Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-09-28
Sylvester repeated his statement.

at 500 each. One hundred of these
Sshares were In his own name. Fifty
were In the name of one Thomas A.
yCraven,' a clerk Mt that time In his
office. Craven was only a dummy,
however. Do you understand what |
mean by a dummyY
81 can guess. Sort of a wooden i'm
age that moved when Bile pulled the
strings. Yes, yes, l understand well
enough. Go ahead; go ahead!'
That's it. The fifty shares were in
Craven's name, but they were trans
ferred In blank and in MI. Warren's
safe. Together with his own hundred
they gave him control and a voting
majority. That much we know by
the records"
81 see. But this rubber con-con-
traption want really wuth anything,
was it?"
Worth anything! Captain Warren,
I give you my word that 1t was worth
more than all the rest of the invest
ments that your brother made during
his lifetime"
"No!" The exclamation was almost
a shout.
why, yes, decidedly more. Does
that surprise you, captainY'
Captain Elisha was regarding the
lawyer with a dazed expression. He
breathed heavily. go on" he COM
manded. But tell me this fust.
What was the name Of this rubber
concern Of Bije'sY'
1.-The Akrae Rubber company"
II see-yes, yes. Akry, hey! Well,
what about it? Tell me the rest"
"For the first year or two this COM
pany did nothing. Then In March Of
the third year the property was re-
leased by Mr.. Warren to persons In
Para, who were to develop and oper-
ate. The terms of his new lease were
very advantageous. Royalties were to
be paid On a sliding scale, and from
the very first they were large. Ths
Akrae company paid enormous divi-
dends."
did, hey? / want to know"
Eyes. In fact, for twelve years the
company's royalties averaged $4,000
yearly"
"Whe-e-w" Captain Elisha whistled.
Fifty thousand a Year, he repeated
slowly. "Bije! Bije"
"Yes. And three years ago the Akrae
company sold its lease, sold out COM
pletely to the Para people, for $780,
OOO."
"Godfreys mighty! Well" after a
moment, that's what I'd call a mid
dim fair profit on a $4,000 invest
ment-not to mention the dividends"
Captain" Sylvester leaned forward
now. Captain" he repeated, sit is
that sale and the dividends which are
troubling US. l told you that the Akrae
company was organized with $50
shares of stock. Your brother held
100 in his own name and fifty trans
ferred to him by his dummy, Craven.
What l did not tell you was that there
were another hundred shares, held By
some one, some one who paid $4,000
for them-we know that and was,
therefore, entitled to two-ifths of ev-
cry dollar earned by the company dur
ing its existence and two-fifths of the
amount received for the sale of the
lease. So far as we can find out this
stakeholder has never received one
cent"
"YOu don't tell me-"
Graves broke in impatiently: 81 think,
Captain Warren" he declared, that
you probably do not realize what this
means. Besides proving your broth
er dishonest, it means that this stock
holder. whoever he may have BEEN
"Hey2 What's that? Don't you know
who he waS?'
mo, we do not. The name upon the
stub of the transfer book has been
scratched out"
Captain Elisha looked the speaker in
the face, then slowly turned his look
upon the other two faces.
Scratched out" he repeated. "Who
scratched it outY'
Graves shrugged his shoulders.
eyes, yes" said the captain. "You
don't know, but we're all entitled to
guess, hey? y Humph!"
"If this person is living" began Syl-
vester, sit follows that
"Hold on a minute! 1 don't know
much about corporations, of course.
That's more In your line than It's in
mine. But l want to ask one question.
You say this what dye call it-this
Akrae thingamajig-was sold out, hull,
canvas and riggin', to a crowd in Bra
I'll? It's gone out of business, then
it's dead?"
Eyes, but
wait! Amt it customary when a
sale like this is made to turn over all
the stock, certificates and all? Some
times you get stock in the new COM
pany in exchange. 1 know that. But
to complete the trade wouldn't this ex-
try hundred shares be turned in or
some sharp questionin' done If
'twa'n't?"
He addressed the query to Sylvester.