The Washington herald., 1907-10-25
TREASURER Is GONE
Mergenthaler-HO Horton Basket
Company Goes to Smash.
MISSING OFFICIAL IS BLAMED
All hooks and Records Taken from
COmpany's Omce-ConvincinE Ad-
VeriiSemcnts Responsible for Lur-
ing Investors Into Purchasing Al
most Worthless stock.

New York, Oct A-The Mergenthaler-
Horton Basket Company, which has sold
nearly Sl5OO,OOO worth of stock in New
York Philadelphia, and the surrounding
country. has gone to smash and the
--latest Office Of the company. al No
Montgomery street, Jersey City, has been
striped of all the books and papers OF
the concern.
Incidentally. Charles R. Barlow, the
traslrer of the company, and one OF the
founders, has vanished completely, and
is believed to have been responsible for
the disappearance Of all the records. ).
B. Parkhurst, the president, of New
Haven, Conn who has several reasons
for wanting 10 find the missing treasurer,
has been able TO get no trace Of him.
Parkhurst Lost Small Fortune.
Mr.. ParkhUrst who runs a lithograph-
ing business at New Haven and was we'll
to-do before he was pulled into the
Horton company, IS said 10
have lost a small fortune in trying 70
support Barlow in his aims and ambitions
and through indorsing his personal notes
TO a great amount. Barlow hurried away
a couple Of days before a number Of these
notes fell due
Folks who read the advertising col
Umns of certain newspapers TO get a
line on some good investment PROPOSE
tiOn first heard of the MerSenthaler-
Horton Basket Company about tive years
ago. when whole page advertisements
We're being used to tell how good the
stock was.
Would RevOIutionize Industry,
The company Was Incorporated At
100000, the par value of the stock
being 81. According to the advertise
ments the Horton machine
was going TO make a standard style OF
fruit basket which would revoluuOnize
the basket industry in a short time. The
statement that manufacturers OF fruit
and berry baskets Were cleaning up 81
100000 a year profit was made IN con-
nection with the announcement that by
the Observation-Disclosures process the
profits for men who made baskets by
hand could be put completely in the
shade.
AS the results Of these representations.
the public bought stock in the company
by the wagon load The stock was selling
at about . cents. and was boosted up by
means of the page advertisements until
at one time the price reached 70 cents A
stack of II was sold at that price through
the representations that the company al
ready had orders for 5000 600 baskets and
could sell them as fast as the factory
could turn them out
Baskets Were Really Made.
There was trouble inside in the COM
pany, which resulted in the retirement Of
II. H. Warner and the election of Mr..
Parkhurst to the presidency. For few
months the plant really made baskets,
but It never turned out more than car
load a day, and then for only a few days
at a time.
The beginning Of the COmpanys trou-
bles came last spring, when action was
started by one Of the stockholders which
finally put the plant in the hands OF a re-
ceiveT The factory went right on doing
business. however. until "a short time ago.
when through the management of Treas
urer Barlow il was found to be hope
lessly involved.