Morris tribune., 1917-02-16
The Trump
Card Mine

my savings in it. had subscribed for
my stock when the owners were FORM
ing the company and they needed mon
ey. Consequently l got a good lot of
stock for very little cash. Three hun
dred and fifty dollars was all had,
but it bought me 10000 shares of stock.
The lead" on which the value Of the
mine depended soon died out, and the
mine appeared to be worthless, but the
incorporators knew Of paying veins
which ran in our direction and believed
that some of them extended into our
property. So they held on until a rich
vein was discovered on adjoining prop
srty, and there was a fine chance by
digging down a hundred feet to strike
the extension. But those interested in
both mines kept the secret from out
siders, and our managers got on to it
only from their neighbors trying to
buy us out.
was completely ignorant of all this.
One morning l was told that the COM
pany had no more work for me, it hav-
ing collapsed but since the original
owners did not like to see me lose any
had paid for it. l thanked them, but
told them that saw no reason why
should not suffer with the rest, and
would put the certificates away and
consider them charged up to profit
and loss. But they insisted on making
me whole, and I, unsuspiciOus, sold
them my stock.
| For some time after this, so far as !
knew, there was nothing doing in the
, Trump Card mine. Occasionally there
was a quotation at from to cents a
share on the mining stock exchange.
One evening while walking by the
property l was surprised to see some
workmen~ coming out Of hole in the
ground, carrying their dinner pals. ]
asked one of them if they had been
at work, but he was a Norwegian and
spoke no English. In fact not a man
| of the lot could understand word ]
said.
If had simply discovered that work
was being done in the mine l would
| not have become suspicious. But that
the owner had thought fit to employ
| only those who could not commune
cate with inQuirers seemed singular,
especially since when | was working
| for them their men were mostly Amer
| leans.
| Looking at the sales list of stocks
! that evening In the newspaper, l saw
| more sales of Trump Card shares than
! had noticed for several weeks previ-
| Gus. though the price had only advanc-
! ed a fraction. l wondered if some
| awake thinking.
l sent my wife to linger in the neigh
| bOrh> of the mine and watch She
saw nothing unusual There was moth
ing alive in it so far as she could see.
The same night | went to the prop
erty and sat on a stump near by till
o'clock in the morning. when cart
loome1 out of the darkness and pass
| ed away into the darkness again. |
noticed that it was without a creak I
knew enough about mines to believe
that it was carrying ore, and the axles
we're muh1ed.
The next day l went down to Den
yer, where l procured an interview
with man who had held a lot Of
| Trump Card stock, but had sold it at
small profit before the mine collaps-
ed. told him that l could give him
pointer on a prospective rise in O
certain stock aud Secured a contract
from him that if named it and he
bought and made profit he was to
give me 40 per cent of his gains. Then
told him that l believed there was
something up in Trump Card.
He consented to make a small invest
ment in it by way of observing its eff
feet on the market, and, being busy
himself, committed the matter to me-
found that the only stock to be had
were scattered shares held by those
who considered their investment q
dead loss, and most of these did not
care to sell at the present low market
price. This strengthened the conf
dence Of my hacker, and when I pro-
posed to go about among the former
stockholders and pick up the stock at
private sale, paying an advance on the
market price for it, he assented.
In this way got what stock did not
belong to the original owners, and
then began to bid for more on the ex-
change Some stock came out, and my
hacker feared that we were buying q
dead horse. But it turned out that the
ring had sold some stock to prevent
the price from going up. This they did
because some of them had not got all
the shares they wanted.
When had bought all the shares NY
hacker would stand for and had put
back the money had received for
those the managers had so kindly re-
Geved me of, was obliged to await
Developments. They came one day
when there was a scramble for Trump
Gard stock on the exchange, and It
went up like a squirrel climbing the
trunk Of tree. My wife, who was as
much absorbed in the matter as I,
came to me with the papers giving an
account Of "a Stir In Trump Caro-