The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1899-10-03

HOW MOTHER DUFFIELD GOT
THE BETTER OF THE BOOM.


mighty column of flame shot up into
the air, the earth trembled and peo-
pie looked weird and CHASTITY in the
uncanny light as they read one an
others lips, for no voice could be
heard; but there was no conflagra
ton.
How'll they ever put it out?"
Jako's lips asked.
How the Squire's lips repeated
as he shook his head.
Up to that night Squire Dufield
had ranked as an ultra conservative
among the boomers, but tho sight of
that tremendous nantes tation of
| power had shaken him out of his old
! ideas and habits. He felt dazed and
uncertain for several days, when he
became restless and had an irrepress-
IDLE desire to go to town and hear
more OF the wonders that were COM
ing to plss. All of the farmers near
! town were planning to plot their land
| for house lots or factory sites and the
! Squire sighed, rejecting that his land
was too far from town for any such
| purpose.
There was to he shoe factory, n
! plate-glass factory, an optical glass
factory and ever so many othcy works
that would employ hundreds of men
and bring in thousands of dollars.
The greatest enterprise of all was to
be the rolling mill which The suave
and imposing Major Gloss was ex-
plotting. 1t was reported that the
company which he said he had formed
represented n capital of half million
dollars. A billion could scarcely have
impressed the Swantoniaus more.
! Squire Dulicld's brother-in-law had
! sold his farm mt Il fancy price for the
site of the new mill, and massive
| buildings were being erected for the
accommodation of the machinery, the
largest and heaviest of its kind in the
world, which was being brought from
Furnacetown, Major Gloss assuring
| the Swantonians that he could not
/ think OF remaining in n place where
there were only 1000 people when
he saw opportunities presented by
| city with such future as Swauton.
The rolling mill and the Buckeye De
velopment and Improvement Com
pany were the biggest things in sight,
and some people intimated that the
two were one; that is, that the same
men were promoting both.
well, what of it?" returned the
! boom-mad spectators "Ain't they
prominent men and capitalists? OF
course, they want to be on the inside
wherever there are millions to be made,
and they're lucky who can get in
with EN-"
There was q wild scramble for this
| prlyllege-it was the stock exchange
transferred to a virgin field. Swanton
never had seen so much cash or
/ dreamed of so many notes, deeds and
| legal documents OF various sorts as
/ tloated about i'll these days. The
County Recorder had to hire extra
| deputies and clerks, notaries end real
estate dealers sprang up on every cor
ncr. pawnshop was started to en-
/ able tho boomers To turn their las t
/ possession into cash. Loutish coun-
try boys and commonplace town clerks
were alike stung with the mad desire
| for speculation, and older heads were
/ lost with equal precipitation. Paper
was indorsed readily and uuquestion-
ably, and promptly discounted by tho
bank, which had hired an extra room
aud three times as many employees rs
ever had been required before.
RcaIy-made houses were brought
to town in sections and set mp like
ridiculous toys on twenty-five foot
lots in Suylcr's subdivision, worth
loss piece of swampy land between
tho creek and the canal which the
Buckeye Development and Improve
ment Company had bought and plot
ted, theirs also being tho rcady-madc
houses. Mass meetings were held in
tho town hall and IN the public square
end cnthusiasm was without bounds.
Squire DuiIieId could withstand the
Ollurcmcnts of tho craze no longer.
His boarded $4,000 and all tho money
that Inc could raise by mortg1ginp the
land, including what he had acquired
through fruEa!Ity and industry and
the homestead that had como 10 him
FROM his father, wcrc invested i'm the
rolling mill aud in allied enterprises
promising q speedy return of dollars
for cents Farm work was neglected
for the first timo iu bis life it was
not worth whiio 10 grub n living In
. horioualy from tho soil when for.
tune WINS to be lad by such facilc
mcaua.
Tho SIuirc's sons wcro swept on
their feet, and from steady hard.
working young fellows, took Coz driv.
ing rccklcasly about the country at an
/ hours of the day and night, drinking
and gambling aud pursuing general
mode Of life detrimental TO their man