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MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
AN APPETITE
FOR LAW MORE THAN
APPEASED.
He has invoked the law by methods equally abhorent
to the law and good taste. He has met with contin-
ued reverses. He has deserved failure. He has
failed.
The lesson of all this is cheerful and invigorating.
Litigation as a lever upon an honest business rival
is an unworthy means. The law, though decried
and distrusted, is still a shield against oppression,
and in its lists the most blatant wrestler may find his
Orlando.
We think we voice the sentiment of the trade, who
have watched this combat, when we congratulate the
Orguinette Company and its allies upon this ap-
parently final issue of its conflicts.
HE legal contest which has raged between Mr.
Andrew H. Hammond, of Worcester, Mass.-
and the Mechanical Orguinette Company and
its friends, for three years, has culminated in divers
disasters for the Worcester Briagde.
His suit against that Company and Messrs. Morgan
&, Nichol over the Needham patents has once been
determined against him, and the present trial will
be conclusively decided in the Company's favor, if
their confident predictions are realized. Pending
the suit, Mr. Hammond has not manifested a suffi-
cient faith in his claims to pay the royalties neces-
CORRECT.
sary to keep alive the rights for which he is contend-
ing.
OME people estimate the ability of a periodical
and the talent of its editor by the quantity of
The patents have, therefore, lapsed to the Messrs.
its original matter. It is comparatively an easy
Needham, who have thereupon conveyed them to
task for a frothy writer to string out a column of
the Orguinette Company, and the suit seems to be words upon any and all subjects. His ideas may
a contention over the mere shadow of an expired flow in one weak, washy, everlasting flood, and the
property. If Mr. Hammond could realize his utmost command of his language may enable him to string
them together like bunches of onions, and yet his
hopes, his empty victory would be dead sea fruit.
paper may be but a meagre and poor concern. In-
In the libel case brought against him by Mr. Edwin
deed, the mere writing part of editing a paper is but
P. Carpenter, for the publication of a denunciatory a small portion of the work. The care, the time
circular, the fortune of war has been uniformily employed in selecting, is far more important, and the
against Mr. Hammond, whose only recourse now fact of a good editor is better shown by his selec-
must be an appeal from the judgment overruling his tions than anything else; and that, we know, is half
the battle. But we have said, an editor ought to be
defense.
estimated, his labor understood and appreciated, by
It is likely that Mr. Carpenter, to whose inventive the general conduct of his paper—its tone, its uni-
talent and administrative capacity Mr. Hammond form, consistent course, aims, manliness, dignity,
owes much of his former success, will substantially and its propriety.—Courier Journal.
rebuke the ingratitude which closed a long associa
tion in business with personal abuse.
A BRILLIANT WEDDING.
In his case against Mr. Morgan, by which he
HE recent marriage of V. Hugo Mathushek. of
sought to wrest some share of the large foreign
Mathushek & Son, New York, to Miss Eliza
business in mechanical musical instruments, Mr.
0. Stanton, grand daughter of Mr Clark, of
Hammond at first secured a very grave and serious late Nunns & Clark, was a brilliant social event. St.
advantage, but the Court of Appeals whose decision Andrew's Church, 127th st. and Fourth avenue, was
is final, has this week totally vacated Mr. Ham- filled to overflowing with the many relatives and
friends who had congregated to witness the marri-
mond's judgment, and has pronounced fully in Mr.
age.
Morgan's favor.
The bride was given away by Mr. Wm. Clark, her
Mr. Hammond is at the bar of the Federal Court, uncle, who escorted her mother to the alter. Rev.
to answer to the Mechanical Orguinette Company for Dr. Lobdell, rector of the church, performed the
infringement of patents, and has interposed a de- marriage ceremony, and the organist of the church
discoursed fine selections of classical music.
murer, thus avoiding the real questions, and appa-
The bride was attired in a rich golden brown satin
rently trusting to hang up the case for years in that and velvet traveling suit. The presents were both
reverend but notoriously languid tribunal, which sits numerous and costly. After the ceremony was per-
in Washington with more grandeur than devotion to formed at the church, there was a reception held at
the residence of the bride's mother, at 2067 Madison
business.
avenue, and afterward a collation was served by
As will be seen in another column, the Mechanical Mazetti.
Orguinette Company has overwhelmingly chastised
Among the many relatives and friends was noticed
the fraud by which Mr. Walter F. Abbot despoiled that from the piano trade, Messrs. John Hardman,
corporation of the valuable patents on which it was Robert Clark and Frederick Mathushek.
organized, and has compelled restitution of the prop-
BILLINGS & CO.
erty of which it was robbed by Abbot when he wax
a trustee of the company. The decision branding Ab-
N pursuance of an order made by the Hon. Geo.
bot as guilty of " fraud, conspiracy and abuse of
M. Van Hoesen on the 31st day of December,
trust," and ordering restoration of the plunder, will
1885, notice is hereby given to all the creditors
be seen to closely affect Mr. Hammond, when it is and persons having claims against Andrew Billings
known that Abbot earned his booty to Mr. Ham- and Joseph N. Billings, lately doing business in the
mond and entered his employ, and that Mr. Abbot's city and county of New York under the firm name
of Billings & Co., that they are required to present
patron has claimed, over his signature, to control their claims, with the vouchers therefor duly veri-
the stolen patents.
fied, to the subscriber, the duly appointed assignee
A more scathing and yet matter of fact arraign- of the said Andrew Billings and Joseph N. Billings,
ment can scarcely be conceived than the opinion of for the benefit of their creditors, at his place of
transacting business, No. 206 Broadway, in the
Judge Barrett, holding Abbot guilty of this crime.
city of New York, on or before the 18th day of March
It was a remarkable and ingenious piracy done 188<;.
under the cloak of trust and confidence. Its dis-
Dated New York, Jan. 5th, 1886.
HERBERT VALENTINE, Assignee.
covery and punishment should rejoice the whole
WM. E. WALKLEY, Attorney for Assignee.
commercial community, who are all too subject to
such criminal depredations. No less should the trade
PATENTS AND INVENTIONS.
execrate the conduct of a man who would harbor both
the plunderer and the plunder.
Music leaf tnrner, No. 333,519; J. Herrow.
Mr. Hammond clearly has not only the unrighteous
Mechanical musical instrument, No. 333,645; H.
but the losing side of this great game of the courts^ Lorentz.
T
S
T
I
HAINES & WHITNEY CO.. OF CHICAGO,
CLSOED UP.
(Art Journal..)
T
HE Haines & Whitney Co., of Chicago, was or-
ganized and incorporated one year ago last
April. The capital stock was $100,000. How
much of this stock was paid in has never been known
outside of those who composed the company. The
business was managed in the most extravagant man-
ner, and in a short time the Haines pianos, which
were their leading instruments, were not being ship-
ped promptly. Haines Brothers insisted upon hav-
ing pay for their instruments. This was a new fea-
ture, which undoubtedly had not been considered by
the Haines & Whitney Co. Why should they be ex-
pected to pay for Haines pianos, so long as it was a
stock company and the name of Haines stood at the
head? Besides, it was backed by Patti, Nilsson,
Langtry, and all the prominent members of her
Majesty's Opera Co. It was inaugurated and run
upon a high moral basis, and catered only for the
patronage of those who possessed wealth and stand-
ing of a high degree. It was no ordinary affair,
and consequently it took all the proceeds of the
business, we mean the proceeds of the sales, to run
the institution. It was their business to sell the pi-
anos—and Haines' business to furnish them.
C. J. Whitney, the originator and chief organizer
of this company, a man with a large head and much
experience as a manager, made a proposition to sell
out his stock in the concern, which proposition was
both accepted and rejected. However, it was as-
serted by Mr. Whitney, and published in the news-
papers, that C. J. Whitney had sold out his interest
in the Haines & Whitney Co. The other members
of the company insisted that Whitney had not sold
out.
Last Saturday the warerooms were taken posses-
sion of by the sheriff, who attached all the goods,
chattels, etc., consisting of a few New England pi-
anos, two or three desks and a lounge. Mr. Whit-
ney, N. J. Haines, Jr., and S. M. Milliken, who was
the orignal manager, secretary and treasurer of the
company, were present at the closing ceremonies,
and the scene, from a theatrical and operatic stand-
point, was "serio-comic." It is stated upon good
authority that the entire expense of running the
Haines & Whitney Co., for nearly twenty months,
amounted to only sixty-five thousand dollars over
and above the profits. Th«y are indebted to the New
England Piano Co., Harwood & Beardsley, and others.
The creditors will hold Mr. C. J. Whitney personally
responsible.
BUSINESS FAILURES.
T
HERE were 394 failures in the United States re-
ported to Bradstreet's during the week ending
January 22, against 334 in the preceding week,
and 386, 310, 289, and 210 in the corresponding weeks
of 1885,1884, 1883, and 1882 respectively. Additional
comparisons are given in the following table :
THE WEEK'S FAILURES, UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
Week Pre-
ending vious Week corresponding to
Jan. 22, week, ,
-January 22
,
States and Territories. 1886.
Middle states
61
New England
48
Southern
104
Western
136
Pacific states & territories. 45
1886. 1885.
80
67
41
43
90
95
85 143
38
38
Total, United States... 394 334
Canada
30 28
386
30
1884. 1883. 1882
53
68
43
28
44
3 6
89
71
67
97
95
62
27
19
10
310
38
289 210
26
8
FIVE YEARS' FAILURES, UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
States and Territories.
Middle states
New England
Southern
Western
Facinc states and territories
Total, United States
Canada
1
Failures for the year to date,
with comparisons.
1886. 1885. 1884. 1883. 1882
221 250 190 214 119
109 146 133 105 86
287 323 261 258 176
308 297 159
3I2
4 6o
98
94
84 74
25
1,027 1.279
70
89
97 6 94 8 565
109 70
15
About 78 per cent, were those of small traders
whose capital was less than $5,000.
Only three of these failures were in the musical in-
strument trade.
F. R. GIRARD, Sacramento, Cal., has retired from
the piano trade.
G. H. BUCKWELL, New York city, chattel mortgage
for $662.