The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-01-28
A SLICK YC ING RASCAL.
disappearing as Book Agent, a
Fellow Claiming to be n. c. Horton
Plays the Part OF Thief and SWIM
tia-

der.
About week before Christmas a
younp man calling himself \. c. HYr-
ton. claiming =, be q book a-ert IN
the empf1yIaen, f the weil-knewn
publishing ho,l,- IF p. +. Collier,
,;Iusk Henderson,. He was we'll
dressed, gen5eeI iii .urearance, agree
all in minncr, ant Was not long
il making irlent, dTd gaining the
confidence 81 those he came in con-
tact with. Horton said he had been
.,isan= +: L,!! i IF and on for fve
ycdr-, anI although IL had but ie"
sam Itt5 vi" Am AMI had 10 write
fr others iztttc he. %, down to busl-
nta, III Ee.. elinest: nothing strange
VAS IhU1gnt ~ his al The time.
He had been working IN Petersburg
Were he !aInrd t. have had msn
uHI>r E.in WHO %: drunk and lost
mos, Of his san !eo. From there he
came to Htnticlsts. a"d It develops
that letters ;rOsn n:m at thIs place Wa
the first j!rle Mr. o Hare, manager 81
the Sputntru ttiHlDrY, with head
quarters II Bali!inoEe, ever heard OF
him. SuppD,}Tg he would be- agent
was a resident nj ;1is town and taking
hi.u to be all Tjgnt, after considerable
cores ,,oudencc was passed between
them samples were sent TO Horton and
| be was permitted 10 20 to work We
say tbs much by way Of showing how
he came u be working for the house
and 10 cxynorate Mr.. O'Hare from any
blame IN the matter. He was simply
du,}ed by the slick young rascal, II Or
ton taking advantage Of The book
agency business 10 vic,imnize persons
as the sequel shows. Having fallen in
witt, one Of Callers men in Peter,
| burg he c..t an ,Gea of the business,
brought ,a:t Of the sam pies away WITH
him and conceived the plan Of carry
ing out his scheme Of dead beating
and svindl1ng to the extent he did.
Horton stayed here a month. He
hustled around ami sold number of
sets of books, dong quite a good bust
ness. These were deliyed to the sub
scrlhers at the time a,t,linted. the~au
,a.ulz.;i collector coming here fur ina,
,ur,r.ss. to whom The first monthly
paynenf was made. 5, far all was
we'll. and IS regards those VIII, bought
books they are all right. But Horton
was ma, satisfied with what he made
out fine business in an honorable and
leoi,ima,e way. He wen, outside of
,ha; and s.ntle,i several persons out
Of .1on $500 10 5000 each. getting
them ;, nav rim N advance for
certain book, not handled by his
hs1,~e which he SAID would have TO he
o:.Irrcd from elsewhere, and 10 other
WAYS, a, has been discove.ed since he
lett town.
Having The appearance Of a gentle
man, and upon representations made.
10 h,ra tia, seemed 10 promise veil.
Horton induced Mr.. George NJ. Man
0jr,, to- y, with him {, FAYETTEVILLE
.,r a sh1rt s,av from which niac. thew
we're to v;si; New},ern and take in the
tHr. Accordingly tnrv hacked I'D
and left on the Atlanta Special Tues
day morning. Wednesday morning
Mr.. Manning visited all uptown sec
ton of the city chile Horton as he
supposed wen, to work in another,
Imagine his surprise upon Returning To
his boarding house for dinner to find
business had returned to the house
wi,hia the hour after thew left. settled
with his }andlady. got bis belongings
together and gone. For this sudden
and unexpected turn Of affairs Mr..
Manning would have thought or cared
little perhaps but for the fact that
Horton had carried $1,000 and a good
pair of shoes of his (NI's) with him.
Upon investigation it was learned tina,
Horton had hired a team to take him
Hope Mills, although he said at his
boarding house that he was going to
Manchester, in tie opposite direction,
upon orders from his house.
Mr.. Manning at once set abou. hav-
ing the scoundrel caught. Full des-
criptions of h.,. were teiegraphed in
every direction and from Hope Mills
1t was learned that Horton had bough,
a ticket TO Rowland, on the main line
Of The railroad about three miles from
the South Carolina line, and had taken
a freight train for that place Here
he left the freight and was in the office
about to buy a ticket for Florence in
tending to take the mail train then
nearly due, when he was arrested. He
denied tina, he was the man wanted
and gave another name, but 50 well
did the description fit him he was held
| by the officer.