Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1900-05-09
HAD S25. OWED So ooo,ooo
Plight of Druggists Clerk Who Ohii,..
ingly Sisncd Some Papers.

ingiy Signed Some Papers,
Ordinarily men see no occasion for re
Joieing In bankruptcy proceedings Nut
so Arnot X. HouSekeeper. saws me
philadelphia Times. Until rccpntly
Honsekeeper was drug clerk. and hal
ut not been for the bankruptcy proceed
1ngs he might have continued TO he "A
clerk for the remainder of his davs.
With his hands thrust deep In his pork-
cts and little wreaths of smiles Sprini
kled over his face, he told the story to
a reporter, interrupting the narrative
occasionally to attend to the wants OF.
customers.
About thirteen years ago. he be-
gan. IA friend of mine, who Is Al con
veyancer, came to me and asked np to
sign my name to some mortgage bonds.
lie said 1t was mere matter of for,
mality, and as | did not think my sig
nature could create such Il rumpus as
followed complied with his request.
How many of the bonds | signed i
don't know, but they kept coming In
with great frequency. | have since
learned that they made me what Is
known as straw mana sort of eats
paw to pull other peoples chestnnts
out OF the fire. At that time was only
% years old, and hadn't n cent In the
world except the salary made In the
drug store.
We'll. 1t wasn't long before the
tropble began. The creditors started
TO call upon the straw man to make
good, and | suddenly discovered that |
eSned half the houses In West Phila-
delphia, to say nothing of four or five
hundred properties In small towns up
the State. When | learned what a.
bloated bondholder and legal scamp |
had become unbeknown to myself, |
was frightened. My name began TO
appear In the sheritf's advertisements,
and / was billed to be sold out almost
every week. For some reason the sale
never took Hace, probably because
they found out beforehand that there
was nothing to sell.
Il figured up my assets one day and
made them $25.37, counting n pair of
old trousers and n four-bladed pocket
valued at 13 cents. Then added up
my liabilities and they amounted to
S2S91 ,093.43. Even II the trousers had
been new and the point hadn't been
broken off the knife | could not have
begun to satisfy such thirsty lot of
creditors as these.
II was afraid to buy n suit of clothes,
! hAa I.,fA -l.,t
would be attached. l was so nervous
that my fears were magnified beyond
reason. l imagined that if l were to
walk down town dressed In fine clothes
l would set upon Immediately by
creditors and sent back home in garb
that would make Adam blush.
You know it's a fearful responsible
| ity to owe $3.000,000. 1t isn't every
man who can owe so much. Things
got worse and worse, and l was in a
state bordering on nervous prostration.
Finally couldn't stand it any longer.
and consulted lawyer who lived
across the street from me- He asked IL
l knew who my creditors We're, and
said he must think l was human di-
rectory, for l owed : thousand or two
to pretty nearly every man In Phila-
delphia. Mr. Culbert said that, under
! the circumstances, it was no use try
Ing to get releases from all of them.
He suggested the bankruptcy proceed
ings, and now, thank heaven, I'm free
man once more. / have this little store
and can wear a silk hat and a frock
coat If l want to. Oh, tell you it's
bully thing to be a bankrupt"