The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-09-10

she was the widow of a Nevada mine
owner and that she had come east for the
! purpose of disposing of some mining
property. She had charts and maps and
| diagrams of lands and mines and seemed
| to be well posted as to the business on
| hand. 1t was, however, the general i'm
| preston that she was a sharper or adj
! ventures, with a man behind her some-
where, and it was further told me that
| Brown, Smith and Jones, individually
and collectively, were infatuated with her.
| l always wondered why she did not at
tempt to secure my assistance in her
project, but she probably either mistrust-
ed that l suspected her or she thought she
could work her cards without my assist
ance. While each of the three partners
knew that each of the others had been
approached on the same subject-that of
buying the mine-neither of them knew
that the other had been done for by her
fascinating ways. have the strongest
grounds for stating three separate and
distinct beliefs:
First-That Jones expected to marry
her.
Second.-That Brown expected to mar
! ry her.
Third.-That Smith had become so in
fatuated that he would have run away
with her, leaving wife, business and all.
Well, the proposition to buy her silver
mine came up at the business meeting
one morning There was nothing in the
looks or words Of either party to lead one
to mistrust that he had ever met her or
talked it over before. 1t would have been
proper to send some expert out to the
| mine to investigate and report, but she
had given them the names of parties to
write to, and it was agreed that if reports
were favorable the deal should be closed.
/ now for the first time learned of the To-
cation Of the mine l had not only been
on the site and knew the mine to be
worthless, but had friends there who
would attest the fact. Under directions
Of the firm l wrote to the address given
by Mrs. Temple. Acting on my own
Judgment, / also wrote to disinterested
parties.
While waiting for answers to these let
tiers Brown suddenly asked the other two
members of the firm to congratulate him,
as he had decided to get married. They
had hardly done so when Jones announc-
ed that he had also decided on the same
STEP Smith couldn't follow suit having
wife already, but he flushed up and
looked confused and seemed about to de-
clare that he was going to elope, but
caught himself and stopped short.
Ten days had elapsed and answers to
my letters were expected every day when
l was sent to a town a hundred miles
away on business which detained me two
days Returning at 10 o'clock on the
morning of the Sd caught sight Of Mrs.
Temple entering the Second National
and on which our checks Of over $1,000
were drawn. 1t struck me that the let
tiers written in the name of the firm had
arrived and the deal had been closed dur
ing my absence. l followed her in, and
my fears were realized. Indeed Jones
came in after her to identify her. 1t was
make or break, and as she presented the
check / said to Jones:
"Let her wait until l can run over to
our bank and return. Mr.. Haspeth Ito
the teller, please delay payment until
trit1ing irregularity can be arranged"
Jones called to me and ran after me,
but l did not stop or answer. On arriv-
ing at our bank l found three letters ad-
dressed to me from parties in Nebraska
I took time to read only four or five lines
of each, and then. calling on Smith and
Brown to follow, FASTENED to the other
bank We had lively row, | can assure
you The letters addressed to the bank
made the mine out to be big thing, but
those from my friends stamped it as
fraud. 1t was finally agreed that the
check should be returned until further in
vestigation could be made and that after
noon the adventures skipped. to be heard
of no more.
do not know how the partners settled
1t among themselves, but know they had
a private meeting. lasting over two hours.
Perhaps each one of them candidly ad-
mitted that he had made an ass of him
self and promised better things in future.
All know is that when the meeting
broke up affairs in the bank of Brown,
Smith & Jones resumed their old time
routine. and the only allusion to the af
fair was made by Jones, who said. 'Mr
Whitbeck. am instructed to inform you
that your industry and attention to bust
ness have not escaped our observation,
and your salary for the next fiscal year
will be $780,"