The Van Buren press., 1898-11-26
MOSES JACKSON & GO.
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Experiences of Unique Firm That
Pro pered by Following
Yankee Methods.
NJ, QUAD. -convrtost ,ss

OF age. Then he bought little farm
and began fer himself. In time he got
married, and in time children cameto
worry and bless him by turns, but it
was always the same old routine of
hard work and poor living. On the day
| that he was IS years old, Moses
Jackson went to the nearest village to
buy hoe. His wife had asked him to
drop into the office of the Gazette
and bring home bundle of old papers
| for the pantry shelves. lie found the
editor alone, and the paper about to
suspend for the want of patronage
Tie editor noted the farmers wrinkled
face, bent back and discouraged look,
and after some general talk he said:
Look here, Moses, you are a fool and
am ditto. Youare grubbing your life
out for a bare living, and | am dead
broke because the people here don't
appreciate brains. Let's go into part
nership."
They sat and talked for an hour, and
the result was an article in the next
weeks Gazette which created talk all
over the county within three days, and
within a week had been copied all over
the state. There was a spring on the
jackson farm which hardly anyone
but the owner knew of, and it was an
nounced that the waters of this spring
were a sure cure for all kinds of skin
diseases. The editor gave half dozen
names and told dozen lies in the ar
tlcle, but people afflicted with skin dis
eases did not stop to question his yer-
acity. The paper had been off the press
a day when they began driving up to
the Jackson farm, They wanted that
water in bottles, jugs, kegs and bar
rels, and the old farmer was on hand
TO sell it to them at a certain price. In
side of a fortnight he was shipping
spring water to points 400 miles away.
While he was busy at the spring his
wife was busy in the house. Scores
and scores of people were willing to
pay so cents for a dinner, and before
the rush was over scores and scores of
others also paid 50 cents apiece for the
privilege of sleeping on clean straw in
the barn.
BY and by there came the sanitarium
man. He was ready to pay $4,000 for
the poor old farm, worth at the best
less than thousand, but he wanted
an analysis Of the spring waters first.
The analysis pricked the bubble, and a
week later the rush had ceased. Moses
Jackson went down to see the editor of
the Gazette and figure with him. As
they figured they chuckled.
"Moses, our firm has taken in $4,000
in cash. Figure out the expenses and
we divide $1,000. You still have your
farm left, and | may tell you that the
Gazette has put Oh 250 new subscrib-
ers, and is now entering upon boom
with a big b. Go home and hoe corn
and say nothing In about two weeks
our trap will be ready again"
There were plenty of people who said
it was too bad that things turned out
so wrong for the farmer, but there
were no tears in his eyes over the re-
pert of the chemist on that spring.
Pretty soon his neighbors noticed a
strange woman around his house, but
before they had time to ask questions
the Gazette came out with a two-col-
umn article and explained all. The
strange woman was Mother Clark"
the great locater of mines by means
of a witch hazel rod. Through the me-
dunn of that rod she had located
scores of gold, silver, lead, coal and
copper mines all over the country.
The Gazette lied from start to finish,
but it was u lie which every reader
swallowed with avidity and wanted
more. Mother Clark happened to
be passing through the county, and as
the witch hazel rod kept pointing to
Moses Jackson's farm, she had stopped
to tell him that great wealth lay
buried beneath the surface. II might
be gold or it might be coal, but it was
there for sure.
Again there was rush for the Jack
son farm. People who had skin dis
eases had failed to find relief through
the spring waters, but that had moth
ing to do with lodges of iron or layers
of coal. The newspaper article was
copied far and wide, and men Travelled
500 miles to see that divining rod at
work. Every day for ten days the old
woman walked over the fields at a
slow pace with that rod balanced on
her finger. Moses followed her, and
wherever the rod dipped he stopped
and drove a stake into the ground.
When she had finished he had stake
for every acre. She wasn't sure
whether il was iron or coal under his
land but rather leaned to coal There
were scores of dinners again at 80
cents apiece. and scores more slept in
the barn. While men were tumbling
ove- each other to secure options on
the farm until shafts could be sunk,
dozen different farmers were impa-
uently waiting for 'Mother Clark to
90 over their fields, Her terms we're
ten dollars per hour, and owing to the
mental and physical exhaustion she
would walk but two hours per day
When she had worked half dozen
farmers she had a call TO go west and
the editor of the Gazette sent word
for Moses jackson to come down and
do some more figuring. When line
had been drawn and the figures added
IN The editor said:
"Moses. we haven't done quite as
well as I hoped. but there is no kick
coming to us. We have sold three op-
lions at $1,000 each, and with the out
side work Of your sister-in-law. profit
on meals. aad so forth, the figures run
almost to $4,000. a thousand out Tor