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240 LESLIE M. SCOTT

October-December, 1891, it was agreed to hand over the bonds to some person or corporation mutually to be agreed upon and to accept the plan of a reorganization committee; also to have Hogg bid in the road at foreclosure sale at a price sufficient to pay floating indebtedness and bond the road anew for completion, without voiding the interests of the old bond- holders. But after Job bid in the property for Hogg, Jan. 20, 1892, for $1,000,000, a large faction of old bondholders led by Blair and Wharton began a bitter fight against Hogg, charging him with conspiracy to get possession at a low price and to cheat out the old bondholders (Oregonian, Feb. 18, 1892). The fight finally culminated in removal of Hogg as receiver, Mar. 4, 1893. But before that result, the opponents of Hogg took their contest into the United States Circuit Court at Portland, in February, 1892, where they sought to withhold the sheriff's certificate of sale, on the ground that Hogg was scheming to pass the property to a new company with a heavy prior mortgage attached, thus crowding out old bondholders. They petitioned to have the sheriff pass the certificate to a trustee, in conformity with prior agreements with Hogg. They also alleged that Hogg had issued $250,000 certificates as receiver, which were fraudulent. Hogg an- swered that the bid price, $1,000,000, was low because it had to be cash and that the bondholders had failed to arrange for such sum; that the necessary method of raising funds was a bond issue of a new Company and that he was acting in good faith towards all parties concerned. The testimony was pre- sented before Judge M. P. Deady May 2-3, 1892 (Oregonian, May 3, 1892, Z l / 2 cols.). The Court on May 9 ordered both parties into a stipulation to pass the bankrupt railroad to a new company which should bond the property for needed funds according to the reorganization agreement. The court saw no evidence of conspiracy on Hogg's part to defraud the old bond- holders (text of decree in Oregonian, May 10, 1892). Cre- ation of a new company, Oregon Pacific Railway, capital $18,000,000, followed this decision incorporated July 30,