Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-10-04
MANY Will Be LOSERS
The Iowa Lillooet and Hawk
eye Mining Companies Affair
Continues to Be Sensation
sTockHoLIsR Frs MEETING
Action of Maude Hamilton in Destroy
ing Part of the Records Causes the
Most Intense lndienation-Many
People Have Some Sympathy for
Biss-MiIer May Return.

Special to Times Republican,.
Webster CITY, Oct. 4.The one alb
sorbing sensation in northern iowa
today is the financial crash IN the at
fairs of the Iowa Lillooet and Hawk
eye mining companies. organized IN
Iowa Falls. George Shoenhair of Alden
has been buying stock IN these TWO
companies at half cent snare. III
originally cost 10 cents. O. G. Cobb.
also of Alden, however. has sold some
of his holdings as high as l cent per
share. b. b. Bliss. the secretary of
both these companies advertised the
stock of these two mining companies
| very EXTENSIVELY thru all northern Iowa
last summer. A week ago ugly rum
ors began to spread over the state
/ that all was not as 1t should be and
| that The money of the stockholders be-
longing to these concerns was being
/ uit to wrongful uses. THESE rumors
We're followed up by meetings of the
board of directors ana searching ill.,
vestigations-so far as Investigations
could be carried on with many of the
| books and papers of the company burn
ed up-were begun The companies
stenographers had consigned many OF
/ the accounts and papers TO the flames
so that little could be learned of many
OF the concerns transactions. They
believe. however that the deficit of the
Lillooet is $4,000 and of the Hawk
eye. $4,000.
Much Of the stock of these compan-
les was owned in and about Webster
City and in all the cities and towns of
the northern half of the state. The
deficit found IN the affairs of these
companies is the one great topic of
discussion and is calling for varied
comment Oh the part of the newspap-
ers. Ex-Representative Mark Furrier,
in his paper, the Alden Times, has
the following pertinent and searching
paragraphs in his current issue:
The thought that whether or not
the Iowa Lllooet will ever get on it's
| feet again or whether the younger COM
| pany, the Hawkeye, can, by course IF
| law, recover its losses is not the Lead
| ing thought. The one thing that stands
| out in all it's nakedness is the fact that
trusted servants of the two companies,
in possession of the funds gathered in
large and small amounts from rich and
poor, have not been strong enough to
Withstand the temptation placed before
The funds have vanished The
/ Iowa Falls refuses pay
rtr eek for $4,000 in favor of
the Hawke,>, and $4,000 is announced
as the deficit in the Lillooet
Nobody knows what will be done
about it. Great as the financial loss
has been, it is counted small in COM
parison to the complete upsetting Of
human fidelity and integrity. 1t may
he that part of the money may be
restored. but the idol itself, the one
central figure, around which all hope
has centered. has toppled from it's foun-
dation and lies shattered in the dust
of things common and unclean.
THE name of Byron B. Bliss is not
spoken in anger or hatred or in ac
cents of hoped for revenge. 1t has be-
come sob III the throats of all who
utter it. II he, himself, his wife or
father restores all and more than has
been taken, 1t will make little difference.
The dream that sounded so real is
gone. Even Byron Bliss proved UNI
true. He could not be strong where
strength was the one thing needed
The exact dates of the various mis-
appropriations are likely to be brought
to light by the eastern bonding COM
pany by which the Lillooet was sup
posed to be secured The bond expired
on August 18th. The defalcation came
to light September 18th, nearly a month
later When 'Jas the money taken?
The question is important. No bonds
have ever been taken out to secure the
Hawkeye.
The discovery of the trouble has been
due fully to the alleged inability of the
Lillooet dregde to produce results. AS
day after day passed and the dredge
gave no important returns, the officers
of the new company, the Hawkeye,
became restless and held a meeting at
Iowa Falls. They determined that no
,iredge should be bought for the new
company, and a motion was passed
that no contract should be entered into
until December 1st On request of the
directors, Secretary Bliss furnished a
check for $4,000 on the State Bank of
funds supposed to be on hand. Only
one assessment has ever been made on
the stock, but many had already paid
in full, without demand The check was
countersigned by H. c. Miller, treas
urer of the company. 1t was present.
ed for payment, and payment was re-
fused on the ground that the Hawk
eve account had all been drawn out.
Mr. Bliss has been very sick at his
palatial home on the south side in
Iowa Falls, accessible only to his ply
sician, DR.. Morton, and Mr.. Miller Is
out of town, presumably at Lillooet or
some other point in Canada. 1t is UNI
derstood that Mr.. Miller's bond also
expired on August 10. Mrs. Bliss has
made application to the courts for a
guardian for her husband She az
leges that he is temporarily, mentally |
unbalanced and is incapable of trans- |
acting his business
Just how important a part Mr.. Mir |
Ter has taken in the wrecking of the
two financial ventures is uncertain. He
has never been regarded as so essen~
tial to either one as Mr.. Bliss has, and
his absence is not considered surpr1s-
ing. This is the judgment OF his own
business associates.
The sharpest kind of contrast exists
in public estimation of Mr.. Bliss and
his stenographer, Mrs. Hamilton.
Representative Furrier. who has jus,
returned from business trip to Iowa
Falls, has the following to say of this
phase of the matter eve did not hear