Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-09-19

,wen,v vesp on the Trixie estate by the
nstiyes OF the country, who are, however
without the means OF worhins .nv n ms
cer,ainiy would prove II In the hands OF
,bose Who could employ adequate means
go nachinery" The vendor has agreed
10 sell his interest In the property tor so
OcO In cash ana the sthe huso"ne" VI i""S
paid-up shares
But to 20 on with this prospectus
would take up too much space; 1t will
suffice to say that more promising AZ
fair Of the kind was never put before
the public. Reading the document,
one would have thought is had surely
been written by some one who had
passed the best part OF his life in South
America and intimately acquainted with
tho Trixie estate. But, AZ found out
later. it was written off in a couple OF
hours by ayoung man wno called him
self a journalist, to whom, Mr.. Nixon
gave the sum of five guineas for the
work. And whatever may have been
the quality Of the production, the guam
tity was certainly cheap at the price.
Now that we had go, so far as to have
the company advertised, our next work
YVES to induce the public to apply for
shares. In this matter Mr.. Nixon GER
tainly showed wisdom in making the
shares 81 each, With only g. Cd. to
pay on application.
1t was on Wednesday morning that
the prospectus appeared, and by Satur-
day night something over 1000 of the
10000 shares we're applied for. This
was SO far good, but did not satisfy
either Mr. Nixon or the Board. Tho
noble lord who consented to act As
chairman, and was to receive 400
pounds sterling a year for his services,
was naturally anxious that the affair
should prosper; and it is only fair to
state that both he and his fellow-dlrec-
tors did their very best to make them
selves agreeable to all who called. His
lordship's title and affable manners
went a long way to inducing many
would.be shareholder who had come in
tending to buy ten shares to subscribe
for double the number.
Fortune, chance, or whatever you
will, certainly favored us. Just at the
time we advertised gold mines had be-
come the rage among spectators, and
there was a report 70 the city-which
many belonging to the amateur tinan-
cial world were too ready to believe
that in a certain district in South
America gold had been discovered in
such quantities that the precious metal
was to be had for the trouble Of pick
ing it up, and the hitherto utterly I'M
known name of some so-called mining
engineer was paraded in confirmation.
In the paragraph which we caused to
be put in the newspapers and after
ward quoted in our prospectus we al
lowed it to appear that the Trixie mine
was close to several Of those which had
Just been proved so successful. We
acted on the principle long ago laid
down by the French-we did not actual
ly state falsehoods, but we economical
the truth. And why not? If truth is
such valuable article, why should it
be wasted? OF those who read such
documents many are more than half
prepared to believe, and little black
and white in print goes long way. And
now, in order to hasten the wavering,
we quickly followed our prospectus
by notice that in three days the list Of
applications for shares would be closed
for London, and in four days for those
resident in the country. The next three
DAYS proved that Mr.. Nixon had acted
wisely. BY every post some thirty or
forty applications reached the Office,
and before the three days had elapsed
every share had been taken up, and the
IS. Cd. for every share applied for had
been duly RENTED. OF course this got
abroad-in fact, it was the directors
duty to see that it did so. The expected
result followed, and although we had
not vet got settling.day on the Stock
Exchange numerous bargains were made,
in which our shares were sold at one
quarter premium, which meant So. on
each share. The directors made a good
thing of it, as 200 shares had been
given to each of them gratis.
The deposit money paid gave us am
ple funds with which to pay the first
expenses that had been incurred,
among which was my five hundred that
| had paid for the berth Of secretary,
A dav or two later we proceeded to al
lotment, which brought US in two and
sjxpence more on each share, so that
our bankers account began to assume
respectable dimensions on the credit
side.
In the mean time the reports Of thu
great prosperity of the Trixle mine were
not allowed to die out. Almost every
day something appeared, either in tn
financial columns Of the papers or II
imaginary letters from South America
telling of the great things to be ex
pected when the mine should be II
working order and under the supervi
sion of an organized English company
Our Office was never free from peopl
who came to inquire or to look Will
wondering admiration at the pieces o
broken rock, sprinkled with small par
ticles Of gold, which we're said to hav,
been sent over direct from Trixie
but which we, who we're behint
the scenes, were perfectly well awar
we're made at Millwall-on-the-T Thames
and sent up to the office as required
On one occasion which | shall no
easily forget those specimens o
quartz, which were made to look as
they had been broken by hazard of tn
rocks, nearly lost me my berth as sec
rotary. 1t seems that the same partie
who furnished the gold also furnishes
silver and coppeI-mine companies wit
similar proofs Of mineral wealth. W
had ordered half dozen specimei
pieces, which had just unpacked an
placed on a table in the outer office
where any one who liked might look a
them. BY great good luck one of gu
clerks happened to inspect them, aud
wondering at what he saw, drew my at
tention to the fact that they wer
sprinkled with silver and not with gold
The remark was made to me in tim
to allow of my putting away the tell
tale blocks, and, sending for the il
diyidual who had furnished the same