| {A clipping from
the Memphis Avalanche newspaper, date unknown, but probably August
29, 1861} |
| The Avalanche |
| ***** |
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A Card |
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To the Stockholders of the Memphis & Ohio Railroad Company: |
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As the late superintendent and chief engineer of your
road, I submit to you the following facts connected with my
dismissal from its employment. I do so because I feel it a duty I
owe to you, to the public and to myself, and without which statement
erroneous impressions might be formed and entertained, prejudicial
to me. |
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At the solicitations of one of your former presidents,
Mr. Malloy, I accepted the position of chief engineer and general
superintendent of your road, in January last. Most of you know the
history of the road for the last two or three years, and the
unsatisfactory condition in which I found it. The affairs of the
company, not only connected with my department, but also with other
branches of the service, were in the utmost confusion, and I was
advised that, as the road was so constantly changing its officers,
it was not probable that I would add anything to my reputation as a
railroad man, and that in all probability I would share the same
fate as my numerous predecessors. Seven superintendents have now
been connected with your road, four of whom have officiated within
twelve months. I argued that no road could prosper with such
constant changes, and that it would be a difficult matter to
secure the services of a competent and educated railroad man under
such management. Notwithstanding this, the president assured me that
there would be no more danger of changes, and that he would endeavor
to render my position agreeable. Such it was, so far as he was
concerned, until he resigned; such I believe it always would have
been had he retained his position, or had a man of good sound sense
and judgment been elected to fill the vacancy created by his
resignation. |
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You will thus see from what I have stated, that I had
not an enviable or pleasant task to perform; yet I entered upon my
duties with a determination to further the interests of the road in
every possible way. This I have done; and the president and
directors have, on several occasions, testified in gratifying terms
their "high opinion of me as a gentleman," and their "entire
satisfaction with me as an efficient officer." |
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Permit me now to give you a brief statement of the
business of your road since my connection with it, and such as I
gave to the board at their meeting on the 18th of August. I had
prepared for the last regular meeting of the board of directors a
report, with tabular statements annexed, showing in detail the
operations of your road, what new work has been done, and what old
work had been repaired. This report, together with plans, drawings
and estimates, were burnt when the offices were fired. Sufficient
information, however, has been preserved to give you the following
facts: |
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That though much of your transportation has been at
half price, for troops and materials of war; though you have been
obliged to incur the additional expense of bridge watchmen; though
the track was received by me in bad, and is now in good, order;
though the bridges were absolutely unusual dangerous, and a very
heavy outlay of material and labor has been expended on them; though
the rolling stock was very much run down, and is now in better
order; though you have met with losses by fire and other accidents;
yet, notwithstanding all these disadvantages, your road, for the
past seven months, under my management, has been operated for 48 per
cent. of the gross earnings, and at 38 per cent. less cost than it
was operated for the last fiscal year, it having cost (as per the
treasurer's statement to the board) 86 per cent. of the gross
earnings during that period. |
| The gross earnings, for the seven months ending July 31,
1861, were |
$206,020.96 |
| The operating expenses were |
93,094.84 |
| The net profits were |
$107,326.62 |
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Cost of operating the road 48 per cent; the net profits were 52 per
cent. |
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Let us pursue this subject further, and assume that
there will be an increase of $70,000 over last year's receipts, and
that the operating expenses for the remainder of the fiscal year
will be the same as for the last seven months. The account will
stand thus: |
| Gross receipts for fiscal year ending September 30, 1861 |
$400,000.00 |
| Cost of operating, 48 per cent., or |
168,000.00 |
| Nett profit ??? per cent, or |
$182,000.00 |
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This would be $40,000 more than you require to pay your annual
interest. |
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Let us take another view of the case, and compare the
difference in cost of operating the road: It cost last year, as per
treasurer's statement, 86 per cent. of gross earnings; it cost for
the last seven months 48 per cent. of gross earnings; difference in
operating expenses 38 per cent; 38 per cent. of $350,000 would be
$133,000 saved in cost of operating the road, or an amount nearly
equal to your annual interest, and nearly double the difference in
the increased gross receipts of this over that of the previous year. |
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Although a much better business was expected on the
completion of the Clarksville road, yet the most lucrative month
since this connection has been made, and during my administration,
the gross receipts are nearly $4,000 less than they have been
previous to my connection with your road, and before your
trains were running to the Tennessee river. |
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Thus you will readily perceive that the profits have
not arised so much from any increased business as they have
from actual saving in the cost of operating the road. Few roads, if
any, (with the exception, perhaps, of the Memphis & Charleston) have
been operated within the past six months for even as low a figure as
50 per cent. Had I found your road-bed, bridges and rolling stock in
good condition, your road would have been operated for 42 per cent.,
or less than any road on the continent. In other words, the
extraordinary repairs on road-bed, bridges and rolling stock, has
been much more than six per cent. of the gross earnings. |
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For further details in reference to the condition of
your road and the books of the company on the first o January last,
I refer you to my report made to the board at their semi-annual
meeting. I will mention, however, that within the last seven months
700,000 feet of new timber have taken the place of decayed timber in
your bridges, 8000 new cross-ties have been placed in your track,
1250 pounds of brass boxes have been put under your freight cars to
replace worthless iron, and that you now have on the line of the
road and in the machine-shop $9000 worth of material more than when
I took charge of the road, and for which vouchers have been given,
chargeable to operating expenses. These facts have been briefly
presented to show you that I have had the interest of the road at
heart, and I claim that I have done nothing, up to the present time,
to retard its progress. |
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While I was thus managing your road, and endeavoring to
render its business so lucrative as not only to pay off the
indebtedness but also to increase the value of the stock, I was
informed by the president that my resignation was requested. |
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Believing that my management of the road had been
successful, and that, therefore, there must be some other cause for
this sudden procedure, I asked him why this was required of me. He
replied that it was for "disobedience of military orders." That,
h assured me, was the ONLY cause and the ONLY charge against me. So
unjust, in every respect, did I consider the action of the
president, that I requested a meeting of the board, in order that I
might have an opportunity of defending myself. This meeting was
graciously accorded me on the 19th of August, at which time I
courted a full and rigid examination of all my official acts. The
following is a condensed statement of my defense, as read at that
meeting: |
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To the Directors of the Memphis & Ohio Railroad Company: |
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Gentlemen, |
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On Wednesday, the 7th of this month, I was informed by
your president that, at a meeting held on the previous Saturday, my
resignation as engineer and superintendent of your road was
requested. This was done when I was on the line of road attending to
the interests of the company, and as unconscious of any one's
intention to prefer charges against me as I was unable to answer
them, on account of my absence. |
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Though requesting a copy of such portions of the
minutes of that meeting as referred to the charges brought against
me, in order that I might here specifically answer them, they have
never been furnished me. My only source of information upon this
head is from the president of the road, who informed me, on the 7th
instant, that my dismissal was for "disobedience of General Polk's
orders, in permitting two employees of the road to visit Louisville
without passports." Feeling conscious of meriting no censure on that
score, and being astonished that my dismissal could have proceeded
from that cause alone, I asked the president if there was any other
cause of complaint against me. He answered that this was the only
charge -- "disobedience of military orders." What are the facts? |
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On the 25th of July I received a letter from the
president, Mr. Wood, in which he informed me that "no passengers are
to pass over your train, except those that may have passports,
either from the Adjutant General, or S. T. Morgan, agent." His
letter was so vague and indefinite, that I asked for answers to the
following questions: "Does this order refer to employees or not?"
"Will it be the conductor's business or that of an agent appointed
by General Polk to see that all have passports?" "Does this order
include all points on the line of the road as well as Memphis?"
Desiring to obey these orders, in all respects, I had first to
understand their full purport, and all can readily see the necessity
of asking the questions I did. |
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I had scarcely taken the letter containing these
questions from the impression book, when Mr. Wood entered my office.
I read him the letter and verbally asked him the same questions. To
the first (with a violation of which I am charged) he replied, in
the presence of Mr. Fenn and Mr. Wheeler, that "employees of the
road did not require passports," and "that Gen. Polk's order
did not apply to them." |
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So firmly was I convinced by the answers given me by
the president, that when I sent Mr. Waterhouse to Louisville, and he
asked me if he should go up town and obtain a passport I answered
him -- "Certainly not;" as Mr. Wood had stated that Gen. Polk's
order did not apply to employees. This order I never received from
Gen. Polk, but was acting under what Mr. Wood said was his
order. (I will here remark that the president of the Mississippi &
Tennessee railroad, and also the president of the Memphis &
Charleston road, who received orders from Gen. Polk, sent those
orders to their superintendents, whereas I did not receive Gen.
Polk's order, only as written by Mr. Wood.) |
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Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Waterhouse were sent to Louisville
on business for this company. They are employees, and they were on
duty. I do not recollect having informed the president of their
going, prior to sending them. I have never, on this or any other
road, gone to the president to obtain his consent to send off on
business men connected with my department, and I presume that no
superintendent, who understands his business, is ever required or
even expected to do so. |
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I will now go back to the first time I ever
received the slightest intimation of having violated any
order of Gen. Polk's. |
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This was on or about the 30th of July, after Mr.
Waterhouse had returned from Louisville, it was in Mr. Wood's
office, when he asked me if Mr. Waterhouse had gone to Louisville. I
replied that he had. Mr. Wood expressed to me his regret that I had
allowed him to go, and without a passport. |
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I was so much surprise at this version of the
matter that I asked him "if there was anything in it; and if so, why
he had not informed me of it at first?" I reminded him of his
answers to my questions, given in my office, when he there
distinctly said that "employees did not require
passports," and that "Gen. Polk's orders did not apply to them," and
expressed my surprise at this new interpretation then
put upon this military order. I also mentioned my regret that I had
not so understood it before, as I should most certainly have
complied with it. Mr. Wood said that he supposed that I was aware of
Gen. Polk's order that "no employees should go North, off of the
line of the road, without a passport." |
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I replied that this was the first and only intimation I
had ever had concerning this order, and that in future I should
observe it; which I did. |
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Here the matter rested. I thought the president was
satisfied that I had intentionally suffered no violation of his or
the General's order. Though perfectly conscious that I had done
nothing but my duty, I regretted what had occurred, as I did not
wish to be placed in such a position -- where my acts could be
tortured into a disregard of the interests of the South. It may
be well supposed, then, that my astonishment was great when I was
informed, on the 7th inst. (after the above conversation with Mr.
Wood) that I had been dismissed for "disobedience of military
orders." I now most solemnly aver, on my honor as a man, and as a
loyal citizen of the South, that I have not knowingly violated any
military order relative to your road; nor am I aware of any officer
of employee having done so, with the single exception of the
President, J. P. Wood, who himself insisted upon placing a lady,
or some ladies, on the train at Memphis without the necessary
passports. This military order he must have knowingly
violated, and that, too, shortly after such order was issued, and
when it must have been fresh in his memory. |
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These, gentlemen, are the brief facts of the case. I
beg you will excuse me, if this communication seems lengthy and
tedious. I have had, until now, nothing but the kindest treatment,
and a recollection of this must be my apology for believing that you
will "do toward me as you would be done by." |
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The above is a condensed statement of my defense to the
board of directors. |
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I then read to them an official document from the
military board that Gen. Polk had appointed, and in whom he had
vested authority, in which document they strongly indorse me in
flattering terms as a true and loyal citizen. |
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After hearing my defense, the board of directors passed
the following resolution: |
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"The board of directors of the Memphis & Ohio Railroad
Company hereby indorse the action of their president in accepting
the resignation of B. D. Hasell, Esq, chief engineer and general
superintendent of the road, at the same time they cheerfully say
they have no reason to doubt Mr. Hasell's loyalty to the South, and
they have every reason to believe him an efficient railroad
manager." |
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The resolution of the board is a sort of paradox, and
is probably from the prolific brain of the president. From
the resolution it is presumable that he induced the board to assume
that my "resignation" was tendered as resignations usually are, when
he knew that he had requested it. The board of directors say, "they
have every reason to believe him (me) an efficient railroad
manager." I could ask for no higher compliment, for they spoke, or
should speak, from a knowledge of my management. They also say "they
have no reason to doubt my loyalty to the South." The question then
arises, why was I dismissed? Was it for disobedience of military
orders? Scarcely so, for they regard me as "loyal to the South;" and
I could not be loyal, if, in letter or spirit, I disobeyed military
orders deemed essential for the welfare of the Southern cause at
this critical juncture. As a Southern born citizen, a native of that
gallant little State that led off in this second "war if
independence," and as a man who has on all proper occasions endorsed
her action, I could not be "loyal" by doing anything which could
possibly militate against the interests of the South. |
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It seems then from what I have stated, that it is your
president, and not myself, who knowingly and willingly violated
these orders. This was shown to the body of directors, but, while
they could willingly censure me, who had not knowingly violate any
order, they had no word of rebuke for their president, whose
violation of military order was open, inexcusable and
unquestionable. That the president of your road had a perfect right
by the authority of the power vested in him by the board of
directors to act as he chose in this matter, I do not question; but
that he acted justly, I do, most assuredly, question. The power of
appointing and dismissing officers was granted to Mr. Malloy when he
was elected president, and as Mr. Molloy was a gentleman of good
sound sense and judgment, there was no danger of his abusing the
privilege thus conceded him. When Mr. Wood was elected to fill the
vacancy created by Mr. Malloy's resignation, this authority was not
repealed. |
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Let me now give you what I regard as the true reason
for my dismissal. I believe that the president of the road has
brought this charge against me to shield himself from the blame of
negligence and inefficiency, which he most justly deserves. He is a
man who has not, and never will have, the brains required for his
position. Lamentably ignorant of many of the important duties, he
often assumes a knowledge of them by giving instructions, whose
injurious bearing he does not comprehend until it is pointed out to
him. Claiming for himself more railroad information than he can ever
possibly possess, he is unwilling to co-operate with any railroad
man whose education and training may have qualified him for any
important post. While professing to be the friend of the road, he
has never labored for it without taking care to secure a
compensation far greater than his services were worth; for he
fastened upon the enterprise, in the early part of its history with
the determination to make "a good thing of it." |
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Intriguing for the office, which his predecessors were
too proud to solicit, and controlling the road, directly and
indirectly as he has managed to do by a sort of sufferance, during
the past two or three years, he has brought to its counsels nothing
but the promptings of petty ambition, in which his own
advancement is the center around which everything else must revolve.
All other considerations are subordinate to that of his being
president of this road, exercising high authority and drawing a
comfortable salary. His vanity, doubtless, has often prompted the
thought, even had he not actually given utterance to it, that "he
could not die contented without being its president, as he believed
nature had cut him out for just such a position." Nature sometimes
"cuts" strange capers; and if she has done this ridiculous thing,
she had a very scant pattern out of which to make a distinguished
man; and as too large a brain in too small a head often endangers
the delicate machinery of life, this same kind dame seems to have
also been very careful in preventing a premature or rapid
development of Mr. Wood's peculiar railroad talent. |
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I will again refer to the charge brought against me. If
my offense was of so grave a character as to require my dismissal,
common justice also required that I should at least have had the
privilege accorded to the meanest criminal in the land. But I was
tried, found guilty and condemned without a hearing, and while as
unconscious as the dead of any charge against me. That the president
of the road would do this does not surprise me, but that
intelligent, honorable, just-minded gentlemen should sustain him,
and pronounce me a "loyal" citizen, and "an efficient railroad
manager," is one of the marvels of this marvelous age. |
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Claiming to have managed your road with some little
success, I have felt called upon to say this much about myself; and
to ask that you will judge me as you would judge other men --
after, and not before, you have heard my defense. |
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Bentley D. Hasell |
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Late Chief Engineer and General Superintendent |
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Memphis & Ohio Railroad |
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Memphis, August 28, 1861 |
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