The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1913-02-27

When, therefore, long, bold-face type
attracted my eye with the announce
-ment, Fall. in Crystal Consolidated"
! started to read the subjoined article,
confident enough that some director
or directors had been spitted for bar
becue. And before I had read five
lines l came upon the name of Robert
Cameron.
If I was to believe this Introductory
paragraph, my friend was to Crystal
Consolidated what John D. Rockefel-
Ter was to Standard Oil, yet in the
months of u intimacy he had made
no reference to this connection; and,
though I was thoroughly familiar with
the great glass trust" as it was
called, and with the name of its multi
millionaire master, strangely enough I
had never connected the Cameron I
knew with this Cameron, the Captain
of Industry.
Il am" he had said, in all modesty,
largely interested in a certain line of
industrial enterprises" That was all.
I suppose l should have known; and
yet, mo prophet is without honor,
save in his own country"
The newspaper article l now read,
however, left no room for doubt on the
subject; and, incidentally in "a single
sentence, revealed the secret of how
Cameron had succeeded in escaping
that general recognition which is usu,
ally the penalty of greatness. "Ha
has never sat for a 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 a per,
sistent m that Robert Cameron
is seriously i'll, in a New England SAM,
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
tanned, however, that after spending a
quiet summer at his country place.
Cragholt, on Long Island sound, near
Greenwich, he started on October FL,
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,
nn0, pnct0r hic 11cI;+so~ 1:., z.sLs
cal.
Inquiry, today, at his Fifth avenue
home in this city, and at his Connects.
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 financier's
brokers, Hatch & Hastings, evasion
was the keynote of the answers to all
questions.
whether Mr.. Cameron is as i'll 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
~ margined accounts, and spread ruin
among a number Of spectators who
fondly imagined this l~aw-defying
trust, of which Cameron is the sup.
porting Atlas, as firmly %intrenched as
Is the government itself.
"Unless something definite is forth
coming regarding Mr.. Cameron's con-
diticn before the market opens tomor-
row, a panic in Crystal Consolidated
is predicted. 1t closed today at 1925
bid, 103 asked; the lowest figures re-
corded this year"
1t startled me, because it showed
that at least a part of the secret we
were guarding was a secret no longer:
and it perplexed me because | could
not fancy through what channel these
somewhat distorted facts had filtered
into publicity. I had no doubt that
the ball. having been set rolling in
faahion, would gain both in vol
ume and momentum unless some ener-
getic measures were promptly taken
check 1t. 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-
tlte l rushed through my dinner, and
a moment later was speeding up the
as fast as a taXicab could car
ry me, with the Cameron mansion my
and a consultation with
Evelyn Grayson my object.
1t must not be imagined that in this
matter / expected any weighty assist
ance from a young woman Of such linn
tied experience; but she was practi-
cally alone in the great house and l
could well imagine how already re-
porters must be vying one with anoth-
err to wiring from her admissions con-
corning her uncle.
To my infinite relief I found that
she had returned the word, mot at,
home" to all such callers. INQUIRIES
from other sources had been met in
similar fashion. Officers of the COM
pany had called in person or had tel
egraphed, and Hatch C Hastings had
been almost aggravatingly insistent.
"But, Evelyn" ] said, 'this is all
such a surprise to me. l had no notion
your uncle was at all active in any cor
---s I Is-k