The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-08-01
THAT GENTLEMAN OF REPUTATION.
To The Editor Of The Leader:

called to an article in the Sun, criti-
somewhat severely, the probable
motives which led Mr.. De Volt, of Chi
cago, to make certain statements re-
hecting on the honesty of one P. b.
a former partner of mine at
and holly championing said
cause, while possessed of no
knowledge Of the facts in the case.
As this article seeks to uphold Aliens
reputation, by attacking and tearing
down mine, l beg leave to state the
leading facts in connection with this
business though it may upset the fine
spun theory of the Sun man, that
Allen is a martyr to a conspiracy, and
that 1 sought, through Mr.. De Volt, to
hire the Sun to lend its influence to
''critsh this fellow beingl"
Allen carried IN the grocery business
at Omaha for a number Of years, but
became sembarrassedu . in 1875, and
went into bankruptcy, with assets less
than thirty cents on the dollar.
This paid US creditors nothing-but
though a loser by him, 1 bore him no
malice, MOI attributed any dishonesty
to him in the transaction. / was his
personal friend, and as such wished to
help him upon his feet again. The
Black Hills gold discoveries afforded
the opportunity. Cheyenne doomed up
as an Quitting point. and 1 proposed
to Allen to go there and start in bust
ness. He vas glad of the chance. 1
drew up a partnership agreement, the
important points of which were these:
1 to furnish the money-he to con-
duct the business, and share equally in
the profits. 1 say profits because it
was farther stipulated that the business
should be discontinued IL no profits
were apparent. He was to sell for
cash-or only give credit to parties Of
such responsibility that their accounts
could be collected at once by process of
law, should the occasion arise for doing
so, and should draw no more money
from the business, than his share of the
profits accruing, at any time. That I
might keep posted as to general results,
he was to give me monthly statements,
or balance sheets, of the business.
As the results show, he gave credit
recklessly to irresponsible people all
over the country, in direct violation of
his agreement. Next, his monthly
statements were falsjfed; in that he
carried forward on them, as assets, a
large amount of bills receivable, of
this worthless character, which from
the nature of our agreement, l could
only look upon as collectable accounts,
and he made it appear, by these state
ments, that he was making the bust
ness pay a profit above expenses; by
showing at all times a. considerable
balance of assets over the liabilities,
and thus excused himself, as it were,
for taking comparatively large sums of
money from the business for his per-
sonal use, which, according to the
agreement, he was not entitled to do,
ercent as the business mid a nroet
above exnenses
lost nearly AZ ooo on sb;nmerts 90
eggs to San Franc;sco ! ve.r ooo ana
needed the money in my business here
that l had invested in the Cheyenne
house, and last fall suggested to Allen
that I should have to draw it out of
The b,s;nass .von ,ho,ch :. h.a =
effect of w;pd;nc .,,d h-rs;,..s
more esnac;anv ,s 10 h.a nsoS1,t, r..
two wears and bad not .homn -,
me n dollar of nroat.
have his Letter in rar,v h.no;., -.
to let him nm TN [snrino ~ Witch
time he WAS coneeent that ho oor,a
demonstrate hat tbo h,s;nass NO !.
success. and worth CONTINUING
allowed him 10 do .o-hnt 90 m.n,
complaints from consionors of ooods 70
the house. about beino unable N oct
any returns. for goods Skinned month .
p~reriouslv. came down to me here that
/ saw matters were going wrong soma-
where. and after obta,n;no a statement
from Allen again on February I 1915
T AGAIN nronosed stopn;no ond fo,nd
him willing. at last to do 90
This last statement shows asset.
a. OO. liabilities Including the monav
owing me al eoo. surnlns of assets
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