336 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



tracks within a mile of each other. After a hun- 

 dred thousand dollars or thereabout had slipped 

 away it seemed time for an issue of bonds to be 

 made in furtherance of the financing plan. 



Money ran short with our rival while work on 

 our line proceeded merrily and when we offered 

 our issue of bonds to English capitalists the 

 engineers they sent over to examine the property 

 and consider its prospects reported favorably. 

 Our offer was accepted and the bonds shipped 

 to our agent in London. Before they could be 

 delivered the rumor was published that the South- 

 ern Maryland had obtained a large loan abroad 

 and our frightened English friends backed out. 



Then began a series of negotiations for a rail- 

 road alliance the most important of which was 

 with Robert Garrett in behalf of the Baltimore 

 and Ohio with which we already had a leasehold 

 interest. The plans were perfected up to laying 

 them before John W. Garrett, the father of Rob- 

 ert and the President of the Baltimore and Ohio, 

 who promptly knocked them endwise. We 

 learned later that this was his fatherly custom, 



