Adventure, June 1911 — page 7: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

My Adventures with Your Money the Sullivan Trust Company should begin its corporate career with the promotion of a property as good as the Stray Dog. The Stray Dog was for sale—at a price. One interest, of 350,000 shares, owned by Ver- milyea, Edmonds & Stanley, the law firm of highest standing in Goldfield, :ould be ac- quired at 45 cents a share, and another interest, of 350,000 shares, owned by pros- pectors who had located the ground, could be had at 20 cents a share, all or none. The remainder of the stock was in the treasury of the company. The total demanded for 700,000 shares of ownership stock was $227,500, all cash. A likely property ad- joining the Stray Dog, known as the Indian Camp, could be purchased for $50,000 in its entirety. We knew that as soon as it should become known that we had bought the Stray Dog, the value of Indian Camp ground would double, and we therefore de- cided to annex the Indian Camp at the same time we took over the Stray Dog. The proposed outlay amounted to more money than we had, and I looked about for assistance. Henry Peery, a Salt Lake min- ing man of substance, had been negotiating for the Stray Dog in the interest of Utah bankers. We agreed that Mr. Peery should be allowed to participate on the basis of a one-third interest for him, and a two-thirds interest for the trust company. Besides supplying his quota of the cash needed to swing the deal, Mr. Peery agreed to furnish a president for the company, who, he said, interested himself occasionally in his mining enterprises. This was Henry McCornick, the Salt Lake banker, son of the head of the firm of McCornick & Company, reputed to be the richest private bankers west of the Mississippi River. ‘The deal was made. We immediately proceeded to promote the Stray Dog Manhattan Mining Company at 45 cents per share, the average cost to us of the stock being 3214 cents. It was im- possible for any huge profit to accrue in Stray Dog on any such margin as 12) cents per share between our cost price and the selling price, because the expense of promo- tion appeared bound almost to equal this. We figured that any promotion profits must come out of the Indian Camp. The Indian Camp was capitalized for 1,000,000 shares, 650,000 of which were paid over to the trust company and to Mr. Peery for the property. The remaining 350,000 shares were placed in the treasury of the company 193 to be sold for purposes of mine development. The average per share cost to the trust company of the ownership stock was a frac- tion less than 8 cents. We decided that as soon as the Stray Dog was promoted we - would offer Indian Camp shares on a basis of 20 cents per share net to the brokers and 25 cents to the public, and looked forward, if successful, to gaining about $75,000 net on both ventures. = IMMEDIATELY on taking over the control of Stray Dog and Indian Camp the trust company purchased treasury stock in each of these companies, and put a large force of men to work to open up the properties. Within thirty days of the incorporation of the trust company Gold Hill in Manhattan, on which were located the Stray Dog, Jumping Jack and Indian Camp, swarmed with miners. The orders given to Engineer “Jack”? Campbell were to put a man to work wherever he could employ one, and to be unsparing in expense so long as he could obtain results. Towering gallows-frames and 25-horsepower gasoline engines were installed and other necessary mining equipment ordered shipped to the properties. Blacksmith shops, bunk-houses and storehouses were erected on the ground. Day and night shifts of miners were em-— ployed. In order to guarantee the constant presence on the properties of the engineer in charge, the Sullivan Trust Company built a $6,000 dwelling house on Indian Camp eround. Having convinced the natives that we were in dead earnest about our mine-making intentions, we busied ourselves offering Stray Dog stock for subscription at 45 cents per share. It was well known around the camp that we had paid 45 cents per share for one block of 350,000 shares, anc mining-camp followers were among the first to subscribe for the stock. ‘Then an effort was made to dispose of quantities of it to the Eastern public by advertising and through mining-stock brokers. That advertising campaign was ap- proached with considerable caution. In the first place, the subscription price of Stray Dog, 45 cents, was 20 cents higher than that of any other advertised promotion which had yet been made from either the Goldfield or Manhattan camps; and in the second place, the conduct of a mining-stock promotion campaign by a banking institu- COmiclbooks (C©