THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE LAKE SHORE ROAD - A NORTHERN PACIFIC SCHEME - SLS&E OFFICIALS SAY IT IS A BLACKMAILING SUIT BROUGHT BY A RIVAL'S STOOL PIGEON.

The proceedings instituted at Spokane Falls against the Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad Company are strongly denounced by officials of the company as an infamous scheme of the Northern Pacific to cripple it by retarding work on its extensions and injuring its credit. Judge Thomas Burke, the general solicitor of the company, was seen at his office by a reporter yesterday afternoon. He was asked:  "What do you suppose is the object of these proceedings at this time?"

"The object is perfectly plain. It is a conspiracy concocted by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company to do by illegitimate means what they have utterly failed for the past two years to accomplish by negotiation, namely, either to get control of the Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern Railway or wreck it, or both. In the case brought at Spokane Falls against the Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern Railway Company I am informed that the plaintiff is a tool of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, who probably has been furnished with bonds of the Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern Railway Company for the very purpose of planting this suit, and, if possible, to use the court in this way to wreck a rival corporation. No more infamous or scandalous suit has ever been instituted in this State in a court of law or equity. The Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern Railway Company has now 150 miles of railroad; it has never before been in such excellent financial condition as today. There are not more than half a dozen railway companies in the United States of equal mileage that have a smaller floating indebtedness than the Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern Railway Company, and when you stop to consider the assets of the company and its liabilities, its financial condition is three times better than that of the Northern Pacific. Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern Railway does not owe a single dollar that it is not ready, able, and willing to pay. It could tomorrow sell a single piece of its property in Seattle and pay off every dollar of its floating debt. The Seattle & Eastern Construction Company is in perfectly sound financial condition. It is because of the excellent financial condition of the Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern Railway Company and the construction company that I feel justified in characterizing the proceeding as both infamous and scandalous, and as a bald and shameless attempt by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, through one of its stool pigeons, to use the courts of this State for the purpose of oppressing and wrecking, if possible, a rival corporation. It is perfectly amazing to see to what extent that infamous combination, known as the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, can proceed. Their primary object now is to put a stop to the building of the northern division of the Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern Railway Company to a connection with the Canadian Pacific Railway at the British boundary. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company is determined that the Canadian Pacific Railway Company shall not have an entrance into the State of Washington. The Northern Pacific is determined, if possible, and at every hazard, to prevent any other transcontinental line from building into this State. It cannot bear the prospect of losing the monopoly it now has. But every citizen of this State has a deep and vital interest in overthrowing this monopoly and in seeing that there is a fair and open field for the entrance and competition of other roads. It is intolerable that this insolent corporation should attempt to stand in the gateway to this great State and in defiance of public opinion, and public interest attempt to prevent other railroads from coming in here. But what shall be said when this lawless combination has the matchless impudence and audacity to ask a court of this State to assist it in preventing other railroads from coming into this State? That is exactly the complexion of this late infamous proceeding. It is fortunate for us that the courts, both State and United States, within this State are beyond the reach of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and therein lies the safety and security of the rival railroads and the security of the rival railroads and the security of the people of the State of Washington from such an oppressive monopoly." - Seattle Post-Intelligencer.