The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1915-10-07

PATHS
B. DONALD 'd1AAlsEfulN

Having business IN a ANAL town in
~ west found within its limits .
very pretty park bounded by substan-
slal improvements. In its center was q
hsonse statue Of q man In civilians
dress, I'm one hand q roll Of parchment.
! fancied that the original was either
i distinguished public man or philan-
thropist-quite likely the latter. Meet
ing q man who appeared to occupy an
average position In the town I accosted
him and asked him whom the statue
represented.
"There's story connected with it."
10 replied, '''and II You viii cit beside
me on one Of these benches will tell
It to you"
We seated ourselves, and he told me
the following story:
This is Rogers park, and that ID
statue Of Ben Rogers, who founded It
More than fifty years ago Ben and Sam
Rogers were boys, somewhat ragged,
playing marbles and ball and such 9th.
a. boys games right here where this
park is now located. It was then
vacant tract and considered worthless.
Now the property bordering on it is
worth millions.
"Sam Rogers, the younger brother,
was picked out for a failure in life be.
cause he couldn't hold on to his money.
He was what was called chicken heart.
Cd, and whenever he saw any one In
trouble for want of money down went
his hand into his pocket. Ben, on the
contrary, was marked for rich man.
He looked out for himself and rolled
up money in small way from the time
he was ten years old.
"Ben Rogers stayed right here in
this town and accumulated money
slowly till the man who owned the land
on which we are sitting died, and it
was sold out for song. Ben bought
Il and conceived the idea Of making u
park Of it. He secured options on all
the bordering property, then gave his
original purchase to the town on con-
dition they would make a park Of it.
"sam Rogers when about twenty five
years old left the town, regretted by
every impecunious person in it The
more successful citizens said, "a good
radiance" At the end Of a dozen
years Sam came back and surprised
every one by bringing fortune with
him. When asked how he got it he
said it was by pure luck. This was
all they could get out Of him, but l
learned the truth long after his death.
He had loaned man a hundred dol
lars to save piece of property he
owned, the property afterward be-
came very valuable, and when the
owner died, having no one else to
leave it to, he left it to Sam Rogers.
'Sam on his return resumed his CIV
ing to needy persons, only he now gave
SO where formerly he had given 10
cents. His brother, Ben, had been saw
ing his money and had got enough to-
gether to begin to think about making
an investment on a larger scale. It was
soon after Sans return that the orig
1nal owner Of this property died. Ben
not having enough money to carry out
his enterprise called ON his brother
20 60 in with him. Sam said that he
didn't want to make any more money
than be had already, but he would
loan Ben all he wanted.
II was then studying law with Ben
Rogers attorney and know whereof
I'm going to tell you. Sam paid no
attention to the securities his brother
gave him and one day woke up to
learn that he had been swindled out
Of all he possessed. He never told
any one how he lost his fortune and
enjoined secrecy on his brothers at
torneys. By this time he was too old
70 make another. fortune and lived a