Omaha daily bee., 1874-05-30
ALL ABOUT A DEAD BEAT.
How Hall Made O Haul Out OF
Waterloo, Iowa-A Bit OF
Unwritten History.
From the Waterloo. Ia. Courier.l

that one j. ID. Hall, OF DeS MONIES,
had purchased $4,000 worth of
stock of the Waterloo Agricultural
Works, and he was to be a grand
accession to the town. He came
representing himself as part owner
of the schOol-desk factory at Des
Moines, and proposed to purchase a
$780, 900 interest i'm our agricultural
works, to pay One-half in hand, In
furniture, stock, ETC., at Des Moines'
and the balance to be paid In cash
yearly payments as the stock was
paid up, according to the rules or
the association. The company
sent one of its members, Mr.. Pond,
TO Des Moines, to take an inventory
Of the stock. He went to Des
Moines, made the invoice, and re-
ported everything satisfactory. Mr..
Hall came to Waterloo, inspected
the works, sent out men to buy
lumber, was made president of the
company had his boots blackened
twice a day, patronized the most
fashionable barber, took rooms at
Swift's Hotel. rented an elegant
residence, bought the furniture and
piano land gave his note for IT'D,
talked glibly of his interest in the
enterprise, and everything looked
lovely for a time; but in the mean-
time the goods from Des MOines
failed to arrive, and somebody
thought they smelt a very large
mouse. A sample of his desks and
about 500 worth of patterns came
through all right, but the balance
did not appear.
Letters of inquiry brought the
news from Dies MOines that the
reason Mr.. Hall did notforward the
goods he had sold was because he
did not own them! Well, that was
an Y opener. That fact leaked
out, and about the same time
THAT was over a fortnight ago. it
seems that Hall had gone over
to Chicago on business and
had forgotten to return, and he isn't
here vet, and what's more, he Is
not likely to be here for some days
to come, though several gentlemen
in Waterloo would like to see him.
Indeed, they would give something
for the privilege of an interview.
But Hall Is a forgetful cuss. He is
ungrateful, too. Not a man here
has his photograph-nay, not even
a lock of his blonde hair remains
as a sweet memento of his presence.
Nothing is left of Hall but his sig
nature to certain drafts and notes,
and they do not afford that degree
of sunshine consolation the true
lover finds i'm scanning the lines
traced by the dear departed.
Hall is a dead-beat. There is a
mourning here over his departure.
He has passed to that bourne from
whence the dead-beat never returns.
In the classic language of Jim Fisk,
"He's gone where the woodbine
twineth." To make a long story
short, Hall saw Waterloo, liked the
town, and concluded he'd buy it.
He did buy q small slice, but has
"sold" the whole city at a small
margin. He borrowed $4,000 of the
First National Bank, giving a note
with a good indorSer, and turning
out his stock in the agricultural
works to the indorser, for the use Of
his name. Thus the bank is secure,
but the indorser is out, and l-all Is
ahead 5000 on that transaction.
He swindled a firm well known
here out of SIS, by a dishonored
draft on a Des MOines bank. He
rented /. NJ. Hays residence, aud
bought the furniture In the house
for which he gave his note-(Hay
will sell 1t at a discount); he omitted
to pay his last weeks board bill,
and now "where is Hal?" is just
what several of our people would
like to know. Hall won't tell where
he is, and no one knows his wherea-
bouts. The agricultural works are
about 500 ahead, for his $4,000 in
stock is not good unless the other
half is paid up. Hall made over
SO 1000 by his Waterloo trip, and has
probably gone Ia greater fields of
labor, if there are any such.
He Is a success as a promoter of
manufacturing dead-beat enter
prises. This is not his first effort.
About a year ago he operated in
Morris, ILL.,, where the people gave
him a bonus of $4,000 to start a
sc~hool-desk factory. He did SO, and
s.donen the town, too. He pur-
chased the machinery on time, set
the works to moving, and then
slipped out of Morris, owing his
bankers, his landlord, the merchants
and his wOrkmen. He was for
merly in company with a man by
the name OF Barns, in Chicago, in
the school-desk business. Went
from there to Morris, from thence
to Des Moines, from the latter place
to Waterloo, and all this within
twelve months. Where the fellow
will turn up next, the ancient Har-
nv only knows. Probably some fine
morning some Pond or Lake or
Ocean, it may be, will turn
up here from Michigan, Indiana,
or Kentucky, and demand an
lnNOlce Oh MI. I1dli lIfteicst III
the Waterloo Agricultural Works,
and if as shrewd as the man sent
from Waterloo to take an invoice at
DIS Moines, our people must take
warning or the whole concern will
be shipped away from them before
they know it. Take it all around,
this Hall affair is a bold, unblush-
ing fraud, and the people of Water
loo are beginning to be a little shy
of making investments with stran-
gers. Hall is a sandy-whiskered,
full-faced Englishman, fat and
chubby, polite as a candidate for
constable, smooth-tongued as a ru-
raj actioneer, cool as a cucumber,
self-possessed a a rat in a meal-tub,
and owns an interest in three school
desk factories. IT recognized by
this description, box him up tight,
direct him to the agricultural Inn
plop,anf WorkSv Waterloo Iowa