The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1911-02-02

ness OF our company, principally the |
| transfer Of shares. You have been rec |
commended to me as a suitable person TO |
take charge of this office. The salary at |
tached will be $3.50 a month. The positioI |
| is open to you. If you accept please mott |
| fy me. Yours truly,
SAMUEL LANGFORD.
| President.
Who Samuel Langford was or who
had recommended me to him | had
not the remotest idea. Nevertheless
/ made inquiries about the Acme Min
| ing company and learned that il was a
paying institution. the shares standing
considerably above par. LangfOrd
owned a majority of the stock. He
lived at Antelope, giving all his atten-
ton to the mine. / endeavOred in ev-
cry way to get a clew as TO why he,
a stranger TO me. had taken me up and
enabled me to earn nearly twice the
income | had ever earned before. but
| failed.
wrote accepting the position, at the
same time requesting Mr.. Langford to
tell me why had been selected to fill
it. Neither in the return letter nor
in any that followed did he make any
reference TO my request In due time
/ found myself in charge of his east
ern business, which was principally
transferring stock, though often made
purchases for him and shipped the
goods to him at Antelope. After awhile
| wrote him to know If he was salts
fed with me and If the position was
likely to be permanent. He replied TO
both questions in the affirmative.
Emma and | concluded TO get mar
ried though she insisted that we live
on two-thirds Of our income and save
the other third. | assented to this.
but owing to wedding expenses it was
two months before We were able to
begin our saving. and on the third
month an old friend called on me with
a pitiful story of sickness at home and
nothing with which to buy either pro-
visions or medicines and our savings
for that month went to him.
had scarcely given him the money
when l received letter from my en-
ployer advising me (confdentially) to
put what money | had into the stock
, Of the company My wife insisted on
replying to his letter, telling him that
l hadn't a cent 10 invest and why. He
replied to her that he had bought 1000
shares of the stock of the company for
3 me and would hold it till he thought it
time to sell. We were somewhat sur
!. prised, but Emma. who is level head
. ed woman and had no confidence in
= mining stocks-and justly so-said that
4 we wouldn't presume on any profit we
: might make.
: 1t was only n week after the receipt
b of Mr.. Langford's letter that on going
Q to my office one morning | found q
!. crowd of investors there waiting fol
J. me 10 transfer shares. They told me
Q that they had bought under private
advices and intimated that there was
! n movement of some kind on foot
q The shares had raised few points or
t the market and the next day made 6
. sudden jump. Then reports came thai
: very rich vein had been struck II
: the Acme mine. The price Of the
shares continued to rise for a week oil
. two, then, after slight fluctuations, set
I. tied down to about 200 per cent above
what it had been when | was advised
to buy it.
One morning | received a check from
my employer for about $1,000. payable
= to nv wife's order. There was no let
70 ter accompanying it. but pinned to |
:. was a bit of paper on which was writ
- ten, profit on 1000 shares of Acm
40 mining stock" Emma and | hst
O. watched the rise in the price Of tn
stock and knew that if our mysteriou
friend had really bought the shares TO
- us we would have the profit sent us
but my wife insisted that there woul
be some reason why we wouldn't &c
IT. When it came we were almost a
surprised as If we had known nothin
about the matter. We were certainl
delighted.
And now we began to be consume
, by a gnawing curiosity as to who wa
our unknown friend. We spent all on
leisure time trying to think OF som
one who for some reason had thus I;
yored us, going over every relative an
every friend both Of hers and mine.
10 recalled a number of persons to whol
I had loaned or giten small sums
lot money, but not one of them had eve
th prospered, and certainly none OF thel
70 was named Langford.
r. I received my $1,000 at time whe
:. owing to a financial panic. there wei
many bargains to be picked up In di
ne idend paying stocks. / invested II
lat amount and within ten months ha
nd doubled my capital-that Is, l owne
,ry $4,000 Of securities paying me a goo
a interest. About year after my FIR
acquisition Mr.. Langford telegraph
id. me one morning TO buy some shares
., the Sarah Ann company. located in Il
~. vicinity Of the Acme mine. | put n
$4,000 into the venture. In a sho
iei time news came that an extension
the valuable vein In the Acme mil
ere had been struck In the Sarah Ann.
sn bought the shares of the latter at
Tue cents and sold them for 81.
lcn had now an income sufficient
leu support my family very comfortat
ar without earning cent by my ON
labor determined TO 90 to Colora