Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1916-08-04

the original and the cipher, under a
paper weight and sat glooming at them
searching bIindly for some alternative
to the final act Of treachery which
would be contaminated in the sending
Of the wire.
Since, by reason Of COrtwright's tam.
porings with the smelter people and
the railroad. the Little Susan" had be-
come a locked treasure vault, the en-.
g%ineer, acting upon his own initiative,
had tried the law. AS soon as he had
asccrtaiued that David Massingalo had
been given sixty days longer to live,
solely because the buccaneers chose
to take his mine rather than his
money. Brouillard had submitted the
facts in tho case to a trusted lawyer
friend in the East.
This hope had pulled In two like n
frayed cord. Massingale must pay tho
bank or loso all. Until he had OBJ.
tanned possession OF the promissory
notes there would be no crevice in
which to drive any legal wedge. And
oven then, unless somo pressure could
DO brought to bear upon the grafters
to make them disgorgc, there was no
chance Of Masslngale's recovering
more than his allotted two-thirds OF
the stock; in other words. he would
still stand committed to the agreement
by which he had bound himself to
make tho grafters n present, in fee
simple, of one-third Of his mine.
BrOulllard had written n more let
ter to the lawyer. In it he had asked
how David MassIngalo could be unas-
sailably rclnstatcd in his rights as the
sole owner Of the Little Susan" The
answer had come promptly and 1t was
explicit. only by tho repayment of
such sums as had been actually ex-
pended In tho reorganization and on
the betterments-for the undermining
machinery and improvcments-and the
voluntary surrender, by the other par
les to tho agreement, Of the stock In
llspute," the lawyer had written; and
}rouillard had smiled at tho thought
# Cartwright voluntarily ~surrendering
nything which was once well within
he grasp OF his pudgy hands.
faeeAs OF 'aoSfysys,ug t"1iseGG;aai wedge,
}rouillard had dipped-also without
consulting Massingale-into the mat
or OF land titles. The Little Susan
vas legally patented under the land
laws, and Massingale's title, II the
mine were located upon government
land, was without n flaw. But on a
reclamation project Brouillard
had been brought in contact with some
Of the curious title litigation growing
out of the old Spanish grants; and In
at least II instance he had seen a
government patent invalidated there
by,
As n man in reasonably close touch
with his supcriors in Washington, tho
chief OF construction knew that there
was n Spanish grant involvement
which had at one time threatened to
AZ least delay the Niquoia project. How
1t had been settled finally he did not
know, but after the legal failure he
had written to n mana college class
mate of his own-in the bureau of land
statistics, asking for data which would
enable him to locate exactly the Nj
Quoia-touChing boundaries of the great
Coronida grant. To this letter no re
ply had rs yet been received. Brouil
lard had cause to know with wha'
slownCss a simple matter Of informa
ton can ooze out Of a department bu
reau. The letter-whiCh, after all
might contain nothing helpful-lin
Gcred on tho way, and the crisis, tn,
turning point beyond which Their,
could be no redemption in a revival o
the speculative craze, had arrived.
Brouillard took up the draft Of tn,
Washington telegram and read It over
He was cooler now, and he saw that |
was only as 1t came from the hand o
a traitor, who could and would DELFT
Crately wreck the train of events 1
might set in motion, that It became
betrayal, Writing as the commandin
officer In the field, he had restated tn
facts-facts doubtless we'll known |
the donartmcnt-the probability tina
congress would intervene and the hol
the opposition was gaining by the su,
pension of the work on the dam.
the work could be pushed energeticall
and at once. there was a possibilit
that the opposition would become di
CouraGed and voluntarily Withdraw
Would the department place the me
and the means instantly at his di
posal?
III | were the honest man a
supposed to be, that is precisely Il
message ] ought to send" he muse
refeCtively. 1T is only as the crookC
devil in possession of me will drive n
to nullify the effort and make il of !
J effect that it becomes a crime. tn
and the fact that | can never be SUI
that the Cartwright gang hasn't Il
inside track and will not win out
spite of all efforts, That is the touc
) stone Of the whole degrading bu
: ness. am afraid Cartwright has I
inside track. If | could only get a !
tie clear,sighted daylight on the dan
: able t~anglo!"