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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1894)
THE COURIER r ) ii" A PfoEA FOR MOSHER. The Napoleon of Finance Finds a Real Defender. 'HE following letter by a correspondent whoso real name wo aro requested to withhold is cheerfully published by TiieCoukiek in the hope that it may throw some light on dark places, and advertise in a proper manner the martyrdom of poor Mr. Mosher. Let me say in the beginning that my friend Mr. Mosher is one of the purest men I know. He is shamefully abused. Why, I have 6een him stop many a time on the street and give a nickel that ho had just taken from a pile of the state's or the county's money, to a blind man. He has a very tender heart. I have seen him stand before mottoes on the wall such as "Honesty is the Best Policy," and "God Bless Our Home," and tears would come in his eyes, and ho would be sad for several minutes. Yet people say all manner of mean things about him, and to read the newspapers one would really imagine that Mr. Mosher is a dishonest man. Progressive men are always abused. Look at Christopher Columbus and Robert Fulton and Morse and Anthony Comstock. One of the newspapers charged that Mr. Mosher made a specialty of robbing poor depositors. It said that when an applo woman or a candy man would come into the Capital National bank and doposit a thousand dollars Mr. Mosher would make a grab for the money and have half of it in his pocket before tho apple woman or the candy man was out of the bank. I know that this is not true. Mr. Mosher told mo so. It sometimes happened, when Mr. Mosher was about to lock up the bank at night, that he would discover he didn't havo any change about him. Then ho would go to the vault and take a few thousand dollars of tho stato deposit, or Hargreaves deposit or some big ac count, intending, of course, to put the money back tho next morning. Once in a while he may have forgotten to return thj money he took in this way. If so, it was owing to his absent mindedness. Mr. Mosher has a very poor memory as to some things. But he never borrowed any money belonging to the poor depositors. I am positive of this. And if, by reason of his defective memory, there was an occasional loss, it seems to mo it is pretty tough to blame Mr. Mosher for it. It isn't his fault that his memory is bad. Tho newspapers have displayed a mean spirit in this matter. Mr. Mosher was very liberal with the newspapers. He helped start one of the papers in this city,and whenever it was to his interest to do so, ho willingly bought editors and publishers and did not hesi tate to pay a good price for them. Ho did a good deal for the news papers in this way, and now see what thantcs he gets! They inti mate that he is no gentleman and some of them seem to be glad ho is in the penitentiary. Even Mr. Rosewater is against him. Yet I remember when Rosey and Mr. Mosher were on very intimate and cordial terms. Newspapers ought to be abolished. They stand in the way of progress. If they had only kept quiet Mr. Mosher would probably havo been acquitted, and would now bo living in.his beau tiful house in this city, purchased with the savings of years, and he would have the opportunity daily of sympathising with the people who lost money in the Capital National bank. If they would only keep quiet now maybe Mr. Mosher would be pardoned. These vampires are now after Mr. Griffith. Mr. Griffith was Mr. Mosher's particular friend and helped him through many a tight ' place. He was very useful to Mr. Mosher, and he is a nice man, and it's a shame for the newspapers to pitch into him just because he stood by his friend. It would have been a mean thing in Mr. Griffith to have told what he knew about Mr. Mosher, especially after all that Mr. Mosher had done for him. But the newspapers must abuse him. What if the depositors did suffer? They never did anything for Mr. Griffith. Mr. Mosher was always doing kind things for him. I suppose somebody will want to know about those Western Manufacturing company notes. Mr. Mosher assures me that he really realized less than $500,000 by this means, and I don't think Lincoln people ought to object to that. He made it a point to sell the notes outside of this city, so he had a constant stream of money, coming into Lincoln. Anybody will say that it is a good thing for everybody in the town to have money coming in. Besides Mr. Mosher intended to make good all of these losses. He expected to make a big deal and square everything, but was prevented by unto ward circumstances. I think Mr. Mosher showed his devotion to Lincoln moat strongly in this Western Manufacturing company busi ness, and every clear minded person not prejudiced by the mean newspapers will say that my explanation is entirely satisfactory. Mr. Mosher was economical. Ho may havo occasionally bought 840,000 or 950,000 worth of legislators; but ho never spent over 800 a year for clothes, and ho never threw money away as so many men do on soda water and pop, etc. Ho could hardly bo oxcused of oxtrava ganco in paying as high as 850,000 for a bunch of legislators. Ne braska legislators aro mighty nico men. They aro worth something. Then besides Mr. Mosher needed them in his business, and surely ho had a right to buy what ho needed, especially as ho was bo careful about tho luxuries. Mr. Mosher was intensely patriotic. He showed this in a very delicato way by spending a great deal of monoy in politics. He knew that it takes machinery to save the country and that machinery can't be run properly without oil. Ho saw that the wheels were greased. My friend was very kind to tho widows and orphans who owned stock in tho bank. These people-got in tho habit of expecting tho bank to pay dividends, and Mr. Mosher, always tender hearted to a fault, would not disappoint them. Sometimes Mr. Mosher was com pelled to make such a heavy purchase of legislators or politicians or newspapers that he would bo a little short of ready monoy when dividend day came around. But tho good man took care of his stockholders just the same. He just took some of the deposits and gave this money to tho stockholders. Ho thought the latter needed it tho most. Mr. Mosher was always thinking of other people in this way. And yet this kind, good, man is confined in the peniren tiary and people say harsh things about him. Thero are people who complain because Mr. Mosher has got a lot of money hidden away. My friend has never told mo just how much ' monoy he has left, but I imagine his cash capital is in tho neighbor hood of 8500,000. Ho would have had twico this much, but he had a lot of friends, and these friends had to live; so Mr. Mosher kindly divided with them. He didn't care to havo any of them go back on him and tell ugly stories about him. Ho preferred to cement their friendship in some way. If monoy was necessary, then he gave it to them freely. Mr. Mosher dislikes to have an intimate friend go back on him. Then Mr. Mosher has been on pretty intimate terms with a large number of judges, juries, dtstrict attorneys, marshals, jailors, female friends, etc., in the last year, and this has cost a vast sum of money. He certainly hasn't got over 8500,000 left. Surely ho deserves this. Why he is worth fully a million dollars as an adver tisement for Lincoln. Then look at his good deeds, and consider how he cared for the widows and orphans, and headed base ball sub scription lists, etc., etc. Money is a camtort to him, and after all ho has suffered, if a paltry half million will do him any good, tho people of Lincoln ought not to begrudge my poor persecuted friend this small consolation.. Mr. Mosher is an upright, conscientious man. He is a good man and a splendid citizen. His martyrdom entitles him to an extra chapter in Fox's book. As a partial reparation for tho great injustice that has been heaped upon this great and good man I propose that the governor of Nebraska, on the part of the people of the state, de mand his release from the government, and once released, that ho be elected to the United States senate at the coming session of tho legislature. Such talents as his have no chance in a pent-up Utica like this state. In the broader field at Washington there is no tell ing what he might not accomplish. He might succeed in securing the passage of a bill for the encouragement of Napoleonic financiers and the abolition of courts, jails and newspapers. A True Friend of Poor Mr. Mosher. "The Courier" Ieljiit. We believe the public will agree with us that the designsf ort ho new Courier are thoroughly original and highly artractive. It gives us pleasure to state that they were made in this city by Messrs Wallace & Lockwood, whose work always bears the impress or originality and artistic finish. One Woman In a Thousand. "And your wife aimed at and struck your head with tho cup?" "Yes, sir." "Well, then, all I have to say is that you should be very proud of her." Inter Ocean. In cases where dandruff, scalp diseases, falling and grayness of th e hair appear, do not neglect them, but apply a proper remedy and tonic like Hall's Hair Renewer.