Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/146

 130 contractor went to court, and after a long fight, won a judgment for $50,000 which had to be paid immediately. Meanwhile, the Havemeyer family put a lien on the road for $70,000, representing a debt due Havemeyer which had as yet not been paid. The pressure proved overwhelming. In September 1877 Conrad Poppenhusen decided to call a halt to the continuous and fantastic financial drains made upon his private purse because of the failure of the various railroads to earn running expenses. He began by filing judgments against the Southern R.R. for $374,307 and against the North Side for $410,000 representing money loaned to both these roads plus interest. Since Conrad owned nearly all the stock of both roads, he was, in effect, obtaining a judgment against himself, but it was the only way to force the reorganization and to put a stop to further financial demands.

When the courts investigated the financial structure of the two roads, a bewildering tangle of complicated financial transactions was uncovered, in which the four main railroads and their subsidiaries were closely interrelated. It developed that the strain of raising money to keep the roads solvent had been so great that not only the underlying mortgages of the different roads, but even the personal property of the Poppenhusen family, had gradually been signed over to different creditors, the chief of whom was the great banking house of Drexel, Morgan & Co. of Philadelphia. Up until 1873 Conrad Poppenhusen was worth perhaps five to six million dollars. He had founded the rubber works at College Point, the fountainhead of his wealth, and had developed almost single-handed the surrounding village, endowing it with schools, streets, the Institute and countless public improvements. He built homes for the mechanics and laborers and magnificent homes for himself and his three sons. In 1868 he resolved to connect College Point with the outside world by building a railroad, and thus he gradually became involved in the railroading business. Besides his vast holdings in College Point real estate, he invested heavily in land along the line of the Central R.R., the largest purchase being the Creedmoor rifle range.

The first disappointment had been the Central R.R. which, despite the best efforts, failed to earn its running expenses