The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1916-06-29
Copyright by W. G. Chapman

Early in the month of January, 1884,
Capt. G.. G. Warner. who was then
general auditor for the Gould railway
system, whose chief special agent l
then was.
"Furlong," said Captain Warner, Il
have just received long Geographic
dispatch from one of my travelling
auditors in Sherman, Tex. He states
that a large amount of cotton, which
had been shipped from that station,
has undoubtedly been diverted in
transit, as it has not reached its prop
er destination. l want you to go to
Sherman at once, find the travelling
auditor, Mr.. Finby, and make thor
ough investigation
Sherman was point from which
very large amount of cotton was
shipped annually. 1t was the outlet
for one of the largest cotton produc-
ing districts of the state. For this
reason the eastern cotton buyers and
cotton mill owners were represented
by agents here. These agents were
really brokers. 1t was their practice,
as soon as they had purchased cotton,
to have it delivered at once to the rail-
way company for shipment, when they
would receive from the railway COM
pany's agent bill Of lading, setting
forth the number and weight of each
bale. This bill of lading, when signed
by the railway agent, was negotiable
at any bank in the cotton producing
district. The bank would take the
bill of lading, allowing the depositor
80 per cent cash on the face value,
and would hold 10 per cent back until
the exact value of the cotton had been
ascertained.
left for Sherman on the first train,
and found Mr.. Finby at that point.
He informed me that the company's
agent in charge at Sherman had left
there on the preceding Saturday night,
saying that he was going to take
run down to Galveston on personal
business and expected to return on
the following Monday. 1t then being
Wednesday, and the man not having
returned, Mr.. Finby had become sus-
picious and had wired to headquar-
ters, with the result indicated above.
spent several days at Sherman,
making inquiries about the missing
agent. Meanwhile Geographic mes
sages of inquiry were pouring in from
New York, Philadelphia, Fall River
and Providence, from persons who
had purchased and paid for large
quantities of cotton, the total value
aggregating $121,O0O, and they wanted
to know why they had not received it.
If the cotton had been diverted from
It's destination and stolen. the railway
company would be responsible for the
loss
After ten days investigation at
Sherman, l became convinced that
three other men were connected in
the swindle with the missing agent.
These may be known as No. I, No. 2,
No. 3, No. standing for the agent.
The swindle had been perpetrated in
this way: The bills of lading had been
signed by the agent in blank and
turned over to confederate IN
blocks This confederate had then
filled out each blank for various
numbers of bales Of cotton. setting
forth the number of bales and the
weight of each bale in the regular
way. He then turned the bills Of lad
ing thus prepared by him over to
second confederate, a cotton buyer,
who placed these bills in various
banks at Sherman, Dallas and other
Texas towns, drawing cash for the
face value, less 10 per cent.
succeeded in locating the family
and friends Of the missing agent ono.
A., and also learned that No. l had a
brother living in New Orleans. I de-
termined to go to that city and quiet
ly investigate this brother, in the
hope of discovering where No. I was
staying. l telegraphed to my office
in St. Louis for George w. Herbert,
one of my assistants, directing him to
meet me in New Orleans, which he
did.
The brother of No. 1 was found in
New Orleans without any difficulty.
and there was reason to believe that
No. Is wife might be staying with the
brother and his family in the rather
pretentious mansion which they &C.
cupied. For some three weeks the
house was assiduously watched, Her
bert and I taking turns of eight hours
each. This was one of the most diff
cult tasks that I have ever under
taken. l was we'll known to the New
Orleans police, who would, no doubt,
have rendered me valuable aid, but
if 1 had been recognized I would have
had to explain to them my presence
in that city, and, owing to the influ-
entail position which the brother of
No. 1 held, the news of my presence
might have leaked out and given the
man whom l sought the alarm.
Many. amusing incidents occurred
during this vigil. One morning. after
we had been on watch for sew
eral days, hit upon plan to ind
whether there were any women in the
house, hoping to discover the wife OF
No. 1 among them. A few blocks
81, ~f