The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1900-04-18
A HAPPY BANKRUPT.
Orange Plight of Druggists Clerk
who ObIigingly Signed Some
Papers.

Ordinarily men see no occasion for
rejoicing in bankruptcy proceedings.
Not so Arnot K. Housekeeper. Until
recently Housekeeper was a drug
clerk and had it not been for the
bankruptcy proceedings he might
have continued to be a clerk for the
remainder Of his days With his
hands thrust deep in his pockets and
little wreaths of smiles sprinkled over
his face, he told the story to report
er the other day, interrupting tho
narrative occasionally to attend Ia
the wants of customers.
about 10 years ago." he began, "a
friend of mine, who is a conveyancer,
came to me and asked me to sign my
name to some mortgage bonds. He
said it was a mere matter of formah1
ty, and as I did not think my sigma
ture could create such a rumpus al
followed I complied with his request,
How many of the bonds 1 signed I
don't know, but they kept coming in
with great frequency. l have since
learned that they made me what In
known as straw mana sort OF
cat's-paw to pull other peoples chest
nuts out of the fire. At that tims
1 was only % years old, and hadn't
q cent in the world except the salary
1 made in the drug store.
well, it wasn't long before che
trouble began. The creditors started
to call upon the straw man to make
good, and suddenly discovered that
l owned half the houses in West Phil
adelphia to say nothing of 400 or 500
properties in small towns up the
state. When l learned what bloat-
ed bondholder and legal scamp I had
become, unbeknown to myself, I was
frightened. My name began to ap7
pear in the sheriff's advertisements,
and I was billed to be sold out all
most every week. For some reason
the sale never took place, probably
because they found out beforehand
that there was nothing to sell.
81 figured up my assets one day and
made them S25.37, counting pair of
old trousers and four-bladed pocket
knife with one blade broken, which
1 valued at 10 cents. Then I added
up my liabilities and they amounted
to $2,s91 ,O93.43. Even if the trousers
had been new and the point hadn't
been broken off the knife, I could
not have begun to satisfy such
thirsty lot of creditors as these.
81 was afraid to buy suit of
clothes, because l didn't know what
minute 1t would be attached. I was
30 nervous that my fears were mag
nified beyond reason. l imagined that
If 1 were to walk downtown dressed
in fine clothes would be set upon i'm
medlately by creditors and sent back
home in garb that would make
Adam blush.
you know it's a fearful RESPONSE
bility to owe So, 100000. 1t isn't every
man who can owe so much. Things
got worse and worse, and l was in a
state bordering on nervous prostra-
ton. Finally l couldn't stand it any
longer, and consulted n lawyer who
lived across the street from me. He
asked if l knew who my creditors
were, and l said he must think l was
human directory, for I owed a thou
sand or two to pretty nearly every
man in Philadelphia. Mr.. gilbert
said that, under the circumstances,
it was no use trying to get releases
from all of them He suggested the
bankruptcy proceedings, and now
thank heaven, I'm free man once
more. I have this little store and
can wear q silk hat and frock coat
II I want to. Oh, tell you it's q
bully thing to be bankrupt."-Phil-
adelphia Tmea