Typed as spelled and written
Lena Stone Criswell
THE MARLIN DEMOCRAT
Eighteenth Year - Number 39
Marlin, Texas, Saturday, October 5, 1907
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TELEPHONE OFFICERS INDICTED
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Rate Discrimination is Charged--
Anti-Trust Law Involved.
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A well developed sensation was turned loose in Waco Wednesday when it became
known that the grand jury had returned indictments against three of the officers
of the Southwestern Telephone company, charging them with discriminating in the
rates charged for their service. The three officials indicted are J. E.
Fernsworth, vice president and general manager, H. J. Pettingill, president of
the company and C. A. Gates, general superintendent. The parties were
arrested in Dallas and gave bond in the sum of $1,000 each.
The penalty for violation of the law in the
matter of rate discrimination is a minimum fine of $100 and imprisonment in the
penitentiary not less than six months, the maximum penalty being $1,000 fine and
imprisonment for two years. The imprisonment feature is mandatory.
The specific allegations in the indictments
are as follows:
The indictment against J. F. Farnsworth,
general manager, recites the claim that on or about August 15, 1907, he charged
or permitted to be charged and demanded of Robert A Gordon the sum of 25 cents
for talking two minutes from Lorena to Waco, while M. S. Sewall was charged 20
cents for talking two minutes from McGregor to Waco, the service rendered being
practically the same and the distance to McGregor, being really a little
greater, thereby discriminating against Gordon; that Coke Westbrook at Lorena
was charged 25 cents for talking two minutes with Waco, while M. T. Presnall of
China Springs was charged 15 cents for a talk of two mintues with Waco; that W.
A. McClain was charged 25 cents for a two minute talk to Lorena and W. P. Young
talked for a like time from Granger to Temple for only 15 cents. This
makes three counts in the indictment.
President H. J. Pettengill has four counts
in his indictment, as follows: J. W. Day was charged 25 cents for talking
two minutes with Waco, while A. R. Lawrence of Granger talked a like time with
Temple for 15 cents; J. S. Crosslin of Waco paid $2 for his residence telephone
for August while S. W. Ballinger of Abilene paid $1 for a residence telephone
for the same month; P. C. Orand at Waco paid $4 for a business telephone for
August, 1907, and R. D. Compton of Abilene paid $3; John H. T. Hunter of Lorena
paid 25 cents for two minutes' talk with Waco, while Aaron Woodward at Riesel
paid 15 cents for a like service.
General Superintendent C. A. Gates has two
counts in his indictment, as follows:
Ben Bailey of Moody paid $1.50 for his
residence telephone for August, while E. H. Hatch of Lorena paid $1.25 for the
same kind of telephone for the same month; W. A. Stanford , living in the
country near Lorena, paid $1.50 for his rural telephone for the month of August,
while W. M. Bends who lives near Moody, was only charged $1.25 for the same
month for a rural telephone.
The results of the prosecution will be
looked forward to with much interest all over the state, as it is the first
indictment against the telephone company under the present anti-trust law.
The defendants will not go to jail without a fight, while the prosecution will
no doubt be very active in its efforts to put them there.
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Copyright permission granted to Theresa Carhart and her volunteers for
printing by The Democrat, Marlin, Falls Co., Texas