Complete Story. The Sanity of Coogan.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue XII, 20 September 1902, Page 712

Complete Story. The Sanity of Coogan.

A YANKEE MINING YARN

By

WILL LEVINGTON COMFORT.

Griswall-street wa.s sufficiently troubled with matters of its own without worrying over the apparent degeneration of Fortunatus Greer. This young- man was neither the first nor the last promoter whose ruin proved that the keystone of his nature wias of chalk formation. Among the men whlo have passed the foothills of success there are those Whose efficiency is the final fruit of failure and discouragement. Continuous hamrmering has reinforced their physical endurance and lengthened the reach of their mental fibre. Their progress is growth. A contrary class seem to find a pay streak on a sunny morning. With no- apparent effort they keep pace for awhile with the toiling, panting ones. Finally -the rich lode is dissipated in the thin air of a precipice, night settles down, and the lack of training tells. The progress of the second class is a rise, and the difference between “rise” and “grov.'th” is the difference between chalk and steel.

Young Greer, endowed in the beginning with usual skill in the manipulation lof finances, had risen, phenomenally and without bumps. At the age of 25 he found himself ready to cope with the older heads of the street, the dollar-wise and the many battled financiers, whom experience had zinc-lined. The consequences have been chronicled. The memlorable issue of Wade Consolidated Petroleum, steered by the master promoter. Hugo Neiromath, of New York, wrecked Greer as well as many better men. Instead of struggling to his feet Greer refused to tolerate himself, severing all connections by means of absinthe atthe “Academy.’'

Two weeks after the petroleum wreck ( oog-an, the active member of the firm of Blain and Coogan, stock brokers, dropped into the “Academy.” Greer was there, his elbows resting upon the dark red polished table, his unshaven chin embedded in a pair of unsteady hand's, his: unnatural eyes staring fixedly at the empty glass before him.

“Vill I be Ibermitted to inkvire dot young man’s name?” a colossal stranger, standing next tn Coogan. asked, lie jerked his hand toward the defiled Fortunatus. “A clever little fool who can’t stand punishment.” Coogan' replied. “He lost all he had in the Wade Consolidated parachute, and he hasn’t the nerve to tackle the up-grade again. T used to co-operate with him some-

what because 1 I ked his keen way. I saw him here the morning of the wreck. He was obliterated. I put him into a Turkish bath, saw him right, staked him. and thought I had him on his feet, butt- he fell down the minute I left. Yon see. I let him have some of the Wade poison a day or to before the leak was sprung. (Wade was big gam * at the time, and I meant well enough), so I wanted to see him out of the dark. He won’t even grope, and the green devil seems to have got him. I’m sorry because he has a head. . . Look at him now! ”

Greer had aroused himself and was thumping upon the table. . .The two talked together at length. From Coogan’s point of view the stranger was interesting, doubly so after the introduction. Coogan knew Hugo Neiromath to be a manipulating genius of New York, but he did not know that Neiromath was the wizard who changed Made Consolidated from dwaster into victory at the expense of a hundred puppets, Greer, Blain and Coc-gan included. After lunching- with the Belgian Coogan returned to his office, wondering why he had so hastily refused to be Neiromath’s local agent, in the place of “Old Tartaric” Brett, who was about to retire. Coogan did not have the remotest idea that he had angered the New Yorker by his refusal. but such was the case. Left to himself, Neiromath directed his attention to the man at the table. F. Greer had neither lunched nor breakfasted for many weary days. lie slaved savagely at the elephantine

stranger who sat down before him. “In New York ve hiaf heard uff you many times, heard' uff you as von uff de most bromising- young men uff de Vest,” began the smooth Belgian, + hrlisting his card into the other’s twitching hand.

Greer’s head swayed over the bit of pasteboard. A second later he lurched to his feet. “You are the Dutchman that ‘Old Tartaric’ made thousands out of?” he questioned' in rm intense whisper. "In de city here, Meester Breet vas mine agent until now,” Neiromath answered. “My name, by the vay, is bronounc’ Narrowmat. lam a Belgian. not vot you call ‘Dutchman.’ ”

“Was it for you that he unloaded Wade Consolidated to ruin us all?” "Meester Breet had mine orders. Ve eombel no von to buy. Ve merelv

try to save ourselves, vieh is the first law uff nature. You are a boor man to-day; I am von inellionaire; to-mor-row you are rich und I am your office boy. Is it not so—von beautiful seestem so ve get not too fat?” Neiromath laughed, involving 330 pounds in the effort. Greer sank into his ehair and, thumping on the table, ordered absinthe. “Drink Rhine vine mit me or, better drink not at all for a vhile,” quietly ordered the Belgian. Mysteriously enough, F. Greer banked the furious fires within him, and cooled h’s throat with a light wine. Though it involved the pangs of dissolution, the rebuilding of tissue began that moment. What Coogan, out of the goodness of his heart, had tried for days and failed to do, Neiromath accomplished in a moment. Having beaten back the wormwood, the master promoter resumed: “Meester Breet is ill of health and vill retire. You vill take hees blace as mine agent here. Before broceeding further vest. I vill fully exblain de bossibilities of your bosition. By de vay. are you devoted to de rising young cabitalist in your midst—von Coogan ?”

“I hate him.” muttered Greer. “The luck of the gods stays with him, so that he cannot lose. It was Coogan who shifted his load of Wade Consolidated. or a big portion of it, upon mv shoulders at the last moment.”

This was rank injustice and a deplorable weakness on the part of F.

Greer, who did not remember that he had begged Coogan for more and more Wade shares while the latter were soaring, who refused to remember how Coogan had stood by him in a hundred substantial ways when Greer was a callow youth from college, and when he was a bruised and profitless wreck after the fall. Basest of metals is ingratitude. Neiromath also had his grievance against Coogan, an inconsiderable one, to be sure, but a grievance. He made answer soothingly:

“1 vill remember de sentiment. Meanwhile be bolite und helbful to Meester Coogan. Our time vill come; I say, our time vill come!”

A general mistake was made by men in touch with Coogan. With one or two exceptions, financiers believed that; the fortune of the humorous millionaire was the result of luck rather than talent. A lordly generosity, features that defied the wheel-marks of passing yeans, hair that would not turn grey, a body that would not sweat blood in a disastrous moment, a mind that was broad enough to cover innumerable side issues apart from the primary task of fortunebuilding — all these characteristics were deemed incompatible with deeprooted talent, and the street’s estimate of Coogan suffered. The world never saw Coogan when his sleeves were rolled up and his athletic intelligence was battling with a heavyweight problem, but there were such moments in his life-—moments when

•winning policies were conceived. Among those who prophesied tragedy tor the Coogan’s millions or more was Fortunatus Greer. Indeed, Greer went still farther and invidiously determined to deal the crushing blow. No one was so heartily glad as Coogan at Greer’s sudden brace for the better. Slowly and surely the latter resumed his old place on the street. He affiliated much with Coogan. They helped each other and the past was forgotten. The nation was now enjoying a of unalloyed prosperity. Money shrank from the vaults and the surplus earnings of speculators sought permanent investment. It is in such a period as this that the mineral bounties of Mother Earth are ransacked. Certain gold, silver, copper, coal, and oil companies were making almost Incredible sums for their shareholders. The natural tendency in these flush times, and the tendency which resolved itself into a fact, was to launch new companies. Fifteen months had elapsed since Neiromath lifted the sinner out of the “Academy,” and Greer was now on the high road to the summer castle, private yacht, and Hambletonian stage. He was also fighting clear of the “Academy” and dreaming of various ways to encompass the undoing of Coogan. The many interests of Neiromath netted big proceeds to this particular local agent, but there was one harrowing drawback. The Belgian had evidently forgotten the existence of Coogan and his grievance. Two years before Neiromath ever heard of young Greer he had purchased at a ridiculously low figure a half interest in the Catalina. Gold Vein company. Times were hard then, and the bluff manner of the Westerner who had discovered, the alleged vein was considerably modified by the “frosts” of the East. (He was turned down repeatedly and harshly before he encountered the Belgian promoter, so that he had lost confidence in himself, and in the vein wnicli he had once believed held a million for many and many millions for himself.) Neiromath had sent experts to Arizona for the purpose of looking up the Catalina claim. The agents returned, and having had in the beginning no inner knowledge, saw only a commonplace promise. They reported that while operations on the Catalina claim would likely prove a paying investment, there was no sign of an Eldorado in’that vicinity. The despairing prospector accepted the Belgian's first offer for a half interest, bought a railroad ticket for Arizona, and invested the remainder of his^ capital in a whirl of popping corks—to regain his self-respect. He was really an excellent fellow, this Westerner, Mackey, but the East was hard pressed at the time and misused him shamefully. Neiromath had dropped the matter until a more propitious season should offer. The time was now at hand. The whole country was “fadding it” in lines of mineralogy, and was willing to pay for knowledge on the subject. The Belgian unearthed his Catalina shares, put them on the market, and sent out wires and emissaries to find Mackey, but the Westerner had breathed once more the air of his mountains and recovered his spirit. He was not disposed to be manhandled again.

The instructions which F. Greer received from Neiromath in regard to the Catalina claim filled him with delight. According - to the New York promoter the claim was an ordinary affair, such a one as “goes begging” in the big mining districts, one that might pan a couple of cents on the invested dollar—and might not. At all events the Belgian’s half-interest must be sold on an Eldorado basis. The nominal capital of the company was 2,000,000 dollars—4o,ooo shares at a par value of 50 dollars each. . . . The first man Greer sought was Coogan, who laughingly dipped into his resources 15,000 dollars worth, and in return took crisp certificates representing 500 shares of Catalina at the “hard-pan” rate of 30 dollars per. And at this juncture Coogan complicated matters by going on a two weeks’ fishing trip, ostensibly with his younger brother, Jerry Coogan, a mining engineer, capable of taking care of himself every inch of the road.

In spite of the temporary drawback, Fortuuatus was In clover and joyfully commented upon the softness of mankind, Coogan’s especially. With the exception of a few small lots of Catalina, he made little effort to sell during Coogan’s absence, being hampered by a passion to heap a mountain chain of dirt upon the broad shoulders of the man he envied. . . . After whipping various silvan streams ami pools for trout and grayling, Coogan dropped back into town one night. tanned and tough and happy. Certain wires in cypher had reached him from the Catalina country during his absence and the information tingled. lie scraped over a bushel of accumulated correspondence, and found letters from the South-west. Hie following morning Coogan bought 2500 more shares of Catalina at a little harder pan—s27.so per share— and thereby amazed his friends and administered a heavenly application to the burning ambition of Fortuuatus, who now Thought that he had his antagonist “going.” Catalina might not put. Coogan wholly out, Eortunatus reasoned, but it •would make him so groggy that the finishing touches might be easily added. Did Greer buy any Catalina for himself? Does a pool seller, head and shoulders in the inner ring, where races arc run before the horses leave their stables, back one of the “outsiders” of a fixed event? Not if he’s rational. Eortunatus was no longer rooming at the “Academy.” In the week which followed, Coogan doubled his stock of Catalina and began to understand many things. In New York Neiromath was battling with doubts. With the exception of Greer, his agents had found Catalina a. hard proposition. Greer had sold over 5000 shaves, or a one-eighth interest in the claim, practically to one man, Coogan. Neiromath knew that unless some frightful alteration had taken place in the mind of Coogan, Greer’s plunging partner was not mad. Therefore, what, did Coogan know ? As for Greer, he was transported by the success of the delicate a.nd masterful machine he had invented, and bewildered by his commissions in Catalina.

About tms time Coogan received the following telegram in cipher from his brother Jerry in Arizona:

Macxey is fixed and will keep still. lie consents to travel East with me, and is itching to crumple the New Yorker. We start for you to-night. Gather in all the Catalina you can get. H's a world-beater.—

Young Coogan had found the Catalina. claim and concluded after careful examination that it was ordinary property. He was interested, however, in the intricate structure of the Catalina foot-hills, and lingered for a couple of days in the vicinity of the claim. Late in the afternoon of the second day Jerry was ordered to

double quick out of the hills and to keep on going until he struck the prairie—all this by a fierce', black bearded stranger with a pack on his back and a gun at his hip. Now,

young Coogan obeyed orders only when they pleased him or came headquarters. Accordingly he parleyed, and in parleying eharmed out of his knapsack a quarter bottle of Kentucky peacemaker. Had he known Mackey—for the stranger was Mackey— for a thousand years lie could not have parleyed more effectively, the hills being hot and dry. Mackey proved to possess two passions—hate for the East, especially New York, and love for the Catalina Gold Vein, the trend of which only he knew. “Once-1 owned the best gold claim In Arizona,” Mackey reflected, bitterly, “and I got stranded in New York and had io sell half of it for a song —big Dutch devil named Marrowfat, or something like that, got it, and now he won't operate. If the Catalina claim isn't scratched for twenty years more I'll never sell another share of my half.” “You mean a man named Neiromath?” Jerry whispered, huskily. Mackey referred to certain papers in his pocket, breathed fast, and

reached for the bottle. “That’s the scoundrel,” he muttered: "My brother, John Coogan, of Blaiu, Coogan and Co.” said Jerry, “recently bought five hundred shares of Catalina at thirty dollars per share. He sent me out here to look it up. If you can show me a goodsized pay streak I'll wire him to buy all he can get, and he’ll do it. Moreover, he’ll begin business right off, and he'll treat you white!” It required three days for Jerry to influence Mackey that hewasnotan agent from “Marrowfat”; three days more to get at the secret of the Catalina golden heart, which was the secret of Mackey’s dreams; and three days more to obtain Mackey’s consent to. travel East for the purpose of meeting Coogan. It also required many times three times three bottles of Peacemaker but Jerry had the stuff of his big brother in him, ami he stuck to the task and w-on out. By the time, the pair from the West reached the haunts of the Elder Coogun, one-fouth of Catalina, or ten thousand shares, was in the hands of Greer's “puerile-minded” enemy. Now came a lull. Neiromath had sold altogether sixteen thousand of his twenty thousand shares. The remaining four thousand he raised to par value, or fifty dollars per share. Even Coogan refused to touch Catalina at that price, preferring to wait, three months passed. The street, remarked upon Coogan’s lack of interest in local affairs. Greer thought he knew the reason—because his enemy had 300,000 dollars tied up in worthless paper and was lying low—a good reason indeed for Coogan’s apathy. These were the happiest days in the life of Eortunatus Greer. He had rained mighty blows upon the nerve and upon the vitality of his enemy.

Coogan now saw the duplicity of Greer. The latter had represented that Neiromath owned the whole Catalina claim, thus covering the fact that he had not invested a cent, in the property he sold to Coogan as a grand investment. The coming of Mackey and his ownership of halt the claim accounted for every share. Greer would have bought had he believed that there was virtue iu Catalina. The only inference remaining was that Greer had sold his Catalina, misrepresenting the facts and with malicious intent. Such a condition of affairs was forced upon Coogan. He was hurt and angry, and, above all, disappointed in C’ - eer.

Neiromath refused to sell below par his remaining four thousand. The delay in operations, however, played havoc with the small stock holders, and many were eager to sell at a loss. To this portion Coogan stated facts, and if after that they

still desired to sell he was accommodating. Mackey, under the auspices of Blain, Coogan and Co., was having a grand festival, which modified somewhat bin prejudices against the East. He declared himself ready to wait a year if the hated Neiromath might be frozen out, and though Coogan delayed operations six

months the Belgian had his four thousand shares at oar. He had made half a million out of Catalina, and was willing to run chances on future dividends. These dividends were based upon the sanity of Coogan, a chance which his agent, Greer, would not take into the reckoning. And so it was that the Catalina Gold Vein Company became a fact and a factor in the mining world. What happened to the claim is public knowledge, and needs no further comment, except that it fulfilled Mackey's prophecy, -and is the richest gold mine in Arizona to-day. When the success of the Catalina became assured a peculiar thing happened at the “Academy.” Greer was there, although his craving for rest had not yet reached the wormwood strata. Neiromath, in town on his quarterly Western trip, had just, entered. He rested his big hand on Greer’s shoulder, saying, gently: “Come, come, dis vill not do. Dis cabitalist, Meester Coogan, he outvit us bode. You are not to blame, my boy. Ve lose nodding. Ve vill try him again. See how much better you are den when I- first met you here—” The ponderous form of Coogan darkened the doorway. Neiromath sped forward toward the humorous millionaire, with hands outstretched, saying: . “Ah, Meester Coogan! I come all de vay from New York to eongrat mit you. You outvit me eomblete on Catalina, und I reehoise mit you, believe me. I brediet a great future for - you, Meester Coogan—not here, mind you—but in de beeg city, New York.” The worthy brother of Jerry and the worthy compatriot of the gold magnate, Mackey, gripped the extended hands and flushed happily. Greer thumped upon the table.