Year: 1878

mere fgure-head, paying no attention
70 the details Of business and possess
ing neither the ability nor the inclina-
alton to put up stock jobs on the guilt
bic public Fair and Mackey, the
other members of the firm. are miners,
and spend most Of their time In Vir
ginia City, looking after the interests
Of the company and making such re-
ports Of the different mines under the
control as the furtherarce of Mr.
Floods little deals demands. Mr.
OBrien is q mere passenger on the
Fair and Mackev locomotive Of which
Mr.. Flood is engineer. Hence, it is for
convenience sake and because 1t Is q
fact, that | speak Of Mr.. Flood as the
bonanzas and of the bonanZas as Mr..
Flood Now why do speak OF him
at all Because, under cover of plac-
ing on tbs market the stock OF rich
dividend-paying mines, he has taken
from the people about thirty million
dollars more thantthe aggregate of the
market value Of the stock and all the
dividends added thereto. Why | do
not praise him as benefactor may be
gathered from the following statements:
A few days ago a man was noticed
walking about the Oakland ferry slip,
at the foot of Market street, in appsr-
ent great mental anguish. He was ap
preached by gentleman who had
made his acquaintance at one OF the
hotels and to the question of what was
the matter with him he answered:


Il am ruined. a desperate man.
Stocks have been my curse. Six
months ago had q good ranch and
thirty thousand .dellors in gold. Te.
day | have not dollar, and live on
the charity of few who | may yet call
friends. Everything 1 possessed has
been lost in mining stock operations.
| see now that have been robbed;
never had chance 10 make anything
or even get back a dollar after it was
invested. The whole business is a
fraud and a swindle | feel at times
as if | would do the country a service
if killed that cruel, hesrtless absorber
Of other mems means. Flood, and then
kill myself | shall never hold up my
head again


Week before last, lady applied to
one Of the officers of the Mint for q
situation, and this is her story;


'One year ago / was mistress of
comfortable home in this city. My
husband owned a good business and
was worth one hundred thausand dol
lars. Now / am homeless and penni,
less, my children are scattered one here,
and one there, wherever they can find
place to live and my husband lies in
Lone Mountain. In an evil moment
he bought mining stock, and from that
moment his good fortune deserted him.
In efforts TO recover what he lost. he
lost all, and when ho saw his business
and home pass away, and his family
turned into the street, his mind and
health failed and in a few months he
died. Oh, may God hear the prayers
of the widow and the orphan, and His
wrath on the man who has brought my
self and children to want and misery


Only last Monday, woman. sick
and emaciated, applied at residence
in Oakland for aid. Her story was
similar to that just related, except she
had lost her money on the representa-
tions of 'capper, on whose advice she
invested oil she had-nine thousand
dollars-in Con. Virginia. at twenty
four dollars per share. Ten days later
il dropped TO SIS, and she was sold out
and left without means enough TO pay
a weeks board. The poor woman held
Mr.. Flood responsible for the outrage
she had suffered, and she fervently
wished he might suffer as she had suf-
fcred. These are q few of thousands
of cases Do you wonder that ! refer
to Mr. Flood as the direct cause of the
misery, degradation and shame of so
many people in this city Do not the
victims themselves poin: TO him as the
rock on which they foundered? do
not know Mr. Flood when see him.
| have felt the grasp of his merciless
hand, and when not able TO respond to
the brokers call for more mud l have
felt that an opportunity TO write his
obituary would afford me most exquisite
pleasure; but personally do not know
the willy chieftsin of the bonanza hosts
| do not know that care to know him
| think that man who will Cinch an
inoffensive bear. as he has cinched me,
deserves TO be thrown into frog pond
and nibbled to death by young tad.
poles, without the benefit OF clergy
or consolation of friedns The man is
not, perhaps. bad by nature, but he has
fallen into bad habits and from begin
ing that went no further than beating
those who sought TO beat him. he has
gone on until husband and fathers sui
eide. the widows moan and the or
phan's cry are no more to him than the
'sauear of the broker who tries 10 fill
his shorts on booming market. Tie
has but one::god. and that Is money. 1t
is because he is as he is, and because he
has done what he has done, that l refer
TO him in the uneomplimentary terms |
do, and it is because he Is mainly re-
sponsible for their miSfortunes that the
people have mentioned as well as
thousands of others curse him daily
and nightly pray God 10 curse him.
Ii is because this man is the responsible
party for the stagnation In business. the
closing of the workshops, the depreeia-
tion ia real estate. the decline IN i'm
proveinents. the timidity of capital. the
uprising of communism and the bub-
bling 10 the surface of krarney and
Kearneyism. Golden Era.