Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1918-03-12
Copyright lsll by D. Appleton 4 O.


His cigar had gone out, and he idly
twisted the stump between his fin
gers. "Well," he said. with a sigh
"our family, centrally speakin', has al
ways held its head pretty high. Dad
was poor, but he prided himself or
bein' straight as plumb line. And, as
for mother, she"-ss Then, look
ing up quickly, he asked. "Does any
body outside know about thisT
mo one but ourselves-yet."
"Yet? Is 1t goin' to be necessary
for anybody else to know itT
I'VE hope not But there is a possi
bility.'
II was thinkin' about the children"
"Of course. So are we all"
"Um-hm. Poor Carolinel She put
her father on a sort Of altar and bow
ed down afore him, as you might say,
Any sort Of disgrace to his name would
about kill her. As for me-" with an.
other sigh, II amt so much surprised
as you might think. I know that
sounds tough to say about your own
brother, but I've been afraid all along
You see, Bite always steered pretty
close to the edge Of the channel BE
had ideas about honesty and fair deal.
In in business that didn't Jibe with
mine. We split on Just that, as ! told
you, Mr.. Graves, when you and I fust
met. He got some South Denboro folks
to invest money along with him-sort
Of savin's account, they figgered it
but l found out he was usin' It to
speculate with. So that's why we had
our row. I took pains to see that the
money was paid back, but he and I
never spoke afterward. Fur as my
own money was concerned, I hadn't
any kick, but 80 However, I'm
talkin' too much. Go on, Sylvester,
I'm ready to hear whatever you've got
to say"
"Thank you, captain. You make It
easier for me. It seems that your
brothers first step toward wealth and
success was taken about nineteen
years ago. Then somehow or other,
probably through a combination of
luck and shrewdness, he obtained a
grant, a concession from the Brazilian
government, the long term lease Of a
good sized tract Of land on the upper
Amazon. 1t was very valuable be-
cause Of its rubber trees.
"Hey" Captain Elisha leaned for
ward. "say that again" he com.
manded sharply.
Sylvester repeated his statement
"He got the concession by paying $2O.-
600 to the government Of Brazil" he
continued. ITO raise the $4,000 he
formed a stock company Of 250 shares
at 500 each. One hundred Of these
shares were in his own name. Fifty
were in the name Of one Thomas A.
Craven clerk at that time in his
Office. Craven was only dummy,
however. Do you understand what /
mean by dummy"
II can guess. Sort Of a wooden i'm
age that moved when Bite pulled the
strings. Yes, yes, I understand well
enough. Go ahead; 60 aheadw
That's 1t. The fifty shares were In
Craven's name. but they were trans-
ferred in blank and In Mr.. Warren's
safe. Together with his own hundred
they gave him control and voting
majority. That much we know BY
the records"
II 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"
"Now The exclamation was almost
q shout.
"Why, yes, decidedly more. Does
that surprise you, captainT
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 Bue'sw
'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 sliding scale, and from
the very first. they were large. The
Akrae company paid enormous divi'
dends." 's
ibid, heyf Il want to knowr
"Yes. In fact, for twelve years the
company's royalties averaged $4,000
yearly" >. f@s eaii, = ~
"Whe-e-wr Captain Elisha whistied.
FIFTY thousand q yearv' he repeated
slowly. 'Bue! Bije!"
"Yes. And three years ago the Akrae
company sold its lease, sold out COM
pletely to the Para people. for $780,
OO0." , r.s s,
AGodfreys mighty Well" after Q
moment, "that's what I'd call mid
dim fair profit on a $4,000 invest.
ment-not to mention the dividends"
Captain" Sylvester leaned forward
now. Captain" he repeated, 1T d
that. sale and the dividends which are
troubling %. I told you that the Akrae
company was organised with 2b0
shares OF stock. : Your brother held
100 In hts own name and nifty trans
ferred to him BY his dummy, Craven:
What ] did not tell you was that there
were another. hundred shares, held b.
some one, some one who paid $40 900
for them-we know that-and was,
therefore, entitled to two-nfths Of ev.
cry dollar earned BY the company dur.
ing its existence and ;two-afthsr Of the
amount received for the sale Of the
lease. SO far AZ We can ind out this
stockholdsr has never received one
cent"
aYou don't tell mel"
Graves broke IN impatiently! II think,
Captain Warren" he declared, shat
you probably do not realize what this
meanA Besides proving your broth