The National tribune., 1901-04-04

/ get for them, and with thousands of 9th
/ ers in like circumstances had come West
| and taken his chances at retrieving his
| fortunes.
| This was told in a frank, straightfor.
| ward way, which seemed to completely
| captivate Mr.. Kuhn, for ne at once spoke
| to Taylor concerning his business in Lara
mic, and bluntly asked him, in the event
of mutual and satisfactory references be
ing exchanged, whether he would accept
| the engagement as Superintendent of his
| and take actual charge of the store in
| that place, and the one about to be estab-
| lished at Benton City.
The result of the evenings interview
| was the engagement of Taylor By the firm
at large salary; his Immediately taking
supervision of the business, without bonds
or any security whatever; and for a time
his management and habits were so able
| and irreproachable that, with the graft
| tude for his protection of Mr. Kuhn at
| Laramie still fresh and sincere, the firm
| felt that they had been most fortunate
| IN their selection of an entire stranger,
and were in every way gratifed with the
| turn events had taken.
THE SUPERINTENDENT AN EMBEZzLER.
During the early morning of a buster
| ing December day Of the same year, | was
| quite annoyed by the persistence of a gen
| tleman TO see me, on what he insisted, in
| the business office of my Chicago agency.
on tefmlng important business"
1t was not later than half-past eight
o'clock. / was elbow-deep in the mass of
letters, telegrams and communications of
| different nature, which in my business.
invariably accumulated during the night,
| and felt anxious to wade through it before
taking up any other matter.
The gentleman, who gave the name of
Kuhn, seemed very anxious to see me,
however, and letting drop the statements
that ne greatly desired to take the morn
ing train for Cheyenne, where he resided
| might not be able 10 be in Chicago again
| for some time; felt very desirous of seeing
me personally; and would require but n
| rev moments TO explain his business,
| which he agreed to make explicit; / CON
cluded to drop everything else and see
| him.
Upon being ushcred into my private
| apartments, he at once hastily gave me an
outline of the facts related in the previous
| chapter, adding new series OF incidents
which occasioned his visit, and to the ef
feet that the firm had made the necessary
arrangements for increasing their bust
ness under their new Superintendent. hay-
ing added largely to their stock at Lara
ME, and placed about $4,000 worth of
goods Mt Benton City
" thS ne T9S re-
quired to forward money whenever the
sales had reached stated sum at each
1 point, and was given authority to take
charge OF goods or money on hand at any
OF the less important stations, when con.
| Vlnced that things were being run loosely,
Of the firm for him to do SO.
1t will be seen that under this arrange
| ment, which was in every respect inSn-
aiclous, no security having been given by
Taylor. he Immediately became possessed
of great responsibility, as well as power:
put appeared to appreciate the unusual
confidence reposed in him, and conducted
the business Of Kuhn Brothers with nm
usual profit to them and credit to him
self. Matters progressed in this way for
some time when suddenly, about the first
OF October, the firm at Cheyenne began to
4, , receive dispatches from different EN-.
| pioyes along the road, inquiring when
Taylor was to return from Cheyenne. and
intimating that business was suffering
| greatly from his absence. The members
OF the hrrn were astonished. They knew
nothing Of Taylor's being In Cheyenne.
On the contrary, their last adyices from
MIN were to the effect that he should be
with large collections; and the announce.
ment was accompanied with glowing ac-
| counts or the prosperity of their business
under his careful management.
After the startling intelligence Of Tay-
lors unaccountable absence, a member of
the firm Immediately left for Laramie.
Benton City. and other points, to ascer,
| tam the true condition of affairs. still I'M
| able to believe that the handsome, cbiv-
| airous Captain had wronged them. and
that everything would be found right upon
examination of matters which was imme.
diately and searchingly entered upon: bnt
| the hrst glance at affairs showed conclu-
siVeiy that they had been swindled. and IL