Gilpin observer., 1918-12-26

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.
s'Scratched outT' he repeated. sWho
scratched It outf'
Graves shrugged his shoulders.
Eyes, yes," said the captain. 'sYou
don't know, but we're all entitled to
guess. hey? Humphv'
"If this person is living" began syl-
vester, ut follows that
"Hold on minutel don't know
much about corporations, of course.
That's more in your line than 'tis In
mine. But want to ask one question.
You say this, what dye call it-this
Akrae thingamajig-was sold out, hull,
canvas and riggin', to q crowd In Bra
zil? It's gone out OF business, then
it's deadT' g.,
Eyes, but
"Wait! Amt 1t 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. I 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.
The latter seemed more troubled than
before.
"That," he said, with some hesita-
ton, '1s one of the delicate points in
this talk Of ours, Captain Warren. A
certificate for the missing hundred
shares was turned in. It was dated
at the time Of the original issue, made
out in the name Of one Edward Brad
ley and transferred on the back by
him to your brother-that is, It was
presumably so Transferred"
Presumably = presumably You
mean
II mean that this certificate is-well,
let US say, rather queer. To begin
with, no one knows who this Bradley
is, or was, and the-well, hate to say
1t, Captain Warren. but the handwrit-
ing on that Bradley signature resem-
bles very closely that of your brother"
At length the captain raised his head.
well" he said slowly, I'VE ainx
children. We might as well call things
by their right names. Bite forged that
certificate"
"Im afraid there Il no doubt Of It"
"Dear, dear, dear! Why, they put
folks in states prison for thatr'
Eyes. But a dead man IL beyond
PRISONS
THAT'S So Then 1 don't see''-
you will. You don't grasp the full
meaning Of this affair even yet. II the
Bradley certificate is forgery, a fraud
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 certifi-
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 thatr'
well, am thinkin' Of 1t. got the
scent Of what you was drivin' at ave
minutes ago. And don't see that we
need to be afraid. He could have put
Bite in jail, but Bite is already servin'
a longer sentence than he could give
him. So that disgrace amt bearin'
down on us. And, II understand
about such things, his claim is against
the Akrae company. and that's dead
dead as the man that started 1t. May
be he could put in a keeper or a receiv-
er or some such critter, but there's
nothin' left to keep or receive. Amt
I 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 make
restitution. He was always optimistic
and always plunging in desperate and
sometimes rather shady speculations
which he was sure would turn out IA
vorably. If they had-if, for instance,
the South Shore trolley combine had
been put through. You knew of that.
did your"
I've been told somethin' about 1t.
Go on!'
We'll, 1t was not put through, SO his
hopes there were frustrated And that
was but one of his schemes. How
ever, when the sale Of the company
was contaminated he did an extraor-
dinary thing. He made out and sign
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 tirst aroused our suspicious.
Now. Captain Warren, do you under.
standT
Captain Elisha did not understand,
| that was evident.