The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1913-03-15
..A4s 4xS-'s
HORACE
'ffAZELTINE

capitalist and his heinous ! crimes.
When. therefore. long. bold-face type
attracted my eye with the announce
ment. Fall ip Crystal Consolidated"
started to read the subioined article.
confident enough that some director
or directors had been spitted for bar
oecue And before l had read nve
lines l came upon ths name OF Robert
Cameron. s5. 81
II l was to believe this Introductory
paragraph. my friend was tc Crystal
Consolidated what John d. Rockefel-
Ter was to Standard OIL. yet in the
months OF our intimacy he had made
no reference to this connection; and.
though l was thoroughly familiar with
the great glass trust" as. 1t was
called. and with the name Of it, multi
millionaire master. strangely enough
had never connected the Cameron 1
knew with this Cameron. the Captain
OF Industry.
am" he had said, In all modesty,
largely interested in a certain line Of
Industrial enterprises" That was ALL
l suppose l should have known: and
yet, mo prophet Is without honor.
save in his own country"
The newspaper article 1 now read.
| however. left no room for doubt on the
subject; and, incidentally in 4 single
sentence, revealed the secret Of how
Cameron had succeeded In escaping
that general recognition which is usu-
ally the penalty Of greatness. He
has never sat for photograph"
But. while this part OF the article
interested, that which followed startled
and perplexed ME:
Crystal Consolidated fell to 1O3
today" 1t went on. because Of per-
sistent rumor that Robert Cameron
, Is seriously i'll, in a New England sani-
tarium. The greatest secrecy has been
maintained as to his malady and his
whereabouts by those who are in a
position to know. 1t has been ascer-
tained, however. that after spending a
quiet summer at his country place,
Craghoit. on Long Island sound, near
Greenwich, he started on October 21,
on his; fast steam yacht Sibylla for a
cruise along the New England coast.
Ten days later the Sibylla returned,
but Mr.. Cameron was not on board.
1T is known that he has been in
Ill health for months, and there are
those who now declare that he has
sought the seclusion Of an institution
for the treatment Of nervous diseases.
near Boston. his condition being criti-
cal
Inquiry, today, at his Fifth avenue
home In this city, and at his Connecti-
cut country seat. was fruitless Mr.
Cameron was at neither place, and the
servants expressed ignorance concern
ing his present address.
"At the offices of the Crystal Con-
solidated Manufacturing company and
at those OF the missing fnancier's
brokers, Hatch & Hastings, evasion
was the keynote OF the answers to all
questions.
Whether Mr.. Cameron Is as Ill as
is reported. or whether he is quite
robust, the effect OF the gossip on
Crystal Consolidated was disastrous.
A slump OF fifteen points In two hours,
this afternoon, wiped out many weak
ly margined accounts, and spread ruin
among a number of spectators who
fondly imagined this law-defying
trust, Of which Cameron is the sup
porting Atlas. as firmly intrenched as
Is the government itself
Unless something definite 10 forth
coming regarding Mr.. Cameron's con-
dition before the market opens tomor-
row, panic in Crystal Consolidated
is predicted. 1t closed today at 1O2N
bid, 103 asked: the lowest figures re-
corded this year"
1t startled me, because 1t showed
that at least part of the secret we
were guarding was a secret no longer;
and 1t perplexed me because l could
not fancy through what channel these
somewhat distorted facts had filtered
into publicity. had no doubt that
the ball. having been set rolling in
this fashion, would gain both in vol
ume and momentum unless some ener-
getic measures were promptly taken
to check it. And yet, what. under the
circumstances, could we do? Subter-
fuge, l knew, would be useless, and
the truth must prove an accelerant.
In haste and with diminished appe-
tite l rushed through my dinner, and
moment later was speeding up the
avenue as fast as taxicab could car
ry me, with the Cameron mansion my
destination and a consultation with
Evelyn Grayson my object.
1t must not be imagined that in this
matter I expected any weighty assist
ance from young woman Of such linn
tied experience; but she was practi-
cally alone in the great house and
could well imagine how already re-
porters must be vying one with anoth-
er to wiring from her admissions con-
cerning her uncle.
To my infinite relief found that
she had returned the word. mot at
home" to all such callers. Inquiries
from other sources had been met In