The San Francisco call., 1910-12-17
MCLAUGHLIN
STOCK VALUABLE
Suicide Needed Patience TO Wait
for Rise in Shares That
He Owned
Continued From Page 1


made careful computations. been equiv
alent to that from several thousand
dollars conservatively invested
Like practically all his other prop
erty, this stock was pledged as security
for money borrowed in times of finan-
cial stress. and later disposed Of en-
tireIy 1t was to Z. T. Bari of Los
Angeles that Mclaughlin pledged the
Western Power stock, and later trans
ferred it.
That Mclaughlin would have been
rich today had he been patient is well
known to Samuel N. Rucker, admin
of his estate.
If Major Mclaughlin had held on a
little longer" said Rucker yesterday.
"he would not only have had enough
to pay off all his debts, but would
have had enough left over to enable
him to live in comfort. He would have
geen on Easy street today.
Big Deals and Little Cash
Il have heard Earl upbraided for
taking those Western Power shares
under the circumstances that he did.
Why, two years ago, when Mclaughlin
killed himself, they were worth $780,
000 They are worth more now.
1T was Major Mclaughlin who really
put through most of the big deals of
the company. and he told me that he
received $4,000 cash and the block of
stock which is now so valuable. 1t has
been suggested to me that some of this
stock might be recovered from Earl,
but 7 do not know about that
Major Mclaughlin was closely asso-
ciated with Brown & Wilson of New
York. who acted for the company ffnan-
cially. There were two or three other
properties that he held and disposed Of
that are now of great value. lit
tie longer and his financial troubles
would have all been over"
Prospect for Secretary
Attorney Randolph V. Whiting, who,
with Attorney Frank H. Gould. repre-
sented Miss Anna Busteede in her suit
to recover money alleged to have been
lent by her to the major, was much in
terested in the news Of McLaughlin's s
wealth. 1t having been suggested that
possibly some of the stock might be re-
covered from r. T. Earl, owing to pc
culiar legal features of the case, Whit
ing said:
That this stock was owned by Nc
Laughlin, I did not know. II so, it has
an important bearing upon the suit
now pending against the estate, for 1t
will mean something tangible out of
which to satisfy a Judgment. We never
had any doubt about securing the
Judgment, for Miss Rusteede has doc
umentary evidence showing that she
lent Major Mclaughlin about $4,000,
although the administrator Of the es-
tate allowed her but $1,000 We
brought suit for the balance, and it is
now pending in the San Francisco
courts. but we saw little chance for a
satisfaction. as the McLaughlin prop
critics were much involved.
Three Estates Involved
There We're really three estates.
those of the major, of his wife and of
his daughter. The really valuable
part, which was the wife's estate, was
the handsome villa at Santa Cruz. The
furniture and some other valuable
property was the daughters estate.
THE majors estate consisted prin-
cipally of debts. All that was in his
name was some ordinary personal prop
erty. mans ordinary belongings, some
iewelry and the like IL any of this
Western power company stock was in
his estate I was not aware of IT."
After Major McLaughlin's death Miss
Rusteede not only said that she had
lent him thousands of dollars during
his DAYS of poverty. but that she was
engaged 10 be married to him. She
produced letters in which he addressed
her in terms of endearment. At the
present time Miss Busteede is in Santa
Cruz. although she ordinarily resides
in this city, where she conducts a null
tigraphing. typewriting and office sup
rlx establishments
House Sold by Auction
II was estimated at the time of the
majors suicide that the Santa Cruz
house was worth about $4,000 and it's
contents a few thousand more. Tt was
sold under the hammer in 1903 for ST.
92l to w. T. Jeter of the Bank OF Santa
Cruz, which held judgment against
the estate.
II is known that Mclaughlin raised
money, toward the last. upon every
conceivable form of collateral he pos
sessed Owning the Western power
company stock, he naturally borrowed
what he could upon that also, but the
amount was doubtless small, as the
stock was not thought to be of great
value few years ago. Now it is big
producer.
After q wait of another year, or per-
haps less, Major Mclaughlin would
have seen rift in the financial clouds
that hung over him and today he would
have been as Independent and debon-
nair as ever