The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-07-18
By GEORGE RANDOLPH CHESTER
fCContinued.1
Copyright, 1913, by the Bobbs-
 Merrill C,o.
.1RsIsl,.kseets<


 The miracle happened-two n1racses. in fact. one when J. Rufus WaIling ford erected his mushroom city in the twfnkling of an eye, as it were. from job lot of portable houses that he and B1ackie Daw had obtained at 10 cents on the dollar and the other when he induced big press associatfon't to '1fan for" his scheme of gratuttous- aovertis- ing Through this publicity the won- derful Ktmbely mine became a house hold word overnight, and the aston sshed Brother Ralph, who had been waging a desperately uneven battle for subscribers in the effete east, sud- denly wired frznt7eal1y to his brothers to increase their capitalization, as he
 zas running Uut Of stock. Immediate ly after sending this telegram he plac- ed his derby between his ears and fol lowed the cleavageaof his nose in the haunt most infested by Blackie Daws
 "The KImbeIy mine is just doub1fng lts capitalizptfon. he proudly twHnged.
 ssG0od work approved Blaakie. There's no reason why you shouldn't keep right on printing the stock as long as they'll buy it.
 They'll buy 1t as long as they have
 
 pr0Gt." enthused the eastern Dougal- hobber. ''Irs worth 55 now. Have you seen in the papers how DougaI- vile was built overnight 7''
 siI invented that frick myself" stated BIaclde complacent1y. '1t's the great est mine selling scheme on earth, and I lost a fortune by not patenting 1t !"
 Brother Ralph was working no harder than they were in Dcuaalvfl1e,s however Laborers fiOcked there in shoals and were either put into the mines or chased down the track to the 1eers of the rapidly growing populaee. Wa11ingford for the time being, did nothing but=selI houses-for cash when he could, on 1nsta1ments when he must For S70O he could sell a house and lot that cost him $60 and a share of stock that had cost him $SO. He ol1tafned copies of the charter, constitution and bylaws ofe the Kimbely Mine com pAny, and every time he read them he frowned over just one puzzling prob lems then he went out and mingled anew with his tenantry, for every householder would be a voter in the approaching stockholders meeting He got grocer butcher, "a baker and other enterpr1sing merchants 10 buy bungalows and opea shops; q lawyer and four doctors el1opth; hOn1eopath, osteopath and hoseZcast theff e1ofs with him. and carpenters, briciElsyers and stonemasons fairly swarmed to the.
 Even in the early days, before the4n- rush began, Wallingford occupied him self very fully by spending as much time as possible in and about the rnine although nearly always under the watchful eye of one of the DougaIbob- berE. Be noted one very peculiar thing ~-no chemist was employed, and no- body fnteFested seemed at all. curious regarding the quality of the ore. when he wanted to take. some of it away to show prospective c1tizens, however. they evinced a sudden Jealous regard for it and positively refused to let him have any He obtained some, though, through the efforts of Toad Jessop, who brought 1t away a lump ait n time. IL looked like any other iron ore, so far as WalIfngford could see but he was very curious about It.
 When the influx began Wa1Iinsforti became the patriarch of the. town. it's founder and father, it's chief benefac- tor and adviser, and in the first twso weeks DougalviIIe would have elected him unanimously to be president of the United States. At the end of two weeks, however, Big Bill Slannmet came to town, with one wife, six chiI- drens three dogs and &7, and sought op- pOrtunitieg for investment Big Bill busy1ng hfmseIf on the investment propogit10n. Mrs Slammet, a woxnsn as faded and decrepdt as Big BlII was damboyant and hearty, came>to Wal Hpgford and obtained a house on sheer 1Terres raTr, found the only easily obtainabIe form of investment in the town to be whfs- ky, invested his $7 in that commodity. for the use and benefit of himself and various sundry kindred spirits. Short ly upon the heels of this he discovered Wa1lingford and immediately made a speech
 He was from Cinderburg, Big Bill was, and he knew this man Walling- ford of old He was a common graft err this T. Rufus person, one who rob bed widows and orphans and honest labortnG men like him out of their hard earned money. In CinderhRrg WaIlingford had organized a concern known as the Bang Sun Engine com pany, which company was a fraud and a swind1e from beginning to end. Big B1H fairly frothed at the mouth in telling of the iniqu1ties of WaIlingfogd, and as he had good corner just be- tween the Miners Club saloon and the Merchants' cafe, he had rapidly 4 growing and highly gleeful audience.
 Wallineford and Toad Jessop, taking an evening constitutional in the pleas ant silence that comes to friends of long standing who have no question oz eacn other, came upon the orator in due time ands were just about to join the group when Wallingford heard his own name and drew Toad quickly into the shadow of a high pile of beer cases 1 ct the side of the Merchants' cafe, where he listened Q moment
 The DougaTbobbers hurried into view just then and stopped at the edge of khe crowd to listen. Toad ran out and hr0ught them back to the shadow of