Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1912-09-20

anu l take lC that ne mas sent you 10
see if we, ourselves, understand it."
Then he pulled out the drawer OF
| the table and laid before me the mort
gage, a copy OF the one executed for
Myron Gates. report of the Supreme
| Court of Appeals of West Virginia.
and a copy of the Acts of its Legisla-
ture. Each volume was marked with
slip of paper. The banker opened
| first the volume of Acts.
you will observe" he said, that
| the old form of acknowledgment for
corporations was changed by this act,
and new form given, in which the
| president OF the corporation must GER
tify under oath that he is such officer,
and authorized to execute such a pa
per. Now, the scrivener who drew
the Gates mortgage used the old form
OF acknowledgment as be found it in
| the form books, while our mortgage,
you will notice, is executed under the
new form of acknowledgment"
well" / said, what important et-
feet can that have? The Gates mort
gage is in proper form, there is only
a mistake in the certificate of acknowl-
edgment. That does not invalidate
the mortgage, nor affect the validity
Of the bonds"
| For answer the banker opened the
volume of reports, and passed it across
the .-.3le to me, his finger marking
the page.
| It was decision of the
Court of Last Resort in the
state where the mortgaged prop
erty was situated, holding that such
mortgage, certified under the old
form of acknowledgment, could not be
admitted to record so as to create a
.lien on the property, that such an ac-
acknowledgement was void, and that
spreading such mortgage. so ac-
knowledged, on the county records did
not make it recorded lien.
The matter was now clear. The
Gates mortgage was not a lien. Gates
was only general creditor. The first
and only lien on these coal properties
was this last mortgage, which was
| properly acknowledged, and could be
admitted to record The estate pledged
|
last mortgage. When it was fore
closed, as it doubtless would be, Hurst
| & Solmeyer's clients, the innocent for
eign holders of the really secured
| bonds, would be paid in full. Myron
| Gates would come in after them as q
| general creditor, but there would be no
assets with which to pay his debt. His
bonds were, therefore, worthless, his
debt worthless. The bank had been
paid in cash, the note liQuidated; thus
the bank was not affected. Hurst &
Solmeyer would make twenty thousand
dollars. Myron Gates was the only
one upon whom the loss would fall.
| He would be out two hundred thou
| sand dollars.
| / understood now why Randolph Ma
| son had merely said, LET the man ex-
ecute this mortgage and pay the
bank" When he had looked at the
legal paper he had instantly seen the
old form of acknowledgment and knew
that 1t was void. Myron Gates drafts
man had worked his updoing. 1t was
necessary only to get the money from
| Gates and pay the note at the bank,
so that this valid debt would be liquid.
| ated with cash and the bank eliminat-
| ed from the problem, then create a
| proper lien to second creditor and
leave Gates to whistle for his money.
The case was simple, eminently prac-
| ticable, impossible of failure. Myron
Gates had set his own trap, digged his
own pit. His trap had crushed him,
! his pit received him, the score was set
| tied with him to the last cent.
I saw, also, why Randolph Mason
wished to keep the explanation con-
| fined to the fewest possible persons.
He did not wish Gates to discover the
| defect in his mortgage until he at
tempted to foreclose it, after the first
default in the payment Of the interest
! on his bonds, one year after the exc
cution of the mortgage. It would then
be too late for any proceedings in In
solvency to affect the second mortgage.
! So he had left the solution mystery,
| even to me, and enjoined Hurst & Sol
meyer to secrecy. Myron Gates would
rest easy until he began to foreclose.
some months, perhaps, after the end
Of the year. Then he would awake to
find his mortgage smoke under him,
| his bonds rags, his debt vanished.
l found General Cruger waiting for
me on the deck of the Baltic when !
arrived. Good fortune had restored
his middle age, his step was springy,
the muscles of his face firm again, the
old light rekindled in his eyes. He
put his arm around my shoulder, and
we walked to the bow of the steamer
The old man was thrilling like boy
over his anticipated plan. He would
join Emily in Paris. they would spin
through the great Alps to the Italian
lakes and return along the Riviera to
Marseilles; but they should live a
week, not a day less than a whole
week, with Guido at Polianno in the
teeth of the 1eas, and he would make
no bargain with Guido, the Italian