Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-12-17

MN an opening in New York"
Late that afternoon Warde ran
across Hillsman, who had just got
up. The debauch of the night before
had told plainly upon him. his flushed
race and bloodshot eyes bearing con
elusive evidence against him. He did
not allude at all to the meeting of
the previous evening. and it was evil
dent that dissipation had drawn a
veil over all that had happened and
lett in his mind merely blank.
Warde was considerably relieved on
this score, for at present he did not
care to complicatc matters by having
to consider Frank as an element in
them.
At eight o'clock Warde and Mr.. Ev-
erett were again closcted together
and the paper that had caused such a
vast amount Of trouble was taken
from the safe and carefully read. It
was dated 20 years before the time
of this story. The handwriting was
bold and plain. The following were
the contents in full:
AGREEMENT BETWEEN JOHN T.
WRIGHT AND JAMES FRANKLIN
John r. Wright has this day made the
Following transfers of property with the
subjoined understanding with James
Franklin The Wright homestead. 500
acres MI improvements. The Magnolia
plantation. 1900 acres In parish
Louisiana. The Coahoma plantation. s..
go acres. in Mississippi. The Queen City
plantation, $3.50 acres. In Arkansas A
lot on Maine and Boulevard In the city
Of Nilus, ~ by 80 feet. A lot on Linden
street near the Bayou. 100 by 200 feet
lot on Front row, near Madison. 20 by
10 feet. with improvements All to the
Shelby Real Estate and Investment com
pany. tract of land in Young county,
Texas. s.957 acres. TO the shelby County
Real Estate and Investment company
A tract Of land in --- county Colorado
5000 acres. To the Diamond Mining com
pany Of Denver Col
Theee transfers are made to protect
the said John r. Wright from sundry
suits AT law. which threaten to grow
out of the difficulty that terminated in
he death Of jeremiah Baxter at the
hands OF tho said Wright. Regretting as
he does the necessity of taking human
life. the said Wright is not willing that
his estate shall he sacrificed and the
welfare Of his family ieoparded and
these transfers are made with tho dis
tinct understanding that whenever the
said Wright desires to revest these vari-
Gus properties in his own name the said
James Franklin will take steps to at
once turn over all the papers with which
he Is intrustcd. and that he will at once
secure said Wright in the possession Of
his property The consideration alleged
in these various deeds was never paid
over. James Franklin binds himself as q
man of honor and a friend of John T.
w i'll, Cot, l. ,,ti f,,1E
this agreement whenever the said Wright
so de sires. JOHN r. WRIGHT.
JAMES FRANKLIN.
'That is certainly one of the most
remarkable documents that it has
ever been my fortune to consider"
said the lawyer. his keen eyes snap
ping with relish for "A novelty in le-
gal literature. Have you any idea
what the paper is WORTH"
Il should say two or three hundred
thousand dollars" said Irving.
''lt is nearer ten or twelve mil
lions" declared the lawyer.
Irvng's eyes betrayed a dazed sur
prise as he gaspingly repeated the
words after MIR. Everett. The latter
smiled and said Il haven't the
slightest doubt that Frederick Meri-
vale would give at least 81 100000 for
the rights secured in the Wright es-
tate by this paper"
"Rut-how can il beg" asked Irving
in a whisper
Before ] explain this part, let me
tell you this: that the Shelby County
Real Estate & Investment company
and the Diamond Mining company of
Colorado are virtually and practically
James Franklin. These facts were
discovered by Fenton. who at my
suggestion has examined the records
in the registers office, and learned
the exact state of the case. 1t was
easy sailing about the real estate
company. but lhe facts concerning
the mining company were harder to
get at. 1t became necessary to have
thorough investigation. and with
this end in view FentOn went to Colo
RADIO and there he soon learned that
Re local incOrporators in the Dia-
iond Mining company were dunn
large proportion of the stock.
These two companies were evidently
created by Wright and Franklin for
the purpose of more thoroughly con-
cealing the real nature of the trans
fers made. Fenton paid a visit to
the Colorado tract of land, and II
proved to be in the heart of a rich
i,,t, h,,;,x -tfrht
had bought il for a song and had
looked upon il as a very Indifferent
speculatiOn: but in 20 years great
changes have been wrought. mines of
vast richness have been worked. and
now il turns out that the eyes of all
the gold diggrrs in Colorado are
turned grccdily toward this tract of
land situated among the hills. TO
the northeast of the tract very
successful mine has been conducted
for number of years. Recently the
vein of ore became richer and richer
until finally il ran dead against ire
mondous wall of solid sandstone,
which some upheaval Of nature had
thrust into the precious vein, For
days and days the miners sought 10
discover the broken thread. but in
vain. until an old fellow who owned
dog" came along. The dog is
some kind of mystic apparatus which
will Indicate the whereabouts of gold,
just as the witch hazel is said to point
out a Subterranean stream OF water.
Wen. this old fellow climbed over the
great wall Of sandstone into rocky