The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-01-10
Ia KIDNAPPED
'MILLIONAIRES
A Tale Of VIII Street
and the Tropics * ~
BY FREDERICK u. ADAMS
Copyright, 1901, by I.othrop Publishing Company.
All rights reserved.
CHAPTER vi.
MYSTERY nN MysrEp,


MYSTERY ON MYSTERY.
The hundreds of columns of space
devoted by the New York morning
papers to the great event could have
been condensed into Il few para
graphs, so far as any true explanation
OF the mystery was concerned.
Six men, whose combined wealth
was variously estimated at from
$sOo,OoO,00o to $1,25O, 100000, had dis
appeared as suddenly and completely
as if the earth had opened and
swallowed them. -Four of them
Messrs. Pence, Kent. Haven and Nor
ton-had been in the latter's Office
about four o'clock Oh Monday after
noon. Mr.. Morton's secretary was
sure they held no conference at this
time, and said they soon left the
building. lie thought they left to-
gether, and supposed they went away
in carriages or in an automobile. It
was not uncommon for men distin-
guished in the world of affairs to
meet ct Mr.. Morton's Office. Mr..
Morton had arranged for an impor-
tant conference with some railroad
men at his Office for the following
morning at II o'cblock. The CORE
spondence files showed that fact con-
clusively. Mr.. Morton had telephoned
TO his residence that he would not
be home to dinner. This was not UNI
usual. That was absolutely all that
was known of Mr.. Morton's move
ments or plans.
John M Rockwell WAS in his office
from II o'clock until about two in
the afternoon. He transacted bust
ness as usual and had planned to
start on Il trip to Chicago the follow
ing day. His private car had been
ordered to the Pennsylvania depot.
Andrus Carmody was to accompany
him on this business journey. Both
of these gentlemen had left word at
their residences that they would not
not leave his office until nearly four
o'clock. This was about his usual
hour, and there was nothing in his
correspondence or instructions to in
dictate that he would fail to be on
hand at the regular hour on Tuesday
morning.
Mr.. Kents failure to arrive at his
office nearly drove his brokers dis
tracted. They admitted that he had
left them certain commissions to fill
on Tuesday morning, but the nature
Of them or how they were executed
they declined to make public. He
left his office about four o'clock Mon
day afternoon, but did not say where
he was going.
For the first time in 40 years Simon
Pence failed to come home. Only on
rare occasions did he remain away
from q home dinner. He had stated
that business engagement would
keep him in the city during the even
ing, but that he would be back at a
seasonable hour. The police officials
were notified at midnight of his fail.
ure to return to his residence. Not
fully approaching the significance OF
this event they made no search for
the missing man, and classed it
among the eases; of this kind SO fa-
miliar to the hardened members of
the night police force of the mrtrop,
oils.
This completes all that was known
concerning the mystery.
That the panic was beyond control
was apparent long before the Stock
Exchange opened "Wednesday morn
ing. The governors met and solemn,
ly discussed the alvisablity of clos.
ing the Stock Exchanges until some
light was thrown on the mystery
They dreaded to take this step, but
the situation was unprecedented IL
ordinary emergencies the banks
trust companies, life Insurance com
pnnies ami other representatives oil
capital lad been able to meet ant
adopt a l.lan - rHotrrt the market
and thus avert 81 panic disastrous tt
all interests. lnt tho great heads o
the money power had vanished I'll,
smaller lights Who remained. were
in Il state of physical as wr' as fnan
cial panic. Each imagined himsrl
the NEXT victim. Special pnlicrmr,
guarded all tn" osir"s. and every Wis
itnr WAS scrutiniz"d as Il possible kid
nHppcr. Hundreds # extra police oil
ters were thrown into the financial
district MI Suspicious characters
were arrested. Crowds; were not per
nittcd to nsse nhlr and a condition
approaching martial law prevailed.
The governors Of the Stock EN
change finally decided to open til
session as usual, reserving the powc
10 suspend business il condition
warranted such procedure. TIL
market opened from two to tv
paints below the close of the prev
ols day. Several failures were AZ
npunced. Street & Rogers bougf
about 100000 shares of stock in tn
first hout and then stopped. Wit
their support withdrawn the PAM
increased. There were rumors tina
street & Rogers were heavily "long
and on the point of suspcnding. Thl
the firm emphatically denied, an
stated that they could stand Il flu
Their drop of IS points. On call fc
margins they promptly furnishc
them.
With the panic at its height til
governors met to take action. A m,
1ion was made to suspend bushes
ON the exchange. AS a member ARCS
to discuss this proposition, Il messel
ger entered and handed the presidel
a letter. 1t rcaji rs follows:
Mr.. M. T.. Morton, New York CITY:
Dear Si!: This is to inform you tn