that over a yoar after the sale I purchased largely in tho stock at above par; and finally, that any stockholder, after having already received 19 per cent, in dividends, and having had fourteen months in which to investigate the property, if ho was dissatisfied with his bargain, could have sold his stock at above par. I may add here that I never heard of a person, friend or foe, who visited the mine that did not make a very favorable report upon it and its future prospects. It is charged that tho mine is worked out and of no value. If this were true, no one is responsible for it (certainly not the sellers any more than the buyers), as no one can look into the bowels of the earth. Investments in all mines are tn an extent fmfirnlat.ivp minpn sometimes proving to be worth one hundred times their cost, and sometimes some-times giving out, contrary to the expectations ex-pectations of every one. But,in fact, this mine has not given out; not one-twentieth one-twentieth part of the ground has yet been explored even; and the mine is now and for some time has been earning earn-ing over $1,000 net per day. Any one at all conversant with the history of mining enterprises knows the uncertainty uncer-tainty of the business; great gains or great losses are the common experience. experi-ence. Among my mining investments invest-ments was $130,000 gold in the Providential Pro-vidential mine in Nevada, which proved a total loss, as well as other investment! (,l.Wo, luii udoi bbougnc any one had cheated me. A CARD FltOSt PROFESSOR B. SILLIMAN. To the Editor of the New York Tri bune: The publication of the H.mma mining company against Trenor W. Park and others, in your issue of February 4th, affords me an opportunity oppor-tunity of which I avail myself to say: 1. That every charge contained in that complaint, or emanating from any other source, imputing to me fraud, complicity, or other improper act, either in connection with the examination ex-amination of the Emma mine, with its sale, or with the owners thereof, or any of them, is false and untrue in every particular. 2. I earnestly hope that the action now begun will be pressed to a speedy trial, and that a thorough and exhaustive ex-haustive judicial investigation may be had of all these charges. So far as I am concerned, I am prepared, whenever and wherever such an in- vMt.icrtt.Hnn is hnrl trt mpnt and an swer these charges fully, fearlessly, and, I am confident, satisfactorily. Yours, respectfully, B. Silliman. New Havsn, February 4, 1875. |