River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-10-10
The COrrectOr of DeStinieS
Being Tales of Randolph Mason as Related by
His Private Secretary, CORTLAND Parks
The LAND PIRATE
Bv Melville DAVIDSON Post
Copyright by Edward ]. Clode

aQV0Qc9 OIL ClVlIIZdIiOu ID q r
In DISCUSSES; the agents by Wnlch inc
Emperor of the Hoof carries on MS
gentle arts are always costumeo ap-
propriately to the times, but the
agents themselves remain the same
For example, would you find again the
free-booters. hanged so long ago at
the yard-arm, you have but to look
closely at the financial literature tnat
foods the mails.
Kidd. Morgan, and Stede Bonnet OF
the Barbados are not dead. ln any
city of America, they are living
though the scenery about them has
been reset. The sloop of eight guns
has been traded for north office in
a sky-scraper, and the cutlass has
gone in pledge to the printer. 1t IS
a trick of costuming, but she bust
ness Of the play is quite the same;
the doubloons, the pieces of eight are
still to be had from the hold of the
merchantmen.
The wonder of these financial ven
lures, so glaringly exploited, is that
the public is deceived by them. The
impossible profits offered ought to be
a sufficient warming, but 1t is not. 1t
Is, in fact, the brightest spot of the
lure. If one cannot go himself on the
quest of an colorado, he will send his
dollar 1t is the old spirit of adyen-
ture at work again for these gentle
men Of the seas.
Usually, the man of average sense
can instantly put his finger on the
fraud hidden under the glittering
promise; but now and then one comes
across a so-called financial PROPOSE
ton so fair, so set about with unques-
tionable safeguards, that the keenest
scrutiny cannot discover in it pos
sibility of loss. These are the schemes
of the great masters-disguised sloops
of Kidd, Morgan and Bonnet.
| found such d scheme one day in
a letter among my mail, and laid 1t
on my table under the ink-pot- 1t ran
In this fashion:
The Bank holds the money. The safest
proposition ever offered to investors. We
are placing on the market blocks of stock
of the Union Consolidated Oil Company
under these unparalleled conditions: You
deposit the amount OF your subscription
to your own credit in the Drillers Bank
of Pittsburg, a certificate of deposit is
issued to you in your name and held by
you. You also get the stock certificate.
You keep both exclusively I'm your own
possession. We ask only that you turn
over to this Company the certificate of
deposit issued you by the Bank when
the OIL Company has paid to YOU in
dividends on your stock, sum equal TO
tho amount of your investment This is
the only stock ever offered In any market
which is not subject to loss. You keep
your money safely on deposit with one
of the greatest banks I'm America and, at
the same time make the sort of invest
ment out of which John d. Rockefeller
became the richest man in the world
Write today for our detailed PLAN
The Union Consolidated oil Company.
75-S1-103 Iron Bldg, Pittsburg, Pa.
was held and puzzled by this strik-
ing proposition. 1t seemed to be
drafted with an eye only to the pro
lection of the investor. If it had fall
ed to name the bank in which the
funds were to be deposited, or had
named one of a lower standard, i
should instantly have doubted its
good faith; but the Driller's bank of
Pittsburg was well rated; 1t had
capital of five millions; its stockhold-
ers were, for the most part, men who
had made fortunes in the oil fields OF
western Pennsylvania. 1t was natural
" the bank which such a company
would select. Where then was the
flaw? What advantage did such
plan offer to this company? The
money was not paid to it, but to
responsible bank on deposit to the in
49,. orNJTIA
not get it. The money would be re-
turned by the bank, unless an equal
sum were paid by the company to the
stockholders. 1t would, indeed, be diff
ficult to devise a safer scheme. Al
most any one would speculate under
such conditions; it was removing the
element of chance from the game and
yet here evidently were large sums
expended in exploitation. Surely
deception was hidden somewhere
there, so the circular fascinated me
like a page of puzzles. 1t lay under
my eye for a week; then | dropped 1t
into a pigeonhole of the desk, -
Two years later Captain Roger Shell
ton called to see Randolph Mason.
have rarely met a man so aptly cast
for his part as this Captain Shelton.
He was tall, somewhat uneyenly fat
tened, clothed in light worsted, with
style of coat provincially called cut
away" always kept buttoned, top
hat and very shiny patent feathers.
His eyes were alert and his speech
rapid and persuasive. His mouth,
however, was loose in the under lip
the real Captain Shelton flying there
his signal His manner tended quick
Iy to establish relations of amiable
fellowship; he strove for that with
certain breezy frankness.
Some one on lower Broadway had
sent him to Randolph Mason. He re-
CURED a little assistance, he explain
ed, Of a business rather than of
legal nature He had struck a hard
place in a trade If he could get over
it, his fortune was established.
The captain seemed an ideal pro-
moter. He strove, with no slight cum
ming, to inform himself through me
about Randolph Mason. He led to his
queries always by two roads, like
commander Of infantry; when one
was found guarded, he crossed quick
ly to the other. I think, too, that his
knowledge Of men was fairly accurate,
for, when he came, presently, before
Randolph Mason himself, his manner
perceptibly changed, the hail fellow,
vanished, he stated his business with