The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-17
Eustis' Friend Henage .oc
Story Of the Beginning, Life and Collapse of
the Northwestern Guaranty Loan Stumble

In April. 1884 the Northwestern Guar
arty Loan company was incorporated.
Its beginning was modest 1t had it's
headquarters in a real estate office in
the Kasota building in Minneapolis,
commanding q view of HOag's lake,
since cut off by the erection of real
buildings.
At that time the chief promoter Of
the concern was building air castles
mostly.
He was Louis Francois Menage. of
French Canadian stock, az his name
might suggest. He had been in the
real estate business for years in Min
neapolis, and had made a fortune as
agent for the vast property which had
been in dispute between Col. W. S..
King, old ''Thaumaturgus," and Philo
Remington, the famous gunmaker Of
Hon, n. Y.
Associated with Menage in the con-
Germ were Col Robert S. Innes, who
as an attorney in the case, had also
made fortune; Benjamin S. Bull, a
wealthy banker and realty owner, who
settled in Minneapolis in early days
and grew up with the town. The other
incCrporators Of the concern were S. P.
Channel and julius E. Miner The
last has since been in the city council
Of Minneapolis, but is not now.
The original capital stock was $780,
000
But the company grew. 1t had to
have floor of the building before long.
Then it had to have a building of its
own. With an intuition of the trend
of trade in Minneapolis, Mr.. Menage
picked out one of the best corners in
Minneapolis as it has since turned out,
although it was thought by some at
the time that he was getting too far
from Nicollet avenue. But Menage fig
ured that a twelve-story building of
itself would have some influence on
public movements. 1t did. Menage
was man of large ideas. He figured
in millions, although it has since been
discovered that he paid largely in
promises. He had other huge schemes.
One was to take piece Of swamp we'll
out on Sixth avenue north, in Mime
apols which had been tied up in this
King-Remington litigation, drain it and
make Of it a second Pullman. That
did not go through, although there are
g couple Of small factories there that
Menage did not build.
North Galveston was another place
that the Aladdin-lil1e touch of the Men
age influence was to make bloom and
blossom as the rose. It is the only
community which he did touch which
was not withered almost to death by
his blighting touch. That, however,
is not his fault. He did not finish his
pans.
Then Mr.. Menage transferred his
in aginary hum Of industry and buzz
of wheels to Chicago. He was going
to make West Pullman one of the sub
Urbs there, put George MS Pullman
to the blush.
He did not do this either, the com
pletion of the plan being interrupted
by Mr.. Manages hasty departure for
the revivifying atmosphere of Mexico.
He was all run down." his physicians
said. although, as a matter Of fact he
has not been run down yet Some peo-
pie think that he could be, if Loren
Fletcher and William Henry Eustis
really wanted to convict the absconding
president of the now defunct Guaranty
Loan company, but then some people
are hard to please
People saw Leo Heilpern chased to
Zacatecas or somewhere almost as far
for tapping the till of third-rate roller
mill, and tried four times, at the ex-
pense of more than his speculation, and
they wondered at the efficiency of Min
resota courts and police.
But, when this polished swindler.
leaving a poverty stricken line of wild
ows and orphans from the rock-bound
hills Of Vermont to the bad lands of