The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-06-14
Ray Nslham Making Another Fight
for Fortune With Odds
Against Him.
Convicted on His Own Confess
sion Of Wreoking His Faith
or's Bank.
40 Amasssd Wealth In the North west,
Lest II and VIII Try Again In
Chicago.

BeArtn0 the brand OF . criminal a con
vict, possessed OF the manners Of / gentle
man INF the genius Of . Gould, handsom
and strong Of facs and frame, a man ye
young in years. but with experience q
broad. with adventures 40 romantic. will
success 90 brilliant, and failurs 10 complst,
that his yeunR life would Seem an ETERNITY
TO Easn Of less nerve and forco Of character
Y Ray Nslham has, altar several years Of wan
dsring, settled in Chicago. engaged ii
business in a small way. and hopes. al
though beginning at the very bottom Of III,
ladder, to climb once more TO affiuence sni
fame. And honor2 Well. that depends
The memory OF man II long for the svi
deeds OF his fellows, a. Ray Nelhsm al
ready has found through sad and trying Ok
p~eriencs. says the New York Recorder. But
he has also learned that money acts like o.
an~sthetio on the mind, and that the gen.
aus to make money draws - itself with
magic power poor fools who iutter like
charmed moths around the fame OF for
time, and causes them to forget the shame
Of crimsif only they profit through the
criminal.
Less than twenty years ago. In : little
town nesting among the mountains Of
Pennsylvania. lived the family OF Nelhams.
The father was one Of tho most respected
citizens Of that portion of the atata. He
was the cashier Of the village bank, and BY
years Of careful attention TO business and
high integrity had won the complete conf
denee of every citizen. The poor entrusted
their all to hin keeping, and the rich felt
safs when their thousands were in his hands.
Ray was his fathers assistant. and his
bright. handsome face and frank ways
made him the most popular young fellow
popular alike with young and old--in the
town. For years life flowed on like a
peaceful stream and no ono dreamed OF
trouble.
Like : thanderbolt from ! clear sky
game the -announcsment one morning that
the banks doors would mot be opened to
the public. The doors we're looked and
barred and the curtains were closely
the directors and heavy dspositors we're
making IN examination, and soon Ill
would know the result. II might not be 90
bad az first appeared. But the time
seemed long to the waiting widow, with the
orphaned babe IN her arms, whose dying
husband had bRde her trust their little
fortune TO the safe hands Of the Nelhams.
The crowd became impatient and de-
naanded to know what had happened and
how badly the bank was affected. The
climax came when the sheriff was called in,
and ~ order Of the directors Cashier Mel
charged with footing tho bank.
Ihe trial which followed WINS one OF the
notable events in the history OF Pennsylva-
MAS criminal courts, made more notable
when young Ray Nelharn stepped forward
the punishment. Was this true, or did he
volunteer to suffer for his fathers crims?
None but those two knew. But ~refusinu
stolidly all explanation further than this,
lay, vent to the penitentinry, and with
oonducs most exemplary served the weary
years OF the courts sentence.
When he emerged from the state prison
Ray Nelham had no wish to see the familiar
village IN the foothills. He did not wish to
look again upon his old friends, and in
turn be curiously, perhaps thrsateningly,
ssarsd q. Ihe press Of the country was
filled with glowing pictures of the golden
opportunities offered in the wheat fields OF
Dakota territory. Land was free and
needed but to be touched with the plow TO
produce large. golden harvests.
80 to the northwest he went, and his old
rather accompanies him. Ont on the broad
prairie. on the Northern Pacific railroad.
not many miles west Of Fargo, Ray started
life anew. There NO one knew his past, and
his engaging manners soon won for him the
friendship of the little community. in
which he became almost at once the prin-
to gold. His farms yielded in, abundance.
and wheat was high. His village store soon
became an emporium, and for miles around
drew custom. He built one elevator, then
smother, and his operations extended to the
larger world OF commerce. and soon Du-
luth, and then Minneapolis, then Chicago |
became interested IN the young fnancier
whose great operations were conducted
with so much skill and proved 80 com-
pletely successful. :
Ray Nelham amassed "A fortune, but his
ambition was not satisfied, and leaving his
business, he went to one of the great grain
markets Of the northwest, and fitting up
elegant offices, he became a veritabla
'~plunger'' on the market. His luck seemed
never to desert him, and he was fast becom-
ing one OF the wheat kings Of the country.
based their hopes on the fickle wheat pit.
Nelhsm bought everything is sight. The
price constantly went higher. He counted
his gains by hundreds Of thousands.
One day he felt the time had come to sell.
He wrote a dispatch to his Chicago brokers
young Hebrew, Julius BY name, in his en-
ploy 40 office clerk. julius had an abb
normal nose and was ruled by powerful
superstitions. He watched the markets
MOODS with she eye OF an expert,
the position of the moon or the signs
of the zodiac governed his opinions CON
it. Evidently the sign was right,
tor Just ~ Nelham completed his dispatch
ne heard Julius say to the bookkeeper:
IL l had any wheatI wouldn't sell it now"
1t seemed a fate. Nelham allowed his
Judgment to be set aside by tho remark
Of the boy. The next morning when he
to his Office he was a pauper. The
bubble had burst, the market mad dropped,
and all the labor of wears had been lost.
Nelham became a wanderer. He mined in
and vent to the coast. A few
years Of this aimless sort Of life convinced
him there was nothing in it, and, scrapinp
the few hundreds still remaininu
of his once splendid fortune, he came to
Chicago.
Here / am going to stay and recover thu
ground l have lost" he tells his friends.
If be- has not lost his grip through the
apps and downs of his romantic life, Chicago
will yet hear of Raymond Nelham in SON
with some Of the gigantic CONNER
'ial enterprises of the future.
Bucklen's Arnlca Sslve.
The best salve in the world for cuts,