The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-08-11

CrdlD OF OOl. AlOEIliner nuIlS over the
fireplace, and map of Colorado, show
ing the situation of the mine, took up a
third of the opposite wall In hand
some velvet lined cabinet screwed to the
wall between the front windows reposed
specimens of the ore sent east by the
company's engineer. What rich speci-
mems they were, tool The silver fairly
bulged out of them. One shelf of this
cabinet was devoted to bricks of solid
silver. When Col. Mortimer got hold of
a doubtful investor he took him in this
room and showed him the cabinet.
''There's the stuff, my good sir, and
there"-pointing to the map-''is where
it comes from. You see that district
picked out in blue-well, that belongs to
the Mutual Dividend Mining company
am not going to press you to invest;
by Jove, I'm not sure we want to sell.
With mine throwing out tons of such
ore every day, it's rank nonsense to sell
the stock. But I'm a bit of a philan-
thropist myself, and when I'm making
money / want others to make it, too.
1 don't think, however, I'll offer another
dollars worth of that stock. We won
talk mines any longer, but we'll taste
some fine old brandy l keep here for
just such judges as you. You'll admit
that this is as good glass of cognac as
you ever tasted There! how's that?
And here are some choice cigars. Don't
betray me, they're struggled. A friend
of mine, sea captain, brings them tc
me from Havana) Let us sit here be-
fore this genial fire-what is prettier,
now, than q soft coal fire!-and discuss
cognac and cigars. They are much more
interesting subjects than mining shares;
don't you think so?"
In this way Col. Mortimer drew the
poor flies into his net. They would dis
cuss the cognac and the cigars, and end
by begging the colonel, for the old friend
ship he bore them, to let them put few
thousands into the Mutual dividend
This they always succeeded in getting
him to do, though with great reluctance.
I need not say that the colonel confined
himself to the cigars rather than to the
brandy. He did not object to drinking out
of business hours, but when he was play
ing for such high stakes he had to keep
his wits about him.
Just how much John Hurlstone knew
of what was going on should not like
to say. He knew Col. Mortimer pretty
well, and preferred not to ask too many
questions. Mortimer paid him large
salary because he was invaluable to him.
John was well educated, and wrote a
! good letter Mortimer was badly edu-
Gated, and it was said could Just sign his
name and nothing more. Indeed, twas
further said that he only learned to sign
! his name by copying it as written out by
John Hurlstone in their army days
Certainly his signature was very much
like Johns writing, and, when signed to
a letter that John had written, was III
perfect harmony with the rest of the
autograph. Not only did Mortimer pay
the company's secretary a handsome sal
airy, but he gave him good lump sums of
money besides, which he said were the
dividends on the shares he held in Johns
name. Mortimer could not have got
/ along without John in this mining COM
pany scheme, and he knew it; and he
paid him well both to keep him in his
service and to prevent his asking ques-
| tions.
With all this money at hand you would
have supposed that John would have sent
some home to his mother and sisters. Not
he. Had they asked him at time when
he had roll of bills in his pocket he would
have handed it out to them, but they
asked for nothing and they got nothing.
John was a spendthrift, and, like most
spendthrifts, he spent his money on him
self. If he spent it upon other people it
was in the way of his own pleasure. He
did send handsome presents to Amy Bay
liss-useless things that represented a lot
of money but little taste. A tradesman
could always sell him an unstable arti-
Gle by representing it to be something
unique and adding that few men would
have the taste to appreciate its beauties
and pay the price. The consequence was
that Amy Bayliss had collection of
costly odds and ends that che could only
praise for their costliness and because
''dear John" had taken the trouble to
send them to her. There were paper cut
tiers of frosted silver, and jewel boxes
much too fine for her modest dressing
table, and mother-of-pearl card cases
which had long since gone out of fashion;
and every Saturday regularly came box
of cut flowers. These delighted Amy
more than anything else.
"Dear John never forgets to send me
flowers every Saturday. No matter how
busy he may be, he is not too busy to
send these lovely roses to me-"
Poor Amyl The regularity in the COM
ing of the flowers was due to the florist.
John gave him an order with instruc-
tions to send them "till forbid" In his
extravaganza way he had paid for six
months in advance. Paying in advance
was not the usual habit of John Hurl-
stone. He was generally long way
behind with his bills. No matter how
much money he had, he spent it quickly,
and found himself in debt. He gave as
an excuse that he Observation-Disclosures
he had thought one hundred dollars
would do the work of two; but it would
not, and at the end of his first year in
New York he was hopelessly in debt.
His income was five thousand dollars,
and he lived at the rate of twenty.
A day O. two after the ball, he dropped
in at the office of The Dawn on his way
up town to take Rush out to dinner with
him. He was dressed in the latest
fashion, and he appeared to advantage