September 1 Thursday – John Hays Hammond’s handling of the Plasmon Co. of America’s near-insolvency created a dispute (see Aug. entry). A stockholders’ meeting was held on Sept. 1, and a new board of directors elected. Ralph W. Ashcroft was immediately elected general manager of the company by the new board. [Report of Cases Vol. 187 (1910): Ashcroft v. Hammond 491]. Sam may have attended, or may have given Ashcroft his proxy .
The vice-president of the company under the old board of directors Harold Wheeler represented Hammond’s interests and refused to recognize the election of this new board as legal, arguing a majority of the stock had not voted. He refused to leave the offices, and blocked access to the bank account, and hired security guards to hold his ground. “Litigation followed both in the state and federal courts, where the validity of the election was upheld”
[Ibid.]. See Sept. 15 entry for action and telegram by Sam to Hammond. See also previous entries for Plasmon Co. events: Dec. 1901, Mar. 17, 1902, May 1903, Aug. 1904. Ashcroft sent two telegrams to Hammond, now in Gloucester, Mass, in care of the Eastern Yacht Club Station, Bar Harbor, Maine, advising him of the newly elected board, that Wheeler had been put out of office, and that they wanted to repay the loan to Hammond (in Aug. he’d taken out a mortgage on the company’s assets for $10,000); and directing him to “wire Truslow at once accordingly.” His second telegram read:
“Strongly advise you to instruct Wheeler not to resist the new Plasmon Board, otherwise you will antagonize interests whose hostility you and your Guggenheim associates can least of all afford to incur. Will explain to Campbell to-morrow / R.W. ASHCROFT” [Ibid.] Note: James Douglas Campbell was Hammond’s private secretary. Ashcroft also sent a note to James Douglas Campbell reiterating the telegrams to Hammond and urging him to get in touch with Hammond and “induce him to order Wheeler to quit fighting over a dry bone. I will pay Hammond loan Tuesday.”
Sam sided with Ashcroft and the new board of directors. The source states that “Conferences took place between Mr. Clemens and the defendant [Hammond] but without result” [Ibid.] Note: Since Sam was in Deal, N.J. over this next weekend, and Hammond on Sept. 1 was in Gloucester, such “conferences” if kept, would have happened between Sept. 5 and 14. No record of any meetings between Clemens and Hammond was found.
Sam’s notebook: “Died at Greenwich, Conn., my sister, Pamela Moffett, aged about 73. She had been sixty years an invalid. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Death-dates this year: January 14, June 5, September 1” [MTB 1224; NB 47 TS 17]. Note: Pamela was b. Sept. 13, 1827; just short of 77 years of age.