The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-06-26
Grant GilIett Tells the Story of
His Downfall
To the Herald, While Visiting
the City of Mexico.
THE VICTIM OF A RAID
He Reveals the Identity Of His
Former Partners.
Declares He Will Yet Pay Every
Dollar He Owes.

The Herald OF the City or mexico, ol
| June 81, published an interesting inter
view with Grant G. Gillett, who visited
the capital of the land of the Montezu-
mas in the interest of a business scheme
he is about to launch.
! When asked whether there was any
! truth in the renewed statements that
| had been made to the effect that steps
| were being taken to secure his extradl-
/ ton he said emphatically;
! There is no truth whatever in the
! statements to which you allude. They
! are malicious fabricatiOns. My creditors
| have never applied for my extradition.
| Nor is there any truth in the statement
| that the grand jury of Kansas has
/ found several new indictments against
| me. There is nothing on which they
| could indict me. If they did indict me
| 1T would have to be on false assertions
! The fact is my creditors don't want me
| to go back. They know that paid ev-
/ cry dollar that 1 could and as long as
| 1 could, and they also know that if 1
ever get the money I will pay every
| cent that 1 owe
What do you think, Mr.. Gillett, pre-
| cipitated your catastrophe?"
The hurry people were in to pOunce
| down on my assets. If my estate had
been judiciously handled the loss would
have been far less, or perhaps there
would have been no loss at all. When
1 left I intended to go back, and most
| of the commission men were willing to
| put up money to see me through. They
| had q meeting with my creditors one
morning at the Coates House in Kansas
| City, and decided to put up the money
| to tide the difficulty over. Another
| meeting was to have been held at that
afternoon.
REVEALS IDENTITY OF HIS PART
NERS.
but in the meantime Thomas Trow-
ers' Sons and Dake & Keeler, who were
my partners in the cattle business,
knowing how things stood and de-
terrnined, whatever else happened. to
protect their own interests, hired a
special, went out to my place at Wood
bine and took the cattle that they had
loaned money on to me and as many
other cattle as they could lay hands on.
This was the signal for my other cred
1tOrS to do the same, and then of course
everything went by the board They
threw about 20 900 cattle on the market
| altogether, at SO and SIS a head less
| than they were worth, making a loss
ranging from $4,000 to 100000 from
that source alone. Shafer, of Kansas
| City, another commission man, went
out and offered men 81 a head to bring
in cattle, never mind whose it was. In
this way he made up a trainlOad of cat
tie that BOhart, who is a good sort of a
fellow, had mortgage on and was go
| ing to ship them to Kansas City, when
| Bohart stepped in and told him that he
| had better leave them alone. Bohart
| had his way and shipped them to St.
| Joseph.
THE Bohart Commission company, Of
st. Joseph, and Gilmore & Cooper of
Kansas City, used good judgment and
would have been willing to have fed
| cattle out if others had, and made the
| most of them, but they stood little show
| of doing what was best when they had
| such people to compete with. I think
| they realize that 1 will pay them when
become able.
VICTIM OF A RECKLESS RAID.
Il have given you an idea of the reck-
| less raid that was made on my cattle,
! whereby the market was completely
| broken down. In addition when I left
| home I had $4,000 bushels of corn and
| lots of hay, cane and other roughness
| for feeding cattle, and if these people
had only fed the cattle out and handled
them judiciously, the loss, as l have
| said, would have been very slight if any
| at all. 1 don't know what became of
! the corn, but understood that Shafer
| took most of it,
Il also had about 2OOmules and horses
| worth from $3.50 to 5000 apiece A party
| forged a mortgage on this stock and the
| ink on the mortgage was not dry when
! it went to the register of deeds at Abb
! lene for record. Some of my friends
| saw this forged document and wrote
| and told me about it. This stock went
| for a song. The sheriff sold it without
| any order from the court among some of
! his personal friends He did not adver-
| tise the sale at all and all the stock was
! sold off at private sale, in whispers,
! at from SIS to $50 apiece. The sheriff
| was to get a part of what was made.
| understand that Thomas TrowerS'
| Sons and Dake & Keeler even tried to
collect on old notes that 1 had already
paid.
My belief is" continued GiIlett, after
! a pause, that my real creditors want
! to let me alone. Those who are trou-
| bling me are a lot of buns on the out
| side who have tried to get money out
/ of me and failed. 1 know they couldn't
| put me in Jail If I go back and If thew
| will leave me alone 1 will pay them lust
as fast as l can. L have no intention
| whatever of beating them. MANY of NV
| Io11ea I,r,a %,
! see me and have talked with me in as
| friendly way as you and L are talking
| now just broke up as other men
| have done before. I was attempting to
| carry too much 1 was doing a business
OF $4OOO,OOO a year and was working
| twenty hours a day. 1 was farming
5'ooo acres, which is a good deal in that
| section and my only fault was that per-
! haps l attempted too much
EXPECTED TO S16 REPAY BORROWED
When a man loses his money, he Dor
rows, expecting to be able to pay it back
many of my friends who I suppose. ex-
Pected TO pay me back. and if they had
| done SO | would have been able to pay
| my creditors You can say in your PAPER
that l meyer owed poor man a cent 1
| suppose If a bank had broken and pIung-
| Cd hundreds of poor families into misery.
| the matter would have been dismissed in
| the newspapers with half a dozen lines.
| whereas my trouble has created as much
| American war. I should think thai the
| people by this time would be tired of see
ing my name in print"
| Are you contented at Chihuahua Mr.
| Gillett?' queried the reporter.
as have can never be contenteS 1nI IN s
he is buster than I have been of late. But
apart from that I am delighted with the
There is one thing 7 would like to say.
that were made in the Kansas City papers
to the effect that justice in Mexico can
burn there would be. no chance for my
eXtraditlon; Wen. ha-9 seen nothing of