Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-08-01

joke i nave In nina.
I'm those days things were wild in
Birmingham. Men made money in ev-
erything and would take stock in any
thing. That was exactly what made II
possible for Musgrave to carry out his
ridiculous joke. Just when things were
at their widest a sprightly young fell
low came to Birmingham from some
place in Mississippi. He had accumu-
lated about $4,000 and he looked for
a chance to double 1t in about two
months.
"One of the first men he went to was
Musgrave, for Musgrave was known
all over the south for his remarkable
financial success. Jackson-that was
the young fellows name as I recall
just dogged the life out Of Musgrave
begging him to invest his money for
him. Musgrave kept putting him off
till he finally got tired of the mans
opportunities and resolved to have
| some fun out of him. So Musgrave
went to several Of his friends, Col.
Ralph Armstrong, Col. Bankhead and
myself included, and told us about the
young man and instructed us If he
came to any Of us to tell him that Mus
grave had some great scheme under
way and that there might be chance
for him to get in IL he was persistent
enough.
Sure enough, Jackson dropped in
on Col. Bankhead in couple of days,
and the colonel told him Of Musgrave's
! great secret scheme. Jackson went
wild at once, hunted up Musgrave and
almost went down on his knees begging
him to take his $4,000 and put 1t into
he scheme, no matter what 1t was.
Musgrave hemmed and hawed and Of
fered many objections, but rinaiIy said
there was just $4,000 worth Of tock
not yet sold, which he had been hold
ing for his brother. But as long as
Jackson was so anxious he would let
him have it and not tell his brother
| anything about It,
jackson was, of course, delighted.
He quickly turned his money over to
Musgrave, and promised to be on hand
at the first meeting Of the stockhold-
ers, the next day. Musgrave sent US
all word and we gathered the next day
in his Office, all eager to learn what
this wonderful but mysterious project
was.
First off, Musgrave nominated
Jackson for president, and then one
Of us nominated Musgrave for treasur-
er. But having been elected unani-
mously Jackson called the meeting to
order, appointed me temporary secre-
tary and suggested that the time was
ripe for Musgrave to enlighten the
| stockholders as to the nature Of his
project. Musgrave rose promptly, and
unrolling a big roll off papers, heavy
/ with seals and ribbons and covered
with sprawling and illegible signatures,
proceeded to explain that the capital
Of the company was 100000, fully
paid; that the company's headquarters
would be in Birmingham, but that its
chief fields of operation would be a
plantation about 25 miles from Bir-
mingham and the wilds Of South Amer
lea and Africa.
Then Musgrave paused and appar-
emily was about to take his seat with
out saying anything more. Jackson
was on pins and needles.
/ Due ,hnt ic ha h,,o
ing into, Col Musgrave?" he asked, in
| tones that revealed his anxiety.
"'Oh, yes,' said Musgrave. I almost
forgot that. Why, we are going to buy,
sell, raise and train monkeys as farm
laborers. They are now being used
on the great plantations In South
America and are found capable of do
ing all the work in the fields better
than 1t can be done by human hands,
and their first cost Is the greatest ex-
pense. They do not demand wages,
and half dozen monkeys eat less than
one man, while they require no hous-
ing whatever, sleeping in the trees.
| They don't need any clothes, and they
work from sun up to sun set, without
any time off for dinner, and work
whether it rains or shines. We can
get all the monkeys we want at $50 a
head, train them for $50 more and sell
them for $1,000 apiece. They will rev.
olutionize the farming industry, and
we ought to make $1,000,000 clear of all
expenses the very first year
Then he sat down with a silence you
could cut with a knife. None Of US
moved or said a word. We all waited
on Jackson. He looked at Musgrave a
minute as If he thought the colonel
was crazy and then looked around at
US to see what we were going to do
about 1t. At last one Of us-I think 1t
was Col. Bankhead-arose and began
to denounce Musgrave as a fraud and
demanded his money back.
But Musgrave was adamant. The
money had been paid him in good
faith; he had accepted it in the same
way and he had already expended the
greater part of it for monkeys, which
were then on board ship bound for
America. If anybody was dissatisfied
he could take his money in monkeys,
but in no other way.
AT this stage Of the proceedings
Jackson began to show signs of having
fit. want my money back! he fair
ly shrieked. don't want any monkey
farm business This Is all fraud.
You're a robber! I'll have you arrest
ed. Give me my money" and so on.
"Musgrave pretended to be high
ly offended and got up and left the
room, and the rest of US, who knew
it was a joke, followed, with Jackson
trailing and still denouncing Mus
grave.
THE next day Musgrave sent for
Jackson and told him he would give
him his money back; that he didn't
| want to be connected in business with
such a squealer, that the day would
soon come when Jackson would beg
him to sell him some stock in his mon
key comnany but that he would never