The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1922-11-19

Iakesbofe Drive and the country
place NJ Oconomow0e.
There had been some poor luck
tinrwood had . geDteel and con.
feryntlYe attitude toward gambling
In stocks which his clerical father
would have approved. But In or.
der 10 secure n greater income he
sold some high class low interest
bonds md Invested In bonds and Rsy.
efni now western irrigation projects.
His friend, Sam Holden thought
hlphiv ~ the projects Finally
there was n loss Of 10000. A.
burned child breads fire, ana for
two years Ilarwood let the secnri.
ties IN the strong box alone.
The farm implement eonsollda.
ton, h0weyor--tbrcahlng machines
and tractors being the chief pro.
ducts~-was one u which half a
dozen experienced and nblo men of
his acquaintance thought highly Of.
Tho preferred stock would pay a
eieady per cent. while the common
stock-bO ebnres Of common. ns n
bopus. with every 100 shares ~ pre-
forrod-ought easily 10 pay or 10
per cent HIS firm hondled some
~ the legal dotaiIs; even canny
Tom Ellis, senior member " the
firm, went into II. What better
guide could man hayo7 But the
merger went into bankruptcy. iInr.
woods loss WAS n hundred and
twenty five thousand.
Jhose two items made n hole in
the estate which must be repaired.
In the boom year Of 1919 anything
ana everything, II seemed, was
bound 10 succeed. The incbfinte air
of that time naturally affected a
man 0s saDRuine as IIarwood. a
concern whose legal businoss was
done by Ellis, MartindaIe, IInrwood
n Smith owned, or leaacd, some 30
enccessful motion picture thoators
IN Chicago and Dearby towns. That
business was like the mine-simply
coming money with tho regularity
OF n machine, The concern formed
n consolidation with three others Of
Ike nature. In order 10 control
their raw material, 80 10 speak, the
eonsolidation bought the Unite Pho.
toDl1y company, which produced
motion pictures. Having control -
the raw materials, an even bigger
contact with tho public was desir-
able, 80 many other motion picture
thcators were bought or Icasod-at
vastly inflated boom prlces.
The boom collapsed. and Silver
Crown ADluscmcnts, Inc. mostly
collapsed with It. The stock NJ pres.
eDt was occasionally traded in on
tho curb at five cents 10 the dollar.
Harwood had 100000 invested in
n. AZ affairs stood, his share ~
the estate was quite gone. and his
daughters sbare-for which he was
accountable ns trustec--was more
than half gone.
The situation might hive been
desperate. But when Letitia Bel
knap--widoW OF Arthur Bclknop,
landlord and real estate operator
returned from the eoashore and
Lenox in the coming fall her en-
gagcmcnt TO Nathaniel Harwood
WAS TO be announced. Her fortune
was not less than $40 5000 in real
money. HARDWOOD still believed In
his star.
That, roughly was the juncturo Of
affairs when his motion picture in.
vcntlon fell In pat. Iarwood had
not the slightest idea Of treating the
inventors otherwise than most hon.
Orabiy and generously They should
have two.thirds OF the royalties.
But his mind was already running
eagerly TO the formation Of a COM
DaDy which would control the com.
pany. With such a lever in his
hand Silver Crown Amusements,
Inc, would quickly ascend the
proclpice down which It had fallen.
II these two odd, shabby chaps
could give him n patent on motion
pictures IN vivid natural colors and
in relief--wcIl, he'd look out for the
rest.
Just two odd, shabby chaps and
three still photographs-tha was
all he had 30 far. But he felt In his
bones mat they were gong 10 give
him what they promised At least
he could well afford TO risk couple
Of thousand dollars on the venture.
In the llghtest. most casual way,
he several times thought Of pig
headed, miserly. ridiculous old 81
mon Curtin, the camera maker
whose contract, probably. had been
stolen and whose rights may have
been sllghted In other respects.
But he thought OF Curtin only with
a smile Of amusement, The pound.
offiesh old curmudgeon might look
out for himself
Krom and steInman took posses.
sion Of the roof room coming and
going through the ante.room. or