The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-05-07

when colonel OnNer DOckery, OF ten-
lucky, graciously introduced himself to
Wall street he carried a map of Logan
county, the typewriter prospectus of a
projected railroad, unlimited assurance ard
a capacity for whiskey cocktails that had
never been fully tested. AS his assurance
was polished with the manners of gentle
man and he insisted on paying for three of
every FIVE rounds of his favorite drink the
street received him with liberation. The
colonel let 1t be known that he had no i'll
feeling towards money sharks or bloated
bondholders. In fact he impaired to his
new acquaintances that he was going to
do Wall street favor. Tho bulls and bears
of that golden pasture land were to have I'm
opportunity to buy the stock and bonds of
his railroad.
After many days of patient waiting Col
onel Doclery succeeded in gaining a pri-
vate audience with the head of prominent
firm of investment brokers and then and
there he unfolded his map of Logan county
and his plans for making fortune for him
self and all his friends, including the new
ones in Wall street. For the purpose Of
Illustration the colonel had drawn red line
half way across his map, and when the
chance came to him to talk he painted
verbal railroads all along the route of his
projected railroad. He had not obtained
right of way nor moved spadeful of earth,
but such things were mere details to be
looked after by the officers of the company
when elected. Colonel Dockery looked be-
yond constructions trains and way stations
to union depots of wealth hidden away in
the forests of Kentucky.
My dear sir, this is a fortunate day for
u.s. the colonel began as he spread his map
across the brokers' desk. 1.-THE matter l
am about to present to you 1 have had IN
der consideration since the year after the
surrender. 1 am not enthusiastic, sir, am
getting a little a little too old for enthusi-
asm, so I merely state a plain business
proposition when I say there is great wealth
in this enterprise of mine. I might say--rto,
I won't say there are millions in it-that
would sound like Mulberry Sellers, you
know. We will call it fortunes The pos
sibilitles of this enterprise are so vast
shall not attempt to go into details. 1 will
, only say that there is money in IT, loads of
money, yes sir loads of it, and you will be
right on the ground floor"
You want to build a railroad?' said the
broker.
I'VE are going to build one. sir; In fact 1t
is as good as constructed. All we have to
do is to organize and sell the bonds. Per-
haps you would accept the office of presi-
dent of the company? I do not care to IN
dertake the active management of the en-
terprise at my time of life"
"Where Is your road?'
fright here. sir, the red line across the
map. Right through the heart of Logan
county. This heavy black line on the mar
gin is the Ohio river. Cincinnati is over
there about the southwest corner of your
desk. and we will place your ink stand
over here for Louisville. Our road begins
down here>at the river The freight depot
will be located right along side the steam
boat landing, thereby securing the closest
possible junction of rail and water trans-
portation'
"Where are the towns along your line?"
Towns? Oh they'll spring like magic at
every station as soon as the road is opened
for traffic"
Eyes, but what are you going to haul?"-
''Tanbark sir; tanbarll Wen supply the
tanneries of the world from Logan county.
Our western miners speak of striking oay
dirt, We win call our enterprise striking
tanbark; in fact. when the line Is finished
It will be known as the Tanbark road. We
might have that printed on the bonds. Clev-
er idea, don't you think so? Ha, har
Call it the road to Tanbark If you like,
but where is the money to come from, Col
one Dockery?"
"From the tanbark sir: but we must have
longer name for the purpose of incorpor-
ation Suppose We call the corporation
"The Ohio River and Tanbark Railroad and
Transportation company"
"Never mind about the name How are
built?"
make it pay? Why my dear sir you
can't keep 1t from paying Tanbark will DO
the business. You know there are large
tanneries in Cincinnati and Louisville They
use vast quantities of bark which they buy
in the nearest market That is Logan coun-
ty. Cincinnati is right over there and the
ink stand represents Louisville. Our road,
the red mark on the map. Is the main line
of transportation. We not only transport.
we produce and sell the goods. Land Is
very cheap along tho line of our road ard
we will buy up a few thousand acres of
timber before the people are aware of our
plans Then we gather the bark, transport
it to the river over our own road and there
YOU are!"
81 am sorry to say. colonel that I cannot
SEQ where the profit Is to come from"
Every well, here are few figures If YOU
care to go into details. There are at q
rought estimate 1,400, 900 900 oak trees in Lo-
gan county. Fourteen average trees will
yield a ton of bark. That is 100000 900 tons
and at present market price the bark will
net us IS per ton including transportation.
There you are. sir, $500 co., 900 in sight the
| moment we strike tanbark with our rail-
road"
Colonel Dockery was invited to call again
in week. The broker also suggested that
he might in the meantime prepare an esri-
mate of the cost of building and equipping
the road, together with the market value Of
the timber land to be acquired. and cost of
gathering and collecting the tanbark and
percentage of loss in drying. That night
the colonel dreamed of carloads of golden
tanbark and rode back and forth on his
prospective railroad in private palace car
without disturbing the vision. He spent the
succeeding week extending his circle of ac-
quaintances in Wall street and along upper
Broadway, and he was so good natured and
liberal that his occasional yelled references
to striking tanbark were regarded merely
as a kentucky colloauialism. When he
called at the end of the week to arrange
with his broker the details of organization
of the company he was little surprisedSto
find that Mr.. Bond had sailed for EuFape
three DAYS before without leaving any riifS-