The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-12-06
CHAPTER VI. Doubts and Debts.


 MT. MorehOuse F. Burgess, presi- dent of the West Gap National Bank, acted as chairman of the meeting of the bOndh elders, some fifteen Tn nuni- Der, who were foregathered to con sider the affairs Of the West Gap and Rocky Mountain Railway. MT. Clarke Pollard was among those present. as was MT. William D. Wilton.
 It was the purpose of Wilton to prevent a reCeiverah:rD. He said he very seriously questioned the wisdom of a receivership at just this t.me- He said the road had only been running twenty months. and he didn't feel that he had been given quite a far chance to demonstrate that all the predictions he had made concerning t were true The default of interest on the bonds would be made up he was sure. out of the current years earnings. It would be calamity, he said, and work great hardship on the stockholders if the bondholders LOOK over the proEarty. It would make the stock practically worthless.
 T am not a bondh olGier,' said Will ton. "I am. however, a large stock holder. I feel that l represent other stOckh elders, many of them people who cannot afford to lose the amount they have put into this enIerprIse T and have looked forward to it's sue cess as the crowning achievement of my life. Gentlemen. this is a serious matter for us, the stockholders Adroitly Wilton alined the stock holders and the bondholders as op- ponents. He put the bondhoIders on the defensive. He admitted certainty, that they had legal right to fore close. But he argued wouldn't they r. -F,
 later, even though the interest wers still in default, as the property would be older and more valuable? Of course, he said, the bondhoIders were fully protected by the company's property, on which the bonds repre- scented a first mortgage.
 And then, suddenly taking them into his confidence, MT. William D. Wilton produced and Laid before that assembly the prospectus of a plan so promising, so glittering with profits, so marvelOusly comprehensive. that nearly every man in the room was quite swept off his feet. The pIan involved the expansion of the little twelve-nile w. G. and R. B. into a 'hundred-mile trunk line connecting two important industrial centers. He demon Ostrated how, because this new line would cut off twenty miles of
 
 business would be diverted from cer- tain roads
 NO, gentlemen" he said, earnestly, "this is told you in the most sacred confidence. There's politics in it. dr- plomacy, ffnesse. I have had to work carefully; but I can say to you that within a few days now I expect thai certain influences. which I am at present forbidden to reveal will see the ". G. and F. B. in possession of one of the broadest railroad charters ever granted in th.s state''
 When the papers the next day re- ported the meeting of the W. G. and K. $. bondhOlders they said simply that further action had been fn0en- nitely postponed. that new and com prehensive plans were under the masterly direction of President and General Manager Wilton; and that the stockholders as well as the bono holders were to have every assurance ag'a.nst full protection from ultimate loss. And, oddly enough. the name of the famous New York banker. Mr Clarke Pollard, formerly of this city, was mentioned only as among tnose present.
 Honey" said Lucy, a little banter ingly, this doesn't say you took charge of the meeting and showed them how to straighten out all their trouhtes. Didn't you think three dol lars and me cents was enough 10 swing it on? I'm sorry spent thar fifty cents for Iaundry, maybe it would have made a difference"
 Never you mind, kid" said Pollard, but he looked at her oddly.
 Mrs. Timothy Regent. wife of the proprietor of Regents Dry Goods Emporium, lost her diamond brooch. She gave a g party in honor or Clarke Pollard and Lucy There was dinner and a dance afterward in a big barn on the Regents fancy fruit farm, just outside the town, nd Pres :dent Wilton of the W. G. and R. B furnished a couple of private cars, starting from in front of the MiIett House at x o'clock
 The Review alleged that an enfov,- ble time was had by all present. bur the Review couldn't know everything Mrs Regent thought she was having a good time until, very la.re n the evening, she discovered the loss or her brooch. Clarke Pollard, whom everybody greeted with cordial ia m liarity by his first namo. and con- graduated upon having such a love of a wife, had a good time until
 But just moment. Everything in order There were several other peo- pie supposed to have had a good time subsequent events proving quite the contrary.
 The Regents barn was full of hay. the odor of which mingled delicately " tn the perfumes used by the ladies of West Gap. Later it was pleasantly compIic1ted with the smell of coffee. At one end of the great foor-space McTtsh's orchestra jazzed with all the abandon of Q Broadway cabaret. Mooney 6 Son, caterers. served the dinner, which was delicious. take 1t from the Review. and the "coIlation" around m dnight was equally accepta- hle to the hungry dancers. Decora- tions by Moss & Promise. florists, 237 Main street.
 It was a disappoIntmen to most of the young men that Clarke Pollard