A Streetcar War in Tacoma
A power struggle over the consolidation of electric rail lines leads to a suit to dissolve a corporation and prevent a massive foreclosure.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
TACOMA, Sept. 27.—The effort of the Mason Mortgage Loan and Trust Company to foreclose a mortgage for $40,000 on the Tacoma & Puyallup and Wapato Lake Belt line has resulted in a suit, which was filed today by the Wapato Belt line and R.F. Radebaugh, its president, to dissolve the consolidation features of the Point Defiance & Edison road and prevent for five years after such dissolution the foreclosure of the $40,000 mortgage. The roads were consolidated last spring, and the Point Defiance, Wapato Lake and Edison roads were made all in one, to be known as the Point Defiance & Edison electric road. Under this consolidation Mr. Radebaugh claims that the new corporation was to pay the interest accruing on the $40,000 mortgage, and allow the Puyallup branch of this line certain concessions. This, it is claimed, the new road has failed to do, therefore the dissolution is asked for. The case is further complicated by the appointment of a receiver several months ago for the Tacoma & Puyallup railroad, which is part of the Radebaugh system.
“The Mason Mortgage Loan and Trust Company has begun suit to foreclose the $40,000 mortgage on the Belt line, Mr. Mason saying the company must have its money.”
Transit consolidation has been a feature of regional growth since the late 19th century. Today, as light rail expands across the Puget Sound, the push-and-pull between private interests and public service remains a central challenge for city governance.
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