The Washington herald., 1914-08-09
BUBBLE BURSTS;
2'WOMEN BROKE
Misses Laura and Name,
Daughters of Cotton Planter,
In Financial Crash.
THEY BORROWED FREELY
'Kted" Checks Until the Big Smash
Came-Town Lots of Farm
Land.


scribes herself as a housewife" in her
voluntary bankruptcy petition, filed last
week at st. Louis, but whose claim to
fame in Southeastern Missouri rests upon
her ten years career as a real estate
operator and town builder.
1t was meteoric career, characterized
toward the last by transactions that
brought criticism upon her. and culmi-
mated in a crash in which she and her
sister, Mrs. Mamie Dunn, lost every
thing, and in which a good many others
lost heavily. The filing of bankruptcy
petitions by the sisters closes the chapter:
According to the lists of liabilities hled
by the sisters, Mrs. Dunn's obligations
are SO, 60, and Mrs. Trautmann S, Slo-
coo, but il is Miss Laura, as she ,s
still called by many, whose will and skill
have prevailed in the AFFAIRS OF the
sisters and who conceived ana cariieC
out the transactions which mace heE'
until the bubble burst, factor 70 De
reckoned with in the financial anslrs Oh
this section.
Picked Cotton on Old Farm.
Mrs. Trautmann and Mrs. Dunn were
the Oates sisters, Miss Laura and
Miss Name" when the dream OF en-
nire was born in the brain of Laura
oates. They and their brother. w. =:
oates. OF Cape Girardeau, had inherited
from their mother a farm, the value OF
which, for cotton growing was lnpaIteu
by the frequency of overhoWs AS
farmers daughters they hao PICKED %
ton as other farmers daughters did. Then
I,ouis Houck. of Cape Girardeau' hao
built a railroad through there close 70
the Oates farm, and DR.. GranNlLle NJ
HAYES had prevailed upon him to estao-
Iish a station on the Hayes farm al
joining.
rfrr
alternate lot in exchange Tor locallle
the station there. And that had oeeh
the beginning of the metropolis Oh
Hayti. ;,d
Greater CITY than Hayes had dreamed
Of. She plated her farm lying on tne
cpposite side OF the new raliroau anu
embarked upon career whose uI'li-i e,aI
ramifications astounded the hri"iiOi"'
wiseacres OF the section
Dream of Financial Greatness
Her farm town lots did not sell as
rapidlv as she wished and 10 Faise
money she began giving mOrtgaGes Sne
LI1iIr houses in the Oates additions 10
,II.o,,roga others 10 do likewise And
she bought houses in old town. ooush'
tben, as often as not, they say, Tor con
siderahlv more than they were worm
kent on buying them until she o"neu
forty. which was well toward nan OF lile
Total And she bought surrounding Iat ~. IN
and timber lands until she owned 4'V'o
acres, which she visioned as the iu'ui
cIty's suburbs. a.
Her ransactions soon gave her raj
inc as a wealthy woman. and II was not
iairuIt for her to obtain loans on Sc
,IIritv which might have not been &C
.rte5 from, another. When she had no
real estate security to offer she had no
JifBcultv in getting persons 10 lluoi %
her papcr. She went on dCCulllu a'lIe
houses and lands and paying Tor theIh
iii, borrowed money until she had dlIn-
T,. ~ making her income from rents
,,a,. the interest. When she could not
IN thai she borrowed more money 10
NV tho interest and thereby increased
Lrr interest obligations. already 100
heavy. :; bout
II was when her affairs were IN ABOUT
surh A condition that she went 10 al
attorney and said she would ike 10 Dor
row $1,000 to take up a number OF sthAiie
oT,ri..tioDs. The attorney asked her
- nd Inquired out how much interest
,be would have o pay. She said no, she
rod moi thought about that. He told heI :
how, much it would be. and she said she :
could nay that all right, but when' al ms {
ro,,,est she prepared a statement OF
rontaI income he found that she was not
getting enough to pay the interest Is
Never Thought of interest. 7
II was the fatal facility with which she c
,or,ld obtain loans that led to her undolne.
she seemingly gave no thought 10 inc
daily gnawing OF interest charges al tile
foundation of her resources nor 10 the
IoI. Of reckoning when the principal e
would be demanded.
She was able, by giving deed OF trust
m obtain in day more money than she n
had ever dreamed of when she toiled in 4
the cotton field. She agreed to pay any a
Interest that was demanded, and was r
liberal in her gifts She paid large pro- t
norton Of the cost of building the South
arn Methodist Church, and was large I
contributor to its running expenses. A c
81 Louis minister, formerly stationed at f
EIsvti. has A check for $500 which she $
gave him. but which he. unfortunately.
aid not attempt to cash until after the
rash. and then it was too late.
Name Dunns wedding" gave the town
is one big social sensation. There had
never been anything like it in Hayt. and
here has never been anything like it r
iDce Dunn the bridegroom, a T
'armer and a school teacher. The we'd
ling was at the pretentious home that
he sisters had erected for themselves.
from the residence TO the railroad Brus-
;els carpet was laid, over which the
,ridal party walked to a special car which
.arried the couple and twenty-one guests h
O Memphis, where they all spent day p
md a night at a leading hotel and had S
. wedding supper that cost s. a plate. A
Then after the return there was b
hree days celebration to which young s
nd old were invited, and they say in n
Iaiti that the guests were expected a
o take away with them as souvenirs a
he silver spoons with which they ate a
heir ice cream.
The Troubles Begin.
Miss Laura in her own name and
he name of her sister. who Joined in II
II her undertakings kept on buying
ouses and lands and borrowing
money whenever she needed il until
here came a time that she had in y
reasing difficulty in furnishing the ~
ecurity that was needed, even though NJ
he demands Of lenders were not ex-
citing. X
She had borrowed $4,000 from the
commercial Bank of New Madrid and
!. 500 from the New Madrid Banking de
ompany on one note and $4,000 on 81