Arizona republican., 1906-10-21

in the gas business. Well. must be going You may send my stuff by ex- press to Chicago. And you may hear from me later"
 Three days later a young man from Chicago appeared at Fayette and pur- chased the shoe and stove polish fac
 tory of Henry Larsen. with all it's as- sets. paying $SOO0 cash down and talk ing immediate possession. On the next Thursday afternoon Tomlinson came up again from Me trOpOlis and called at the office of Peter Potter at the appointed hour. He was extremely anxious. for the announced . opening of the Public Gas company
 was now only a few days off.
 The privateer was standing at his office window, looking out at the dis tant lake and rocking away as usual
 when the colored man ushered Tomlin- son into the room.
 "Tomlinson.' said Peter abruptly, [ "are you prepared to spend S5O.OOO a
 month for half a year?,.
 NO. of course I'm not, What do you mean? Lord, Potter. that's a lot . of money" blurted the startled gas president.
  1 Peter Potter
 But what .are you going to do?'' persisted Tomlinson.
 I'm surprised at you. TomlinsOn," ," ! said the privateer. I'm really sur | prised. But you don't expect me to | tell you"
 But how can be sure of anything?'' ! pleaded the president. 1 You can't. Tomlinson. you cant. | That's the great trouble with these semi-specUlative enterprises. But if We go ahead I don't believe the Pub | lie Gas company will, turn on the day l announced"
 Well said the despairing and mys- 1 tified Tomlinson, 'go ahead then. Wen l try it on, anyhow" ] The day before the date announced for the turning of gas into the city
 mains of the Public company HOefeld and his associates had arranged a private test to see that everything was
 in order. The test was an utter failure. l There was no pressure in the mains. l They worked the long distance tele- phone and had double pressure put on ! the pumps at their main reservoirs. 1 still something was the matter. The gas didn't come. Hoefeld hurried the announcement of a postpOnement into ] the newspapers.
 The delay will be only temporary, % [ he said
 | But two weeks hard work did not ] locate Nthe cause of the failure. The main pipe line was carefully inspected ] for every foot of its distance and no i leaks were found. Hoefeld himself went down into Fayette county and ] personally directed the search. He 1 could get no trace.
 Finally one day, three weeks after | the day originally appointed for the | test an emplOye of the Fayette County ! Gas company in the regular course of his work called at the Larsen Sunlight Shoe and Stove Polish factory to read
 the gas meters. He discovered that 1 during the past few weeks millions up- { on millions of feet of gas had been used, and gasped with astOnishment. Half an hour later HOefeld came
 rushing into the Larson factory, fu- rious with anger.
 Whats the matter here he demand ed. You're using enough gas to run all h-l! You've cut down our pres
 sure so that we can't open up in the city. Is there a leak?"
 Not at all sir said the calm young
 man from Chicago. I've recently 1 bought out the factory, you know. and
 we're greatly increasing our capacity.
 Besides we're conducting some eXper- iments just now tbat take a lot of heat i We're trying to make a new radium polish thatlI do great things. If you'll ! present your bill I'll give you a check | for the amount"
 Well you've got to stop using so
 much. that's all," roared Hoefeld. I'll | take you into court if you don't Go ahead" said the new proprietor, ! boldly but he was, as a matter of fact. | badly frightened. He wired to Peter I Potter for instructions. That's easy came back the an ! swer. Take your contract into court and get an injunction against their shutting off the supply. Act first" The injunction was issued and next month the consumption of gas in the
 Larsen Sunlight Polish factory went
 up many more millions of feet. Tom | linson groaned as he advanced the money to Peter Potter but the mains
 of the Public Gas company were still
 empty and there was nothing else to | be done
 About the middle of the third month HOefield came around to see TOmlin- son with proposition. He would sell