The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-02-19

found his business gone to the dogs ;,
but with the help of A. D. Cock &
Bro, who were his largest creditors.
he managed to make some payments,
and drifted along for time in the vain
hope that fortune would turn. When
he found that assignment was unavoid-
able he turned over his property to the
Cooks, feeling that since they had
stood by him when others had deserted
him he ought to do his best to stand
BY them and make.their losses as light
as possible.
PEG o,e were ever ready to criticize
his motives, and from that time ON
public feeling was greatly against him,
and his every action became subject
of gossip.
''Of late-without business, without
friends-he has lived from hand to
mouth. and he and his family have fire.
q, emily been without even the necessi-
ties of life. They have gone hungry
day after day, have had to dispose Of
their furniture piecemeal, in order to
keep away absolute starvation. He
had no longer any show to make liv-
ing here, and could do nothing but 90
away.
''He has taken with him nothing
that belonged to any creditors. The
law allows him 800 worth of personal
property, but he did not take even that.
He sold what property he had, and paid
what bills he could; the goods that
were taken away were owned by Mrs.
Hardy, and were paid for out of her
own pocket with money which she re-
ceived from her fat e..
''Mr. Hardy's departure will doubt
less cause a great gap in borough store
lounging circles. His very mysterious
daylight disappearance this in tone
of much sarcasml will afford the Cos
sips some food for talk, but his daily
actions, which have for months been
the subject of so much inquiry and crit
icism, will be no longer visible. What
will the contingent of barrel-head and
cracEer-bo- sitters do!
Concerning Mr.. Hardy's admins
tration of his judicial offices in the Dor
ough, which was grossly criticized, 1
have to say that l never knew more
careful and efficient Justice of the
Peace, and 1 am satisfied that the
handling of Borough Magistrate mat
tiers was honest, straightforward and
satisfactory in every respect. His
accounts with the borough were all
right"
AS Mr.. Reed is the Borough Coun-
sellor he ought to know. There are
those, however, who say freely that
Hardy has left behind him debts of all
sorts, many of then newly contracted,
and these geople will not be satisfied
that Hardy is altogether honest until
he has settled down to work in new
fields, lived economically, saved money
and repa what he owes,
Whether he is likely to do such a
creditable thing as that may be judged
somewhat from an examination of his
past record. In this connection a
story is told that does not SAVIOR alto
gether of probity of character for the
central figure of the tale.
WAS FRANK WOOD HARDY's ALIAS?
About four years ago a man who had
for some time been living in Hender-
son, North Carolina, under the name
of Frank Wood, left town suddenly,
leaving unpaid bills behind amounting,
it was estimated, to $4,000. Wood has
ever since been fugitive from this
mass of debt, and the efforts which the
, Henderson people for months put forth
to find him were unavailing. A short
time ago there came to Plainfield a
young man named G.. H. Macon, a
Southerner, who has since been with
George E. Williams at the Crescent
Pharmacy. One Of the first persons he
met in Painfield was Mrs. James
Hardy, and later he met Mr.. Hardy,
too. He recognized them instantly, he
says, as the Mr.. and Mrs. Frank Wood
whom he had known in Henderson.
The Identification is positive and CON-
plete, be states. Wood was a con-
tractor and builder, and his methods OF
getting into debt in Henderson were the
Same as Hardy's in North Plainfield.
He is absolutely certain that Mr.. and
Mrs. Hardy and Mr.. and Mrs. Wood
are the same. Wood traded frequently
at the store in Henderson where he
worked, and his was one of the firms
left with a debit mark against the
absconder.
1t may be stated in Mrs. Hardy s
favor that she won the esteem and
good will of the entire community
She is spoken of by the neighbors az a
/ sweet-mannered lady. and her child
was also beloved. For Hardy so much
| spirit of popularity is not shown,
Counselor Reed says that the aye4
age loss to Hardy's creditors at -
time Of the failure was but abQ
per cent. of the amount Of
they had done for him, makE>
loss of about s19, 900 on ~
worth of business conduetA
When spoken to aYfH
Wood story Mr.. Reed Z
1.-THE tale may ,PeA
nothing about it, ii
field from ths,4dstig
part do d 4 ~
he lived |m-6d3
benefit 6uildE
undeu6aea
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