The Morgan County press. (Wartburg, Tenn.) 1916-1926, 1918-07-05

luck and sshrewdness, 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 otber for;
ward. "Say that again" 60 urro
manded sharply. 90 u
Sylvester repeated his staH
'He got the concession by paying
600 to the government of Brazh
continued. ITO raise the $20,OtsectiC
formed stock company Of 250 lusiast
at 500 each. One hundred of I. Fl
shares were in his own name don, W,
were In the name of one ThOhe NEE
Craven a clerk at that tim(of qui
Office. Craven was only club, IL
however. Do you understaf the Re
mean by dummy" Wolf b
IL can guess. Sort of wood@
age that moved when Bile pulled "
strings. Yes, yes, understand well
enough. Go ahead; go ahead"
"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 a voting
majority. That much we know by
the records"
81 see. But this rubber con-con-
traption want really wuth anything,
was it?"
Worth anything! Captain Warren,
| give you my word that It was worth
more than all the rest of the invest
ments that your brother made during
his lifetime"
"NoW The exclamation was almost
a shout.
"Why, yes, decidedly more. Does
that surprise you. captain?'
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 Bre's?"
1.-THE Akrae Rubber company"
j. II see-yes, yes. Akry, hey! Well,
what about it? Tell me the rest"
q "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."
"Did, hey3 I want to know"
Eyes. In fact, for twelve years the
company's royalties averaged $4,000
yearly"
"Whe-e-wy" Captain Elisha whistled.
FIFTY thousand a Year, he repeated
slowly. Bite! Bier
Eyes. And three years ago the Akrae
company sold its lease, sold out COM
pletely to the Para people, for $780,
OOO."
"Godfreys mighty! Well,' after a
moment. "that's what I'd call a mid
dim fair profit on $4,000 invest
ment-not to mention the dividends"
Captain" Sylvester leaned forward
now. Captain" he repeated, 1T Is
that sale and the dividends which are
troubling us. told you that the Akrae
company was organized with $50
shares OF stock. Your brother held
100 in his own name and fifty trans
ferred to him by his dummy, Craven.
What did not tell you was that there
were another hundred shares, held by
some one, some one who paid $4,000
for them-we know that-and was,
therefore, entitled to two-ffths of ev-
cry dollar earned by the company dur
ing its existence and two-fifths Of the
amount received for the sale Of the
lease. So far as we can find out this
stakeholder has never received one
cent"
"You don't tell meP'
Graves broke In impatiently: II think,
Captain Warren" he declared, that
you probably do not realize what this
means. Besides proving your broth
err dishonest, 1t means that this stock
holder, whoever he may have BEEN
Hey? What's that? Don't you know
who he was7"
mo. we do not. The name upon the
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.
SCRATCHED out2" he repeated. who
scratched it outT'
Graves shrugged his shoulders.
"Yes, yes" said the captain. You
don't know, but we're all entitled to
puess. hey7 I" HumphI"
eff this person Is living" began syl-
az RolIovva that