THE FIRST MOVE
_The Chicago and London Packing Company--Bidding for bonds--A man
named Lokes--A consideration for services performed--Bribery--A
sheriff's sale--We take the trick--The tail of a snake--Not a gospel
game_
Slocum had been after the bondholders' protective committee of the
London and Chicago Company. There were only a million and a half of
bonds out, which, before their smash, could be picked up for less than
twenty. Lately, on the rumor that one of the strong Chicago houses was
bidding for them, their price had risen somewhat. The hand of Carmichael
working through one of the smaller corporations controlled by Strauss
was plain enough to one who watched, and I resolved as the first step in
my campaign to outwit my old boss in this little deal. From the price of
the bonds it was evident that Carmichael was offering the bondholders
about twenty-five for the control. I told Slocum to give forty and then
arrange to bid the property in at the sheriff's sale.
The lawyer reported that two of the bondholders' committee were
favorable to our terms: they hated the Strauss crowd, and they were
afraid to wait for better terms, as money was hardening all the time.
But the third man, who had been the treasurer of the defunct
corporation, held out for a higher figure. Slocum thought that this man,
whose name was Lokes, might be dickering with Carmichael secretly to
secure some favors for himself in the deal. This Lokes was not unknown
to me, and I considered Slocum's suspicions well founded. He had left
behind him in Kansas City a bad name, and here in Chicago he ran with a
set of small politicians, serving as a middleman between them and the
financial powers who used them. In short, I knew of but one way to deal
with a gentleman like Mr. Lokes, and I had made up my mind to use that
way.
Slocum made an appointment with Lokes in his office, and I went there to
meet him and arrange to get the London and Chicago outfit with as little
delay as possible. Lokes was a small, smooth-shaven fellow, very well
dressed, with something the air of a horsy gentleman. First he gave us a
lot of talk about the value of the London and Chicago properties, and
the duty of his committee to the bondholders. He and his associates had
no mind to let the property go for a song. I made up my mind just what
inducement would reach him, while he and Slocum argued about the price
of the bonds. When Lokes began to throw out Carmichael at us, I broke
in:--
"Mr. Lokes, you know there isn't much in this deal for that crowd. But I
don't mind telling you frankly that it is of prime importance to the
interests we represent."
Slocum looked up at me, mystified, but I went on:--
"We propose to form a large packing company, into which we shall take a
number of concerns on which we have options. We want this property
first. When our company is formed we might make it very well worth your
while having been friendly to us in this transaction."
Lokes didn't move a muscle: this was the talk he had been waiting for,
but he wanted to hear the figures. I told him enough of our plans to let
him see that we had good backing and to whet his appetite.
"Now we have offered your committee forty cents on the dollar for your
bonds, which is fifteen more than the other crowd will give you. If you
will induce your associates to take bonds in our corporation, we will
give you fifty, instead of forty--and," I concluded slowly, "there will
be fifty thousand dollars of preferred stock for your services."
At the word "services" Slocum jumped up from the table where he had been
seated and walked over to the window, then came back to the table, and
tried to attract my attention. But I kept my eyes on Lokes.
"What will you do for the others?" Lokes asked significantly, meaning
his two associates on the committee.
"Nothing!" I said shortly. "You will look after them. They will do what
you say. That is what we pay for."
It was plain enough that I was offering him a good-sized bribe for his
services in turning over to us the assets of the London and Chicago
concern rather than to our rivals, and for bonds in the prospective
company instead of cash. That did not trouble him: he was aware that he
had not been asked to meet me to talk of the health of the bankrupt
company of which he had been the treasurer. Lokes thought awhile, asked
some more questions about our company, and finally hinted at his
preference for cash for his services.
"Either forty cash with no bonus for your services, or fifty in bonds
with the preferred stock for you," I answered shortly.
Pretty soon he took his hat and said he was going to see his associates
on the committee, and would be back in the course of the afternoon.
"He's gone over to Carmichael," I remarked to Slocum, when he had closed
the office door behind Mr. Lokes. "But John won't touch him--he won't
believe his story. He doesn't think I've got the cash or the nerve to
play this game. We'll see him back in an hour or two."
"Do you know, Van, what you are doing?" Slocum asked sombrely, instead
of replying to my remark. "You have bribed that man to betray his
trust."
"I guess that was what he came here for, Sloco. But we are offering them
a good price for their goods. This man Lokes happens to be a rascal. If
he had been straight, we could have saved that preferred stock. That's
all there is to it."
But Slocum still shook his head.
"It's a bad business."
"Well, it costs money. But I mean to put this thing through, and you
know at the best I may lose every cent I have made in twelve years.
It's no time to be squeamish, Slocum."
"I wish--" he began, and paused.
"You wish, if there is any more of this kind of thing, I would get some
one else to do my business? But I can't! I must have a man I can rely
upon."
It meant a good reward for him, too, if we carried through my great
plan. But Slocum was not the one to be reached in that way. He needed
the money, and wanted it badly, but money alone wouldn't make him stick
by me. I knew that.
"We'll hope this is the last," I said, after a time. "And, besides, I
take the risk. I want you, and you won't go back on me. I need you,
Slo!"
He made no reply.
Sure enough, late that afternoon Slocum telephoned me that Lokes had
come back and signified his consent and that of his associates to our
terms. The bondholders would take notes, to be converted later into
bonds of the new company at fifty cents on the dollar. Lokes asked for
some kind of agreement about the stock he was to get for his "services,"
which I refused to give him, on Slocum's advice. He had to content
himself with Slocum's statement that he was dealing with gentlemen.
[Illustration: _That comedy took place on the court-house steps
according to law._]
The next step in the proceedings was the sheriff's sale of the defunct
corporation's effects, which was ordered by the court for the following
Monday. That comedy took place on the court-house steps according to
law. The sheriff read the decree of court to an audience of hoboes,
who were roosting on the steps, and some passers-by halted to see the
proceedings. When the sheriff asked for bids, a little Jew lawyer in a
shiny silk hat stepped forward out of the crowd and made his bid. This
was Marx, the junior member of a firm employed by Strauss. Just as the
sheriff was about to nod to the Jew, Slocum stepped forward with a
certified check in his hand and bid in the property for seven hundred
and fifty thousand dollars.
There was nothing for Marx to do; Carmichael had given him no
instructions for this contingency. He had his orders, and he stood there
with his jaw hanging, while Slocum handed in the certified check and
completed the formality of the sale.
"It is fraud!" Marx shouted, shaking his fist in my face as we left.
Perhaps he was right; but whatever fraud there was in the transaction
did not concern Marx or the men he represented. They had been euchred at
their own game. And they knew it: we never heard anything more from the
Strauss crowd about the London and Chicago bonds.
"Well, you've got it," Slocum said, as we came away from the sale. "I
hope we won't have trouble with Lokes."
"That's all right," I replied. "We've got him where he can't make
trouble."
"There's usually a tail to this kind of thing--you never can tell when
you have reached the end."
But I was too jubilant to take gloomy views. The skirmish was over, and
we were a step nearer my goal.
A few days after that I ran across John Carmichael as I was picking my
way in the muck out of the Yards. He was driving in a little red-wheeled
road wagon such as the local agents use for running about the city. He
called out:--
"Hey, Van Harrington! Come over here!"
"Can't Strauss do any better by you than that? Or maybe you have gone
back to collecting again?" I asked.
The Irishman grunted his acknowledgment of my joke, and we talked about
one thing and another, both knowing perfectly well what there was
between us. Finally he said it:--
"So you thought you could do better by sticking with the old man?"
I nodded.
"How long do you think he'll keep goin'?"
"About as long as I stay with him, John."
"And you put him up to buying that junk at the auction the other day?"
he added.
"I bought it for myself," I replied promptly.
"The h--l you did! Say, kid, this ain't any gospel game you are in. You
needn't look for favors from our crowd."
"We aren't asking any just now. When we want them, I guess we'll get all
that we need."
"You will, will you?" Big John raised his whip and hit his horse as if
he meant to lay the same lash on me one of these days. The red-wheeled
cart disappeared down the road, the figure of the burly Irishman leaning
forward and flecking the horse with his lash.