ENPages
11
the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California?
A. I was.
Q. 61 At what time?
A. Early in 1862, I think: possible in 1861.
Q. 62 Please look at the paper shown you, purporting to be a copy of the annual report of the operations of your company to the Secretary of State of the state of California, for the year ending December 31st, 1863, and state whether or not that is a copy of the original paper signed by you as secretary.
A. I cannot tell without comparing it.
Q. 63 Does this paper shown you recall to your mind the amount of the capital stock as it existed in 1863?
A. What amount is there stated as the amount of the capital stock in 1863?
Q. 64 $8,500,000.
A. I can answer, — I suppose that that is correct; but I cannot tell without comparing it with the original.
Q. 65 The next paper, purporting to be a copy of the annual report of that com= =pany for the year 1864, shows the cap= =ital stock to have been $20,000,000: was that correct?
A. I cannot tell. I do not remember
[bottom left margin:] 10
12
the date of the increase.
Q. 66 Can you, from these papers, recall the purpose of the increase of the capital stock, in the year 1863, from $8,500,000 to $20,000,000?
A. I think not, sir; I think not. I think those papers throw no light on that.
Q. 67 Have you no recollection fo the purpose for which that capital stock was increased during that "time"[crossed out] year?
A. No; I have not. There was a legal point: that is all I can say: some legal point, that I do not recollect: a legal necessity, I believe.
Q. 68 At the time that you became secretary how much of the capital stock had been subscribed?
A. I do not remember.
Q. 69 How much had been paid in?
A. I do not remember.
Q. 70 In the reports, which you made annually to the Secretary of State, in which you stated the amount of the stock subscribed and the amount that had been paid in, did you include in those amounts the stock that had been issued for work done, of for other considerations?
A. Yes
[bottom left margin:] 11
13
Q. 71 What was the consideration moving your company to issue its stock to the Contract and Finance Company?
A. To pay an indebtedness to the Con= =tract and Finance Company.
Q. 72 How did that indebtedness arise?
A. Under a contract with the Contract and Finance Company.
Q. 73 Is that contract in writing?
A. I do not remember distinctly, but I think it was.
Q. 74 Who were the parties to it?
A. The Central Pacific Railroad Company of the one part and the Contract and Finance Company of the other.
Q. 75 Was it executed by you, as secretary of the Central Pacific Railroad Company?
A. If it was in writing it was execu= =ted by me, in connection with the pre= =sident, by order of the board of "trustees"[scribbled out] directors.
Q. 76 What is your recollection as the whether or not it was in writing?
A. I think it was.
Q. 77 Where is that contract now?
A. I do not know.
Q. 78 Where did you last see it?
A. Well, I do not recollect positively that there was one in writing.
[bottom left margin:] 12
14
Q. 79 What service did the Contract and Finance Company perform for your company?
A. It constructed a portion of the road.
Q. 80 When was the Contract and Finance Company incorporated?
A. I do not know.
Q. 81 About when?
A. I do not remember.
Q. 82 When did you first commence to trans= =act any business with it?
A. I cannot fix the date.
Q. 83 Was it in the year 1867, or before that?
A. Well, think before that.
Q. 84 About how long before.
A. I cannot fix the date.
Q. 85 Who composed the Contract and Finance Company?
A. I do not know.
Q. 86 Have you no knowledge on that subject?
A. I have not, and never had.
Q. 87 You were secretary of the Central Pacific Railroad Company during the whole period of the existence of the Contract and Finance Company?
A. That I do not know, because I do not know the time of the existence of the Contract and Finance Company.
Q. 88 You were secretary of the Central
[bottom left margin:] 13
15
Pacific Railroad Company of California and of its successor, the Central Pacific Railroad Company, from the year 1867 to the year 1873, were you not?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 89 During that time did you have any transactions, as such secretary, with the Contract and Finance Company?
A. I did.
Q. 90 With whom, on behalf of the Contract and Finance Company, were those transactions made?
A. With its president and secretary.
Q. 91 State their names.
A. Charles Crocker as president during a portion of the time. S. A. Hopkins as pres= =ident during another and later portion of the time; and W. E. Brown as secretary, and John Miller afterwards as secretary.
Q. 92 Was Mark Hopkins president of that company.
A. Not that ever I knew.
Q. 93 S. A. Hopkins, of whom you speak: is he and officer of the Central Pacific Rail= =road Company?
A. He is not.
Q. 94 Is he a relative of Mark Hopkins?
A. I think he is. He is said to be.
Q. 95 What relative?
[bottom left margin:] 14