Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-05
ROMANCE OF A GENIua

Career OF . Man Who Has Been o Convict,
Millionaire and Pauper..
Chicago Times.]
Less than 20 years ago, in little town
nesting among the mountains of Pennsyl-
vani'A there lived the family Of Nelhams.
The father was one of the most respected
citizens of that portion of the State. He
was the cashier Of the village bank and by
years of careful attention to business and
high integrity had won the complete conf
dence Of every citizen. The poor intrusted
their all to his keeping and the rich felt
safe 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 q
peaceful stream and no one dreamed of
trouble.
Like thunderbolt from clear sky came
the announcement one morning that the
banks doors would not be opened to the
public. The doors were locked and barred
and the curtains were closely drawn. The
crowd became impatient and demanded to
know what had happened and how badly
the bank was affected. The climax came
when the Sheriff was called in and by order
of the directors Cashier Nelham was placed
under arrest He was charged with looting
the bank!
The trial which followed was one of the
notable events in the history of Pennsyl-
van1a's criminal courts-made more notable
when young Ray Nelham stepped forward
and said he was the guilty one and should
bear all the blame and punishment. When
he emerged from the State prison Ray Mel
ham had no wish to see the familiar village
In the foothills, 80 to the Northwest he
went and his old father accompanied him.
Out on the broad prairie, on the line of the
Northern Pacific Railroad, not many miles
west Of Fargo, Ray started life anew.
There no one knew his past and his engag-
ing manners soon won for him the friend
ship of the little community. Everthing
he touched turned to gold.
Ray Nelham amassed fortune, but his
ambition was not satiated, and, leaving his
father and brother to look after the Dakota
business, he went to one of the great grain
markets of the Northwest, and, fitting up
elegant offices, he became q veritable
'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.
But 1885 was the fatal year for many who
based their hopes on the tickle wheat pit.
Nelham bought everything In 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 dispatch to his Chicago brokers to
sell every bushel he held. Nelham had a
young Hebrew, Julius by name. in his en-
ploy as an Office clerk. julius had an ab-
normal nose and was ruled by. powerful
superstitiona He watched the markets
varying moods with the eye of an expert,
but the position of the moon and the signs
of the zodiac governed his opinions concern
ing it. Evidently the sign was right, for
just as Nelham completed his dispatch he
heard Julius say to the bookkeeper: "If
had any wheat wouldn't sell it now."
1t seemed fate. Nelham allowed his
Judgment to be set aside by the remark of
the boy. The next morning when he came
to his office he was pauper. The bubble
had burst, the market had dropped and all
the labor of years had been lost. Nelham
became wanderer. He mined in Montana
and went to the coast. A few years of this
aImless sort of life convinced him there was
nothing IN it. and, scraping together the
few hundred still remaining of his once
splendid fortune, he came to Chicago.