The Sunday Oregonian., November 29, 1908, Section Six, Page 3, Image 55

THE SUNDAY OREGOSIAX, PORTXAyP, NOVEMBER 29, 1903.
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NO. 7. KATYDID fllNE
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He2MV- SOB JSy W.G Gfi&42Wr
A RULE the Inspectors of
Postofflce Department look
s'rer
matters of fraudulent
us of tiie mail." paid Captain Dickson
on h certain occasion when I had dropped
in for a Hlt smoke and a glass of cher
ry, "but when a cae develops unusual
niffl'iilti'-s the secret service department
ir. ca:!-d upon. This does not often hap
pen, however, for there Is a lot of rivalry
titwin these department and not a lit
tle jealousy. It is only as a- last resort
that our branch of the machinery of gov
ernment Is brought Into requisition, and
not until the postoffice Inspectors nave
fa:ld utterly."
I was visiting at the home of Captain
Trtikson. who had once been high In the
counsels of the United States secret serv
ice hut was now retired. Kach of us had
m clear In our finders and before us was a
sherry decanter the captain's favorite
beverage. He k.-.ew what I was there for
a story, and he was willing to tell one
as soon as h" could find tlte lead. And
the Interesting feature about his experi
ence ts that they are true happenings,
and his slmp.e way of telling them made
the picture he drew stand out the more
clearly. I couldn't Improve on them If I
tried to embellish them, so I repeat his
words as 1 remember them.
A cae of this character occurred a few
j-eara ago In one of the larger Western
CltitC.
It was a mining case a company backed
by J,v.uno.on capital stock and. to all ap
pearances. It wan a legitimate scheme.
Among Its directors were four or five
well-known Western mining men. one I
remember being an ex-L'nlted States Sen
ator. It advertised extensively in the
newspapers and by circulars. Orders for
stock were pouring Into the company in
auch large quantities that It required two
and three mail wagons, sometimes, to
haul a single day's mall.
The stock was sold In small quantities,
no one being allowed to subscribe for
more than Its) shares at a dollar a share,
out of each million dollars of stock Issued.
The stock was sold at rar. a dollar cah
a share, and It was paying annual divi
dends of 20 per cent. In five years the
subscriber had hla money back and still
owned hl stock, of course. It made a
decidedly attractive Investment, and peo
ple from all over the country Just broke
their necks, pardon the expression, to get
In on tho ground floor.
The advertising matter of the company,
which operated under the name of the
Amalgamated Gold Syndicate, was clev
erly written. It stated that the discover
ers of the mine were two poor prospec
tors without kith or kin but with hearts
overflowing with generosity, who. from
the two millions of stock that each
owned, derived a revenue greater thHn
either could spend and. appreciating the
afflictions of the poor and the scant op
portunities for a man of small means to
find a safe and profitable investment for
Ma savings, they had decided to share
Uielr wealth and prosperity with their
feiinw-men. .
The company placed Jl w.00rt of stock
upon the market each year. Jl.OXI.om In
Januarv and Jl..t.W In July. It adver
tised that no one person woulJ I 'l
lowed to subscribe, for more than Jl'O or
each seml-annnul iseue ana m
. rtntion b.ks would be closed as soon
as the reo'Mslte million was subscribed.
Th PosloftU-e Itcpaxtment became sus-o'.-iot
as soon a the advertisements be
gan to appear, and the Inspectors were
Immediately put upon the case They
worked tor six months ,nd found noth
ing that supported this suspicion in the
'nest tin the oilier hand they cs
.'.r.iist.ed beyond doubt that the mine
had l.een discovered by two poor miners
who had no relatives living so far as
c.uld be determine: mm ""'"..
canltallta to Invest Jl.000.uuO
in
cash In the venture.
n,i had then organ
ised and Incorporated the Amalgamated
. oM SvndWe with a raid-up capital of
.,.... selling the mire to the corpora
ri..,i for' U of The mine was
ci'lid The KaOdia. aim u
v orked for a time by the corporation at
a I,, profit. The two miners poor J
,,ser had. after a time conceived their
charitable scheme, and had put It through
i against the wishes of the minority
o -kholders. who were peerless to pre-
"'icco'raingly. the capital stock had
been Increased from J5.uo0.0OO to 10.
n,,oo,.0 and the charter authorized
;.no.n,n of the Increased stock to be
sold each year.
The company apparently did every
thing that It advertised. It regular T
Id Its stockholders an annual divi
dend of I per cent. No one person was
Permitted to take more than 10 shares
of the various semiannual Issues. Cases
were found where money had been re
turned to subscribers who had endea
vored to secure larger quantities and
ni.:.r instance, were discovered where
checks for Mock subscriptions had been
returned with a brief '7 "U"
that til- semiannual issue had been ex
hausted before the subscription had
been received.
On its f ice. It was the fairest sort
o' .lea!, although .he plan of the two
beneficent m.ners did not exactly aver
age ur to the sl.mrtards of human na
ture that the world has come to ex
pect In business ni.-n and especially In
promoters of mining companies.
Il idson. o.ie of the miners, was pres
ident of th company, and in charge
of the offices it maintained In the
Western citv. which I no" already
mention.!, while Mason, the other of
th- discoverers, whs general manager
and I", control at the mine. Roth Hud
son and M.ison bore out the character
that tne advertising matter of the syn
dicate gave to them. They dressed In
rough, cheap clothing, chewed tobacco
and showed a disregard for money that
Is characteristic of men who have
worked hard all their lives against an
adverse fortune and who have suddenly
come Into great wealth. In everything;
they acted the parts of uncouth, un
educated sons of the soli.
t the Katydid mine. visitors were
'ways welcome. They were shown over
the properties with the greatest free
dom, only ore place, the small build
ing where the metal was separated
f-om the amalgam, was denied to them.
Mason explained this by saying- that
the company possessed a secret process
for refining which he had discovered,
and which was known only to himself,
to Hudson and to Belden. the company s
chemist- .
This in brief. ws th status of
tl.e case when I was put on It. It was
given to me because I had been a miner
and prospector anJ had studied geology
and ais.'ilng.
Af;r working a week on the case
1 was satisfied that the company was
a fraud, but I reallly saw that I had
ro common orooks to deal with. In
the first pLice, the plan looked too fair
an-l generous. It was like an alibi that
is too perfect. I had seen miners make
lucky strikes, but 1 bad never known
a single Instance of a man sharing
his p-of!t with ot'icrs who had no
call uron him. Another thing that add
ed to ny certainty was the quality of
the or- from the mine. It was fairly
rich 1 1 go;d. but not sufficiently so
to yield the amount of gold the com
pany sold each month. I secured speci
mens and had it assayed by the best
chemists. It was a low grade ore. I
then measured one of the ore cars and
hid out behind & boulder for two days
on the mountain side near the mine,
where I could see and count every
car of ore that came from tho mouth
of the mine.
My figures showed that the mine was
producing less than $300 of ore a day.
little mora than enough to pay the ex
penses of operating, and certainly not
enough to sustain the expensive offices
in tho city and pay the fabulous divi
dends ou the stock. For 20 per cent a
year rs something to make a stock
broker's heart strain almost to the
point of breaking.
I didn't take a bit of stock in Mason's
claim of a secret process of refining. I
knew that was a fake outright, but I
wanted, confirmation of It. and the only
way to obtain this was to get inilde the
little building at the mine where Mason
and Eelden slept and where the separa
tion of the gold from the amalgam was
effected. I wanted to get Into that build
ing as badly as ever a life prisoner want
ed to get out of the penitentiary, and I
was ready to do most any desperate thing
to accomplish my desire.
My chief's Instructions had been ex
plicit and they suited me to a "T." The
postal inspectors had been rather offen
sive lately over one or two matters and
there was a bit of friction between the
heads of these departments. Hence, the
desire of my department that I should
clear the matter uj without assistance.
I had been told that I must work out my
own salvation, and that was the kind or
assignment I always liked best- I want
ed to teach the postoffice department that
one Secret Service man was worth all Its
corps of Inspectors, that I could work
out single-handed a proposition that had
stumped its best talent- Of course the
chief had never said a word of this to
me. but I knew the state of aftairs and
his terse instructions had been sufficient
to let me know what was expected of me.
When I had worked on the case some
four or five days an Inspiration came to
me and I had a quantitative analysis
made of a bar of gold from the Katydid
mine. It showed Just what I expected.
Then I made an investigation of the syn
dicate's deposits In the various banks
where It kept accounts. From these I
gathered a few more ideas and really
began to see daylight. I next secured
what Information 1 could about the
amount of gold bullion the company had
stored In safe-deposit vaults, but this
was a difficult matter to get st, as
much as Its stock was stored or sup
posed to be stored In its own vaults.
I put In two or three days spoiling
nice clean sheets of paper with fig
ures' that ran far Into the millions, at
tho end of which laborious task, for I
have never been a good mathematician.
I had the solution of the swindle
worked out to my own satisfaction at
least- However. I had mighty little
evidence that would stand in a law
court, and this was precisely what I
had been sent out West to gather. The
chief impressed upon me that there
must be conclusive proof of a bona fide
mining venture or of a swindling game.
He thought It would be the latter, and
so did I. for that matter.
The thing now before me was to get
proof one way or the other, and I set
about It. realizing more than ever that
I was face to face with a problem that
was going to tax my Ingenuity to the
fullest. It all turned on the little build
ing at the mine. This was the point
about which all of my theories cen
tered; it was the milk In the cocoanut,
and I was satisfied that when I strained
It I would bag a covey of the shrewd
est rogues that had ever planned to
part a gullible public from its hard
earned money
There was no rest for me awake or
asleep. I thought over the matter
awake and dreamed of It when I tried
to sleep. I couldn't figure out a plan
for gaining admittance to the secret
confines of the little building, although
I conceived no less than a hundred
AMERICAN GIRL WINS RECOGNITION IN GRAND
OPERA
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V
is
MISS KATHLEra HOWARD.
Xov. X. fSoecial.'i Ka.thleeo Howard
NEW YORK. Xov. 73. (Special.)
i., a. r!,.,k nunll who has made
who has been studying under the great French tenor and who began
her operatic career in a subordinate position In the Municipal Opera
House of Metx. The director of the Frankfort Opera House heard her
and immediately engaged her and she made a great success under his
management, singing the contralto roles in "Das Rhelngold" and "Die
Walkure' She is here pictured In the role of one of the wives of
Nicolai's "Merry Wives of Windsor." She hopes to sing during the
coming season In the Royal Opera House In Berlin.
schemes, some of thom foolhardy and
romantic In the extreme.
I had almost worked myself Into a
fever over it when, one night, I went
up to my room at the little hotel of
the mining camp after supper and sat
down to -"ad myself to sleep. I had
bought a couple of paper-back novels
at the drugstore, from Its rather
limited stock, and among them
there was a copy of Victor Hugo's
masterpiece. I had read the book be
fore, but it was a favorite of mine and
I hadn't much choice in the matter of
selection. I was so wrought up over
the question of getting Into the refin
ing plant that connected reading was
-.v. -)
. r-.'-a
i
t
V
Ktnieen nonira i uiuum
good. She is an American girl.
out of the question, so I skipped about
through the book, reading a chapter
here and a bit there until I came to the
adventure of Jean Valjean in the Paris
sewers In an Instant I was tingling
In every nerve, for I had found the
solution of my problem, although it
was both foolhardy and beset with the
gravest dangers.
The reducing plant was in a low-set
building, adjoining the stamp mill, and
the water supply was conveyed to it
from a dam some distance up the canyon
through an iron pipe two feet in diam
eter. The water supply was limited, and
at night the flow was shut off, leaving
the pipe quite empty. I had observed
the pipe in my rambllngs el. out the
neighborhood of the mine, Sut had never
thought of it as a possible entrance to
the building until I read of the hunted
Jean Valjean .King to the sewers like
a rat to esrpe his Implacable foe. Pos
sibly I sever should have thought of It
if I had not chanced to buy the 10-cent
book at tho drugstore. This Is but an
Instance of the Influence on our lives
of seemingly trivial -things.
Tossing the book upon the floor, I
hastened out Into the night and made
with all speed lor me Dig pipe. ine
water left the reservoir in a sluiceway
of concrete, and ran for some 200 yards
m a trough of the same material until
its course crossed v deep, narrow gulch,
which made the pipe necessary. This
was to be my point of entrance, as from
here on to the mill tho pipe was contin
uous. It was something after 10 o'clock when
I completed my Investigation, and I de
cided to explore the pipe without fur
ther delay. I removed my shoes and hid
them beneath a bowlder, looked to the
cartridges In my revolver, s, precaution
I have always taken since a certain ad
venture down on the Rio Grande. Then
I crept Into the pipe. It was cool and
clammy and as dark as a dungeon. I had
a little pocket electric flashlight, but was
afraid to use It, as the distance to the re
ducing plant was less than 100 yards from
the ravine.
My progress was slow and tiresome.
Nevertheless, in good time. I came to a
point where the pipe made an abrupt
turn straight down, which convinced me
that I was about at the end of my Jour
ney. I reached down the hole as far as
my arm would go, but couldn't touch
bottom, so, after listening for a time
and hearing nothing more than a dis
tant drip, drip of water, which was most
lonesome, mysterious and melancholy, I
tore my pocket handkerchief Into strips
and weighted it with a cartridge so that
I might sound tho inky depths below. I
was sensible enough not to drop down
Into the pipe without making a reckon
ing, as I had learned this precaution by
sad experience. To my great relief the
plummet struck bottom about four feet
down, and I cautiously lowered myself,
feet first, into tho well.
It was rather close quarters, but I
managed to feel about me In every di
rection, end to my dismay found that at
this point tho pips divided Into half a
dosen smaller ones, none of them over
six Inches in diameter. This was a sad
blow to my hopes, and I felt almost de
feated, so great was my chagrin. There
was nothing to do but clamber back to
the straight stretch of the pipe, where I
paused a moment to think.
It was so dark that I couldn't see my
band before me, so I thought It safe to
take out my pocket lamp and examine
my surroundings. Flashing H overhead,
I was overjoyed to see that tho bend in
the pipe was arranged with e circular
door which was held down by a spring
catch which fastened beneath a flange.
I released this, and was rejoiced to feel
the door move upward when I pushed
against It.
It was an opening large enough to per
mit a man's body to pass though it. and
I suppose it must have been arranged so
that tho plpo oould bo cleaned out if It
should boooro dogged with, leave or
trash. At any rate, it offered the much
sought entrance to the building, for when
I pushed the top upward a. few Inches
and peered out beneath it I could see
the faint rays of the perfect moon re
flected upon the bare brick walls of the
building. With great cautlori I raised the
lid upright and crawled out of the open
ing. ,
I was indeed within the mysterious
building. In my excitement - at this dis
covery I released my hold of the upright
lid and it fell to with a metallic report
that sounded, to my tense senses, like the
beom of a coast defense gun.
The next instant I heard a voice, which
I recognized as Mason's, excitedly bel
lowing: "Who's that?" he demanded. 'Hey,
Belden," ha continued, "something's
broke loose."
I didn't know what to do, so great was
my surprise at my own rash, act and its
consequences. '
CHICAGO WOMAN MAY MARRY SON OF PRETENDER TO
PORTUGAL THRONE.
if
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I , ? if -'- t, t
j y . ; $ ' -1 j
X .' - ZA? ' 1 i
j - -
MRS. FRANK AVERY.
NEW YORK. Nov. 28.Special.)-It is now reported tbat Prince
Miguel de Braganza. son of the pretender to the Portuguese throne.
Is to marry 'Mrs. Frank Avery, formerly of Chicago. Prince Miguel
has been reported to marry many times, the most recent report was that
he would marry Mrs. S. S. Chauncey. 1 nis wae uc... ..-.v.-., ,
father, who wants him to marry a princess.
I could hear Belden sleepily call back
something that I could not make out.
and iiason reply. Then there was a
creaking of springs and two dull thuds
as the men sprang from their beds, xt
was a ticklish situation, and I certainly
thought the Jig was up. Luckily, neither
of the men had a match, and I could
hear them swearing luridly over this
fact, the rattle of a tin lantern punctu
ating their profanity. Tills gave me an
opportunity to take a hasty survey of
my surroundings. I sprang from my
perch astride the big pipe to the concrete
floor six feet below and scrambled be
neath a long table that stood at one side
of the room. There was Just enough
moonlight sifting through the dirty. Iron
barred windows to give me a bare i.'ea
of my situation.
The building was 30 or 40 feet in length
and I was near the farther end from the
room where , I could hear the men stum
bling about in the darkness and swearing
like troopers. On every hand were tables
and boxes and machinery and washing
troughs. Not a second too soon had I
concealed myself, for scarcely had I
reached the deep shadow of the table
when I heard a door grate on Its hinges
and the feeble rays of a lantern illumi
nated a few cubic feet of space about the
lanky legs of the raw-boned miner.
With my heart going about 200 beats a
minute, I crouc-hed beneath the table,
gripping my revolver and very much in
doubt about what I should do if I were
discovered, which seemed a certainty.
Of course I could have shot both men
and made my escape through the flume
pipe, but there was nothing to Justify
this conduct. Thus far I had nothing but
suspicion against the two men, and such
an act would have been nothing lees than
murder. I decided to let matters shape
themselves and only endeavor to keep out
of sight.
The men blundered about the room for
awhile, the lantern rather handicapping
than aiding them in their search. I could
hear every word they said and tho un
easiness they showed was certainly a sus
picious circumstance.
Finally they stopped a short distance
from my place of concealment. I could
see their feet, about which the lantern's
light concentrated, and they were facing
away from me, which gave me a little
more hope of escaping.
Belden was speaking.
"I tell you." he said, "it was something
fell. It wa'n't anything else because I
know every door Is locked. I seen to 'em
myself before we turned in Just as I does
everv night."
"That don't matter." retorted Mason
with warmth, "we can't take chances,
and we must find what made the noise if
we have to look all nielit. Nothing could
have fell if it hadn't been nushed over
and it takes something live to push things
over. I hain't liked the way that stranger
has been poking around here lately. I've
had my suspicions of him all the time,
and I came near as anything taking a pot
shot at him that day I found him hid out
behind a bowlder watching the mouth of
the mine through his spy-glass."
"Why didn't you?" queried Belden in a
sneering tone. "I'd a done it. if I had
been the one to find him. What's the
matter with you is you don't want to do
a thing hut copper your share of the
swag and play safe all the time. Wish
Id 'a' found him. He'd been wolf feed
in less'n no time."
"Weil, tain t no use fussing about it
now." replied Mason. "I'm glad I didn't
shoot him, for it would have brought a
lot of detectives and Government men
about here and would have spoiled our
game right off."
"Well, let's go back to bed," yawned
Belden, Ignoring the taunt.
"Not until we've found what made that
noise," answered Mason. "You wait here
till I get the headlight from the office.
This blamed lantern ain't worth shucks.
"All right," grumbled Belden, and
Mason went toward the door, swinging
tho lantern as he walked.
I had heard enough to Justify me In
arresting the men and in going to any
length to accomplish It Mason would
not be gone long, I well knew, so I de
cided to capture Belden before his partner
returned. '
I stealthily crawled from under the ta
ble my stocking feet making no noise
upon the concrete floor, and warily ap
proached the unconscious Belden. I could
Just make out his bulk, where he stood in
a dark portion of the building, and I
could hear the rustling of his clothing.
He scratched a match and I held my
breath. Fortune favored me. He was
lighting a corncob pipe, his back fairly to
me. L,ike a shadow I glided toward
him and with a quick, sure stroke brought
my heavy revolver down upon the back
of his neck with a sickening, crunching
Impact.
He fell without a groan and lay like
one dead. Nevertheless. I took the
precaution to slip a pair of handcuffs
upon his wrists and then I sprang to
wards the door through which I could
see the light of Mason's lantern advan
cing. I was not a second too soon. As
Mason crosed the threshold I struck him
a heavy blow upon the head and ho
went down like an ox in the shambles.
I handcuffed him and picked up his lan
tern. Next. I packed ' the unconscious men
into the room where they slept and de
posited them upon the bed. after which
I set about restoring them to conscious
ness. This room opened into tho office
where was situated the vault. After
some little time Mason groaned and sat
upright.
"Well, pardner," was his crestrallen
greeting, when he had looked me over
carefully. "I guess you hold the trump
cards. What do you mean to do next?"
He showed no resentment and
seemed, at firsts to think that I was
a bandit. I showed him my badge
which had an electrical effect upon
him.
In my brief acquaintance with him
I marked him as a man who would
confess everything and endeavor to
escape punishment by implicating his
confederates, so I explained to him
as much of my suspicions as seemed
expedient and made several guesses.
This quite overpowered him. and af
ter it he was as pliant as wax In my
hands. He confessed everything and
opened the big vault for me and
showed me the books of the company.
I had expected to have some difficulty
with him and to have to do more
bluffing than proved necessary, but
he did everything in his power to
help me.
He said that he, Belden and Hud
son had turned the trick without as
sistance. They had conceived the gi
gantic fraud when the mine began to
fail, and had experienced little diffi
culty in putting it into effect. On the
fine showing the mine had made at
first they succeeded in getting $1.
000,000 invested in it after which they
had incorporated and begun to sell
stock and converted it into gold coin,
which they shipped to the mine, where
it was melted down, run into bars,
shipped back to tho city, and sold as
bullion, a part of it going to pay di
vidends. I had suspected this when I had the
quantitative analysis of one of their
bars of gold made, for It had showed
the percentage of amalgam that Is
used in gold coins. The last Bhipmenc
of gold coin was in the time-lock safe,
which wouldn't open until 8 o'clock
next morning, so I made a hasty ex
amination of the books and then
trussed my two prisoners up like tur
keys while I went to rouse the mar
shal. He was an Intelligent Irishman,
who had knocked about the world a
good dea. and it didn't take long to ex
plain the situation to him. He ac
companied me back to the mine, after
I had wired instructions for Hudson's
arrest, and relieved me of my charges.
I spent the night going over the
books and examining the records in
the vault and by morning I had every
thing I wanted to lay bare one of the
most colossal swindles ever attempted.
TEACHERS ON
HORSEBACK
THE ' appointment of traveling
teachers is the novel method re
cently adopted by the Ministry of Pub
lic Instruction to combat illiteracy in
the Abruzzl.
The percentage of illiterates among
the Inhabitants of the Abruzzi has al
ways been very high, and recent sta
tistics show that despite the fact that
manv schoois have been opened in the
towns and villages within the last five
years. 6S per cent of the population is
still illiterate. The cause of this con
dition, which is limited to the Abruzzl,
was variously explained.
The Anti-Clerical members of the
Board of Education were convinced
that the clergy opposed elementary In
struction lest the peasants should lose
their religious faith, while others put
tu i, 1 i...nrv that the Inhabitants
of the Abruzzi had been Ignorant and
unlettered for centuries, aim cumoc
quently they had lost the aptitude to
learn- ,
Professor Emldio Agostinoni discov
ered the real cause. He noticed that
. . - n.ni Achnoln In the towns
and villages were not well attended,
not because the boys were not wiums
to get to them, but because they could
""The majority of the Inhabitants in
the Abruzzi are shepherds, and they
spend nine months out of every year
In the mountains, living In huts and
tending their flocks. Signor Agosti
noni therefore suggested to the Minis
try of Publio Instruction the plan
which has now been adopted, but only
as an experiment
Instead of having schools with
teachers and empty benches, why not
send the teachers up to the mountains,
where the boys are, and hold classes
there? he asked. The plan pleased
some Influential members of the Board
of Education, and 15 teachers were
accordingly furnished with horses and
instructed to ride out every day and
beat the country for pupils. Where
they found boys or men willing to
learn they were to stop and teach.
The 15 traveling teachers have their
hands full, as to their great surprise
they found that tho shepherds, young
and old, are not only willing to learn
to read and write, but that they are
very quick and intelligent.
The number of teachers will soon be
Increased, and next year's statistics
will show that the percentage of
illiterates In the Abruzzi has greatly
decreased.
IIcUT Times.
Indianapolis News.
As business you see improve.
And Industry with life a-throb,
you naturally feel tbat youvs
A tighter cinch upon your Job.
The price of living's on the ran
Which la you note, exceeding swift;
But two dan live as cheap as on.
Of eonrsft, by some Ingenious snltt.
You know all through the doubtful days
That ears have listened for the chlm
Of bells that ring more Joyous ways.
And for that rlnginr noWs tho tims.
And so whlls trade Is on the boom
The wheels of Industry awhlrl.
Corns through! Come through! Forget yottf
gloom.
And tsll It to the only curt
I