davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15

from this class that some had TO be re-
fused; which fact being reported to
those whose offers had been &C..
cepted, made the latter the more
grateful aud trustful toward him.
Dickens in Little DOrTit says Of MIR.
Merdle: "All people knew, Tor thought
thew knew that he had made himself
immensely rich:" so thought the society
people OF New York OF Weeks. Read
this also Of Merdle's fall; Appalling
whispers began to circulate, East, West,
North aud South. At first they were
faint, and went no farther than doubt
whether Mr.. Merdle's wealth would be
found to be as vast as had been sup
posed; whether there might not be
temporary difficulty in realizing
il: whether there might not
even be temporary suspension
(Say q month or SOL. lie steady pro-
erosion. as the day declined, the talk
rose 10 sound and purpose. IL would
tude ne had deluded. Numbers OF men
In every profession and trade would be
blighted by his insolvency; old people
who had been in easy circumstances all
their lives would have no place for re-
pentence for their trust in him, but the
workhouse; legions OF women and chill
dren would have their whole future
desolated by the hand Of this mighty
scoundrel."
Among the women whom Weeks so
befriended and deirauded Were:-
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15

time about every thing he asked for.
The Plankington Bank alone let him
have $500, 900, and Robert Hill, Vice
President of the Wisconsin National
Bank let him have s44. 600. One day,
Mr.. Hill got tired Of waiting for the
psyment of his loan and caused levy
to be made on each of the Lappen
stores. This caused others to become
similarly tired very quickly and within
a week the levies against Lappen's
properties aggregated the amount OF
S444, 600.
An investigation, which nobody had
thought of making earlier, showed that
Lappen had borrowed money from
about every person be had met in NIL
waukee, and the surrounding country
who had any money TO lend. Nine wo-
men had loaned him from $3.50 to 81 :
500 each. From a girl clerk in one oil
his stores he had borrowed S4o0; from
the girls widowed step-mother $4,000,
and from the girls brother $500. HIS
nightwatchman loaned to Lsppen all
his savings of s., 100, and i've other
men have his notes for loans in amounts
ranging from SIS COO to $4,000. A
rustic having sold his farm near the
city for $50, 900. Lappen heard OF 1t, co.
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15

closer inspection revealed the fact that
Il was Nine. Janauschek. But how
changed! / can easily remember when
her name was sufficient 10 fiji an ordi-
nary theater in almost any city In the
limited States. When l saw her the
other day, 1 understood that she was
irving to dispose Of four act comedy
drama entitled AT Last, which she
has only recently completed
have heard that the play is remark
ABLY strong, and a person who pretenGs
~ know said that II Mime. JanauscheS
had adopted playwriting as a profession
An her youcger days she would nave
made as great a success OF 1t as she ala
If acting. Be that as it may, there is
avery reason 70 believe that she mas
saxon to dramatic writing at TINS Iats
dov-sbe must be over 70-for the Tea-
son that the money which she may 1nuS
h enabled TO earn viii not be az az M
acceptable 70 her just now. Nos lsua lS
Sbe is poor. for she has earned SeFpIaI
fortnnes. but she has always 0 oeon =, q
over of the good things 81 ,o5Ib ~
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15

This does not sound like very re-
markab.e statement, but its significance
may be understood when il IS men
toned that this is the first occasion
upon which such q pleasing managerial
condition has existed during the pres
ent season in this city.
Brandon Thomas, the author Of
"CharIey's Aunt, calls his play a com
edy, but as this is q common idioSyn-
Grassy Of comic writer's for the stage he
NAV be pardo ned. In reality 10 is q
farce pure and simple, and a very broad
farce at that. But 10 is as funny as can
be, and it really contains more laughs
than ''The Private Secretary" which
% TO this time was the funniest farce
seen ia this country during the last de-
cade.
The plot IS simplicity itself. Two
college students are very much TO love
with two very pretty girls, and they
are longing FOR az opportunity TO pro-
pose One OF them-CharIey-has an
aunt married 90 a rich Brazilian, who,
with the ga.lautry and consideration
common 20 the male residents Of that
country, died quickly, leaving his
beautiful wife a widow and fabu,0usly
wealthy. This aunt Charley has
never seen. He receives q telegram
informing him that she will be there
on the next train. The two chums
hit upon the happy idea OF giving
a dinner 90 the aunt, at which
they will have their sweethearts as
well. This they think may afford them
the long desired opportunity TO ''de-
clare themselves" AT the last moment
a message is received from the wealthy
Brazilian stating that she has been de-
layed for several days. The boys are
in a pretty pickle. Their girls have
been invited, and there will be no cha
peron. While th9y are fgurativc,y
tearing their haiDa friend, Lord Bah
berly, appears IT'D puts on a dress in
which he Is - act as a woman 10 private
theatricalE
mappyfhought. They will get Bah
81 b tFimpersOnate the aunt. lie does
90, barty goes on, the boys propose 90
thelFNames, are promptly accepted and
all isl we'll for awhile. Lured by cher
supposed wealth, two men, relatives OF
the college students and their girls,
uifOpose TO Babberly and are of course
ueClLUeQs Il no lCAl u-Al N' ASeA9 sun
denly, but seeing how things are going
she enters into the spirit Of the JOKE
and incidentally causes more compiler
rlons and fun. It is easy 90 see how q
great deal Of hiIarity may be extracted
from this condition.
After all. in farce the acting is OF as
much Importance as the play. Lord
Babberiy is practically the play OF
"Charlev's Aunt" and the success OF
the piece is almost entirely dependent
upon the manner 10 which that part Is
performed. Manager Charles FrohmaH
evidently realized this, for be especially
imUOrted EtIenne GeradoJ, who under
studied w. s. Penley in the part in
England. Ii is less than justice TO say
that GeradOt does the role well. His
performance is a mastery one, and
there are so MANY little touches Of sub
tlety that his work may easily be de-
nominated artistic. III he remains In
this couutry-and If be be wise he will
he will soon take rank with the top
notchers among our farceuys.
A few days ago in Miss Martu-y's
theatrical bureau I met o very old lady
of more than ordinary stOutness. A
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15
menage. minneapolis Napoleon ofFInance

Menage. Minneapolis Napoleon ofFinance
more clean-cut scamp than either
Weeks or Lappen is Louis +. Menage,
of Minneapolis, the protector, founder,
manager and wrecker of the North
western Guarnty Loan Company. In q
three-handed game OF swindling he
would stock the cards on the other two
and win oil both possessed. The men
tai resources OF this man for scheming
were phenomenal. Within five years
he organized no less than Lhirty-tiVe
corporations, with an aggregate capital
stock of no less than $4,000, 600. Yet
he was without the imposing bearing
OF either Of the others. He was OF d.
minutiye stature-only five feet five
inches tall, and weighed but 12O
pounds. He dressed plainly, lived eco
nomically. and attended church relig-
iously. He was born in Providence,
r. l., schooled in New Bedford,
Mass, and has now only turned his
forty-fourth year. Removing to Min
neapaolis in 1871, he taught a class In
shorthand in 4 commercial college for
a while. Later be opened a real estate
Office, and is acknowledged the original
real estate boomer of that much doomed
city. For years he made money and
was reputed ten years ago millionaire
three times over, above all liabilities
In 1884 the titles to lands he had pur-
chased being voided by the Courts, he
turned over to the legal owner OF the
lands 81, 600, 900 in cash and mortgages
without, seemingly, straining his bank
account.
The Northwestern Guaranty Loan
Company was from the time Of its incor-
poration in 1854, managed by Louis F.
Menage up to the date OF his flight
I'm May last. II was money making
ENTERPRISE from the start, and Won the
confidence OF the money centres as
few financial Institutions have ever
succeeded in doing. Up to about TWO
years ago, this confidence was, appar-
emily, well deserved. On the first OF
last January it declared a semi-annual
dividend flour per cent. and up to that
time II never had missed q dividend and
never had piece Of IT'S paper dis
credited Some OF the longest headed
and longest pursed capitalists In Min
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15
NET VAYS On SVINDLIG
STRANGE FACTS BROUGHT TO LIGHT By
THE RECENT PANIC
Francis H, Weeks the New York Society Swind-
Ter; Frank Lappen, the Milwaukee Plungsr,
and Louis Menaga Minneapolis Manipalator
Of killions-Ths Methods by Which Each
Secured His Misunderstanding in These
Latter Days.
Coprtahtes 1sas ar j F7orne. Wi!sOn.

In the play Of "Jim the Penman"
the detective is so Impressed with the
audacity of tee methods Of the gentle
man-iorger that be eXclaims aside:
isn't he splendid?" But the stage
william of that strong drama is so far
out-classed in both the nerve and the
extent of their operations by several
American financiers who have but
recently been brought to book that jim
the Penman can no longer be con-
siderod a unique rascal. Three cities
have, each,-thanks to the late panic
uncovered in the person of leading
and trusted citizen, a thief of accom-
plishments never drawn by the imagin-
alton Of Dickens or Dumas. For
Francis Henry Weeks, of New York,
Frank Lappen, of Milwaukee or Louis
Menage, of Minneapolis, the stage de-
tective would use a stronger compli-
ment than: Isn't he splendd?"
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15

neapolis, New York, Boston and other
cities were stockholders in the COM
pany and holders Of securities for large
amounts. But little ove- two years ago.
Menage seems TO have become possessed
of demon for spec lation. Ia Mon
tana and Washington on the Pacific
coast, In Chicago and in Galveston,
Texas, he made enormous outlays in ef-
forts 10 boom land properties he had
purchased. 1t was to get money TO float
these schemes. that be involved the
Northwestern Guaranty Loan Company
so disastrously.
The endorsement by this company OF
commercial paper made 1t acceptable
TO money-lenders Throughout the East.
1t was By resortIng TO the putting out
OF spurious paper, endorsed by him OIL
cially, that MenaEe Uerpetrated frauds
argregating %, 800, OOO. Few OF the max
ers Of the notes have actual existence as
far as the receiver can learn. Out OK the
sixty notes sent 10 one Minneapolis firm
of lawyers for collection the makers
O, only four OF them could be
found, and Of these four one man is a
porter In store, another is barber,
one a mechanic on small wages aud the
fourth a man cut Of work. Yet each Of
these notes has a memorandum accom-
panying .'Guarantor Northwestern
Guaranty Loan Company" Of which
the following al specimens: "Maker
Is known to this Company as a careful
and industrious man OF some means"
maker is 10 good shape financially
to take care OF his business interests
and protect his paper" ). A. Z.
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15
NEW ADVERTISEMENTS.
CAFE INVESTMENT.

Large comfortable dwelling. 2el6 Eoff street
residence OF the lac Thos. Ho.nbrook. FOR sale
low and en- easy terms. Will make two com
Portable dwellings.
W. Y. HOGE & BRO,
City Bank Building. 1900 Market strset.
seu2leAdh
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15

The three worthless named have
brought scores from wealth TO insol-
vency, hundreds from competency to
want and discomfort to thousands Of
persons. Each was endowed by nature
with brains 10 enlist attention and
presence to induce confidence from even
sagacious and experienced business
men.
"A few seem favOrite OF fate;" each
in his own city seemed one OF that few,
favored with exceptional capacities and
honesty, and those with sums in hand,
large or little, for Investment, entruSt-
ed them TO him. Now, with a realiza-
ton OF confidence betrayed the victims
OF these adventures will agree with an
other quotation from Burns;
But och mankind is very weak.
"And little 10 be trusted
The panic which has wrought so
much distress is q cloud, the silver lin
ing OF which is the turning
out Of such frauds as Weeks, LapDen
and Menage. Without the "fnanCia,
stringency" these specious Scamps might
have enlarged their operations until
the losses by them would have been
wider spread It's remarkable fact up
to the very day OF his collapse, each Of
them enjoyed the fullest trust Of their
dupes and the public.
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15
GENERAL REPAIR WORKS.

Scales Builder and Tester, Manufacturer Of
Small Edge Tools, Grinder and Polisher OF Fins
Cutlery. Special attention given 70 all kinds
OF mechanical aud experimental machinery.
All work given careful aud prompt attention.
A. FRlEBERTZHAUSER,
Southeast corner Eighteenth aud ChApline
streets. Telephone - Agency for Howe
Scales. sspl4e&dBb
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15
Erancl. u. Mssks. the society swIndler.

Francis II. Weeks, the Society swindler.
Francis II. Weeks, with q shortage, as
shown by his assignee, Of 81, ia, $3.50, was
reputed millionaire up 10 the very day
Of his assignment and flight, He was
notable figure in New YorE'S social life
and in affairs. He owned yacht Gnd
belonged TO the Metropolitan, the Cen
fury, the City, the Union, the Universe
", the st. AnthOuy's, the Democratic
and the Players Clubs, and was a
prominent member OF the Bar AssoCia-
ton. Thrown thus into contact with the
wealthy and influential men OF the me-
tropoiis, many of them became mis-
clients. His honorable ancestry, his
courtly address, unblemiShed reDuta-
tion and accepted accounts OF his
wealth, threw open to him the doors Of
New York's swell society. Therein he
met women, widows aud spnsterS, pos
sesscd OF money or property who solicit
ed this combined lawyer and business
man OF wealth to take Oft their hands
the care Of their monies and properties.
So great was the pressure upon him
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15

Steel Company, both OF which he prac-
tically controlled. 1t was quiet in
vestigatlon OF Weeks management Of
the first named Of these companies, set
a1oat in April by other stockholders,
that uncovered the rottenness Of its fl
pancial condition. At the first news Of
this investigation he began making ex-
traordinary efforts to raise money. He
succeeded in getting enough together
TO render life easy for some time for
himself and wife in another cline, and
when the fact OF his assignment wss
made public, he and she were far from
the scenes and victims OF his frauds, 4
fugitive from justice.
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15
Frank Lnpper, the Milwaukee PIunGer

Frank Lnpper, tho Milwaukee Plungev.
The second Of the splendid trio Of
scamps under mention, Frank Lappen,
Of Milwaukee, ecIipsed Weeks in the
rapidity Of his operations. II was only
Eve years ago that be stepped of a
train in the city Of great 6reweries,
with the pleasing Standardization that
he was a business man from Boston with
SIS, GOO In his inside pocket. II he did
not have that fortune In cash land no
body believes now that he had $50 be
had several times that amount q nerve,
as half million dollars in judgments
lately entered against him demonstrate.
His nerve was equal 10 taCGling the
strongest fnaucierS in the town, and it
was not many days before he had used
it so successfully on John Plankngton,
the big pork packer, that be had rented
lrcm him several fac stores on a
block on Grand avenue, and negO-
tiated from the Plankingt0n Bank
4 loan Of 5000. with which he
opened a general furnishing business,
which later included dry goods, and
drove II with vim that fairly dazzied
the rather pElegmatic German poIu-
lace. He made money so fast-So every
body thought-that he and his money
making we're soon the talk of the town.
Later. one stand was not enough to sat-
isfy the energies and ambition Of the
dashing Lappen, so he bought out big
furniture establishment, borrowing from
a banker Si4, 900 to enable him TO make
the purchase. Then he formed stock
company for charging that business
and half q dozen Of Milwaukee's leading
capitalists, each, put in from $40, GOO TO
$50, 600.
1t was the proper caper for Milwau-
KEGS merchant princes to live In
palace, so he provided himself with one,
the grandeur OF tho equipment o.
which was on every ones lips, The
portleres cost 81, 200 each, and the rest
OF the furnishing was in keeping with
what his palmer neighbOrs called his
door curtains. He bought also, cOnn-
try seat, big farm out in the state, at
Oconomowoe and engaged in the ex-
pensive luxury OF breeding bloCded
horses. He dressed we'll and made an
imposing appearance. be had an air
of supreme confidence In himself, such
as only Z supremacy successful and
folidly wealthy man could have.
There is much in the adage that the
world takes a man az his own estimate
OF himself; certainly the Milwaukee
world took Lappen at his assumed esti-
mate of himself, and let him have for
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15

New YORK, October 1O,-The hit OF
the season. and In fact Of the past five
years, as far as farce comedy in its
true sense is concerned, is unQuesti0n-
ably "Charley's Aunt" The skit
is now running 20 enormous business
at the STANDARD theatre, and II opinions
are worth anything its stay there will
be limited only by the subsequent book
ings 40 that house. The other night
money was actually turned away.
Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-10-15

gagged him as superintendent OF his
Oconomowoc farm on a salary Of $1,000
a wear and then borrowed from him $780,
600. The investigation Of what Happens
life has been while borrowing all this
money, shows that he had been rake
and reckless gap bier, almost always
losing, and sometimes as much as $1,000
a night.
Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1893-01-18
Like Women, It Fears a Mouse.

One of the keepers of the Phila-
delphia Zoo, whose experience with
the larger animals has been quite
varied, in speaking of the elephant,
said: awhile it has no fear for the
powerful Bengal tiger or the Num-
idian lion, at the first sight of the
most diminutive creature it will
shrink from it and tremble al oyer
with the most abject fear. l re-
member we'll, years ago, one of the
most brutal elephants we had in the
geological Garden, while feeding
one day in it's quarters, discovered a
mouse which was lunching in a corr
ner on some Of the proyender, and
the scare it gave the elephant and
the way it shook and carried on for
few minutes was a sight to look
at. The mouse seemed entirely
composed in the presence of such
mastodon, and satisfied its appetite
fully before retiring. The elephant
gave its liliputian visitor a wide
berth during it's stay"
Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1893-01-18
WHOLE NO. 1119.
there could be no other result than
death.

there could be no other result than
death.
Tighter grew the great coils; the
tigers bones were cracking one by
one. Deeper sank the long teeth; /;
the serpent's life-blood was forming
little pools in the dust.
Convulsively the fighters rolled
in the path, but weaker and weaker
grew their struggles. The end was
coming. Perhaps foreseeing it, the
tiger made one frantic, desperate
effort to free himself from the dead
ly embrace, but the blood-streaked
coils only frightened the more
Then the tiger again sank his teeth
and claws into the serpent's neck
and body. He would die as he had
lived, thing of unshaken courage.
The serpent, in spasm of pain and
dying rage, tried once more to crush
his enemy into a shapeless mass,
but his flesh and muscle had been
sadly torn away, and his neck was
breaking under the tigers teeth.
The hunter caught his breath
hard and stepped from the shelter
of the cactus bush. The end was
at hand. Death was glazing the
eyes of the tiger; the serpent's
head fell helplessly to one side.
There was a struggle in the shoulders
of the tiger, galvanic shudder in
the coils of the serpent, and then
all was still. 1t was oyer.-New
York Dispatch.
Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1893-01-18
The Yosemite in Winter.

Snowstorm follows snowstorm.
Winter has arrived with its liege
lord the frost-king and his fierce
ally Boreas. He has spread his icy
mantle over the Yosemite. The
mighty cliffs and domes look down
upon the valley as in summer
months, but it is with forbidding
stateliness, and with threatening as
pect. How changed the scene and
different the attractions! The
smiling vale is no longer gay with
gorgeous bowers and bright with
green meadow lands; no longer is it
resonant with the hum of busy in
sects, the murmuring lullabies Of
slumbering streams, and the joyous
songs of summer birds; zephyr no
longer whispers to the pine fronds
as he floats softly through the for
est; and echo no longer repeats the
exclamations of glad visitors. The
Merced rolls its swollen current i'm
petuously through the valley, flood
ing many an acre of the meadow
land.-for rain as well as snow has
fallen; the woods are hoarse with
protesting against the fierceness of
the storm-blasts; the snowslide
holds the beholder in awe as it races
with the waterfall in it's downward
plunge, and slabs of talus and un-
shapely chunks of rock loosen their
hold Of their parent cliff, as water
and weather do their work, and are
washed with din and headlong speed
down into the valley. It is true
that such terrifying storms do not
occur with frequency, but one such
was witnessed by Mr.. Hutchings
and his family during the winter Of
1887, when they were the only resi-
dents in the valley. On that ex-
ceptional occasion the rain poured
down incessantly for ten successive
days; all the meadow land was COW
cred with a surging flood; large
trees were swept over the ridge of
the upper Yosemite and shivered in
to fragments on the granite rocks;
and pines and cedars were blown
down and piled in confusion upon
each other by the windstorm that
followed the rain.--James Carson,
in December Californian.
Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1893-01-18
The Very Smallest Horse

What was supposed to be the
smallest specimen of the equine
species ever brought to this country
was "Queen Nab" who was brought
from the London Geological Gar
dens to New Y ork in 1848. "Mab"
was then twelve years old, and only
survived her ocean voyage about
three months. The writer has two
descriptions of this equine in min
iature," one of which says that she
was nineteen inches high, and the
other that she was "two inches over
two feet" Even though the nine
teen-inch account be the correct
one, "Mab's" smallness has been ex-
ceeded by good half dozen other
ponies. A few years ago the Bar.
oness Burdett-Coutts came into
possession of an abbreviated edition
of a pony which was only fourteen
inches in height and but eighteen
and half inches in length, count
ing from the end Of the nose straight
across to the root of the tail. At
the present time the Shah of Persia
is the owner of Shetland pony
which is but twelve and half in
ches high. This pampered pet of
royalty wears gold shoes worth $50
each.-St. Louis Republic.