The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-07-12
THE MYSTERY OF
THE TRUST BUILDER
sv FRANK LOWELL NELSON.

| mail, / observed an error I'm tho s,ou-
ing OF some common work in the daily
report 1t rather grated on me and /
took my pen and corrected il. AS
turned the sheet over epon the blotter
my eye was attracted by sentence
lightly written in pencil on the back.
The hand was the merest childish
scrawl, and the substance so utter
ly FOOLISH that / paid no attention to il
thought II likely that one of the chill
dren of the clerk whose duty II was
to write up the report had been in the
once scribbling on the blanks. Here
is the report"
imposing pocketbook and laid it upon
the table. We read upon il the follow
! ing sentence:
Il see two black cats on the back
yard fence"
We'll what do you think OF it?"
asked Bolton after Clarke had studied
the scrawl for a few minutes.
| Evidently a disguised hand" an
swered Clarke. This new system of
vertical writing is the easiest penman-
ship imaginable under which 10 hide a
| characteristic hand. But go on. This
certainly is not sufficient excuse for
calling in an expert"
/ Certainly not" answered Bolton.
Il should have thought nothing of this
| followed. / do not say that / imme-
diately connected these events with
this scrawl, but you will see how
was led to this inference as ! proceed
AT the time this report reached me
we had just concluded with the house
OF Forgan & Co. am arrangement to
buy up all of the broom factories in
the country and organize them into a
trust. The broom, as you know. is an
f,c avaf tf.,lo H,,t t. H.
every home in America. Our plans
were going nicely. We had every fac
| tory in the country save one. This
one, however, had an output equal TO
the combined output of all the others,
and it's purchase was absolutely neces-
sary TO our plans.
when this daily report came we
were just opening negotiations for its
purchase with every prospect Of sue
cess. The day after the receipt of the
report l met the owners, and their
terms nearly knocked me into a heap.
Nothing less than the presidency of
| the trust, a majority of the board or
directors. and 81 per cent of the
stock If you know anything about
business. you know that these terms
were impossible. No amount of per
suasion would shake them or disclose
their reasons, and the upshot was that
we gave up the project. the house of
| Bolton 81 Co. lost more money than
1 care TO think about, and my credit
with Forgan & Co. was seriously dam
| aged.
"A few weeks afterward we essayed
/ the launching of the souvenir postal
card trust. 1t may surprise you when
l tell you that the business done in
souvenir postal cards in this country
runs far up into the millions annually.
I had watched the progress of the fad,
and thought i saw a chance for
pretty speculation. We had bought up
a few small houses as a basis. but the
| business was practically controlled by
the big printing firm of Hollawell &
Eubank. whose stock passes on the
curb. The stock had been lowering
around par. and I had given my
| brokers orders to buy the minute it
dropped below 80. We had picked up
but a small block of shares at that
| figure. when one morning, in looking
over the mail, I saw another notation
on the back of the daily report. Here
| il is"
held out and read In the same childish
hand:
1.-Two boys on the grass playing
mumbledypeg.
what happened?" queried Clarke.
| Enough" answered Bolton. 1.-The
next day II. e E. jumped to 10 under
feverish buying. The next to u.s. the
next to 1854 the next to $50. In a
| week a hitherto neglected stock could
not be had at 200. The souvenir postal
card trust was still-born. Our money
loss was not great. but our loss in
| prestige was considerable.
| But il Is useless to multiply cases.
| To epitomize, when New York wrote
Two geese are in the pond" the safety
pin trust went under. When "A fox
ate two chickens appeared, the brick
trust failed with great loss TO Bolton
& Co This brings il down to yester-
| day, when this inscription appeared. -
and Bolton laid a third report before
| us.
The line was:
! "Cataline ct forte dux."
Now, Mr.. Clarke. and Mr.. Sexton.
| may add-as you seem to be equally
interested. I have given you pretty
! full account OF the case. l can never
| tell you the worry it has caused me.
The blows delivered my house recently
have been heavy, and many times /
have seen financial ruin staring me in
the face If you can explain this mys-
terry and put stop to these occur
rences. you may save me from the
! bankruptcy court. which. with me.
LET me ask you first, Mr.. Bolton. "
said Clarke. 'if any similar nota tons
have appeared on any paper which you
send daily 10 your New York Officer
II thought you would ask that. and
I am prepared for you. Some months
ago my son-in-law. Mr.. HaZeD. COM
planned that our daily confirmation of
wired messages was being defaced. and
suggested. rather sarcastically, that we
keep children out of our office. AS
soon % my suspicious began to take
form. q sked him to send me all of
the Ga onfirmations which contained
anything in any manner out of the
ordinary | have made a list OF these
sentences. and here they are.
Three cats eating catnip.'
eff a farmer sold three chickens for"
IF the feathers of sixty ducks will
stuff"
THAT is the list. If you can make
ANYTHING out of such ridiculous nom
sense. you are smarter than I am. and
that's considerable of an admission for
Henry Bolton to make to any man. y
Were these sentences in hand SIM
liar to the one which penned- the lines
on your daily report?" inquired Clarke.