title: John Leander Billard
text: # John Leander Billard
  
  John Leander Billard (July 18, 1842 - December 18, 1924) was a coal merchant. He initiated a hostile takeover of the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1914.
  
  ## Biography
  
  He was born on July 18, 1842, in Saybrook, Connecticut, to John Denton Billard and Emeline E. Spencer. He attended Yale University. He married Harriet Yale Merriman on May 26, 1868 and they had a son, Frederick Howell Billard (1873-1906). In 1914 he attempted a hostile takeover of the Boston and Maine Railroad.
  
  He died on December 18, 1924.
  
  ## Footnotes
  
  * 1 2 "John Leander Billard Dies. Active in the Fight Over Control of the Boston & Maine Road". New York Times. December 19, 1924. Retrieved 2013-12-23.
  * 1 2 Decennial Record of the Class of 1896, Yale College. Yale University. 1906.
  * ↑ "Attacks Surprise Railroad. New Haven Company Objects to the Amended Billard Bill" (PDF). New York Times. May 30, 1909. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  * 1 2 "Billard Admits $2,748,700 Profit. No New Haven Official Associated with Him in His Deals, He Testifies". New York Times. May 8, 1914. Retrieved 2013-12-24.
  