Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1900-05-04
THE CASH STORE.
MISUNDERSTANDING. and disbursements
Have Resulted from tic Mystery Sur
roundlng Its Affairs.

MISUNDERSTANDING and Estrangemen ut
Have Resulted from tic Mystery Snr-
:, = rounding Its Affairs.
For the past several weeks ther
has seemed to be an air Of myster,
surrounding the status of the busi
ness and financial transactions o
the Crawford Cash Store, of thi
city. AS the days 60 by, this stu
alton seems to be more and more
complicated. There has been 6
strong under current of opinion
pro and con and q certain amount
of criticism and estrangement has
resulted. And the end is not yet
In order to ascertain the facts
and publish them, the GAZETTE
has been at some pains to arrive at
the truth; and, the following are
the facts which it has unearthed,
here presented, impartially and
without bias, and, it hopes, without
any appearance of sensationalism.
Something like four years ago,
Miss Emma Crawford, who had had
previous business training, at one
time having occupied a desk in a
bank, it is said, came to Corvallis,
and opened a store, known as The
Cash Store. Here she sold ladies'
fancy goods, stationery, small
notions, and seemed to thrive pros
perously. 1t is said that her CAPT
tai to open this store was obtained
from assistance from her father who
encountered the home place in
Salem to enable tine store to get
started. Durin., the time since the
store opened, until a couple of
weeks ago, it has been conducted
exclusively by Miss Emma Craw-
ford. She has enlarged the scope
of the business adding from time to
time other lines, and now has a
very we'll selected stock of goods in
the store, which by an invoice re-
Gently made by a Mr.. Mills, ofIn-
dependence, and assistance obtained
in Corvallis, amounts to something
like 5000, since which invoice the
store has been locked and the keys
in possession of a representative of
the parties interested.
Instead, however, Of prospering,
the Cash Store seems to have been
running on a very narrow margin.
Although expenses were light the
profits seem to have been lighter
still. And the increase in the stock
may be attributed to the increased
amount of indebte dness rolling up
against the store. Several months
stree, the proprietor became con-
nected with another woman, who
seems to haye permitted the use of
her money in the stock. A sudden
call for the balance Of the money
used in this manner, apparently
produced in the proprietor a state
of mind at variance with her past
history and family training, the re-
suit OF which was a volume Of paper
issued as evidence of Indebtedness
to persons in this community who
advanced money in amounts from
5000 down to $50; all on short time
and all unsecured, and checks on
banks, and an unusual in
dustry in soliciting and OBJ
tanning loans ON notes and money
on checks, very surprising to the
community, indeed. The money
obtained in this way paid off the
woman having q claim, and to fol-
low the short time loans made, and
taken up by money obtained on
other loans and checks, would make
a short history in itself. 1t per-
meated the entire community.
The issue was large considering the
size of the entire debt, which is
estimated at about $1,000, and the
changes from one person to another
were quick and difficult to follow.
There does not seem to have been
any disposition of money obtained
in this manner other than to pay
out to persons pressing at the mo-
ment for their pay. The method
of obtaining these loans led to
a strong under-culrent of opinion
and conjecture, anything but fiat
tering.
The matter finally assumed such
large proportions, that a pending
sale of the. stock of goods in the
store, which were being invoiced to
determine their purchase value,
had to be broken off. The pur-