Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-05-30
proved to have been simple frauds and

proved to have been staple frauds and
cheats. .r---r
Nine months had passed, when, one |
day, Charles Moulton stopped Walter |
uthe street and asked him if he had
reeFived notice of assessment ten per
cent from the Treasurer of the Grand
Orieat Edy Walter said he had not
Wei, said Moulton, they sent 10
me, and notified me that II the assess
ment was not paid within thirty days,
my stock would be forfeited. or. If they
chose they could come on and collect
1t, rs the bond which signed Just for
Iornlls sake! gave them power to do.
80 have sent on the hundred dollars.
4 tell you, Walter, il came hard. OF
wish I'd listened 70 my wife, and left
the thing alone"
Walter wen: home feeling unhappy;
but he dared not speak with his wife on
the subject. 'Oi IL had only listened
to'Jennie!" THAT was the burden of
his wall.
IL was during the first week, in No
vember that Walter had given the
mortgage on his home, and drawn his.
thousand dollars from the Savings
Bank. It was in July, next following.
that Mouiton and Simmons had been
assessed ten per cent ON the stock they
bad taken. At that time, as Walter
afterwards learned. Sfnmons had been
inclined % lst-his stock, and his thou
sand dollars already paid in. go, rather
than be bled any more; but the officers
OF the company had very clearly shown
him TIM, they had power, under the
bond he had given, to come on and
make distraint on any property Of his
they could find.
And Walter was IN for two thousand
II the worst should come, 1t would
swallow up the rest OF his farm-every
bit OF it! He suffered more and more;
and he suffered the more. keenly be.
cause he would not speak with his wife.
aud ask her sympathy.
A year had passed, and another No
vember had come One morning, at
The post-ofiice, Charles Moulton, pale
and aghast, and quiverinS with mental
torture, pointed out to Walter WitherelI
an item In n city paper, which a friend
had sent him. Walter took the paper,
and read rs follows:
"a SAD COLLArsE.-we fear that many of
TIC honest, hard-working farmers and me
chanics of the surrounding country are saIf
terers by the collapse of the Grand Orient
Petroleum, Mining and Manufacturing Com
pany. 50 called. The affair has been a stu
pcndous swindlo from the first; yet so
adroitly did the corpogators do their business
that their victims can gain no redress. The
company owned all the land they pretended
10 own: hut, In Truth. a more utterly worth.
less tract OF land than was their teFribery was
not TO he found on the continent. But the
loss OF money paid for stock Is not all. A few
mOneyed men have bought up the whole con-
erin ana are nov snssi . d,s.sspt nPo1 the
lection OF the full face value of the premium
notes which they unwittingly gave at the time
on sutEcri6ing. VIC venture 90 say that scarce.
a bpild-1de note when he signel that simp, G.
innoccnt-looking bond II is hard, but II
experience worth all IL will cost, while All NAV
do well to remember the hOmely old saying:
Cobbler. stick to your last"
Walter gave back the paper with
n groan, and quickly sought the fresh
air. When he got home his wife was
frightened. She thought him deathly
sick. She fastened to his side and
wound au arm around his neck.
dear Walter, what is it2 What is
the matter?"
30, Jennie. Jennie! il hal only
listened to YOU"
And then. in broken tones and in
tears. he told her of the sad collapse of
the Grand Orient He concealed moth
ing; but told her the plain, unvarnished
truth. Not only was the two thousand
dollars gone that he had already paid,
but they were coming for two thousa nd
more, and he could not escape. pay
ing it.
Jennie sat down and looked into her
husbands face. What meant that
lurking smile which he caught ut the
corners of her blue eyes and about the
full, ruby hps9 Was 1t possible that
she could find it in her heart to make
sport of his cruel, bitter agony?
Walter" she said at length, Twill
you go and get your certificate OF
stock and let us look it over?"
He arose, moving like n decrepit old
man, and procured the envelope and
brought 1t back. Jennie took it and
drew out the certificate and opened it,
Where is the company's scalp she
asked =
WHAT" cried Walter. "is there no
scalp &C.. .--. 90 ~. - -
mo, and look at the signatures. Do
they look rs such signatures ought TO
look?n
a brief silence, and then the wife.
with happy tears mingled with her
smiles, threw her arms around Eer
husbands neck, exclaiminc as she did:
80. Waiter. know you will forgive
me now. I did n bold thing; at the
time you might haFs,Salled it an out
rageous thing; but / could not pay
way that har,l-earned money for what
| knew 70 te n mess of pottage. Dear
husband, you have never owned n
share of this stock. l went TO Kate
MOulton--I knew that Sparkler was To
call there before he -camashere and /
got her tn beg Of Mr. Sparkler one of
the blank certificates of stock, on the
plea that she wanted to keep the pretty
picture for curiosity. He gave it to
her, and she brought il ut once to me.
When Sparkler called upon me / sent
him about his business oH-hand. / told
him just what l thought of him and of
his company; and | Wihshly say that
he was very som glad To ret away.
Then i carried back the Thousand dot
lars TO the Savings Bank, and Mr.. HoI-
den took il back Just rs though we had
never touched III And Mr. Baldwin
very checrfldlyi gave me up the mort
gage for the return of the thousand dol
lars he had given you. The certificate
filled mp myself. believing you would
never notice its strange look.
Now. Walter, darling. 1 am ready
20 be scoldcd. Let me have it Just as
savagely rs you please, ouly, when YOU
have finished. have favor 20 ask"
- Ask 70 now. -Jeunie. ne said, in a
low, broken whisper 80.
:" Ii is this: l want you to promise me
that you will neEerAHO\<E
Hold ONT He caught her to his
bosom, and kissed hera gain and again.
20! my own blessefwife. never. never
again, will ! step aside from the true,
upright, straightforward and legitimate
path Of honest business and labor. !
have had enough of speculation. Some
men may enjoy il; some may prosper in
n; but | was not cut out for IL Nh