Aladdin and Company Part 24

Things were simpler then, Al, weren't they? And to emphasize that fact, my mind ran along the trail of the 'Weevilly Wheat' into the domain of tickers, margins, puts and calls, and all the cussedness of the Board of Trade, and came b.u.mp against poor Bill's bucket-shop deals, and settled down to the chronic wonder as to just how badly crippled he was when he died. If Will gets it figured out soon, at all accurately, wire me.

"J."

The wedding tour came to an end, and the bride and groom returned long before Mr. Elkins did. Giddings dropped into my office the day after their return, and, quite in his old way, began to discuss affairs in general.

"I'm going to close out the _Herald_ Addition," said he. "Real estate and newspaper work don't mix, and I shall unload the real estate. What do you say to an auction?"

"How can you be sure of anything like an adequate scale of prices?" said I; "and won't you demoralize things?"

"It'll strengthen prices," he replied, "the way I'll manage it. This is the age of the sensational--the yellow--and you people haven't been yellow enough in your methods of selling dirt. If you say sensationalism is immoral, I won't dispute it, but just simply ask how the fact happens to be material?"

I saw that he was going out of his way to say this, and avoided discussion by asking him to particularize as to his methods.

"We shall pursue a progressively startling course of advertising, to the end that the interest shall just miss acute mania. I'll have the best auctioneer in the world. On the day of the auction we'll have a series of doings which will leave the people absolutely no way out of buying.

We'll have a scale of upset prices which will prevent loss. Why, I'll make such a killing as never was known outside of the Fifteen Decisive Battles. I sha'n't seem to do all this personally. I shall turn the work over to Tolliver; but I'll be the power behind the movement. The gestures and stage business will be those of Esau, but the word-painting will be that of Jacob."

"Well," said I, "I see nothing wrong about your plan; and it may be practicable."

"There being nothing wrong about it is no objection from my standpoint,"

said he. "In fact, I think I prefer to have it morally right rather than otherwise, other things being equal, you know. As for its practicability, you watch the Captain, and you'll see!"

This talk with Giddings convinced me that he was entirely himself again; and also that the boom was going on apace. It had now long reached the stage where the efforts of our syndicate were reinforced by those of hundreds of men, who, following the lines of their own interests, were powerfully and effectively striving to accomplish the same ends. I pointed this out in a letter to Mr. Elkins in New York.

"I am glad to note," said he in reply, "that affairs are going on so cheerfully at home. Don't imagine, however, that because a horde of volunteers (most of them nine-spots) have taken hold, our old guard is of any less importance. Do you remember what a Prince Rupert's drop is?

I absolutely know you don't, and to save you the trouble of looking it up, I'll explain that it is a gla.s.s pollywog which holds together all right until you snap off the tip of its tail. Then a job lot of molecular stresses are thrown out of balance, and the thing develops the surprising faculty of flying into innumerable fragments, with a very pleasing explosion. Whether the name is a tribute of Prince Rupert's propensity to fly off the handle, or whether he discovered the drop, or first noted its peculiarities, I leave for the historian of the Cromwellian epoch to decide. The point I make is this. Our syndicate is the tail of the Lattimore Rupert's drop; and the Grain Belt Trust Co. is the very slenderest and thinnest tip of the pollywog's propeller. Hence the writer's tendency to count the strokes of the clock these nights."

Dating from the night of Trescott's death, and therefore covering the period of Jim's absence, I could not fail to notice the renewed ardor with which Cornish devoted himself to the Trescott family. Alice and I, on our frequent visits, found him at their home so much that I was forced to the conclusion that he must have had some encouragement.

During this period of their mourning his treatment of both mother and daughter was at once so solicitously friendly, and so delicate, that no one in their place could have failed to feel a sense of obligation. He sent flowers to Mrs. Trescott, and found interesting things in books and magazines for Josie. Having known him as a somewhat cold and formal man, Mrs. Trescott was greatly pleased with this new view of his character.

He diverted her mind, and relieved the monotony of her grief. Cornish was a diplomat (otherwise Jim would have had no use for him in the first place), and he skilfully chose this sad and tender moment to bring about a closer intimacy than had existed between him and the afflicted family.

It was clearly no affair of mine. Nevertheless, after several experiences in finding Cornish talking with Josie by the Trescott grate, I considered Jim's interests menaced.

"Well," said Alice, when I mentioned this feeling, "Mr. Cornish is certainly a desirable match, and it can scarcely be expected that Josie will remain permanently unattached."

There was a little resentment in her voice, for which I could see no reason, and therefore protested that, under all circ.u.mstances, it was scarcely fair to blame me for the lady's unappropriated state.

"Under other conditions," said I, "I a.s.sure you that I should not permit such an anomaly to exist--if I could help it."

The incident was then declared closed.

During this absence of Jim's, which, I think, was the real cause of Alice's displeasure, the _Herald_ Addition sale went forward, with all the "yellow" features which the minds of Giddings and Tolliver could invent. It began with flaring advertis.e.m.e.nts in both papers. Then, on a certain day, the sale was declared open, and every bill-board and fence bore posters puffing it. A great screen was built on a vacant lot on Main Street, and across the street was placed, every night, the biggest magic lantern procurable, from which pictures of all sorts were projected on the screen, interlarded with which were statements of the _Herald_ Addition sales for the day, and quotations showing the advance in prices since yesterday. And at all times the coming auction was cried abroad, until the interest grew to something wonderful. Every farmer and country merchant within a hundred miles of the city was talking of it.

Tolliver was in his highest feather. On the day of the auction he secured excursion rates on all of the railroads, and made it a holiday.

Porter's great military band, then touring the country, was secured for the afternoon and evening. Thousands of people came in on the excursions and it seemed like a carnival. Out at the piece of land platted as the _Herald_ Addition, whither people were conveyed in street-cars and carriages during the long afternoon the great band played about the stands erected for the auctioneer, who went from stand to stand, crying off the lots, the precise location of the particular parcel at any moment under the hammer being indicated by the display of a flag, held high by two strong fellows, who lowered the banner and walked to another site in obedience to signals wigwagged by the enthusiastic Captain. The throng bid excitedly, and the clerks who made out the papers worked desperately to keep up with the demands for deeds. It was clear that the sale was a success. As the sun sank, handbills were scattered informing the crowd that in the evening Tolliver & Company, as a slight evidence of their appreciation of the splendid business of the day, would throw open to their friends the new Cornish Opera House, where Porter's celebrated band would give its regular high-cla.s.s concert. Tolliver & Company, the bill went on, took pleasure in further informing the public that, in view of the great success of the day's sale, and the very small amount to which their holdings in the _Herald_ Addition were reduced, the remainder of this choice piece of property would be sold from the stage to the highest bidder, absolutely without any reservation or restriction as to the price!

I had received a telegram from Jim saying that he would return on a train arriving that evening, and asking that Cornish, Hinckley, and Lattimore be at the office to meet him. I was on the street early in the evening, looking with wonder at the crowds making merry after the dizzy day of speculative delirium. At the opera house, filled to overflowing with men admitted on tickets, the great band was discoursing its music, in alternation with the insinuating oratory of the auctioneer, under whose skilful management the odds and ends of the _Herald_ Addition were changing owners at a rate which was simply bewildering.

"Don't you see," said Giddings delightedly, "that this is the only way to sell town lots?"

Jim came into the office, fresh and buoyant after his long trip, his laugh as hearty and mirth-provoking as ever. After shaking hands with all, he threw himself into his own chair.

"Boys," said he, "I feel like a mouse just returning from a visit to a cat convention. But what's this crowd for? It's nearly as bad as Broadway."

We explained what Giddings and Tolliver had been doing.

"But," said he, "do you mean to tell me that he's sold that Addition to this crowd of reubs?"

"He most certainly has," said Cornish.

"Well, fellows," replied Jim, "put away the accounts of this as curiosities! You'll have some difficulty in making posterity believe that there was ever a time or place where town lots were sold with magic lanterns and a bra.s.s band! And don't advertise it too much with Dorr, Wickersham and those fellows. They think us a little crazy now. But a bra.s.s band! That comes pretty near being the limit."

"Gentlemen," said Mr. Lattimore, "I shall have to leave you soon; and will you kindly make use of me as soon as you conveniently can, and let me go?"

"Have you got the condition of the Trescott estate figured out?" said Mr. Elkins.

"Yes," said the lawyer.

We all leaned forward in absorbed interest; for this was news.

"Have you told these gentlemen?" Jim went on.

"I have told no one."

"Please give us your conclusions."

"Gentlemen," said Mr. Lattimore, "I am sorry to report that the Trescott estate is absolutely insolvent! It lacks a hundred thousand dollars of being worth anything!"

There was a silence for some moments.

"My G.o.d!" said Hinckley, "and our trust company is on all that paper of Trescott's scattered over the East!"

"What's become of the money he got on all his sales?" asked Jim.

"From the looks of the check-stubs, and other indications," said Mr.

Lattimore, "I should say the most of it went into Board of Trade deals."

Cornish was swearing in a repressed way, and above his black beard his face was pale. Elkins sat drumming idly on the desk with his fingers.

"Gentlemen," said he, "I take it to be conceded that unless the Trescott paper is cared for, things will go to pieces here. That's the same as saying that it must be taken up at all hazards."

"Not exactly," said Cornish, "at _all_ hazards."

"Well," said Jim, "it amounts to that. Has any one any suggestions as to the course to be followed?"

Mr. Cornish asked whether it would not be best to take time, allow the probate proceedings to drag along, and see what would turn up.

"But the Trust Company's guaranties," said Mr. Hinckley, with a banker's scent for the complications of commercial paper, "must be made good on presentation, or it may as well close its doors."

"The thing won't 'drag along' successfully," said Jim. "Have you a schedule of the a.s.sets?"

"Yes," said Mr. Lattimore. "The life-insurance money and the home are exempt from liability for debts, and I've left them out; but the other properties you'll find listed here."