Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-09-28

children. We might as well call things
by their right names. Bile forged that
certificate"
I'm afraid there is no doubt of It."
Dear. dear. dear, Why. they put
folks in states prison for thatr
Yes. But. a dead man is beyond
PRISONS" F..
That's so. Then | don't see
You will. You don't grasp the full
meaning of this affair even yet. If the
Bradley certificate is a forgery, aLfraud
from beginning to end, then the pre-
sumption is that there was never any
such person as Bradley. But some one
paid $4,000 for 100 Akrae shares when
the company was formed. That certif-
cate has never been turned in. Some
person or persons somewhere hold 100
shares of Akrae Rubber company
stock. Think, now! Suppose that some
one turns up and demands all that he
has been cheated out of for the past
seventeen years! Think of that"
well, | am thinkin' of it. | got the
scent of what you was drivin' at five
AlAllulCS dSOs ALI 1 hOh L SVC NAV w
need to be afraid. He could have put
Bile in Jail, but Bile is already servin
a longer sentence than he could give
him. So that disgrace amt bearin'
down on us. And, If | understand
about such things, his claim is against
the Akrae company, and that's dead
dead as the man that started it May
ha H. 4@..l @.4A a. d. Iv4Av1a - !. -oaAtr
er or some such %critter, but there's
nothin' left to keep or receive. Amt
/ right?"
You are or you would be but for
one thing, the really inexplicable thing
in this whole miserable affair. Your
brother, Captain Warren, was dishon-
est. He took money that didn't belong
to him, and he forged that certificate
But he must have intended to mae
restitution. He was always optimistic
and always plunging In desperate an
sometimes rather shady speculation
which he was sure would turn oct It
vorably. If they bad-if, for instan
the South Shore trolley combine hGt
been put through. You knew Of tia,
did you?"
i've been told somethin' about II
Go onr
well, 1t was not put through. 50 b.
hopes there were frustrated. And IT,
was but one of his schemes. How
ever. when the sale of the compan
wa consummated he did an eXtraor
binary thing. He made out and sigh
ed his personal note, payable to the
Akrae company, for every cent he had
misappropriated. And we found that
note in his safe after his death. That
was what first aroused our suspicious.
Now, Captain Warren, do you under
stand?"
Captain Elisha did not understand.
that was evident.
"a note! !" he repeated. Bile put
his note in the safe? A note promisin'
to pay all he'd stole. And left it there
where it could be found? Why, that's
pretty nigh unbelievable, Mr.. Sylves-
ter! He might just as well have con-
fessed his crookedness and be done
! with it."
"Yes. It is unbelievable, but 1t is
true. Graves can show you the note"
The junior partner produced a slip
of paper from the portfolio and regard
ed it fr%owningly.
"Of all the pieces of sheer lunacy,"
he observed, that ever came under my
observation this is the worst. Here it
is, Captain Warren"
He extended the paper. Captain
Elisha waved it aside.
81 don't want to see it-not yet" he
protested. Il want to think. 1 want
to get at the reason if I can. Why did
he do it,"
"That Is what we've been tryin' to
fnd-the reason" remarked Kuhn,
"and we can only guess. Sylvester has
told you the guess. Rodgers Warren
intended or hoped to make restitution
before he died."
Eyes. Known Bile, I can see that.
He was weak, that was his main trou-
BILE. He didn't mean to be crooked, but
his knees want strong enough to keep
him straight when it come to a hard
push. But he made his note payable to
a company that was already sold out,
so it amt good for nothin'. Now,
Why
Graves struck the table with his open
hand.
"He doesn't understand at all !" he
exclaimed impatiently. Captain War
rem, listen! That note is made payable
to the Akrae company. Against that
company some unknown stakeholder
has an apparent claim for two-fifths of
all dividends ever paid and two-ifths
of the $750,000 received for the sale.
With accrued interest that claim
amounts to over $500,
eyes, but
THAT note binds Rodgers Warren's
estate to pay that claim-his own per-
sonal estate! And that estate is not
worth over $460,O00i If this stockhold-
er should appear and press his claim