This was a bill filed by Carey, a citizen and resident of New Jersey, and seven other persons, citizens and residents of New York and citizens of Great Britain, respectively, as stockholders of the Houston & Texas Central Railway Company, in their own behalf and in behalf of all others similarly situated, in the circuit court of the United States for the Eastern district of Texas, against the Houston & Texas Central Railway Company, No. 1, a corporation created by and existing under the laws of the state of Texas, and a citizen of that state residing in the Eastern district; the Houston & Texas Central Railway Company, No. 2, likewise a citizen of Texas, and a resident of the Eastern district; the Central Trust Company of New York, a citizen of New York; the Farmers' Loan & Trust Company of New York, as trustee, a citizen of New York; Nelson S. Easton and James Rintoul, as trustees, citizens and residents of New York; Benjamin A. Shepherd, trustee, a citizen of Texas; and many other persons and corporations, citizens of New York, Kentucky, Texas, and Louisiana,-to impeach and vacate a certain decree of the circuit court entered in the consolidated cause hereafter mentioned.
The Houston & Texas Central Railway Company was a corporation and citizen of the state of Texas, and a resident of the Eastern district of that state, owning a railway consisting of a main line from Houston to Dennison; a line from Hempstead to Austin, called the Western Division; and a line from Bremond to Ross, known as the Waco & Northwestern Division; and a large quantity of lands acquired from the state. The property of the company was subject to the lien of seven mortgages, known as the 'Main Line First Mortgage,' 'Western Division First Mortgage,' 'Waco & Northwestern Division First Mortgage,' 'Main Line and Western Division Consolidated Mortgage,' 'Waco & Northwestern Division Consolidated Mortgage,' 'Income and Indemnity Mortgage,' and 'General Mortgage.' The company made default January 1, 1885, in the payment of interest on its Main Line first mortgage bonds and its Western Division first mortgage bonds. On February 11, 1885, Nelson S. Easton and James Rintoul, citizens and residents of the state of New York, trustees under the Main Line first mortgage and Western Division first mortgage, filed their two bills in equity in the circuit court of the United States for the Eastern district of Texas against the Houston & Texas Central Railway Company as a corporation and citizen of the state of Texas, for the purpose of enforcing the trust provided in the mortgages, protecting the trust property, obtaining proceedings for the sale of certain lands covered by the mortgages, and for other relief; and prayed for an accounting, an injunction, a decree of sale of part of the trust property, and for a receiver. These suits were numbered 183 and 184 on the equity docket. The railway company appeared, and answered these bills.