The Raymer enterprise., 1919-01-02

bCEatcneQ OUT.
Captain Elisha looked the speaker in
the face, then slowly turned his look
upon the other two faces.
Scratched outr he repeated. "Who
scratched It outY'
Graves shrugged his shoulders.
"Yes. yes" said the captain. "You
don't know, but we're all entitled to
guess, hey? : Humphr'
IF this person is living" began Syl-
vester, "it follows that
Hold on q minute! I don't know
much about corporations, Of course
That's more In your line than It's In
mine. But want to ask one question.
You say this. what dye call itAthis
Akrae thingamajig-was sold out, hull.
canvas and rigsin'. to Z crowd In Bra
xil? It's gone out Of business, then
its deadf"
"Yes, but
"Wait! Amt It customary when Z
sale like this Is made to turn over al
the stock, certificates and am Some
times you get stock in the new COM
pany in exchange. know that. But
to complete the trade wouldn't this sx-
try hundred shares be turned In or
some sharp questionin' done II
'twa'n'tf
He addressed the query to Sylvester.
The latter seemed more troubled than
before.
THAT" be said, with some hesita-
ton, 'is 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 Ia, 1t was
presumably 30 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 handwrlt-
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 amt
children. We might as well call things
by their right names. Bile forged that
certificate
am afraid there is no doubt Of It."
"Dear, dear, dear! Why, they put
folks In states prison for thatr
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. II the
Bradley certificate is forgery, 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 be
has been cheated out Of for the past
seventeen years! Think Of that!"
well, am thinkin' Of 1t. I got the
scent Of what you was drivin' at 1--WE
minutes ago. And don't see that we
need to be afraid. He could have put
Bile In jail, but Bile is already servin'
a longer sentence than he could give
him. So that disgrace amt bearin'
down on US. And, II I understand
about such things. his claim IL against
the Akrae company, and that's dead
dead a. the man that started 1t. May
|-be he could put In q keeper or q receiv-
er or some such critter. but there's
nothln' left to keep or receive. Ain't
! right?"
"You are or you would be but for
one thing, the really inexpncable 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 be was sure would turn out IA
vorably. II 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 onw
well, 1t was not put through, 10 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 bis personal note. payable to the
Akrae company. for every cent he had
misappropriated. And We found that
note In bis safe after his death. That
was what 6rst aroused our suspicious.
Now. Captain Warren. do you under
standT'
Captain Elisha did not understand,
that was evident.
"A notew hs repeated. Bite put
his note In the safe3 A note promisin'
to pay all he'd stole. And left 1t there
where II could ho founde Whv fhs fsa