Page:The History of the Standard Oil Company Vol 2.djvu/369



[In the case of the Standard Oil Company vs. William C. Scofield et al., in the Court of Common Pleas, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 1880.]

"The said plaintiff, the Standard Oil Company, now comes and says that on the twentieth day of July, 1876, it was and still is a corporation organised and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Ohio, and that at the same time the said defendants, William C. Scofield, Charles W. Scofield, Daniel Shurmer and John Teagle, were and still are partners doing business in the firm name of Scofield, Shurmer and Teagle, and the said plaintiff complains of the said defendants, and says: That on the said twentieth day of July, 1876, the said plaintiff and the said defendants as such partners were each separately engaged in the business of refining and dealing in crude petroleum and its products, said plaintiff having a number of refining establishments at Cleveland, Ohio, and the said defendants owning and operating one refinery only, also located at Cleveland, Ohio, on the line of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, and while so engaged and on the said twentieth day of July,  1876, the said plaintiff and the said defendants as such partners entered into a joint arrangement in writing in and by which it was, amongst other things, agreed between the said plaintiff and the said defendants individually and as such partners that the said defendants would continue their then business in the firm name of Scofield, Shurmer and Teagle of buying, refining and selling crude petroleum and its products as theretofore carried on by them, for a period of ten years from July 20,  1876, and furnish for the conducting of said business their refinery aforesaid with all tanks, fixtures, buildings, erections, tools, and all mechanical appliances then or theretofore used by them in their said business, together with the land on which the same are situated, and also within five days from the date of said agreement furnish for the use of said joint business adventure the sum of ten thousand dollars in cash to be used continuously in said business until July 20,  1886. That the said William C. Scofield, Charles W. Scofield, Daniel Shurmer and John Teagle, in and by said agreement for conducting said joint adventure, further covenanted and agreed with the plaintiff to devote all their time and personal attention necessary to conduct the said business for the period aforesaid, and that during the existence of said adventure they would"