Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, October 11, 1903, Page 32

(Copyright, 1903, by Willlamm Walker Hines ) AM szincervly sorry that you take this view of the situation, Mr Marchmont,” saild the younger of the two 1 1 in the private office, “and 1 that your daughter to remind you will be of age In a few weeks She has promised that she will marry me then, whether you give your oconsent or not “In that case, Mr, Heath,” said the older muan, “the matter will have passed beyond my control, I have nothing to urge against you except that | do not constder you good buriness man and | would wish my son-in-law to be capable of entering the firm of Marchmont & Co. You are, I am sorry to say, too impulsive and prone to be taken In. In short, you are not at all the kind of a man 1 would pick out for a son inlaw’ 1 Since you hauve been =o frank, Mr. March- mont, 1 trust that you will not think me discourteous when 1 state that you are not at all the kind of & man 1 would pick out for u father-in-law The elder man was a fighter by instinet and training and there was an apreal to him in the sharp reply of the young man which a softer answer would not have carried. The rather slight frame of the young man was not indicative of a great physical strength, but a glance at his keen Kray eye and square cut jaw revealed Breat nervous strength and acuteness “You beat me pretty badly on that wheat deal lust spring,” continued the young mun, “but 1 have got on my feet again and some fine day | hope to cateh the house of Marchmont & Co. napping and get back some of the hundred thousand dollars you squeezed out of me.” The elder man laughed. That wheat was o pleasant .Il'('illlll'llnll think | was skimmins, pretty close to sharp practice when 1 made you settle on my deal “I suppose you 3 own basls, didn't you? he asked v “Not at all,” sald Heath., “When a man sells what he hasn't got he has no kick coming when he is made to pay for his folly. 1 think 1 got u hundred thousand dollars’ worth of experience out ol that deal!"” “T wouldn't mind selling you a little more experience at the same rate,” said March- mont. “What are you doing now?" “Oh, T am working on that San Remo Mining company proposition Think it is u pretty good thing. I have organized a com pany and believe we will bhe paying divi- dends inside of a year." “Humph! What's the capital stock?" “Hundred thousand.” “How much do you control?" “Fifty-one per cent, 510 shares." “Who holds the rest?" “Jim Podson has 20 shares: John Folk A% attorney, holds 100 and the other 1% are held in scattering five and ten-share lots. " What's the truth of the rumor 1 hear that the mines are suffering from an overflow of water? “Not much When our pumps are put in place we will have that water out in a month. The stock is good. 1 believe it's worth all of par, mayvbe more." “Want to buy any “l might take a it an object.” “T'll sell you 250 “Didn’t know you had any. It is danger- ous business selling what vou haven't got to deliver,” said Heath Alppantly "I guess 1 can deliver them all right. I don’t need uny advice from you on the subject. The trouble is with vou that you are afraid of the stock yourself.” Evidently old man Marchmont w somewhat angry “Not on your life. I'll take 40 from you at " Marchmont made some figures on a slip of paper. “"Weill he said aggressively, “if you wiil not acquire any stock in the mean- few shares if you make time, or have your friends acquire any, I will detiver you 0 shares of this stock within sixty days at %' The agreement to deliver was signed and acknowledged, and then Marchmont said: “I am making this deal just to teach vou another Jim Dodson this morning trying to sell any price. 1 believe that you something about business some then I'll be proud of son-in-law Meanwhile, 1T might as well get your money as anvhody's “Thanks for the good wishes and the bad lesson was in me here his 200 at will day learn and You as a compliment sald Heath, with a laugh w | know, or rather believe, that the San Remo is one of the best mining prop erties in the world, and. 1 think you ar guing to have more dificulty in corralling those 0 shares than you anticipate, | shain't endeavor to acquire a share direct'y or indirectly, as |1 but if asks shall tainly advise them to hold on to theiy for a price considerably above par won't be losing any money by or any other number of shares at W But your agreement You can wager that as striet an the contract as you deal. Seo look sharp, self out of the office Once outside he laughed and none the less heartily aughter was noiseless nromised, advice as to anyone my selling 1 cer stock And | taking » from you W, and I will hold you to just interpretation of the letter of held me on the wheat and Heath took him- says laughed long because the Four hundred Squeezing the Short 1 'OU ONCE SAID 1F MARRIAG g 1 COULD shares at 50! about wheat! howl! There was evidently something very en- Joyable in the idea, for he concluded to drop business for the day and call on Marchmont's daughter Emily, his fiuncee He told her the whole history of the deal, and, by a good deal of explaining, finally made her understand the situation. She knew more about business than most women do and said: “It is a little out of the way, but [ am willing to take your word for it that it is perfectly honest. [ know that it is nothing more than papa would do to you. 1 have heard him say a thousand times that a man who sells something he hasn't got de- serves to get squeezed. That I8 what he ssaid about you when you got the worst of that wheat deal “I must confess,”” said Heath, “that it comes a little nearer (0 sharp practice than I would care to go under ordinary circum- stances, but you say yvou would like o have his consent before we are married, and this is the only way | know of getting it. Then 1 am doing no more to him than he did to me on the wheat deal, and we will have to progeed on the supposition that the end will justify the means. And the money wil! be all in the family, anyhow Emily was sworn to inviolate secrecy in knew of the deal, and Marchmont away happy m the thought that he going to father-in-law-to-be to a very bad gquarter of an hour or so Marchmont was not alarmed. He to work in his usual quiet and businesslike Got to be But won't delivered! the old Talk man most she went wus preserve Lhe regard to what treat his went way to accumulate the 40 shares of San Remo. The stock was not listed on the ex change, but the “curbstone agents of his brokers managed to pick up a few shares it around thirty, and he found no difficulty in buying Dudson's for the same price As a stockholder he demanded and was readily granted permission to examine the records in the company’'s office and obtained a list f the stockholders Having bought Dodson’'s two hundred and having picked up alx a hundred through th “eurb” market, Muarchmont found t he must either get the 1 shares which slood in the name of John Folk, as attor. ney, or pick up all the rest of the outstand i and secure ten sharves of this 10 lot, He wrote to Tolk. whom he knew slightly uifering thirty for W shares held in his name, and sent out a circular letter to the ten or twelve smaller stockholders whos Stock he had not yec secy the same and od. offering them price enclosing newspaper clippings which showed that the San Remo property was suffering from an overflow of waler, nterest | & SHOW YoU | | MY :LBILITY IN BUSINE YOU From the smaller holders he secured enough stock to run his holdings up to 3% shares, one man answering that he would hold his ten shares for par, This was encouraging progress, but a let- ter from Folk informed him that his client did not care to name a price on the stock, preferring to keep it as an investment, Marchmont promptly wrote to the holder of the ten-share lot and bought his shares at the price asked, par He had now hought 380 shares at an average price of 30, and ten shares at 10, his purchases having cost him $12,40. At 5, Heath would have to pay $20,000 for 40 shares, so he could pay an exorbitant price for the ten shares of stock which he needed to make his con- tract good and still a profit He wrote to Folk again, and that he was willing to pay any told him reasonable price for ten shares, and received the reply that his client was well satisfied with the progpects of the San Remo mine, but might consider an offer to take the whole of the 100-share lot This was putting another face on affairs The sixty days within which he had agreed to make delivery lacked only one week of bheing up, and it began to dawn on March- mont that in some way Heath was behind this refusal of Folks' client to sell “Some old fogy who knows nothing of business and telieves everything Heath says about the future of the companv, no doubt, sald Marchmont to himself I must make an effort to see him or to get Folk to explain the sitnation. It Is very peculiar that he does not want his name mentioned. That is Heath's work, 1 am sure. Don’'t want this unknown to hear the truth about the state of affairs.” It was not now a question of getting out with a profit that confronted Marchmont If he conld see and talk with this person who held the 10 shares, he could possibly ersuade him to sell the shares at a price not so far above nar but that he could come out of the deal without a less, but there seemed to bhe no prospe of this. On the other hand, he could either go 10 Heath ind settle at any price Heath chose to ex- Wt or let Heath bring suit for nonfulfill- ment. It was not in accord with his nature 0 own his defeat to anyone, much less to Heath, and a suit brought against him for nonfulfiliment of contract might do the Marchmont & amount of damage Co. an incalculable He had often said, and he realized the truth of the statement, that the reputation of a banking firm was like that of 1 woman, even a breath of scandal may do it an injury that nothing on earth ever repair resolved that the best pian was to to Polk and explain the whole csse Short Story alker Hines by William LTI LV S TR T TR 130l WOULD GIVE YOUR CONS T TO OUR to him Folk was sympathetic. He un- derstood Marchmont's position and re- gretted extremely that he should be so embarrassed. But he could do nothing. The ethics of his profession forbade that he should give any clue to his client's identity, nor could he promise to arrange a meeting. He would do his best to get his client to name a price for the stock. Heo did not believe his client would con- sent to sell unlesg a very Jarge price was offered “I'll give a very large price,” said Marchmont. “T'll give 200 per share, { think it is your duty as an advise your client to accept.” Mr. Folk needed no instructions from Mr. attorney to Marchmont as to his duties to a client. Nor was he disposed to receive any. Nevertheless, he would ask his client to name a price Marchmont was to call at 10 o'clock on the last morning of the sixty days. Delivery would have to be made by noon of that day At 10 o'clock he entered Folk's office, a little less color than usual in his cheeks, but bearing no other testimony of the fact that he had not slept the night previous. Folk met Marchmont in the outer office and told him that his client was in the inner office and did not wish to meet him unless an agreement for the sale of the stock should be made. His client had named a price, but it was so enormous that Folk hesitated to mention it ‘Name it, man Name it. I must get them at any price, and make the transfer before noon I told you I would pay 209, I'll pay 250 if it is necessary, but 1 must have them at price, The credit of my firm is at and I can not afford 0 wait a any stake, moment “The price is $1,00 a share “Outrageous! Man shares But I will pay it “The price is not named for You can 10 shares or you have ter share “It's blackmail! alive, $10,000 for ten ten at $1,00 & share, $10.000 a shares. have may shares at said Marchmont, pacing up and down the office By — Heath is behind this, and it is nothing more or less than blackmail! 1 won't pay it! I will inform my client of your decision,"” said Folk, with quiet dignity good morning “Stop a moment. Folk “Give me time to think. I am in a trap and I don't any way out of it. If I don't buy from your client I've got to by vy from Heath, and I haven't a doubt but what he is dictating the price you named 10 me. Give me a moment. 1'll pay the $10.00. My check is good, isn't it?" “Unquestionably so. 1 have the stock all and bid yvou said Marchmont, See