Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-05-10

stub Of the transfer book has been
scratched out
Captain Elisha looked the speaker IL
the face, then slowly turned his look
upon the other two faces.
Scratched outg' he repeated. "Who
scratched 1t outE
Graves shrugged his shoulders,
Eyes, yes" said the captain. You
don't know, but we're all entitled to
guess, heyi Humph"
IF this person Is living began Syf
yester. sit follows that
Hold on a minute! | don't know
much about corporations, OF course
That's more In your line than tbs In
mine. But | want to ask one question.
You say this, what dye call it-this
Akrae thingamajig-was sold out, hull,
canvas and rlggin', to a crowd In Bra
iii? It's gone out Of business, then
it's deadf'
Eyes, but
"WaIt, Amt 1t customary when a
snle 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. ! know that. But
TO complete the trade wouldn't this ex-
fry hundred shares be turned In or
some sharp questionin' done If
'twa'n'tf'
He addressed the query to Sylvester.
The latter seemed more troubled than
| before.
"Tbat," he said, with some hesita-
tion. .Is one OF the delicate points in
this talk Of ours, Captain Warren. A
cortl0cate for the missing hundred
shares was turned in, 1t was dated
NJ the time of the original issue, made
ont in the name Of one Edward Brad
lev and transferred on the back by
him to your brother-that Is, 1t was
presumably so transferred"
presumably - presumably You
mean
~ mean that this certificate is-welI,
LET us say, rather queer. To begin
with, no one knows who this Bradley
is or was, and the-well, l hate to say
# Captain Warren, but the handwrlt-
ing on that Bradley signature resem-
blcs very closely that Of your brother"
At length the captain raised his head.
"Well." he said slowly, I'VE amt
children. We might as well call things
by their right names. Bile forged that
certificate
"Tm afraid there is no doubt Of It."
Dear. dear, dear! Why, they put
folks in states prison for that!'
Eyes. But a dead man Is beyond
prisons
THAT'S so. Then | don't see
"You will. You don't grasp the full
meaning of this affair even yet. III the
Bradley certificate is a 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 wher
the company was formed. That certihi
cate has never been turned In. Some
person or persons somewhere hold lW
shares of Akrae Rubber company
stock. Think, now! Suppose that some
one turns up and demands all that Ut
has been cheated out of for the pas
seventeen years! Think of that"
well, am thinkin' of 1t. | got th'
scent of what you was drivin' at hv'
minutes ago. And ! don't see that W.
need to be afraid. He could have pu
Bile in Jail, but Bile is already serVln
n longer sentence than he could CIV
him. SO that disgrace amt bearin
down on us. And, if | understand
| about such things, his claim is agains
the Akrae company, and that's dead
@ dead as the man that started 1t. May
be he could put in a keeper or a receiN
err or some such %critter, but there
nothin' left to keep or receive. Ain
a l right?'
l. "You are or you would be but ft
one thing, the really inexplicable thin
in this whole miserable affair. lot
d brother, Captain Warren, was dishol
is est. He took money that didn't belon
e to him, and he forged that certihcat
lie But he must have intended to NAL
restitution. He was always optimist
and always %plunging in desperate al
sometimes rather shady speculation
r which he was sure would turn out (
/ vorably. If they had-if, for instanc
the South Shore trolley combine hi
I been put through. You knew of tbs
! did your
7 i've been told somethin' about
| Go on"
i, well, 1t was not put through, so |
ll hopes there were frustrated. And tn
Vl was but one of his schemes. Ho
n ever. when the sale Of the compa
. was contaminated he did an extra
Ill binary thing. He made out and sig
n ed his personal note, payable to I
Akrae company, for every cent he b
misappropriated. And we found Il
note in his safe after his death. IT
was what first arGG6ed our suspicio
Now. Captain Warren. do you und
n stand?'
Captain Elisha did not understaI
that was evident.
"a note." he repeated. Bile !
ere his note in the safe? A note promis
"a Al g. Ia Al.