iaBfeiieiMiMBRBFMay7 --
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time nave been establishing new high
records The net earnings for the cur
rent year are expected to reach a fig
ure between 75000000 and 100000
000 or twice the amount required to
pay dividends at last years rate of
40 a share The litigation in which
the company is involved is the only
thing that prevents the Standard Oil
company from increasing its disburse
ments to shareholders It is said in
the event of a satisfactory conclusion
of this litigation there will be a melon
cutting of no small proportions
That the management of the Stand
ard Oil company does not believe the
present market price of the securities
is too high is evident from the fact
that the stock is down on the books at
a valuatin f 500 a share Included
in the assets arc more than 100000
000 of government bonds
Producers of oil are sharing in the
prosperity of the Standard Oil com
pany Eastern as well as western oils
have witnessed a sharp advance
which lias served to stimulate pro- J
duction materially- There is a pro
A
T the recent Stanford White sale
there was not more than two min
utes of chaffering on each article be
fore it was snapped up by eager pur
chasers Harps without strings went
for 100 because they were made in
France in the reign of Louis XIV
and gilt framed Italian armchairs sold
for 180 because of the abiding faith
of the purchasers in their antiquity
The sale opened with an offering of
weird musical instruments such as the
novels of the romance days speak
about familiarly A sitar which look
ed like an elongated soup ladle went
for 5 Then the crowd of purchasers
in the music room at the White resi
rence saw more value in sitars and
two others went at 15 and 11 each
The attendants held up an attenu
ated lute whose fretboard stuck out
like the handle of a gardeners spade
This was a chittarone English mid
dle of the sixteenth century- As the
negro in the bottle green livery lifted
the chittarone up to the little stand in
THAW JURRORS SUFFERED
LOSSES BY LONG TRIAL
all of the jurors in the
NEARLY
Thaw trial who recently failed to
Teach a verdict in the long drawn out
case experienced severe financial loss
in sitting on the case While the
jurors presumed at the outset that
they were in for a long siege of it
none of them had any idea that the
case would extend the length of time
it did During the trial many of the
jurors1 prevented from attending to
business affairs with their accustomed
regularity suffered losses they can
never recoup Others fell far behind
in their work and it will be months
before they can catch up
Besides this the houses by which
some of the jurors are employed as
managers or in other responsible ca
pacities found their affairs sadly lag
ging and financial losses that can
not easily be estimated have resulted
There were only two jurors who did
one with a fondness for statistics
SOME
tistics has discovered that the sum
spent for Easter flowers in this city
amounts to almost 1000000 This
estimate is based on a canvass of
flower shops and is as near the cor
rect figure as can be arrived at with
out a great deal of time and labor be
ing spent on the task That society
Is becoming more extravagant in
floral decoration every year is the
statement made by one of the florists
to the Four Hundred This same
florist says that aside from the
amount of money spent at Easter
there is more money put up daily for
flowers than ever before There are
also more expensive flowers in the
market than there ever were before
because so many of the country gen
tlemen hereabouts with fine conserva
tories are constantly bringing out
newer and higher grades of flowers
for the market as well as for the
pleasure of raising them For in
stance Mr H McK Twombly who
jhas a fine place at Madison N J
jaw
KSagSftgSgPlM jW W i8 - ii
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Round About New Yorli
Gossip of People and Things
in the Great Metropolis
i Jaiire TTiriTrTiyiiii ii i unnmnm
STANDARD OIL TO MAKE
NEW RECORD FOR PROFITS
EW YORK The earnings of the
Standard Oil company for some
nounced scarcity of high grade oils in
the Pennsylvania Ohio and Indiana
districts due to the enormous in
crease in the demand for by products
of petroleum and it is believed it will
not be many years before the Stand
ard Oil company will be depending
more upon western than eastern oils
The same results can not be obtain
ed from the low grade as from the
high grade oils and it will be neces
sary for the company to increase Its
refining and pipe line capacity as it
becomes more dependent upon the
products of the Texas California
Kansas and Oklahoma fields As soon
as the litigation in which fixe Stand
ard Oil Company is involved is out of
the way the question of increasing the
capital stock to a figure that will be
more in harmony with the market val
uation of the securities will be taken
up for consideration
Standard Oil representatives are
more confident than ever that the cor
poration will come out victorious in
the suits instituted against it They
hold that practically all the charges
against the company are based on
technicalities
MUSICAL ANTIQUES ONCE
OWNED BY WHITE SOLD
front of the green velvet curtains he
swent the strinsrs across the buttons
- - -
t
ot his waistcoat A mellow wail HKe
the breath of an aeoljan harp went
forth from the hollow throat of the
ancient instrument The tuneful chit
tarone brought 125 and a brother
sold for 175 because he was moulded
on more outie lines
Another strange instrument was the
dulcimer a contrivance which looked
like a modern zither inclosed in a
giant glove box When the attendants
set it on the stand and let down the
four sides of the box each depicting
delightful pastoral scenes wherein
kirtled shepherdesses toyed with be
ribboned crooks the creator of the
stage atmosphere came again to the
fore and dropped 300 before the lure
of those shepherdesses Then they
sold 11 harps most of them sans
strings and partially broken by infirm
ity but all antiques The lowest price
paid for a harp was S5 and 230 was
the high water mark
MAN
WANTED
JIP
not suffer seriously by the long period
of immurement They are retired
merchants and independently wealthy
The fact that the jurors from the
death of the wife of Juror Joseph B
Bolton three weeks after the trial be
gan were allowed to go at the close
of each day helped only in part
Those who availed themselves of the
opportunity to go to their offices were
so overwhelmed with work that it
was a severe strain on them
Before the death of Juror Boltons
wife the jurors when not in the court
room were locked up in the Broad
way Central hotel After that they
were given their freedom after the ad
journment each day Each adjourn
ment invariably found the majority
of the jurors hustling to their offices
to work until late at night
The jurors received two dollars for
each days service during the trial
EASTER FLOWER BILL
OF GOTHAM 1000000
has this year brought out some very
fine orchids
These orchids have been retailing
for two dollars each On the surface
it would appear that the poor would
be able to get little pleasure out of
flowers at Easter but the truth is
they get more real pleasure out of
them than the rich In the first place
the poor appreciate them more when
they get them and the fact that they
do not get them until the day after
Easter does not make them enjoy
them any the less There are many
societies here for the special purpose
of distributing flowers among the
poor and after any event at which
they are used profusely the members
collect them and distribute them
among the hospitals institutions and
the poor of the tenement house dis
tricts Thus if New York spends a
million dollars on Easter flowers the i
poor and unfortunate of the city get I
fully two thirds of them the next
day and it Is only those of moderate
means who get left
-
- 111 I - i u i n 1111
iiiftni hi mi ii imWfe8lWMii vrJb
BANK VAULTS
STUFFED WITH
FORGED NOTES
FINANCIERS OF FAR EAST
DUPED BY SKILLFUL
COUNTERFEITERS
Experts from the Bank of England
and the American Bank Note
Company Are Now on the Way
to China to Assist in Separating
the Spurious from the Genuine
Notes Held by the Big Financial
Institutions of the East Powers
May Join in the Attempt to Stop
Skillful Counterfeiting Which
Threatens the Currency of AH
Nations
The most stupendous counterfeit
ing operations in the history of the
world are coming to light in the ori
ent The amount of money involved
is great almost beyond reckoning
and the method of forgery so far
reaching clever and dangerous that
all the financiers of the east are
alarmed
The gigantic scheme so successful
ly carried out that no living man
knows its extent is practically laid
at the door of the Japanese Point
by point the fact that the little brown
men flooded all Manchuria and stuff
ed the Russo Chinese bank with spur
ious money during the war with Rus
sia is being established by experts
Sixteen million pounds or 80000000
of the worthless stuff is said to have
been detected Nobody can guess
how much more is extant
Japanese engravers and printers
have manufactured a counterfeit bank
note that has defied experts for two
years and puzzles them still The
Russo Chinese the Hongkong and
Shanghai the Imperial Bank of China
and the Indo Chinese bank all these
have felt the sting of the Japanese
money viper What effect it will have
can as yet be only conjectured Even
Europe has suffered
Appeal has been made to the Jap
anese government to enact and en
force stringent laws to exterminate
the swarm of shrewd conuterfeiters
in iNippon and Avho elude the watch
ful officials of that empire It is
claimed scant attention has been paid
to this request Japan has had many
things to look after since her costly
conquest of the Russian bear
Now Doubt the Truth
Experts from the Bank of England
and the American Bank Note com
pany are now on the way to China to
assist in ferreting out the tremen
dous amounts of bogus money known
to be mixed with the genuine Their
findings if made public are expected
to startle the world They may be
so momentous that they will be sup
pressed to prevent the tottering of
the strongest financial institutions in
Asia Bankers of the orient fear
with good reason that they are hold
ing locked in their burglar proof
vaults tens of millions of pounds in
counterfeit not which they took for
genuine and which will spell ruin
when disclosed
The money men have not forgotten
that the Hongkong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation was compelled
to keep its doors open five nights
and five days at a stretch to handle
a remarkable and unaccountable in
flux of bank notes notes of which
many have since been found to be
forgeries and of which the bank is
not rid
And the Indo Chinese bank a
French corporation of Shanghai with
drew its notes from circulation to in
vestigate the character of those re
ceived Then a sudden and drastic
system of scrutiny was put in im
mediate effect Nine out of every ten
notes were rejected now there is
doubt about many of the tenths
Plant in Kobe
The Russian government has de
manded an investigation as to the
effect upon the Russo Chinese bank
of the stream of counterfeit money
which threatens to engulf the czars
financial craft and bankrupt half his
empire as it already has Siberia
Nicholas III may address a note to
the powers asking that the Mikado be
urged to adopt measures to strangle
the counterfeiting menace charged to
his subjects There is ground for
the belief that they would readily ac
quiesce through the fear of the spread
of the plague and duplication of the
money of other nations
In Kobe has been located a counter
feiting plant which is said to have
cost 100000 It has ceased opera
tions but -worthless notes so near
perfection that only the minutest
fault can be found by adepts are
declared to be still coming from the
land of cherry blossoms chrysanthe
mums and fighting men Other plants
and ingenious imitators are presum
ed to be continuing the crooked work
Last summer in the Russo Chinese
bank doubt arose as to a certain note
It was for 510 Mexican money and
numbered 0664 It was as perfect a
reproduction of the genuine original
as could be conceived The banks
experts pored for weeks over it and
a good note and could find not even
the slightest discrepancy Yet the
bank note officials had strong cause
to believe it a forgery
Worst Fears Realized
Similar doubts had come up in the
Imperial Bank of China and at the
Indo Chinese bank Persistent efforts
however revealed no visible peculiar
ity of a note certainly none suffi
71 lmteSj8SflMqjgjSia
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iwrinivr rainrnirini
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ciently flagrant to be observed in the
regular transaction of business
TJttorly In the dark the bankers
turned to this side of the water for
light To determine whether the sus
pected notes were real or spurious
several of them and a number of un
questionably good ones werb sent to
the American Bank Note company
New York and also to the Bank of
England says the Cincinnati En
quirer
After three months close stndy of
the notes discrepancies were noted in
all those under suspicion and they
were pronounced counterfeits The
discrepancies were limited however
to the minutest differences of texture
of the paper and other virtually in
discernible faults British findings
were the same
Consternation has been caused by
the replies sent to the oriental banks
To what extent they have been re
ceiving these counterfeits during
three years and how many of them
the banks themselves were and are
holding as supposedly good money
remains to be learned Sixteen mil
lion pounds 80000000 is an
American experts estimate of the
amount already found
Four Plates Used
It has been established that these
counterfeits were placed in circula
tion at the opening of the Russo
Japanese war and possibly before
Instead of having stopped the tide
has risen until the afflicted bankers
arc- afraid of their own paper because
they cannot be sure of it
During the war it was openly
charged that the Japanese govern
ment knew of nefarious operations
carried on and closed its eyes and
ears to them Every Japanese or
Chinese of the coolie class appeared
with plenty of money The banks
were besieged and the report was
rife that the little brown men were
securing a goodly portion of their
fighting expenses from the four banks
referred to
Experts to Investigate
Information has been received that
the main counterfeiting plant itself
has been located in Kobe The out
fit is said to have cost at least 100
000 The most expensive machinery
used in the making of money has
been employed in turning out this
VpTSS
V
middle of a warm summer day a great
rush of notes began Evory obliga
tion was met without pcstlon Dur
ing the afternoon it kept up Tho
notes wore for the most part present
ed by the coolies The were univer
sally of the five dollar class The
officials thought of a counterfeiting
scheme and had their experts In
vestigate tho notes Several hours
were devoted to a study of them un
der a microscope The experts had
to acknowledge that no discrepancy
could be found
Inspection Proved Futile
Then tho big bank did its duty
The officials knew that every note
it had in circulation was more than
amply secured and they determined
that If the people wanted hard money
for their paper they should have it
That night the bank remained open
and the procession of coolies kept
up The next day the bank did not
close And every hour for five days
and five nights this rush continued
Extra funds from other branches
of the corporation were hurriedly re
called and every note met Then the
drain slackened and the officials
breathed easier How many thou
sands of dollars in good English coin
was withdrawn has never been di
vulged Suffice it to say that when
the year was rounded out and the
statement of the bank made the high
er officials were surprised They
again set about to see if a forgery
had not been perpetrated Their in
vestigation mere5 brought out the
fact that practically every note is
ued by the bank had been returned
and that all appeared genuine Then
more notes began to come in Gen
uine depositors and those holding the
real notes began to be frightened by
the rumors floating broadcast and
coming for the most part from drunk
en opium crazed coolies who had se
cured unacustomed amounts of mon
ey These depositors began to pre
sent their notes for payment Then
the bank officials knew there had
been a great crime Inspection prov
ed futile and they decided to lay the
matter before American and English
experts The result is now known
The Indo Chinese bank in Shang
hai was similarly affected It oc
curred about a year ago I remem
ber it well A run started through
spurious note and some of the most
skilled workmen in the world did
the delicate engraving of the plates
The product of the plant is nothing
less than a reproduction of the Rus
sian bank note In its perfection it
passes the bounds of the word coun
terfeit It becomes a duplicate
One of the leading experts consult
ed regarding the dilemma is George
S Hall of the American Bank Note
company He is now en route to
China where his mission will keep
him occupied three months His time
will be devoted toward solving the
problem uppermost there
Five Days Run
J S McCune one of the best Known
experts of England on forgery and
counterfeiting is also bound for
Shanghai which offers the most fer
tile field for the skill of such men
That appears to be the headquarters
for the extended investigation now
beginning Mr McCune claims Ja
pan has been petitioned by several of
the larger banking corporations of
China all of which are Europeans in
stitutions to enact a drastic law
similar to that of the United States
making it a high crime even to have
a counterfeit note in possession
This is the condition in the far
east said Mr McCune The bank
ers do not know where they stand
Runs have been started on them
which were absolutely unaccountable
I recall in particular the case of the
Hongkong and Shanghai bank in
Shanghai
About a year and a half ago a run
started on this bank The officials
did not understand why The institu
tion is an English concern and has
practically unlimited capital In the
a rumor that forged notes were in
H
NBiS
M MAHERS
MISCELLANEOUS NEWS NOTES
HERE AND THERE
ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST
Social Agricultural Religious and
Other Matters Having Reference
to This Commonwealth Alone
One hundred dollars was raised in
Nelson for Chinese sufferers
Mrs P Scott a laborer of Hastings
oas found dead in his chair
The state university cadets will go
Into camp at Beatrice May 28th
The water and light supply of Hum
boldt is to be put on the meter basis
Platte county is talking of voting
bonds for the Midland Central rail
road
The mayor of Tekamah has decreed
there shall be no gambling In that
place
Insurance rates have been raised In
Beatrice whereat there is vigorous
protest
Junior normal will be held at Broken
Bow in June followed by teachers
institute
Will Cox of Stella lost his leg at
Leavenworth Kas by being ran over
by the cars
Matt Riley Kearney 72 years old
died from injuries received while
driving a colt
Mrs Purcell of Pawnee county took
belladona by mistake and came near
losing her life
One of the teachers in the school at
Overton is remaining at home with a
case of measles
Contrary to reports the oats crop in
Adams county was not seriously in
jured by the late freeze
Wymore saloon keepers have prom
ised to strictly obey the Slocumb law
and will receive licenses
After examination in Oxford C E
Adams was declared to be a dipso
maniac and ordered to Lincoln
At the late term of district court
in Custer county the judge had four
teen divorce cases to deal with
Several thousand people witnessed
the laying of the corner stone of tho
Y M C A building at Fremont
The farmers of Adams county re
port one of the biggest egg crops this
season in the history of that section
A fortune is awaiting John Wilson
of Tecumseh and he has until 1910
to go to a foreign country and claim
it
Hon Anton Zimmerer of Nebraska
City last week celebrated the fiftieth
anniversary of his residence in that
city
Rev Leggett of Nebraska City has
been telling the people of many
wicked doings in the metropolis of
Otoe county
John Elliott and Alex Berkwell
found a wolfs den about two miles
north of Plattsmouth and captured
nine baby wolves
The contract for grading the right
ct way of the new Omaha Hastings in
terurban line was let at Hastings to
C D Conover of Omaha
John Buchholz a farmer residing
five miles south of Elmwood had his
left leg broken and terribly mangled
by the knives of a stalk cutter
The milling plant at Blue Rapids
Kas owned by M T Cummings of
Beatrice was burned to the ground
The loss will reach 12000 with 8
000 insurance
Nursery men about Fremont who
have carefully examined their fruit
trees are inclined to believe that the
damage to the fruit by the cold
weather has been exaggerated
The wedding trosseau of Miss Mary
Miller of Hall county was destroyed
by fire just a short time before her
marriage was to take place The cer
emony however was not postponed
The new stone crusher plant of
George H Davis is now in operation
It is located one mile east of Wymore
has a capacity of 60 tons daily and
circulation The Japanese who were cost 20000 It
is one of the finest
in the tprfftif ins I
on conn srnmft wprp i
- - piauis ul 11s Kinu in xne west
augmemea Dy ine noiaers or genuine
notes and in a swarm they descended
upon the bank
Where Will It Stop
This institution is understood to
be backed by the French government
It paid dollar for dollar on every
note The run continued in tremen
dous volume and the officials fixed
upon a drastic move They recalled
every note of the bank that was in
circulation and for five days kept
them from passing out to the public
It was hoped in this way to unearth
the holders of the counterfeits It was
unsuccessful and the bank resumed
the circulation of its notes
The Imperial Bank of China has
experienced similar runs Where this
is going to stop the bankers cannot
say The only reason it has not caus
ed a suspension of business in the far
east is that every man thinks he has
a genuine note and therefore does
not worry The only man now wor
lying is the banker who is almost
palsied by the thought that the mil
lions of notes he is carefully guarding
in his vaults may be merely a mass
of counterfeits made by the Japanese
The bankers look to the paper
manufacturers to save the day So
far the only basis for declaring any
of the notes forgeries has been a dis
crepancy in the paper It takes some
thing more than imitation to make
the grade of paper required for bank
notes This last condition may be
the means of putting a stop to the
activities of the Japs and likewise
the greatest of counterfeiting
schemes
The officers of the Nebraska society
for the prevention of cruelty to ani
mals who reside in Osceola are send
ing out circulars throughout the state
with a view of establishing a society
In each county where no humane so
ciety now exists
The pure food law according to
State Chemist Redfern contains an
ambiguous and puzzling phrase Can
ned goods are exempted from the new
weight labeling section Redfern has
searched diligently and has failed to
find a legal definition He asserts that
the court will have to determine the
matter
Louise McCleese aged sixteen and
a favorite at Wayne was found dead
in the rest room of the Wayne Na
tional bank building An empty bot
tle marked poison was standing
near Friends say the girl was in
love with a student of the normal
school there and that at a party the
night before he treated her coldly No
other cause for the act can be as
cribed Her mother is a widow
The sentence of August Mueller
who shot his wife and her parents in
Stanton county a year ago has been
modified by the state supreme court
from fifteen years to three the court
claiming that the sentence was exces
sive
Postoffice Inspector A O Swift of
Nebraska City who was Injured in a
railroad wreck some time ago in 111
nois is at home and Improves Tery
slowly He was much worse injured
than was first thought and it will be
some time before hn will he able to
report to dsts
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