Throughout the opening thirteen years of the 1900s, the radio communications industry in the United States had a dismal reputation as one dominated by companies best known for excessive promotion and outright fraud. The entries below catalog the mostly-failed efforts, which cost investors millions of dollars. The sole survivor of all this turmoil was the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America, whose assets in 1919 were purchased by General Electric, and reorganized into the Radio Corporation of America.
The information below comes from the first four editions of the Marvyn Scudder Manual of Extinct or Obsolete Companies, Inc.: 1926-Vol. I, 1928-Vol. II, 1930-Vol. III, 1934-Vol. IV; plus the 1938 (Vol. VI) edition of the Robert D. Fisher Manual of Valuable and Worthless Securities.
American De Forest Wireless Telegraph Co., Austin, Texas. Texas charter forfeited for non-payment of taxes July 2, 1908. [1928, page 38]
American DeForest Wireless Telegraph Company. Incorporated under the laws of Maine about 1902 with $5,000,000 capital stock, shares $10 par (450,000 shares common and 50,000 shares preferred). Owned patents on the DeForest Wireless Telegraph System, which was used by the army and navy in limited numbers for test purposes in 1902. The company was not successful in finding a market for their system and went out of business shortly after. The DeForest Radio Telephone & Telegraph Company is thought to have taken over the patent rights. In April, 1905, 130 shares of the common stock sold for $27 for the lot. [1930, page 59]
American Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Company. Incorporated--Arizona. This company originally issued stock at $100 per share, but later reduced the par value to $20. About 1901 or 1902 merged with six other companies to form the Consolidated Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Company with a capitalization of $25,000,000. At the time the consolidation was considered merely a movement to shirk the responsibility that eventually would incur; namely bankruptcy. The new company continued in business until about 1903 or 1904 and after that time we are unable to find any trace of it and believe it went out of existence about that time. During the past ten or twelve years many sales of the stock have taken place at auction for very nominal figures. One being 900 shares for $1. the lot. We believe the stock of both companies valueless at the present time. [1934, page 111]
Atlantic Radio Telephone Company. Company was incorporated under the laws of Arizona with a capital stock of $2,500,000, all common, par $10 each. Fully paid and non-assessable. Officers: M. L. Justin, president; Gen. F. Hickok, vice-president; C. H. McIntyre, secretary and treasurer; R. H. Burlingame, F. B. Hooper. This company was organized for the purpose of developing and utilizing in a commercial manner throughout the South, the electrical transmission of sound-signals and human intelligence, without the use of wires, especially as were embodied in the inventions of Dr. Lee de Forest. Company was a subsidiary to the Radio Telephone Company (which see) and operated under an exclusive license granted by the said company under all the U. S. Patents, owned by it that related to the wireless art, left the entire policy of handling the business of the above named territory in the hands of the Atlantic Radio Company. [1928, page 94]
Clark Wireless Development Co. New Jersey charter revoked for non-payment of annual registration fee for two years January 5, 1909. [1930, page 408]
Clark Wireless Telegraph Co., Detroit, Michigan. Forfeited. Dissolution filed May 5, 1908. [1930, page 408]
Clark Wireless Telegraph-Telephone Co. This company was organized and controlled by Thomas E. Clark, an electrical engineer of Detroit, Michigan. It had a capital stock of $2,500,000. This company was one of the many wireless telephone promotions of Cameron L. Spear who was credited, it was reported, with being the organizer of the "sucker list" extensively used by stock jobbers. Like all of Spear's other promotions, this company is a bankrupt organization. A full report is given in this volume under the Continental Wireless Telephone and Telegraph Company which was a holding company for the stock of the Clark Wireless Tel. & Tel. Company. [1928, page 291]
Clark Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Company. Property and operations not reported. Capital stock. $2,500,000. Was a stock-selling scheme. [1930, page 408]
Collins Wireless Telephone Co. was incorporated in 1903 under the laws of the District of Columbia, to manufacture, sell and rent wireless telephones and other wireless apparatus through its sub companies, with a capital stock of $1,000,000, par $100. Full paid and non-assessable. The stock was originally issued to A. Frederick Collins for patents, $400,000 of which he turned over to the company for a nominal consideration to be sold to provide working capital for the company. The company's plant was located at Newark, New Jersey, and was equipped with machinery said to have been worth about $6,000. Officers--A. C. Jessup, president; C. B. Waltor, secretary; F. T. Davis, treasurer; Max Loewenthal; A. Frederick Collins, technical director and Ellwood M. Davis. Thousands of people in this country and Cape Town, Africa, poured their savings into this company which had a very disastrous ending. (See Continental Wireless Telephone & Telegraph Company.) [1928, page 306]
Commercial Wireless Manufacturing Company. Incorporated under the laws of Washington. Was proclaimed by the Governor in 1912-1914, and its charter declared forfeited and repealed at that time for non-payment of taxes, etc. [1930, page 438]
Commercial Wireless, Telephone & Telegraph Company. Incorporated under the laws of Washington. Was proclaimed by the Governor in 1912-1914, and its charter declared forfeited and repealed at that time for non-payment of taxes, etc. [1930, page 438]
Consolidated Wireless Tel-Tel Co. Organized a number of years prior to 1919. Proved unsuccessful. No value found for stock August 30, 1919, for inheritance tax. [1926, page 290]
Consolidated Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Co. We have record of a sale of 20 shares of this stock at $4 the lot which occurred in June, 1904. No later indication of the existence of the company or market for the stuck is available. We believe the company to be out of existence and the stock worthless as of September 4, 1923. [1928, page 334]
Continental Wireless Telephone & Telegraph Company. Incorporated under the laws of Arizona in October, 1909, with a capital stock of $5,000,000, par $1. This company was promoted by Cameron Spear for the professed purpose of taking over the Collins Wireless Telephone Company, the Clark Wireless Telegraph-Telephone Co., the Pacific Wireless Telegraph Company, and the Massie Wireless Telegraph Company, of which separate reports are given each company in this volume. The officers of the company were: F. T. Davis, president; Charles L. Vaughan, vice-president and treasurer; Walter W. Massie, vice-president and director of operating department; C. B. Wolter, secretary; Thomas E. Clark, general manager; A. Frederick Collins, technical director; Samuel D. Bradford, manager of Pacific Coast department; Frank Ford, a broker of Detroit director; N. A. Hawkins of the Ford Motor Car Company, Detroit, director; A. J. Jessup, New York, director; A. J. Lauer, director; F. N. Shoemaker, director; Gen. Joseph L. Stoppelbein, director; Max Loewenthal, director; Henry W. Lee; Sylvester Sullivan; George M. Davis; O. Gans; and Judge E. R. Cochran, Jr. On November 21, 1910, post office inspectors descended upon the offices of the Continental Wireless Telephone & Telegraph Company, of No. 56 Pine Street, New York City, and arrested Charles L. Vaughan. The post office inspectors took Vaughan to the Federal Building before Commissioner Shields. With Vaughan there were taken forty mail sacks filled with printed matter, and books of the company, and what was said to be the most complete card index system ever seen by the post office inspectors, containing the names of hundreds of thousands of prospective investors. Postmaster-General Hitchcock said it was significant of this case that while the Continental Company was incorporated at $5,000,000 and was known to have disposed of more than $100,000 of its stock at that time, the company had no bank account. It was after dark when Vaughan and the inspectors reached Commissioner Shields' office. It was there learned that the warrant had been issued on complaint of Walter N. Altman of Topeka, Kansas. It was charged that on June 4, 1910, Vaughan "devised a scheme or artifice to defraud" Altman and others "by falsely representing" that the Continental Wireless Telephone & Telegraph Company was organized to operate, develop, and control various wireless concerns in this country and of having made statements concerning the earning capacity of these concerns which were considered false. In spite of the original announcement to investors that the Continental would issue no bonds, the company made a bond issue of $250,000, of which $10,000 had been sold. These bonds were called convertible collateral 7 per cent. trust bonds. They were to run two years--the only collateral to guarantee them was stock of the company. Cameron Spear, who, it was alleged, was the originator of the "sucker list," was placed on trial before Judge Hunt in the criminal branch of the United States District Court in New York City, with Archie F. Collins, Charles F. Vaughan, and Joseph Reall on November 15, 1912. The indictment was the result of an investigation by the post office authorities into the affairs of the company. The trial lasted two months and a jury found Spear, Collins and Vaughan guilty. Reall was acquitted; Spear was sentenced to five years at Atlanta; Vaughan filed a petition in bankruptcy with liabilities at $109,699 and assets $105. [1928, page 337]
De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company. Incorporated Maine. The company filed its last return in 1904, and its charter was suspended in 1907 for non-payment of franchise tax. The officers as reported in 1904, were: President, Abraham White, 42 Broadway, New York City; treasurer, Francis K. Butler, 280 Broadway, New York City; Maine Clerk, Millard W. Baldwin, 215 St. John St., Portland, Me. We find no trace of the company or its officers since that time and believe the company out of existence at the present time. There is no market for the stock. [1930, page 501]
Dominion De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd. Company was capitalized at $1,200,000; shares $5 each. It had a contract with the American De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company and was in some way connected. The Dominion Company proposed to build and operate wireless stations throughout Canada. The De Forest management had in time past come in for severe arraignments on account of lack of conservatism, and the organization of the Dominion Company was simply one of a number of organizations and amalgamations which have followed one another so rapidly that investors have become confused. The American De Forest Company passed out of existence together with the Dominion Company and it is our belief that the stock is valueless at the present time. [1934, page 722]
Ellsworth Company. Organized under the laws of Arizona. Capital stock $1,000,000. Business described as "investments." In 1909 the office was at 43 Exchange Place, New York, New York, at which time the officers and directors were as follows: E. E. Burlingame, president; Clarence H. McIntyre, secretary, and M. E. Burlingame, director. Company was a stock selling subsidiary of the Radio Telephone Co. (see Marvyn Scudder Manual, Vol. II) and following a raid by the postoffice department, Elmer E. Burlingame, head stock salesman, was sentenced to two years and six months and fined $10,500 and the Ellsworth Co., which is reported to have disposed of about $1,500,000 capital stock of the "Telephone" company, was fined $10,500. Elmer E. Burlingame was also responsible for the sale of stock of the following: American Trustee Co., Anti-Pto-Mine Co., Cleveland Gold Dredging Co., Consolidated Gold Dredging Co., Exchange Supply Co., Kelly Iron Ore Co., Metropolitan Press Bureau, Norway Pine Reduction Co., Oil Increase Co., Pittsburg Gold Dredging Co., Sun Electric Generator Co. All of which came to grief and the reader is referred to each company in the Marvyn Scudder Manual, Vol. II, where an attempt has been made to give all the information obtainable. [1928, page 446]
Great Lakes Radio Telephone Co. Company was organized under the laws of Arizona with an authorized capital stock of $1,000,000, and in 1911 was placed in the hands of a receiver. This company was associated with the Radio Telephone Company, and other wireless promotions, the officers of which were convicted of using the mails to defraud and are reported to have received prison terms early in 1914. There are no quotations or sales reported of the stock which we believe to be valueless. [1928, page 592]
International Wireless Signal Co. Incorporated under the laws of New Jersey. Was proclaimed by the Governor in January, 1915, and its charter declared forfeited and repealed at that time for non-payment of taxes, etc. [1930, page 794]
International Wireless Telegraph Co. Incorporated New Jersey. Charter forfeited 1908 for failure to comply with law. No value found for stock July 2, 1918, for inheritance tax. [1926, page 610]
International Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Company. Was in business around 1902. No record of location or operations. Stock has no market value and appears worthless. [1930, page 794]
Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America. Company was incorporated under the laws of New Jersey on November 22, 1899, to operate wireless telegraphy in the United States and its dependencies on the Marconi patents. Capital stock authorized $10,000,000, outstanding $9,999,500, par $5 a share. The original capital stock was of the par value of $100 which at a meeting in April, 1910, was reduced to $25 a share. In 1912 it was voted to increase the capital stock from $1,662,500 to $10,000,000 and to reduce the par value of the stock from $25 to $5 a share. An initial dividend of 2% was paid on August 1, 1913, none since. Stock at one time was listed on the New York Curb. Company had an office in the Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway, New York City. In December, 1919, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America was taken over by the Radio Corporation of America at which time the "Marconi" capital stock, par $5 was exchangeable for "Radio" on the basis of one share of "Marconi" for one share of preferred, par $5 and one share common, no par of the "Radio." In May, 1924, "Radio" preferred par $5, was charged to preferred, par $50 and 10 shares of the $5 par value preferred exchanged for one share of the $50 par value preferred; and "Radio" common, no par, was changed to new common A, no par, and exchanged on the basis of one old for 5 new A. Thereafter 10 shares of old "Marconi" stock, par $5, was exchangeable for one share of preferred, par $50, and two shares of new common A, no par, stock of "Radio." The right to exchange this stock was still in force as of July 13, 1927. The "Marconi" stock is still quoted Stamped and Unstamped. The Stamped stock represents shares that have been exchanged for "Radio" while the Unstamped represent stock that has not been exchanged. [1928, page 856]
Massie Wireless Telegraph Company. Incorporated under the laws of Rhode Island with a capital stock of $300,000, by Walter W. Massie, an electrician of Providence, Rhode Island. In 1910 the company had an office at 27 William Street, R 1319, New York City. This company was one of the many promotions of Cameron L. Spear, which is now bankrupt. A full report is given in this volume under the Continental Wireless Telephone and Telegraph Company which was a holding company for the stock of the Massie Wireless Tel. Co. [1928, pages 868-869]
North American Wireless Telegraph Company. Company was incorporated under the laws of Maine in 1909 with a capital stock of $10,000,000. This concern absorbed the Radio Telephone Company (which see), The Atlantic Radio Telephone, Pacific Radio Telephone Company and the Great Lakes Radio Telephone Company. This colossal group of paper concerns were based upon a wireless telephone, which navy officials it was reported, declared it nothing but a toy. About $3,000,000 radio stock had been sold when the promoter, Elmer B. Burlingame, was arrested by the Post Office Dept. for using the mails to defraud. He was sent to Atlanta Prison and fined $10,500. The company has gone out of existence and it is our belief that the stock is worthless. [1928, pages 1023-1024]
Pacific Radio Telephone Company. Incorporated under the laws Arizona with capital stock of $2,500,000 and M. L. Justin, president. This company was a subsidiary of the Radio Telephone Company (which see) and it was contended that the company was formed to raise money in order to pay the dividends declared on the Radio Telephone Company. [1928, page 1075]
Pacific Wireless Telegraph Company. Was incorporated under the laws of the State of Washington about 1906. The company apparently never got much beyond the development stage and it was reported to have gone out of existence shortly after its promotion. The stock has been reported as worthless for some years and we submit it as such as of the present date. (See Continental Wireless Telephone and Telegraph Company.) [1928, page 1077]
Radio Telephone Company. Incorporated May 15, 1907, under the laws of New Jersey with a capital stock of $2,000,000, par $10. Officers: James Dunlap Smith, president; Lee De Forest, vice-president; Samuel E. Darby, secretary; Granville T. Ivory, treasurer. This company was organized for the purpose of developing, utilizing and commercializing the electrical transmission of sound signals and human intelligence without the use of wires. The scope of the company was said to embrace the entire western hemisphere, including United States, Canada, Mexico and all Central and South American countries, the Island of the West Indies and the Philippines, etc. Office in 1910, 46 Exchange Place, New York City. The Radio Telephone Company was organized ostensibly to promote the use of wireless telephone. Really almost its entire activity was in the distribution of stock. To facilitate this, a number of subsidiary companies were formed, of which separate reports are given in this volume. Those companies were: Great Lakes Radio Telephone Company, Atlantic Radio Telephone Company, Pacific Radio Telephone Company, Universal Wireless Corporation of South Dakota and the Radio Telephone Construction Company. They were officered, it was reported, by the clerks of the parent organization, and each company had to pay a bonus for the rights to the exploitation of the Radio Telephone Company's inventions over a certain territory. From the payments of these bonuses, it is alleged, the dividends on the Radio Telephone Company's stock were paid. In the fall of 1909, the Radio Telephone Company and its subsidiaries were consolidated with the North American Wireless Company (which see) which had an office at 1 Madison Avenue, New York City. On November 18, 1911, the post office inspector raided the office of these companies and placed James Dunlop Smith, president, under arrest on the charge of having used the mails to defraud. When he was arraigned before Commissioner Shields, Assistant United States District Attorney Stephenson declared that the "fraud was almost as large as the United Wireless Telegraph Co. (which see) and will run into millions." The formal complaint, which was sworn to by Inspector Birdseye, charged that on July 19, 1909, James Dunlop Smith, president, devised a scheme and artifice to defraud many people by inducing them to buy the stock of the Radio Telephone Company, the Great Lakes Radio Telephone Company, and the Atlantic Radio Telephone Company. It was represented to the investors that by wireless telephones communication could be established by the human voice between one ship and another or between a ship and the shore, and that its radius was as great as the wireless telegraph. The radio telephone was actually installed on the United States battleship fleet for its trip around the world, but its uselessness was quickly discovered and the equipment was discarded. As far as it was learned the only successful experiments were right in the offices of the company. A petition in bankruptcy was filed against the Radio Telephone Company of No. 1 Madison Avenue, New York City, by three creditors. It is alleged that the company was insolvent and made preferential payments. Judge Hough appointed Jesse Watson receiver with a bond of $1,000. Liabilities were stated to have been $25,000 and assets $5,000. It was stated in the application for the receiver that it was believed that the company was not a legitimate enterprise. On March 15, 1910, the company had a net balance of $34, and it had no additional capital with but one exception, a sale of some apparatus to the United States Government for use on some transports. The sheriff took possession of 110,173 shares of stock of the Radio Telephone Company, par value $1,101,730 which was said to belong to the North American Wireless Corporation, of No. 1 Madison Avenue, New York City. On January 7, 1914, Judge Hunt in the United States District Court sentenced James Dunlop Smith, president of the Radio Telephone Company to a term of twenty-one months in the Federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, and a fine of $5,000 for using the mails to defraud investors in the sale of worthless stock of radio companies. Elmer E. Burlingame, stock salesman of the company, was sentenced to two years and six months and fined $10,500. The Ellsworth Company (which see) the stock selling company, which was a subsidiary, disposed of approximately $1,500,000 worth of the radio company's stock, was fined $10,500. The Delaware charter of the Radio Telephone Co. was forfeited in 1914, at which time two years taxes were unpaid. [1928, pages 1148-1149]
Stone Telegraph & Telephone Company. This company was incorporated in Maine on July 15, 1902, with a capital stock of $10,000,000 in shares of $100 each. It acquired about 16 patents upon essential features of commercial wireless telegraphy as developed by John Stone of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 3,000 shares of the treasury stock was offered at $25 a share when the company was organized. Company had bonds issued under mortgage dated December 29, 1908. Officers were: Alexander P. Browne, president; Brainard T. Judkins, secretary and treasurer. Office at 31 State Street, Boston, with a laboratory and experimental station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Property of the company was sold at receiver's sale on May 29, 1913. Lawrence F. Sherman, 84 State Street, Boston, was the receiver. Federal Trust Company of Boston was the trustee. We have been informed that in 1911 the charter of the company was suspended. [1930, page 1312]
Telefunken Wireless Telegraph Co. of U. S. Value of stock, par $100. Incorporated in Pennsylvania. Offices at one time in Philadelphia and New York City. Not connected with Telefunken Company of Germany except as to rights of manufacture of Telefunken instruments in America. The Secretary of State of Pennsylvania has informed us that the name of the above company does not appear on the books of his department. The stock is unknown and unlisted and the name of the company is not listed in current directories of corporations with offices in New York City. We cannot as of February 9, 1924, state definitely that this company is legally defunct, but it is our opinion that the stock has no market and is practically worthless. [1928, page 1329]
United Wireless Telegraph Company. Organization: This company was incorporated under the laws of Maine in the latter part of 1906 or early in 1907 and began business on February 14, 1907. Capital stock: Authorized--common $10,000,000, outstanding $10,000,000, par $10. Note: Preferred was 7 per cent cumulative and participating and after the payment of the full 7 per cent dividend the common was to receive 7 per cent, after which both classes were to share equally. It is reported that all the common stock was issued for patents and absorbing other wireless concerns. No dividends paid on either class of stock. Receivership: In June and July, 1911, receivers were appointed by the state courts of Maine, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Washington, California, Louisiana, Texas and other states. Officers (1911): Christopher Columbus Wilson, president and chairman; S. S. Bogart, vice-president; C. C. Galbraith, vice-president; G. W. Allen, chairman of executive committee; W. A. Diboll, treasurer; Cloyd Marshall, secretary; L. C. Wallace, assistant treasurer; E. P. Davis, assistant secretary. Directors (1911): S. S. Bogart, C. C. Galbraith, C. Marshall, L. C. Wallace, F. P. Davis, F. X. Butler, F. I. J. Hanson, C. C. Wilson, W. A. Diboll, G. H. Parker, G. W. Allen, G. R. Eshleman, D. J. Starr. Office (1911): 42 Broadway, New York City. Remarks: This company began active business in February, 1907, and was placed in the hands of receivers in the early part of the year 1911. On May 30, 1911, certain officers of the company were convicted of selling United Wireless Telegraph Company stock under false pretenses, in proceedings instituted by the Post Office Department of the United States. The verdict was returned against all the defendants, and Judge Martin in the United States Court, denying bail, imposed the following sentences: Christopher C. Wilson, president, three years in the Atlanta Penitentiary; George H. Parker, two years in the Atlanta Penitentiary; Francis X. Butler, director, two years in the Atlanta Penitentiary; W. W. Tompkins, one year in the New York County Penitentiary. George Parker sold stock of this company on the Pacific Coast, W. W. Tompkins was also a selling agent. William A. Diboll, treasurer, and Samuel S. Bogart, vice-president, escaped with fines. These convictions were affirmed on August 10, 1911, by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals. At the time of appointing the receiver, there were many additional applications for receiverships pending in various states, so that, in order to conserve the assets of the company, refuge was taken in the bankruptcy court. The petition for the involuntary bankruptcy of the company was filed in the United States District Court of Maine--the home of the company. Judge Clarence Hale appointed Selden Bacon, Esq., of 49 Wall Street, New York City, as the sole receiver, with authority to carry on the business of the company and to make applications to have various state receivers surrender the company's property to him. Mr. Bacon appointed Saul S. Myers, Esq., of 60 Wall Street, New York City, one of his attorneys, and continued as receiver until the appointment of trustees in September. 1911. The trustees in bankruptcy were Hon. John Howard Hill, Philip G. Clifford, Esq., both of Portland, Maine, and Robert H. Montgomery, Esq., of New York City. It is reported that in November, 1911, a lady living at Washington, District of Columbia, wrote to Mr. R. M. Owen, relating how she had put all her savings in the United Wireless Telegraph Company upon the representations of Christopher C. Wilson and other officers of the company, paying $40 a share therefore. She requested Mr. Owen to look after her interests, and thereupon a group of stockholders having considerable holdings appointed a temporary committee consisting of Mr. Arthur P. West, Mr. R. M. Owen and Mr. Robert H. Armstrong, to formulate a plan of reorganization and to call the stockholders together to discuss ways and means. Accordingly, meetings of stockholders were called for December 5 and December 16, 1911, in New York City. At the second meeting, which was very largely attended and at which stockholders of hundreds of thousands of shares were represented by proxy, the stockholders provided for additional members of the committee and the permanent Reorganization Committee, the Philadelphia committee having combined with the New York committee, and the No. 1 Wall Street committee having withdrawn, were as follows: Arthur P. West, chairman, R. M. Owen, John L. Farwell, George L. Fox, A. A. Du Ban, Frederick I. J. Hanson, Robert H. Armstrong, Arnold W. Brunner, George W. Whiteside. The executive committee of the Reorganization Committee consisted of Arthur P. West, R. M. Owen, A. A. Du Ban. This committee on February 1, 1912, submitted a plan of reorganization which provided for the following: A new company to be formed and purchase from the trustees in bankruptcy, all the assets of the old company, including its patents, except the suit and claims against officers of the old company. Each legitimate stockholder of the bankrupt company had the right to exchange two shares of old company stock for one share of new company stock, provided the stockholder also pay 50 cents in cash for each share in the old company offered for exchange. The par value of each share of stock in the new company was to be $5. Accordingly it can be seen that the reorganization committee offered the old stockholders one share of new company stock, par value $5 for shares of old company stock, par $10 each, plus the assessment of 50 cents per share for old stock exchanged or in other words $5 in stock was offered in exchange for $21 in both stock and cash. In the plan of reorganization the assets filed in bankruptcy court by the official appraisers amounted to $415,637.11. The reorganization committee did not make any statement or representation in respect to the accuracy of the appraisal of the foregoing assets and stated that "each stockholder must, on his own responsibility, determine what the assets of the company are and their probable value." It was stated that in addition to the assets above mentioned, there were outstanding accounts receivable, which fluctuate from time to time, but which were estimated to be worth net $50,000. Patents owned by the company and claims against the officers of the bankrupt company were not included among the assets. The reorganization committee limited participation in the reorganization to what the committee calls "legitimate" stockholders, those who came by their shares in good faith by paying the varying prices of the stock jobbers. In order to keep out those who shared in the wrecking of the company, the committee reserved the right to reject any subscription. In April, 1912, the reorganization committee of stockholders of the United Wireless Telegraph Company, who were later succeeded by the Wireless Liquidating Company, agreed to purchase all of the assets of the United Wireless Telegraph Company for $650,000 from its trustees in bankruptcy and agreed to sell the same to the Marconi interests for 340,000 shares of the capital stock of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America, of the par value of $5 each, making in the aggregate $700,000 of the capital stock. As of October 6, 1913, there had been issued about 325,000 shares of the capital stock of the Wireless Liquidating Company, to the stockholders of the United Wireless Telegraph Co., subscribing to the plan or reorganization. These 325,000 shares represented 650,000 shares of the United Wireless Telegraph Company stock, each subscriber to the plan having surrendered two shares of the old "United" stock for one share of the "Liquidating" stock, so that these 325,000 shares represented $325,000. Time for creditors and stockholders to file claims against the United Wireless Telegraph Company expired on September 1, 1913. In 1913, it was stated that about 850,000 shares of the "United" company stock had been filed with the Special Master in the Dissolution Suit and that after the payment of all debts of the "United" Company and the expenses of administration, there would remain on hand sufficient money to enable the "Liquidating" Company to acquire the 140,000 shares of "Marconi" free and clear of all indebtedness. At that time the directors of the Wireless Liquidating Company stated that they were ready to distribute the "Marconi" stock and to pay a mail cash dividend and for this purpose a stockholders' meeting was called for on November 17, 1913. Stockholders of the United Wireless Telegraph Co. who did not participate in the formation of the Wireless Liquidating Company, were, we understand, to receive from the trustees in bankruptcy a small amount in the division of the cash. Wireless Liquidating Company directors were Arthur P. West, George L. Fox, Alfred A. Du Ban, George W. Whiteside and R. M. Owen. Christopher Columbus Wilson, former president of the United Wireless Telegraph Company, died in the Federal prison at Atlanta on August 25, 1912, at the age of 67. [1928, pages 1375-1376]
United Wireless Telegraph Co. (Me.) The office of Robert H. Montgomery, who was formerly Trustee for the Stockholders Committee, located at 90 Broad St. New York City, informed us on January 7, 1938 as follows: "We are in receipt of your inquiry of January 6th addressed to Robert H. Montgomery, in which you inquire regarding preferred stock of the United Wireless Telegraph Company (Maine). Colonel Montgomery is out of the city and will not return for sometime." "About two and one-half years ago we endeavored to obtain some information relative to this company and ascertained that the United Wireless Company, Wireless Liquidating Company and DeForrest Wireless Company had been dissolved, after due advertising and proper court proceedings, six or more years prior to that time. It was indicated to us that the stock was worthless." We received the following letter from Linwood F. Crockett, Clerk of the Supreme Judicial and Superior Courts, Portland, Maine, dated January 21, 1939: "In reply to your letter of January 20th, will say that if your client did not deposit his stock and prove his claim, in the language of the street, 'he is out of luck'. The only money deposited in the custody of the Court was a fund for the purpose of taking care of checks which were sent out by the trustee and never cashed." We suggest that you notify the above court the name of the stockholder of record. Perhaps the court is holding funds for that particular stockholder. [1938, page 947]
Universal Ether Telegraph Company. Property and operations not reported. Capital stock $10,000,000. Was a stock selling scheme. [1930, page 1393]
Wireless Telephone Co. Out of existence. No real value found for stock in 1907 for inheritance tax. [1926, page 1341]