The Mercur miner. [volume] (Mercur, Utah) 1895-1913, 1907-10-09

much OF a fool he is. state To
think so poorly Of YOU as your at
] tempt To fool me seems to compel"
But he was unconvlnced. "I've
found he intends to abandon the ship
and leave me to go down with It," he
| persisted Gle believes he can escape
/ and denOunce me as the arch rascal
| who planned the combine, aud can
/ convince people that fooled him
| into it."
Ingenious; but happened to know
that it was false Pardon me. Mr..
Langdon,' said | with sun courtesy.
II repeat. ! can do nothing for you.
| Good morning And went at my
work as II he were already gone.
Had been vindictive. | would have
led him out to humiliate himself
more deeply, If greater depths of
humiliation there are than those to
which he voluntarily descended But
| wished to spare him. | let him see
the uselessness OF his mission. He
looked at me in silence-the look OF
hate that can come only from a crea-
ture weak as well as wicked. think
II was all his keen sense of humor
could do to save him from a melo-
dramatic outbreak lie slipped into
his habltual pose. rose and withdrew
without another word. All this fright
and groveiing and treachery for plum.
der, the loss of which would not i'm.
pair his fortune-plunder he had
stolen with many n jest and gibe at
his helpless victims. Like most of our
debonair dollars chasers. he was a
good sportsman only when the game
was with him.
That afternoon he threw his Coal
holdings on the market in great
blocks. His treachery took RoebucL
completely by surprise-for Roebuck
believed in this fair-weather gentle
man." foul-weather coward. and neg.
lected to allow for that quicksand that
is always under the foundation OF the
man who has inherited, not earned,
his wealth. But for the laundering
credulity of rascals. would honest
men ever get their dues. Roebuck's
brokers had bought many thousands
OF Langdons shares at the high arti-
fetal price before Roebuck grasped
the situation-that IL was not my fol-
lowers recklessly gambling to break
the prices, but Langdon unloading on
his pal" AS soon as he saw, he
abruptly withdrew from the market.
When the Stock Exchange closed. Ma.
tional Coal securities we're offered at
prices ranging from IL for the bonds
to two for the common and three for
the preferred-offered, and no takers.
We'll. you've done It," said Joe,
coming with the news that Thornley,,
OF the Discount and Deposit bank, had
been appointed receiver.
I've made a beginning" replied |.
| had decided to concentrate upon
Roebuck, because he was the richest
and most powerful of THE Seven"
For. in my pictures OF the three main
phases of "finance"-the Industrial,
the life insurance and the banking
he. as arch plotter in every kind OF
respectable skulduggery, was neces-
sarily in the foreground. My original
intention was to demolish the Power
Trust or, at least, to compel him to
buy back all Of its stock which he had
worked of on the public. had col
lected many interesting facts about it,
facts typical of the conditions that
finance has established In so many
OF our industries
For instance, was prepared to
show that the actual earnings of the
Power Trust was two and half times
what its reports to stockholders al.
legged; that the concealed profits were
diverted into the pockets of Roebuck,
his sons. IL other relatives and four
of THE Seven" the lions share go.
Ing. OF course, to the lion. Like al.
most all the great Industrial enter
prises, too strong for the law and too
remote for the supervision OF their
stockholders, II gathered in enormous
revenues TO dlsburse them chiefly in
salaries and commissions ana rake.
offs on contracts TO favorites. | had
proof that in one year IL had written
on ~ millions OF profit and loss, 10 |
millions Of which had found its way
to Roebuck's pocket
had no choice must turn aside
from Roebuck; | must first show ina |
while Textile was. in a sense. sound |
just at that time, II had been unsound. |
and would be unsound again as soon !
as Langdon had gathered in a sufi. |
cient number of lambs TO make a
battue worth the while OF a man deal. |
Ing in nothing less than seven figures. |
| proceeded 10 do so.
The market yielded slowly. Under
my first days attack Textile preferred
fell six points, Textile common three. |
While was In the midst OF debating
my letter for the second days attack,
| suddenly came 10 full stop |
found across my way this thought:
Isn't Il strange that Langdon. after
himself to you, should make
this bold challenge? It's a trapl"
mo more at present" said |. tol
stenographer. "And don't write out
what I've already dictated"