The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-11-25
PAYING HIS
OLD DEBTS.
Surprising Honesty of a Man Who
Failed.
A NEW YORK MERCHANT PAYING
DEBTS DUE TO A FAILURE IN
1S61-WILL TAKE A HALF MILL
ION DOLLARS TO SETTLE ALL
CLAIMS-MANY OF THE CRED.
ITORS ARE DEAD.

New York. Nov. 24.-Several of the old
firms, or the successors OF old firms, in
the dry goods district have recently been
notified by a. T. Emo that it is his desire
to pay his share If the debts of the drv
goods firm Of which he was II member
and organizer in 1861 and which suspend
ed with large liabilities at the. brcakinr
out.ot the war.Th notices contain che Ks
for Mr.. Eno's share OF the principal of
the debt, some to the amount of many
thousands of dollars, ami in addition It,
tho checks, assurances that as soon az
the exact amount of the debt is known
and the interest on It can be computed,
there will he further check sent repre-
senting the interest Mt 4 per cent from
1861. Further, the notices were marked
strictly confidential"
The firms that received the notices and
the inclosed checks were so astounded
that some CT them, spite of this iniunc-
ton, could not keep the secret, and the
matter has been the talk of the dry goods
district, with many wish that there
might he other visitations of "Prcvi-
dence and old fashioned hocesty.n
Even after the matter became public.
Mr.. Emo tried to .laugl, the matter off
with a remark about "few Southern
Credits" ami the emphatic declaration
that he could not see that it was a mat.
ter of any gene. interest.
The story, however. is gathered from
trustworthy sources. Mr.. Emo, before
the war, was heati of the firm of Emo,
Bueren & Valentine, which dealt. exclu-
sively in silks ana fancy dress goods. It's
business was principally in the South
1t did about II milion-ilollar business,
which, in those days. was very large.
Though war was imminent, there was
little restriction of credits between the
North and the South, ouch was the scrar.-
BILE for business almost up to the begin
ming OF the war
The firing OH Fort Sumpter in 'ArriI,
1861, WAS the beginning of u business
smash as we'll as the beginning of the
war The houses that had large dealings
with the South, and consequently large
credits there. went 1own. The Southern
merchants would not pay their debts and
ha" Tor m excuse that their creditors
were pnblic enemies and that to give
money to them was to aid the public
enemy of the Confederate States Emo.
Beuren & Valentine failed two weeks
after the firing on Sumter AMI made an
assignment. All that was possible was
realized from the sale of the stock and
oHS ppoinCS~, anu luC UlOucy WIS uSeu 10
pay the debts of the firm. The dividend
was small, but the creditors were glad to
get it and the members of the firm were
released. The release, OF course, wiped
out forever all of the debts of the firm
that We're unpaid and left them free to
start business afresh.
Mr.. Emo, nfter short experience in the
army, did 90 into business again il the
firm of Hoadley, Emo & Co. This was in
1860. But the old debts were forgotten
by tiat time and probably from that
time to this until the letters and checks
were sent out by Mr.. Emo. they we're not
again thought of by any one but Mr..
Emo.
Thirty-six years is long time N bust
ness, andsscarcely any of the firms that
were the original creditors of Emo, Beu-
rem & Valentine are in business now.
Even where the original names were
maintained the members of the firm have
changed. In many cases not II single
member of the original creditor firm
survives. In others they are nephews or
even more distant relatives, and in some
cases the business has passed into other
hand" entirely and there is not relation
of the old partners remaining.
This is the condition that Mr.. Emo
found when he began to hunt up the
creditors of the old firm with the idea of
paying his share of the debts with inter
est thereon. In no case was there "A man
who remeD hered that such debt ex-
listed. In many cases the old books had
been 0estroyed,u and there was no evidence
That there had been such delft But in
no case, it is said, did Mr.. Emo hesitate
to put the debt into the list that he in
tended to pay. Under all these circum-
stances the surprise that oveI came the
recipients OF the notices and the checks
when they got the rem,ttances may be
imagined, and it is not much wouder
chat some of time 'leaked"
reporter has talked with several of
these creditors, who saw the useessness
of tryng.to conceal the matter once iu
had got out One man said
We'll, sir, we were 80 astounded that
we seriously discussed keeping the check
and framing it. We were met going to
have it cashed. though it amounted to
several thousand dollars. We Thought
that ma an object lesson in honesty it was
worth rs much as the cash that it repre-
sented. ! never hal heard of Mr.. Emo.
had heard Of his father, but | never
had heard Of Mr.. Amos Il. Emo and never
imagined that any person of that name
had ever been indebted to the firm of
which am member"
One of the other creditors Of the firm
said he thought that it would very likely
cost Mr. emo more than half a million of
dollars TO pay the debts with interest to
date The thirtysiX years interest.
without compounding, amounts to II coed
deal more than the original debt. At 4
per cent the interest is $l44 on every
Of -,