Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1860-05-03
Aa 0riiginal stofp.
WRITTEN FOR THE YoRKyIILE ENQUIRER.
NELLIE;
OR,
THE FATAL GIFT,
BY WILLIE IIGHTHEART.
CHAPTER VII


Il have bad news to communicate, moth.
er,' said Charles Vincent, as he entered his
parents cottage, at Cedarville, three weeks
after the incidents noticed in the last chap
ter. The house of johnson and Benson
has failed 80
The Lord have mercy on us! exclaimed
Mrs. Vincent, raising her spectacles and
looking upon her son with an expression of
mingled fear and surprise ,swhen and how
did it all happen?'
tLast Thursday, as it would appear BY
the papers, said Charles, handing his moth
er newspaper, which he had just taken
from the Office. ...-.. ..... .-..
tBless my soul p, said Mrs. Vincent, as
her eyes fell upon the large and conspicu-
ous caption, what is, all this? s?-HEAvY
FAILURE E!-ABsooNDING BocK-KEEPER
DESTRUCTION OF JOHNSON AND BENsoN's s
DRY GooDs STORE BY FIRE! Why, here
is whole column about it! And, so say
ing, the old lady drew her chair to the
window; adjusted her spectacles, and pre-
pared to read the lamentable and exciting
news.
Charles sat at some distance from his
mother, watching the ever varying express
sion of her sad and unhappy face, as she
quietly perused the article. When she
concluded, she silently removed her specta-
cles from her face and folding her hands
upon her lap, she looked thoughtfully into
the fre-very, very sad.
sDoes your father know this2' she asked,
suddenly looking ur.
HE does,' replied Charles. --
Mrs. Vincent sighed and bowed her head
down upon her hands.
sHere is letter from sis, mother, said
Charles. .... .
From Nellie ? said Mrs. Vincent, ca
gerly. sPoor, dear child read it, Charlie.
Charles hastily tore the envelope from
the letter; aud, drawing his chair close be-
side his mother, read as follows:
My Very Dear Mother Il did not i'm
agine, when last I wrote home, that would
so soon find myself surrounded with SO
much which is calculated to make one so
very, very unhappy. I dislike to grieve
you by relation of our misfortunes; but
as you have no doubt heard of Joe's failure
and losses by fire and otherwise, thought
that you would naturally feel anxious to
hear from me. You remember Mr.. james
Markham-do you not? Well, as he was
to pay visit to his friends in New York,
Joe intrusted twenty thousand dollars to
his care with which amount he was topay
the firms indebtedness at two houses in
that city. Some three weeks after James
departure, Joe and his partner, received let.
tiers from the very gentlemen to whom the
money had been forwarded, through James,
asking for the remittance of the amount Of
indebtedness. This excited suspicion, and
upon examining the books of the firm, very
many false entries and erasures were found,
which went far to prove that James had
not dealt honestly with his employers. In
the midst of this new and unexpected diff.
Guilty, Joe's store was consumed by fire, and
its entire contents were lost. To make
matters worse, the stock was an unusually
heavy one just received a week before the
fire, and not paid for. Upon inquiry, il
was ascertained that James had failed to
make deposits Of many large amounts In
trusted to him.
Joe and his partner made every effort to
keep the public in Ignorance of these facts
but, some how or other, the whole matter
soon became known, and published at length
in our newspapers. Of course, Joe's cred.
itors became alarmed; foul play was sus.
pected, and hundreds of bills and notes
came pouring in from all sections of the
country. The demands could not be met
and as Joe's partner had turned over hi
property to his wife some months before
all that poor, dear Joe could do was to maxi
an assignment of all his little property, in
cluding our dear little cottage home.