The Morgan County press., July 05, 1918, Image 2

About The Morgan County press. (Wartburg, Tenn.) 1916-1926

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Cap'n
Warren's
Wards
By
JOSEPH C
LINCOLN
Copyright, 1011, by D. Appleton A Oo.
CHAPTER XlVContlnued.
13 '
"Yea,. Precisely. And there were
many Just as valueless. But we have
been gradually getting those out of
the way and listing and appraising the
remainder. It was a tangle. Your
" brother's business methods, especially
-of lute years, were decidedly unsys
, remaUc and slipshod. It may have
been the condition of his health which
prevented his attending to them as he
should. Or." he hesitated slightly. "It
may have been that he was secretly In
event rrnnhlA nnrl mental rilatreas. At
nil events, the task has been a hard
one for us. But, largely owing to
Graves and his patient work, our re
port was practically ready a month
ago."
He paused. Captain Ellsha, who bad
been listening attentively, nodded.
"Yes," he said; "you told me 'twas.
What does the whole thing tot up to 7
What's the final figger, Mr. Graves?"
"Never mind them now. Graves," in
terrupted Kuhn. "The amount, rough,
ly speaking, la close to over our orig
inal estimate, half a million."
The captain drew a breath of relief.
"Well," he exclaimed, "that's all right
then, ain't it? That's no poorhouse
pension."
Sylvester answered. "Teahesaid,
"that's all right as far as goeST; :H"
"Humph! Well, I cal'lala I could
make it go to the end ofne rcre
and then have enough left, for a re
turn ticket Say," with another look
at the solemn faces of the' three, "what
Is the row? If the estate la wuth ha'f
a million what's the taatter with 4tr
"That is what we are here this morn
tux tojcliscuss, captain. A month s go,
as 1 said, we considered our report
practically ready. Then we (suddenly
happened on the trail of something
which upon Investigation upset all our
calculations. If true it threatened,
not to mention its effect upon the es
tate, to prove so distressing and pain-:
fui to us, Rodgere Warren's friends
and legal advisers, that we decided not
to alarm you, his brother, by disclosing
our suspicions until we were sure there
was no mistake. I did drop you a hint,
you will remember"
"I remember. Now we're comhV to
the rock!"
Sylvester was evidently disturbed.
Cnj'tain Elisha, regarding him intent
ly, nodded.
"I judge It's sort of hard for you to
eo on, Mr. Sylvester," he said. "I'll
help you all I can. You and Mr. Kuhn
and Mr. Graves here have found out
Hompthln' that ain't exactly straight
In Bije's doin's somethin's be' done
ihut'R well, to sDeak plain, thats
crooked?"
"I'm afraid there's no doubt of it"
'Humph!" The captain"1 frowned.
Ills cigar had gone out, and he idly
twisted the stump between his On
cers. "Well." he said, with a sigh.
-our family, gen'rally speakln. has al
ways held Its head pretty high, v&a
was poor, but he prided himself on
iein straight as a plumb line. And, as
for mother, she"- Then, look
ing up quickly, he asked, "Does any
body outside know about this?"
"No one but ourselves yet"
"Yet? Is it goin to be necessary
Tor anybody else to know It?"
"We hope not But there Is a possi
bility." "I was thlnkin about the children."
: "Of course. So are we all."
'Um-hmi Toor Caroline! She put
her father on a aort of altar and bow
ed down afore him, as you might say.
Any sort of disgrace to his name would
about kill her. As for me," with an
other sigh, "1 ain't so much surprised
.as you might think. I know that
sounds tough to say about your own
brother, but I've been afraid all along.
You see, BUe always steered pretty
close to the edge of the channel. He
had ideas about honesty and fair deal
la In business that didn't Jibe with
mine. We spilt on Just that as I told
you. Mr.' Graves, when you and I fust
met He got some South Denboro folks
to invest money along with him aort
of eavln'a account, tbey flggered it
but I found out be was usln' It to
peculata with. So thaff why we had
our row. I took Fains to see that the
money was paid back, but he and I
never a poke afterward, fur as my
own money was concerned, I hadn't
any kick, but- However, rm
talkln' too mncb, Go on. Sylvester,
I'm ready to bear whatever you've got
eiy."
-Thank you, captain. Yon make It
easier for roe. It eeema that roar
l-rothefa tat step toward wealth and
aucces vn taken abont nineteen
years ago. Then somehow or other,
probably through a combination of
luck and ' shrewdness, he obtained a
grant, a concession from the Bracilian
government, the long term lease of a
good slaed tract of land on the upper
Amazon. It was very valuable be
cause of its rubber trees.
Hey?" Captain Ellsha lr-r for -
ward. "Say that again ! :: n:W " ' ne WB ?T"
manded sharply. as it in
Sylvester repeated his stacj
"He got the concession by paying
000 to the government of BrazlV
continued. "To raise the $20,osecticn
formed a stock company of 250 itusiast! i
at $100 each. One hundred of I. Fin- j
ouaico , . U M ...a. v . - - .......... '
were In the name of one Thojfie meef.
i . . . - , i. . I. . .Im.'.i 1 1 .1
craven, a tier ui mm mwui a quiti
a
office. Craven was only fxclub, the
however. Do you understa&Athe Re$
mean by a dummy?" off by
"I can guess. Sort of a woo
aere that moved when Bile pull
Ktrinim Vas. ves. I understand well
enough.' Go ahead; go ahead!"
"That's it The fifty shares were in
Craven's name, but they were trans
ferred in blank and in Mr. Warren's
safe. Together with his own hundred
they gave him control and a voting
majority. That much we know by
the records."
"I see. But this rubber con con
traption wa'n't really wuth anything,
was it?"
"Worth anything! Captain Warren,
I give you my word that It was worth
more than all the rest of the invest
ments that your brother made during
his lifetime."
"No!" The exclamation was almost
a shout
"Why, yes, decidedly more. Does
that surprise you, captain?"
Captain Ellsha was regarding the
lawyer with a dazed expression. He
breathed heavily. "Go on," he com
manded. "But tell, me this fust
What was the name of this rubber
concern of Bije's?"
The Akrae Rubber company."
"I see yes, yes. Akry, hey! Well,
what about it? , Tell me the rest"
'For the first year or two this com
pany did nothing. Then in March of
the third year the property was re
leased by Mr. Warren to persons in
Para, who were to develop and oper
ate. The terms of his new lease were
, . T 111,... mAMA
very aavaniageoua. xwymuca w
be paid on a sliding scale, ana irom
the very first they were large, xne
Akrae company paid enormous divi
dends."
r "Did, hey? I want to know!"
"tea. In fact for twelve years the
company's royalties averaged $50,000
yearly."
Wbe-e-w!" Captain Kiisna wnisuea.
"Fifty thousand a year!" he repeated
slowly. "BUe! Bije!"
"Yes. And three years ago the AKrae
rnrrmnnv sold its lease, sold out com
pletely to the Para people, for $750,
000." "Godfreys mighty I Well," after a
moment, "that's what I'd call a mid
dlin' fair profit on a $20,000 invest
mentnot to mention the dividends."
"Captain." Sylvester leaned forward
now. "Captain," ne repealed, n is
that- n 1a and the dividends which are
troubling us. I told you that the Akrae
company was organized witn zou
:harea of stock. Your brother held
100 in his own name and fifty trans
ferred to him by his dummy, craven.
What I did not tell you was that there
were another hundred shares, held by
some one, some one who paid $10,000
for them we know that and was,
therefore, entitled to two-fifths of ev
ery dollar earned by the company dur
ing 'its existence and two-fifths of the
amount received for the sale of the
lease. So far as we can find out this
stockholder has never received one
cent."
"You don't tell me!"
Graves broke in impatiently: MI think,
Captain Warren, he declared, "that
you probably do not realize what this
means. Besides proving your broth
er dishonest it means that this stock
holder, whoever he may have been"
"Hey? What's that? Don't you know
who he was?"
"No, we do not The name upon the
stub of the transfer book has been
scratched out"
Captain Elisha looked the speaker in
the face, then slowly turned his look
upon the other two faces.
"Scratched out?" he repeated.. "Who
scratched it out?"
Graves shrugged his shoulders.
"Yes, yes," said the captain. "You
don't know, but we're all entitled to
guess, hey? . Humph r
"If this person is living," began Syl
vester, "it follows that"
rrnld on a minute! I don't know
much about corporations, of course.
That's more in your line than 'tis In
mine. But I want to ask one question.
Yon nv this, what d'ye call it this
Akrao thlneamaJJif was sold out hulL
canvas and riggin. to a crowd in Bra
zil? It's gone out of business, then
It's dead r
-Yea, buf-
TtraHi Ain't tt customary when a
iika this is made to turn over an
tbe stock, certificates and all? Some
times yon get stock in the new com
pany in exchange. I know that But
to complete the trade woman t wis ex
try hundred shares be turned in or
some mharp anestionln done If
wa'n't r i
n nrirtressM the anerv to Sylvester.
The latter seemed more troubled than
before.
That" he said, with some heslta
tion, "is one of the delicate points in
this talk of ours, Captain warren, a.
certificate for the missing hundred
shares was turned in. It was dated
I at the time of the original issue, made
and transferred on the back by
d to vow-' Soher that is. it waa
the- o&ishevlkl, nBf erred."
mans not at all, presumably?
?You
archy lawleSsneicertlflcate lswell
organization of Unnoor Tn h(ip,r
m j queer. xo uegio
failure of the foo wno thlg Bradley
Ionium rofticoi 4-n .
m i
lenium rerusea to T t. -
lif I 1 Tr"' tne handwrlt
that there must be orlature resem.
government or some sort,ur brother."
KjjWwIlI not Ionge!8edhlghead
t ner iormer . , w
' t.Ta- ..-v n n ' ' -
QjitfVeii call things
hv their hw nifes. Bije forged that
certificate." f ; -"I'm
afraid there is no doubt of it"
"Dear, dear, dear! Why, they put
folks in state's prison for that!"
"Yes. But a dead man is beyond
prisons." v
That!s 60. TlLen I don't see"
"You wilL You don't grasp the full
meaninor of this affair even yet If the
Bradley certificate a forgery, a fraud
from beginning to td, tnen tne pre
sumption is that there was never any
such person as Bradley. But some one
paid $10,000 for 100 Akrae shares when
the comoanv was formed. That certifl-
afo hu novAr been turned in. Some
person or persons somewhere hold 100
shares of Akrae Rubber company
stock. Think, now! Suppose that some
one turns up and demands all that he
has been cheated out of for the past
seventeen years! Think of that!"
"Well, t am thlnkin' of it I got the
scent of what you was drivin' at five
minutes ago. And I don't see mat we
nod to h afraid. He could have put
Bije In Jail, but BUe is already servin'
a longer sentence than be could give
him. So that disgrace ain't bearin
down on us. And, if I understand
about such things, his claim is against
the Akrae company, and that's dead
dead as the man that started it May
be he could put in a keeper or a receiv
er or some such critter, but there's
nothin left to keep or receive. Ain't
right?"
"Yon nr or von. would be but for
one thing, the really inexplicable thing
in this whole miserable affair. Your
brother, Captain Warren, was dishon
est He took, money that didn't belong
tn him. and he forged that certificate.
But he must have intended to make
"At last! Now. it's all plainl
restitution. He was always optimistic
and always plunging in desperate and
sometimes rather shady speculations
which he was sure would turn out fa
vorably. If they had if, for instance,
the South Shore trolley combine had
been put through. You knew of that
did you?"
"I've been told aomethln' about it
Go on!"
"Well, it was not put through, so his
hopes there were frustrated. And that
was but one of his schemes. -However,
when the sale of the company
was consummated he did an extraor
dinary thing. He made out and sign
ed his personal note, payable to the
Akrae company, for every cent he had
misappropriated. And we found that
note in his safe after his death. That
was what first aroused our suspicions.
Now, Captain Warren, do you under
stand?" Captain Ellsha did 'hot understand,
that was evident
"A note!" he repeated. Bije put
his note in the safe? A note promlsln
to pay all he'd stole. And left it there
where it could be found? Why, that's
pretty nigh unbelievable, Mr. Sylves
ter! He might Just as well have con
fessed his crookedness and be done
with it"
"Yes. It Is unbelievable, but it la
true. Graves can show yoa the note."
The Junior partner produced a slip
of paper from the portfolio and regard
ed it frownlngly.
-Of aU. the pieces of sneer lunacy,"
ha observed, "that ever came under my
observation this is the worst Hera It
is. Captain Warren."
He extended the paper. Captain
EUsha waved it aside.
-I don't want to sea it not yet," he
protested. "I want to think. I want
to get at the reason if I can. Why did
be do itr
-That la what we've been try In' to
find the reason," remarked Kuhn.
"and we can only guess. Sylvester has
told you the guess. Rodgera Warren
Intended or hoped to make restitution
before he died."
- "Yes. Knowing BUe, I can see that
He was weak, that was bis main trou
ble. He didn't mean to be crooked, but
his knees wa'n't strong enough to keep
him etriitirht- when it come to a hard
posh. But he made his note payable to
a company that was aireaay soia out,
so it ain't good for nothin. Now,
why"
Graves struck the table with his open
hand.
"He doesn't understand at all V ho
exclaimed impatiently. "Captain War
ren, listen ! That note is made payable
to the Akrae company. Against that
company some unknown stockholder
has an apparent claim for two-fifths of
all dividends ever paid and two-fifths
of the $750,000 received for the sale.
With accrued interest that A claim
amounts to over $500,000."
"Yes, but"
That note binds Rodgers Warren's
estate to pay that claim his own per
sonal estate! And that estate is not
worth over $460,000! If this stockhold
er should appear and press his claim
your brother's children would be not
only penniless, but $30,000 in debt!
There; I think that is plain enough!"
He leaned back, grimly satisfied with
the effect of his statement. Captain
Ellsha stared straight before him un
sedinfirlv. the color fading from his
cheeks; then he put both elbows on
the table and covered bis face with bis
hands.
"You, see, captain," said Sylvester
gently, "how very serious the situation
is. Graves has put it bluntly, but what
ha onva in literally true. If your broth
er bad deliberately planned to hand his
children over to the mercy or mat
missing stockholder he couldn't have
done it more completely."
Slowlv the captain raised his neaa.
Frio pxnresslon was a strange one, agi
tated and shocked, but with a curious
look of relief, almost of triumph.
"At last!" he said solemnly. "At
last! Now it's all plain!"
"All?" repeated Sylvester. "You
mean"
"I mean everything, all that's been
puzzlin me and troublin' my head
since the very beginnin'. Ail or itj
Now I know why! Oh, BUe. Bije,
BUe!"
Kuhn spoke quickly.
"CaDtain." he said. "I believe you
know who the owner of that 100 shares
is. Do you?" 1
Captain Elisha gravely nodded. :
"Yes," he answered, "I know him."
"Who is it?" '
The Question was blurted out The
caDtain looked at the three excited
faces. He hesitated Jid then, taking
the stuh of a pencil from his pocket
drew toward him a memorandum pad
lying on the table and wrote a line
upon the uppermost sheet Tearing off
the page, he tossed it to Sylvester.
That's the name," he said.
CHAPTER XV.
"What Can It Maan?"
TWO more hours passed before the
lawyers and their client rose
from their seats about the long
table. Even then the consultation was
not at an end. Sylvester and the cap
tain lunched together at the Central
club and sat in the smoking room un
til after 4, talking earnestly. When
they parted the attorney was grave
and troubled.
"All right Captain Warren," he said;
"I'll do it. And you may be right I
certainly hope you are. But I must
confess I don't look forward to my
task with pleasure. I think -I've got
the roughest end."
"It'll be rough there's no doubt about
that rough for all hands, I guess. And
I hope you understand, Mr. Sylvester,
that there ain't many men I'd trust to
do what I ask you to. I appreciate
your doln' it more'n I can tell you. Be
as as gentle as you can, won't you?"
"I wilL You can depend upon that."
"I do. And I sha'n't forget it Good
by till the next time."
They shook hands. Captain Ellsha
returned to the boarding house, where
he found a letter awaiting him. It was
from Caroline, telling him of her en
gagement to Malcolm Dunn. She wrote
that while not recognizing his right to
interfere in any way, she felt that per
haps he should know of her action. He
did not go down to supper and when
Pearson came to inquire the reason ex
cused himself, pleading a late luncheon
and no appetite. He guessed he would
turn In early, so be said. It was a poor
guess.
Next morning ho went uptown. Kd
wards, opening the door of the War
ren apartment, waa surprised to find
who had rung the belL
"Mornin, Commodore.' hailed the
captain, as casually as if he were mere
ly returning from a stroll "la Mlaa
Caroline aboard ship?"
'Why why, I dont know, air. I'D
see."
Thata all right She's aboard or yoo
wouldn't have to aee. You and ma
sailed together quite a spell, bo I know
your little habits, m wait in the li
brary, commodore. Tell her there's no
particular hurry."
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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REMARKS BY NOTABLE MEN
Forceful Expressions Frequently Heard
From Prominent Kersonages in
the Publlo Eye.
Ezra Pound Go out and defy opin
ion.
John GalsworthyWe are awaken
ing to the dangers of Gadasenlng.
General Foch A battle is never ios
until Its loss Is acknowledged.
Clarence Rex It Is all right for a-
girl to marry for money if she is worth
the money. ...
Rndvard- Klnllns: Nine-tenths of the
atrocities that Germany has committed
have not been made public. ,; ,
Billv Sunday Germany lost out
when she turned from Christ : to Krupp
and from the cross of Cavalry to the
iron cross.
Lloyd George There is no time for
ease, delay or debate. The call Is im
perative, the choice is clear. It is ior
each free citizen 10 uo ma jmru
T. C. O'Donnell A stanza or two
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tnnltv and time nermit. wlU bring oxy-
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New" York Independent.
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A Danish scientist has invented an
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Conservation means
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