The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1912-10-11
The C0rrectOr of DeStinieS
Being Tales of Randolph Mason as Related by
His Private Secretary, Courtland Parks
The LAND PIRATE
By Melville DAVIDSON Posi-
Copyright by Edward ]. Clode

Reforms, 1t would seem, only cause
the devil to change his clothes. The
advance of civilization is progress
In DISCUSSES; the agents by which the
Emperor of the Hoof carries on MS
gentle arts are always costumed 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 that
floods the mails.
Kidd, Morgan, and Stede Bonnet Of
the Barbados are not dead. In any
city of America, they are living-al-
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 the 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 warning, but it 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 adven-
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 {. 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 Driller's 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 in your own
possession. We ask only that you turn
% ~
deposit issued you by the Bank when
the OIL Company has paid to you, in
dividends on your stock. a sum equal to
the 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 in 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-s1-1O3 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 lower standard, l
should instantly have doubted its
good Faith; but the Driller's bank Of
Pittsturg was well rated; 1t had a
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
)y the bank which such a company
would select. Where then was the
Jaw? What advantage did such a
plan offer to this company? The
money was not paid to it, but to a
responsible bank on deposit to the in
vestor's credit; the company could
not get II. 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
fcult to devise safer scheme. AL
most any one would speculate under
such conditions; 1t was removing the
element of chance from the game, and
yet here evidently were large sums
expended in exploitation. Surely a
deception was hidden somewhere
ihere, so the circular fascinated me
like a page of puzzles. 1t lay under
my eye for week; then l dropped it
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 unevenly fat
tened, clothed in light worsted, with a
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
" to establish relations Of amiable
fellowship; he strove for that with a
certain breezy frankness.
Some one on lower Broadway had
sent him to Randolph Mason. He re-
quired little assistance, he explain
ed, Of a business rather than of a
legal nature He had struck a hard
place in a trade. II he could get over
ii, 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 q
commander OF infantry; when one
was found guarded, he crossed quick
iy to the other. I think, too, that his
knowledge of men was fairly accurate,
for, when he came. presently. before