I'm certain that after you are done with this, you'll not be interested in pursuing another. But this is starting to have so many convoluted twists and turns, I begin wondering about how other proceedings of other companies or railroads, from that same or earlier era. What kinds of messes were those, behind the scenes? Yikes.
A quick google search and this information story came up: http://askville.amazon.com/women-allowed-serve-jury/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=14513860 I never knew that discrimination against women in juries didn't end until 1975! Steve
Actually, I have ambitions to continue researching and publishing as long as I am alive. I have found almost nothing on George Houston, the President of Baldwin and one of the defendents in the Whitcomb suit. I can't even find what years he was president on the internet. No Wikipedia article on him. No date of birth nor death. Where he was born, educated. Nada. This is the only image I have of George Houston: It also appears that Baldwin during this bankruptcy case with Whitcomb - itself went bankrupt! http://www.fi.edu/learn/case-files/baldwin/breakdown.html Also, a friend has asked me if I knew anything about the Baldwin acquisition of the Milwaukee Locomotive Manufacturing Company: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitcomb_Locomotive_Works Again, zero citation for this statement. As part of my Whitcomb research I must also contact the California State Railway Museum to investigate this claim as our Rochelle Museum has no record of this. From a google search: http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=32365 I might try to contact this person. No shortage of leads to track down! Steve
Indeed, amazing. Another fact that I overlooked in the Whitcomb suit: Paragraph 17 states that Whitcomb and Heim had been negotiating the sale of their stock to Baldwin prior to the bunkruptcy, but no deal had been reached. Apparently Mr. Houston did want to buy the company and Whitcomb and Heim were interested in selling but didn't like the offer. So Houston and company pulled the swindle. Steve
Today I recieved a message on Facebook from a Whitcomb descendent who has family history on Gerge D. and William C. including a note that William C. was making payroll out of his own pocket at one point. She also has photos. Exactly what I was hoping for. Also, I realized that the Whitcomb suit in Pennsylvania Federal Court was a response to Baldwins' filing bankruptcy in that court in 1935. I suspect that Baldwin was attempting to put an injunction against Whitcombs suit as part of the bankruptcy protection. Steve
Yep, that would have made the bull dog chew his chain , especally if Whitcomb felt they (Whitcomb et al ) were beneath his stature. the revenge would have been on and the scheme to take Whitcomb et al . was launched . with Whitcomb having limited resources ( none at this point or not enough ) to fight the scheme , they ( Whitcomb ) lost . Good work Steve. I still think you have the makings of a first class docudrama ... This is way better than the Hell on Wheels nonsense... Paul
Apparently Baldwin wasn't in the best financial shape either. I suspect that William C. was fighting for his retirement money that was lost in the form of his Whitcomb stock. He was born October 3, 1868 and by 1931 when this bankruptcy wiped out his stock he was 62 years old. No Social Security back then to support a retired person. His family was use to a life of privelege that included at least 2 long European vacations. In his wife's passport application (April 1920) she wrote that they would be touring France, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Holland for about 18 months - "educational purposes". During that time their girls (ages 12 and 10) would have to be tutored. Very expensive education paid for by profits from the company. Steve
This photo comes from Hawaii and a friend who is a member of this group: http://www.hawaiianrailway.com/ During WW II Whitcomb locomotives were used to supply Pearl Harbor with munitions. The United States Naval Ammunition Depot ( USNAD ) was built away from Honolulu on the other side of a mountain to protect the city from possible explosions from an attack on the depot and thus used a railway to move the munitions around to the other side to where Pearl Harbor and the Pacific fleet were stationed. Steve
Prepped before Navy paint job I suspect. Not sure why the Navy would repaint them after they had the factory paint job. I have many builders photos showing company names painted on the locomotives from the factory. This loco is ready to be shipped with its factory paint job on. That is the Rochelle plant in the background. Steve
Steve, Thanks for posting the links about NAD, wonder how much the McCandless family got for their 8100 acre cattle ranch/paradise ....course they most likely owned half the island anyway ...
You're welcome. I'm in debt to the fine gentleman working at the museum there who supplied me with the Hawaiian photos. I went into Chicago today to look at the Whitcomb v. Baldwin suit. Appropriately I took the METRA in The Daley Center and the Chicago Circuit Court Archives - my destination. The Ogilvie Transportation Center - end of the line for the METRA downtown Chicago. 5 block walk to the Daley Center. Destination - 11th floor and the archives. Yes, the Chicago teachers are still on strike Steve
In the Whitcomb suit against Baldwin for loss of value of all Whitcomb stock due to the company voluntarily filing for bankruptcy, the first defense Baldwin tried was claiming that the Chicago Circuit Court had no jurisdiction over any matters because they claimed that the Federal Bankruptcy Court had all jurisdiction. The Chicago judge denied that claim. Next, Baldwin claimed the Chicago Circuit Court had no jurisdiction over Baldwin because Baldwin claimed they did no business in Illinois. Steve
The Chicago judge threw that Baldwin defense out the window. Baldwin had sales reps in Chicago since 1910 and charged phone bills, office supplies, etc. all to Baldwin for the Chicago office. The year of this defense, Baldwin sold about $1,000,000 worth of locomotives in Illinois. Judge Stanley Klarkowski threw out the Baldwin petition to dismiss and gave them 20 days to respond to Whitcomb's charges of conspiracy to defraud. Steve
Finally on May 25, 1937 judge Klarkowski dismissed the case "with prejudice and without costs to either party". If they settled out of court - I have no record of it. The details of Baldwins' defense brings to light some Whitcomb history that did not appear in the bankruptcy case and that William C. Whitcomb failed to mention in his suit. There are two sides to every story. I suspect that some of William's claims were true, but he had no way of proving it. His word against Baldwins. Heresay without witnesses. Steve
In these two pages, Baldwin shows how the Whitcomb Company was in financial trouble - how the Central Trust Company of Illinois was threatening and in fact, did seize the Whitcomb account at their business valued at $41,000 on March 5, 1931. This was the day that the voluntary bankruptcy was filed. Steve
