BANKERS AND MERCHANTS 361 



The day came when the protection of the prop- 

 erty from legal harpies became so imperative 

 that all interests joined in the choice of a tele- 

 graph man whom they asked the court to appoint 

 as receiver. Stockholders, bondholders, and 

 creditors united in this request, but a Tammany 

 judge refused the request and appointed a noto- 

 rious Tammany man as receiver. While this 

 was commonly accepted as a Western Union 

 move I have always thought it a typical Tam- 

 many trick. The Western Union had sins 

 enough of its own to answer for in the matter 

 without that. For example its men, headed by 

 General Eckert, armed with axes broke into our 

 building and tore away the wires of our system 

 as they led into our offices and put us out of busi- 

 ness. This act of burglary was denounced by 

 the courts and heavy damages recovered, but no 

 penny ever found its way to any bondholder or 

 other creditor of the Bankers and Merchants to 

 which it belonged. For the chief of the legal 

 firm that fought our battle was a man of high at- 



