The Daily Gazette

Second Edition

Astounding Revelations.

A Complete Change in the Railroad War.

The P. W. & B. R. R. Said to Have Passed into the Control of Jay Gould and the B. & O.—Probable Truth of the Rumor.

Railroad complications have been exciting enough during the past two months in this State, but the most astounding feature came to light this morning, in the probable confirmation of a rumor to the effect that the Philadelphia Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad had passed into the hands of Jay Gould and the Baltimore & Ohio corporation. Such a rumor almost took away the breath of those who heard it. It seemed astounding, and everybody smiled incredulously at the first reception of the news. But minute by minute the rumor gained strength, and by ten o'clock people were saying "Well, it must be so."

The news first came to Wilmington last evening, and by nine o'clock it had been announced by one and corroborated by another railroad magnate. This morning the information became spread among the public, and the excitement ran high.

What Was Said.

George U. Gordon, Esq., counsel of the P. W. & B. R. R. Co., heard the news with quiet complacency, and said he knew nothing about it.

Henry C. Robinson, Esq., had not even heard the rumor until nearly nine o'clock, and was strongly inclined to doubt it.

Among the lawyers the opinions varied. Some damned the B. & O. officials for treachery and lack of good faith in regard to the Delaware Western bill, while others asserted that Col. H. S. McComb, tired of the dilly-dallying of the Legislature, had exercised his well-known railroad shrewdness to get his plans developed without the aid of the Legislature.

But here the question comes in: "Is the Delaware Western in this little arrangement or not"

The Delaware Western people held a meeting, a little caucus, so to speak over the matter. The result is not known but if D. W. is in the game it cuts out all chance of any other corporation using its franchises for a competing line, and leaves the monopoly greater than before and in entirely new hands.

Levi C. Bird Esq., thinks the Pennsylvania Railroad is in league with the B. & O. in this move. If this is so then the monopoly is complete and crushing, and in the railroad war that has so completely stirred up Delaware the people have received a black eye.

The Facts of the Sale briefly stated, are said to be as follows:

Alarmed at the prospect of a competing line. "My Boston Stockholder." who control the P., W. & B. Railroad becoming alarmed at the prospect of a depreciation of their stock consequent upon the construction of a competing line, pooled their stock and placed it in position for immediate sale. Jay Gould owns the Central Railroad of New Jersey and is the prospective controller of the great Reading corporation, thus insuring his control of the line between Philadelphia and New York. The B. & O. officers, seeing the opportunity of buying the connecting line between Baltimore and Philadelphia, which is certainly preferable to building line, and being already in relations with Jay Gould's line to New York, join with him in forcing the Boston stockholders to sell out, holding the prospect of a competing line over them as a threat to compel terms.

The sale, it is said, was consummated last evening, in the office of Drexel, Morgan & Co., in New York,

The figures are not yet made public.

Why So Silent.

The telegraph monopoly, practically controlled by Jay Gould, can be assigned as the only reason why the prospective sale of the P., W. & B. R. R. stock, and subsequent operations were kept so carefully concealed from the public,

Full developments are expected by noon, to day, and will be fully detailed in the GAZETTE.

The Delaware Western Out.

The Delaware Western, it is now known, is entirely out of the new combination. Col. H. S. McComb and Wm. H. Vanderbilt, of New York, were both offered the opportunity of becoming associated with it, but declined. Col. McComb declined because of the position he had placed himself in before the Delaware Legislature, as he desired to act in perfect good faith.

The D. W. bill will still be pressed before the Legislature, and there is yet hope that the people will be saved from a monopoly more crushing than ever.