Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1912-10-16

light The art of subtle inquiry, in the
use Of which Shelton had a certain
skin, was turned masterfully against
him, and so unobtrusively that each
ELECTED feature seemed to follow
some voluntary statement like an in
eyitable sequel.
Captain Shelton had intended to
give such elements of his story as he
deemed necessary TO his end; but
under his handling by Randolph Ma
sen he was unable to stop at his own
marked points. When he laid his
hands on a protruding limb Of his
story he somehow astonishingly drew
up with II the whole hidden body The
point upon which he wished aid. bad
~ put las he had intended), was com
mOnplace enough He held ten thou
sand acres Of land under oil leases.
lying solidly in parallelogram with
the exception Of two tracts Of nine
hundred and twelve hundred acres re-
spectively. These two tracts were
owned by two directors Of a certain
savings bank in New EngaRd The
larger tract he did not want. but the
nine hundred-acre tract he greatly
Wished; Il was the only territory Of
the whole block lying, in his opinion.
above oil-be3ring strata He exhibited
a map showing in red this strip Of
land running across the parailelo-
gram, and explained that the oil bear
Ing rocks in this region sloped on
either side, forming u synclinal and
that this synclinal lay almost wholly
within the tract colored red on the
map. 1t was, therefore. the store
house of the whole region Now the
difficulty was that these two men had
an agreement that one would not sell
without the other. Each demanded
the same price for his property. one
hundred thousand dollars In cash The
tract lying over the synclinal was
worth hall q million dollars, the other
was worthless. Captain Shelton could,
Of course. purchase both, but he did
not have the amount He had in avail
able cash on deposit about eighty
thousand dollars. He could not get
another dollar He had labored for
years he said. to locate this ell dora
do lie had found It al last like pot
Of gold at the end OF the rainbow by
right Of discovery 1. belonged to him;
he had earned It with his wits. he
wished now 10 possess ii.
Such were the wcll-pruned facts
that Captain Shelton had selected for
presentation 70 Randolph Mason, but
the narrative under Mason's touches
would not stop with two directors OF
a conservative savings bank In New
England holding tracts OF oil land In
a distant state remaining unexplain-
ed; Il would not stop with mysteri-
Gus pact binding them to q common
price; Il would not stop at eighty
thousand dollars clean cash in Shell
tons hand unaccompanied by any
avenues OF credit The parts Of the
story could not be separated without
disclosing glarng discrepancies.
Wherever the narrative was cut it
hled In his effort to avoid this obyi-
Gus result. the man said more than
he intended and in the end told every
thing that he had meant TO conceal.
II the naked facts flrst given by Cap,
tain Shelton were commonplace, this
pirates log from which they We're
taken was not Cast into proper Sc
quence this was the whole story:
Captain shelton was a financial buc-
cancer. Some two years earlier, in
4 gust OF fortune, his brig had sunk
ard he had come. with FIVE hundred
dollars, perlously ashore Faced with
a desperate need for new sloop. he
M finally upon this delectable plan.
The country al large was in hys-
terra of industrial consolidation. the
markets gorged with securities. and
the banks necessarily short of ready
money He went to the president of
the Drlller's Bank of pitlsburg and OIL
lered to secure for it million OF dol
lars in MISUNDERSTANDING deposits.
guaranteed TO remain undisturhed in
the possession OF the bank for ut
least one year. provided the bank
would pay him three per cent
per annum for the deposit This was
ally were paying for time deposits
running no longer than four or six
months
The president at once agreed. and,
presuming that Il was Shelton's in
teution to canvass for deposits. loaded
him with literature Of the bank. The
/ excellent captain dropped these
pamphlets into the waste basket and
| walked over 90 cheap lodging on
4 Fourth Avenue There from drunk
en- roustabout. for hundred dollars,
/ he bought q haEful OF oil leases on
worthless territory lying along the
( east side of the Ohio River above st
/ Mary's Then he got q charter from
/ the secretary of state Of West Wiz
ginia and organized the Union Con
solidated OIL Company with a capital
OF Eve millions, For two dollars and
| fifty cents he bought a seal. and for
tive more book Of stock certificates
excelently printed on hank-note pa
per
Then The saptain sat down at /;
hotel desk in the city of Pittsburg ans
wroto the literature which had com,
to me in the mail two years before.
This h. put In the hands Of mainn,
list agency Of New England with
( deposit on account OF two hundre,
dollars. With the remaining none,
he rented three furnished rooms o,
the nineteenth heor OF the Iron Build
ing. end sat down 10 await the arriya
OF ais fortune.