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Battalion/Page 5
September 28, 1982
Railway fortune trial to start
John Ryu
United Press International
DALLAS — As many as 100
people have tried to claim the $4
million fortune in railway stocks
that has lain untouched in a safe
ty deposit box in a Dallas bank,
but a court trial in November
may end the 40-year-old con
troversy.
The issue centers around a
stock certificate kept in a safety
deposit box at the Mercantile
National Bank that entitles the
owner to 500 shares of the Texas
and Pacific Land Trust.
A trial scheduled Nov. 29 be
fore District Judge Craig Enoch
could determine the rightful
owner of the certificate —
T&PLT No. 390 — which is
worth more than $4 million. As
many as 100 people have tried to
claim to the fortune during the
past 40 years.
“It seems as though the con
troversy has been narrowed a
bit,” said Dallas lawyer Robert
Blumenthal, who has been cus
todian of the fortune for 20
years. “We now have at least two
serious claims, but we started
with the world.”
The state of Texas filed a peti
tion in 1964 to claim the fortune
which will go to trial in
November.
The certificate was traced in
1977 to a $15,000 debt con
tracted in New York City in 1893
between businessman Joseph S.
Decker and mining industrialist
J.R. Delamar. Heirs of the two
men have claimed ownership of
the money.
The issue dates back to 1885
when the Texas and Pacific Rail
way Co. went bankrupt and was
placed in receivership and reor
ganized.
Among the railroad’s credi
tors were some bondholders
who held claims on railway
lands. When the company reor
ganized, the land was placed in a
trust called the Texas and Paci
fic Land Trust, and bondhol
ders were given shares in the
land trust and more mortgage
bonds on the railroad in lieu of
money.
In 1888, a stock company
known as Blake Brothers and
Co. redeemed $50,000 in T&P
bonds and received $30,000 in
new railway mortgage bonds
and 500 shares of stock in the
land trust. They were issued five
100-share certificates, including
No. 390.
The first four certificates
were transferred from Blake
Brothers to their rightful own
ers, but Certificate 390 — worth
only $500 to $600 at the time —
was never re-registered with the
land trust and was thought to be
lost.
In the late 1930s, oil was disc
overed on the trust lands and
returns from oil leases began
paying big dividends. However,
worldwide advertisements to
find the true owner were fruit
less.
The trust later formed TXL
Corp. and eventually merged
with Texaco. Certificate 390 be-
, came worth as much as $5 mil
lion in bonds, land holding and
Texaco stock.
The Blake Brothers’ heirs
spent the better part of the
1950s fighting for the certifi
cate, suing three times and
losing.
Bank historian and archivist
Edward G. Munger discovered
the missing certificate in 1977 at
the Wells Fargo Bank. A prom
issory note for $15,298.48 en
dorsed by Decker to Delamar
was filed with it.
There was also a letter saying
the certificate had been ten
dered as collateral on the note,
but there was nothing to indicate
the final payment on the debt.
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by Myra Retta
Battalion Reporter
Nationwide domestic auto
mobile sales have declined this
year, but local sales managers
say sales have remained stable
due to the growth of Bryan-
College Station.
General Motors Corp. suf
fered a 30.3 percent nationwide
sales decline in August, but Tom
Light, owner of Tom Light
Cheverolet in College Station,
said local sales have benefitted
from the local economy.
“We haven’t made the sales
increase like in years past, but we
haven’t lost any ground that
we’ve gained either, due to the
healthy economy in the Bryan-
College Station community,”
Light said.
Tom Mullins, sales manager
at Tom Light, said sales are
stable for both new and used
automobiles.
Myron Grey, sales manager
at Ted Wilkinson Inc. in Bryan,
said Wilkinson Inc. has not been
affected by the nationwide de
cline either. The dealership sells
Pontiac, Buick, CMC trucks and
recently added Subaru, are now
selling Subaru, but only as an
added segment of the market,
not because our domestic sales
were low,” Grey said.
He said new and used domes
tic sales are up.
Local Ford sales are stable as
well, even though Ford Motor
Co. experienced a nine percent
sales decline in 1982.
“We were off a little from last
year due to the oil industry clos
ing and pulling out, but overall it
has been a good year for sales,”
Robert Kohrs said, sales mana
ger at Beal Ford in College Sta
tion.
“The oil industry was an
added plus to our sales, but we
were not dependent on it, so
now it is time to go back to the
basics and continue with the
sales,” Kohrs said.
Although nationwide sales by
Volkswagen of America are
down 44 percent, local sales
were up 21.6 percent through
August, said David Pierce, sales
manager at Bud Ward Volk
swagen.
But, one area in which local
sales followed the national trend
is Chrysler Corp.
Chrysler suffered a 15 per
cent sales decline in 1981 and
John Halsell, president of
Halsell Motor Co. in Bryan, said
they also have suffered declin
ing sales.
Halsell said the declining oil
industry affected local sales be
cause truck sales accounted for
60 percent of their business.
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Water conservation studied
by Patrice Koranek
Battalion Reporter
New methods for conserving
dwindling water supplies are
being sought by a state-wide
urban water conservation task
force.
“As cities grow they are hav
ing a harder time finding water
and the water in the state is pret
ty well spoken for,” Lu Ellen
Ruefank, Texas Water Re
sources Institute information
specialist, said.
The task force, created by the
Water Resources Institute and
the Texas Agricultural Experi
ment Station, is scheduled to be
finished by the end of 1982,
Ruefank said.
The task force, headed by A1
Turgeon, director of the Texas
A&M Research and Extension
Center at Dallas, is working to
decrease the amount of water
used outside the home in urban
areas, Ruefank said.
Growing plants that are bet
ter adapted to the urban atmos
phere and plants able to prosper
with little water are conservation
methods the group is studying,
Ruefank said.
For example, one report says
a native grass such as buffalo
grass could be used as turf in
stead of Bermuda or St. Augus
tine, which require more water.
The task force is also investi
gating news methods of water
management. One idea con
cerns storage of rainwater
underground or channeling it to
planted areas instead of allow
ing it to run into storm sewers,
Ruefank said.
Improved irrigation systems
is another conservation method
being studied by the group.
Ruefank said the task force is
studying systems that employ
the trickle technique rather than
systems that spray water into the
air because when water is
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higher.
Ruefank said, the group is not
only compiling information on
how to reduce water use, but will
try to provide guidance for fu
ture research.
3
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GENERAL
VERNON A. WALTERS
Ambassador At Large
presents
The
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Tuesday Sept. 28
Rudder Auditorium
8 : 00 Free