The History of the Standard Oil Company/Volume 1/Appendix/Number 34
NUMBER 34 (See page 239)
BILL OF PARTICULARS OF EVIDENCE TO BE OFFERED BY THE COMMONWEALTH
[In the case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. John D. Rockefeller, William Rockefeller, Jabez A. Bostwick, Daniel O'Day, William G. Warden, Charles Lockhart, Henry M. Flagler, Jacob J. Vandergrift, Charles Pratt and George W. Girty, in the Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the County of Clarion, Pennsylvania, 1879.]
First Count. First.—That each one of the defendants is associated with each and all others, in business, by means of stock, issued to each, of several corporations, to-wit: The Standard Oil Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The Standard Oil Company of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The Acme Oil Company of Titusville, Pennsylvania. The Imperial Refining Company of Oil City, Pennsylvania. The Camden Consolidated Oil Company of West Virginia. The Devoe Manufacturing Company of New York.
Second.—That Charles Pratt is associated in business with others, under the name of Charles Pratt and Company; that William G. Warden and Charles Lockhart are associated in business with others under the firm name of Lockhart and Frew, and Warden, Frew and Company; that J. A. Bostwick is associated with others in business under the name of J. A. Bostwick and Company.
Third.—That the several defendants and others now unknown are associated together by means of the corporate and co-partnership organisations stated in paragraphs one and two for the purpose of carrying on the business of refining crude petroleum and selling the refined product. That each of the said defendants is interested in each of the several corporations and firms in refining and selling refined petroleum, and, in refining and selling, the said defendants, each and all, act in concert and harmony with each other, and as against all other persons not associated with them, and share in the profits of the business.
Fourth.—That the said several defendants, and all of them, and the said several firms and corporations of which they and each of them are members, by stock ownership or otherwise, are engaged in the business of buying crude petroleum, in the county of Clarion, in the state of Pennsylvania, and also in the counties of Armstrong, Butler, Crawford, Forest, McKean, Venango, and Warren, in the state of Pennsylvania, also in the counties of Allegheny and Philadelphia in said state, and in the counties of Cattaraugus and New York, in the state of New York, also in the city of Cleveland in the state of Ohio, and in counties in the state of West Virginia.
Fifth.—That in the said several states and counties, and in divers localities in said several states and counties, to-wit: at Pittsburg, Philadelphia, Butler, Carbon Centre, Millerstown, Petrolia, Parker's Landing, Foxburg, Turkey City, Edenburg, Shippensville, Pickwick, Elk City, Monterey, Emlenton, Bullion, Scrubgrass, Forster's Station, Oil City, Franklin, Reno, Rouseville, Titusville, Warren, Tidioute, Hickory, Bradford, Degolia, Derrick City, Gilmore, Forster Brook, and Tarport, in the State of Pennsylvania; Knap Creek, Rock City, Four Mile, Two Mile, Olean, Carrollton, Salamanca, and in the city of New York, in the state of New York, the said defendants, and the several firms and corporations with which they are associated and in which they were interested, carried on the business of buying crude petroleum from producers and owners thereof, and the business of refining said crude petroleum, and selling the refined product, and in so doing acted in concert.
Sixth.—That the said business thereinbefore referred to was so carried on at the several counties, cities, localities, and in the several states aforesaid, by the said defendants in concert, in person, and through agents acting under the instructions of the said defendants, and pursuant to their directions.
Seventh.—That the said defendants were engaged, and are engaged, in the business of transporting crude petroleum through iron pipes, in the counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Forest, McKean, Warren, and Venango, in the state of Pennsylvania; and the county of Cattaraugus, in the state of New York. That they are so engaged by being associated together in the ownership of several pipe-lines, such association being accomplished by the said defendants being owners of shares of stock in incorporated companies, to-wit: the United Pipe Line and American Transfer Company, and interest in capital in limited partnerships, to-wit: the Tidioute and Titusville Pipe Companies, Limited, and others, which said companies, the said defendants, at the time of the conspiracy and combination charged in the indictment, controlled, and thereby controlled the transportation of crude petroleum from wells and points of storage in said several counties and at the said several localities.
Eighth.—That the said defendants, and each of them, and the said several corporations, firms, and limited partnerships, were and are engaged by means of the ownership and control of said several firms, limited partnerships, and corporations, and by means of ownership of stock and interests therein, were and are engaged in the business of storing crude petroleum in the said several localities, cities, counties and states, by means of storage tanks, and said business was carried on in said counties, each and all of them, by themselves, personally, and also through agents acting by their directions.
Ninth.—That each one of the said defendants and all of them in concert were engaged in the several kinds of business hereinbefore referred to, by themselves and their agents in the county of Clarion, and in the other places mentioned hereinbefore, during the whole period of two years prior to the day upon which the indictment was found against them in this case, and during that time by themselves and their agents acting under their directions in the said county of Clarion, combined, confederated and conspired together to cheat and defraud numerous citizens of the county of Clarion, to-wit: J. A. Vera, William L. Fox, and M. L. Lockwood, and divers others, and to cheat and defraud the public by securing to themselves a monopoly of the business and occupation of buying and selling crude petroleum in the county of Clarion, and to prevent all other persons engaged in said business, from making, receiving and obtaining the fair value, profit, price and return from such business, by fraudulent devices, practices and secret contrivances, and among others the following:
A.—Falsely pretending during the times aforesaid and at all times that the storage tanks owned and controlled by them, and of which they had the possession, measurement and accounts, were full of crude petroleum to the extent of the capacity of said tanks, and that the said defendants could not receive and store crude petroleum from and for citizens of Clarion County and the other counties and localities named, when in truth such representations and statements were false, and thereby divers citizens lost oil and were compelled to sell petroleum at less than the value thereof.
B.—By representing to divers citizens of the county of Clarion engaged in the business of producing, buying and selling petroleum, and to divers other persons engaged in said business in the other counties and localities named, that the said defendants were enabled to receive and transport for said well owners, citizens and producers of such petroleum, by reason of lack of capacity and transportation facilities, when in fact said representations were false, and thereby divers producers dealers and well owners were compelled to sell petroleum at less than the value thereof.
C.—That said defendants by themselves and their agents within the county of Clarion, in the state of Pennsylvania, and at the other counties, cities and localities, hereinbefore named, had the control of the entire transportation of crude petroleum from the producing wells and districts, and the control of storing of crude petroleum produced, that they and the several firms and corporations of which they were members, and their agents and the agents of said firms and corporations acting under the direction of the said defendants corruptly and oppressively used the power and control they so as aforesaid held, to compel producers and owners of petroleum to sell the same to them, the said defendants, their agents and the several firms and corporations aforesaid and their agents, and to sell the said crude petroleum at less than its value, and less than the market price thereof.
D.—That the said defendants and each of them, through the several firms and corporations of which they were members, and by their agents acting under their directions and the agents of the said firms and corporations, corruptly and oppressively used the power so acquired by them to enable them to become the sole buyers and refiners of crude petroleum.
E.—That among the means used to obtain control of the business of transporting crude petroleum were the following:
First.—The said defendants and the several firms and corporations of which they were members laid iron pipes in the county of Clarion, and the other counties and states named, under charters and pretended charters from the state of Pennsylvania, pretending that they so did for the purpose of transporting for the public petroleum from the oil wells and producing districts, to the railroads, for shipment to the seaboard, when in fact the said pipe-lines were not laid for that purpose, but for the purpose of transporting oil for the said defendants, and the said several firms and corporations of which they were the members, and not for the public, and to enable the said defendants and the said firms and corporations to dictate the rate of freight to be charged to them by the railroad companies engaged in the business of carrying petroleum as common carriers, and to force the said railroad companies to charge a greater and unreasonably high rate of freight to all others, and that this was for the purpose of preventing citizens of Clarion County and the public from engaging in the business of buying, selling and shipping crude petroleum.
Second.—The said defendants, and their agents acting under their directions, and the several firms and corporations of which they were members also so acting, pretended and represented to the several railroad companies engaged in the transportation of petroleum, and to the agents and officers of said companies, that they, the said defendants and the several firms and corporations of which they were members, and in which they were interested, controlled the shipments of said crude and refined petroleum, by deliveries thereof to the said railroad companies, and that the said defendants were enabled to withhold, and drive said traffic and business from them.
Said representations were false, but by means thereof, they, the said defendants, procured and obtained from said several railroad companies enormous and unjust rebates, commissions and deductions from the rates of freight charged to citizens of Clarion County and the public. The Citizens of Clarion County and the public were thereby prevented from engaging in the business of producing and shipping crude petroleum.
Third.—That on or about the thirtieth day of August, 1877, and again on or about the seventeenth day of October, 1877, the said defendants met together in the city of Philadelphia and then and there agreed together that they would represent to the officers of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company that they, the said defendants, and the several firms and corporations of which they were members, could and would control and guarantee to the said railroad company a certain proportion of the carrying traffic of crude petroleum over said railroad.
And on or about the same dates the said defendants further agreed together and did represent to the officers of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company, and to the officers of the Erie Railroad Company, and to Mr. Jewett, receiver of the Erie Railroad Company, and to the officers of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, and to the officers of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad Company, and to V. H. Devereux, receiver thereof, and to the officers of the Michigan Southern and Lake Shore Railroad Company, and to the officers of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, that they the said defendants and the several firms and corporations of which they were members, could and would control and guarantee to each of them a certain proportion of the carrying traffic of the crude petroleum over said railroads respectively. But by reason thereof the said Pennsylvania Railroad Company and the Empire Transportation Company were induced to, and did sell, transfer, mortgage and dispose of, to said defendants and to the several corporations and firms of which they were members, all of the pipe-lines, crude oil cars and transportation equipment of which they had control or ownership in the Oil Regions of Pennsylvania, including the county of Clarion, and all the refineries, for refining crude petroleum, of which they had ownership or control.
Fourth.—The objects and purposes of said representations and said transfer were to enable the said defendants to control the business of buying and selling crude and refined petroleum, and the transportation and storage thereof.
Fifth.—That, as stated in the foregoing paragraphs, during the greater part of the year of 1877, and for some time previously, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company owned or controlled through its shipping agents, the Empire Line, a full and complete system of pipe-lines throughout the counties of Clarion, Armstrong and Butler, known as the Empire Line, numerous and well appointed tank oil cars, the shortest and best route to the seaboard over its own lines and the Allegheny Valley Railroad, and other connecting lines, also controlled large and complete refineries, situated in Pittsburg, Philadelphia and New York, and was by these means a competitor with the defendants and the several corporations owned by them, in the business of piping, transporting, buying and refining crude oil, enabling producers, citizens of Clarion County and elsewhere, without difficulty, to have their oil piped and transported, and to sell the same at enhanced prices, owing to competition. That the defendants, combining and conspiring to monopolise the entire and sole business of buying, selling and refining oil in Clarion County and elsewhere, did demand of the Empire Line and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company that they and each of them should abandon and desist from the said business of buying, selling and refining oil, and that the said railroad company and Empire Line should grant to them exclusively large rebates and low or cheap rates of transportation of oil, and by means of withdrawing and procuring others to withdraw the transportation of crude and refined oil over and along said Pennsylvania Railroad, and by means of the procuring from other railroads exclusive rebates and low rates of freight for transportation below a fair and just compensation for such transportation did compel the said Pennsylvania Railroad Company and the Empire Line to sell to said defendants, or to some of the corporations controlled and owned by them, said pipe-line, tank cars and refineries, to the injury of the producers of oil of Clarion County and elsewhere, by depriving them of the benefit of competition in buying, piping, storing or refining this crude oil.
Sixth.—That the defendants and others combined and confederated with them did conspire to monopolise the entire and exclusive business of refining crude petroleum in Clarion County and elsewhere by means of throwing quantities of refined oil on the market and selling the same at less price than the fair market value of the same in the vicinity of independent refiners in Clarion County and elsewhere, and by means of such sales did compel such refineries to sell out to companies with which defendants were connected, or to abandon or quit the business of refining.
Seventh.—That the said defendants did with others conspire together to purchase all the pipe-lines for the transportation of oil within the producing oil region and all the refineries for the refining of oil, for the purpose of controlling the price of oil and compelling the oil producers of Clarion County and elsewhere to sell their oil to the said defendants at ruinous low rates far below the value thereof and the price that could have been obtained for the same in a competitive market.
Eighth.—Although the said representations were false, the said defendants and the several firms and corporations of which they were members procured the control of the business of producing, buying and selling crude petroleum, and of about ninety per cent, thereof by following acts done in furtherance of the agreements aforesaid:
A.—To buy only petroleum for immediate shipment from the wells of producers. And when so bought they refused to remove it. It was so bought at less than its value and market price, and the producers of petroleum were compelled to sell the same by reason of the false representations as to capacity, storage and transportation hereinbefore fully set forth.
B.—By giving themselves and procuring for themselves exorbitant and unreasonable rebates, commissions and allowances from the railroads and pipe-lines owned and controlled by them, which rebates, commissions and allowance could not be procured by any other than the said defendants and the several firms and corporations of which they were members.
C.—By impeding transportation by railroads, procuring them to refuse and delay cars for shipment of petroleum, procuring the breaking connections with connecting railroad lines, refusing and procuring the refusal of railroad companies and pipe-lines to receive and transport petroleum, by refusals and procuring refusals to store petroleum, by refusing and procuring the refusal of railroad companies to furnish side tracks, cars and transportation facilities to pipe-line companies other than those of the defendants and to individuals, by selling refined petroleum at less than the cost of manufacture, by carrying and storing oil at less than the cost of transportation and storage, by thereby forcing competing lines to sell to them at a loss, by issuing certificates or accepted orders of pipe-line companies in violation of law not representing the petroleum in the custody of said corporations of the said defendants, and placing such certificates upon the market, thereby causing an apparent increase in the quantity of oil in the market for sale and depressing the price of crude petroleum by making false and fictitious reports of stock of petroleum in the custody of the United Pipe Lines, a corporation of which the defendants are the owners and which they control, by violating the laws relative to making reports of business of the said pipe-line company; by neglecting and refusing to make the required oath thereto, by destroying refineries purchased by them at less than their value, of those they had compelled to sell to them by the fraudulent acts aforesaid, by hiring and paying salaries to men to remain out of business for a term of years, and to act as spies for the said defendants and the corporations and firms of which they are members; by selling crude and refined petroleum at less than its cost to them; by increasing the production by entering into agreements relative to the price the said defendants and the corporations and firms of which they were members; by threatening common carriers with destruction of the business of carrying oil, if they carried for others than themselves, and those associated with them, or permitted other pipe-line companies to deliver petroleum to them, or railroads to carry to them; by means of said threats to prevent the building or operation of competing lines of pipe or railroad for transportation of petroleum; by refusing to store petroleum in tanks owned by individuals for them, and by filling such tanks with their own oil, thereby causing a waste and loss both of petroleum and in the price obtained; by refusals to the citizens of Clarion County and elsewhere, at the several localities named, to transport or store crude petroleum.
Second Count. All of the evidence hereinbefore offered in support of the first count.
Third Count. All of the evidence hereinbefore stated to be offered in support of the first and second counts, and, in addition thereto, evidence of purchase of refineries under false representations; that refiners were forced to sell by reasons of enormous rebates, fraudulently obtained from railroad companies, as hereinbefore stated, the business being thereby, and not otherwise, rendered unprofitable to such refineries as could not obtain said rebates, commissions and allowances, they being all in the said business, except the said defendants, and the firms and corporations of which they were members.
Fourth Count. All the evidence hereinbefore stated to be offered in support of the first, second and the third counts, and, in addition thereto, that the said defendants and their agents diverted traffic from the Allegheny Valley Railroad Company by threatening the said company and those who were delivering petroleum to it for transportation, with loss and injury to their business, and by shipping themselves over other railroads, unless the said Allegheny Valley Railroad Company would allow them exorbitant rebates, commissions and allowances upon petroleum carried, that other dealers and shippers could not obtain.
Fifth Count. All the evidence hereinbefore stated to be offered in support of the first, second, third and fourth counts, and, in addition thereto, that the traffic was diverted from the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, a common carrier, by the same means, devices and threats as hereinbefore stated.
Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Counts. All the evidence hereinbefore stated to be offered as the first, second, third, fourth and fifth counts.