Show CO or A OIL OlL BUB LL No 7 of On the Secret Service Trail for Uncle Sam t Ten years ago two to enterprising and nud not young men brothers QUO ono ft a coal dealer denIer and the other a haberdashery clerk came out of the tho potty petty respectability of a western middle western town to look over oter the sporting sport tug ing chances chandes of quick and easy fortune in the Metropolis They TheT made tho the shrewd calculation that big financial returns depended not nece necessarily on hating having something substantial to sell but rather father upon rounding up Ul buyers for anything plausible that might como along Fictitious stocks created out ont of options on California oil claims looked promising and the tho Burr boys plunged into the tho game with all aU the dash of gamb gamblers ers who have ban nothing to lose From rom extensive office ounce suites in the Flatiron Building New York City they did a rushing mall mail order business in the shares of spectacular companies of their own creation and aud for which they were Tere the sole fiscal agents agent In two or three years the Ole Burr Bier stock amounted to GOO OOoo and their paper had bad been sold to more than gullible persons for something like Then TIlen the tho bubble was vas punctured by bythe bythe bythe the Federal authorities a and d the men Ilen who had plucked their millions pasts paid for their flyer fIrer with the light sentence of a year on Blackwells Blackwell's Island George C. C Craft the Government official who vho was vas the chief factor In Inthis Inthis Inthis I this rude rudo awakening and who bo now tells its inside st story ry for the first time in his current series of 01 reminiscences in this Magazine was for some y years ars arsan an Assistant A Assistant Division Superintendent of the Bureau Duteau of Investigation United States Department of Justice with headquarters in New York f By Dr oUGE GI C. C CRAFT FT and EDWARD AnD 3 II H. O Oil can sell Buncombe Buncombe- pre pro y erred if II you know how bow Shelton Burr lay back a little more mor comfortably In the tho living room of or his Harlem fiat flat and regarded his brother rother from the folds of his couch uch cushion cushion Its Us a matter of finding the sucker Gene Then he mostly agreed yawned w wearily and stretched his long Ions legs before him Im tired he be resumed presently This business pounding of ot around allday all allday allday day looking for lor live ones aint what its it's cracked up to be Ho lie slid down downIn In his chair and str stretched himself himself wearily half halt way across the small I room Look here Gene Genet Genel Shelton sat UPon up upon upon on hl his squeaking pallet sudden energy You haven't got the idea What were we're doing now Is just a kind of ot overture to the real reat performance Jf It we pound the streets street a a. while sell Ing lug stock Its It's got Its reason Weve We've k e idea of things and got Jot to get so some people here More than that we arent aren't so 50 fat that we cant can't use what we can cau pick up while were we're waiting for the real thing to come conie along Gene gathered himself together and lit a cigarette before he said saidI I dont don't see what were we're learning by this though A AI t tI I just told you That That yx ou u can caneel sell eel Tommyrot common common if YO you go 1 about It right put But ut were we're not not selling It very fast fast Cor Correct answered the brother stretching dr i hing the word with a a. str strong ng I emphasis And the reason Is were we're not doing It it right We dont don't know how 10 yet yet- But we will Well We'll find out the way The next Is the means I Which we haven't got I But which well we'll get get Shel Burr BurrI Burr I said eald It t with some asperity Ha Hang It I you'd i Gene he went on suppose rather be bo back selling neckties What's the matter with you Were We're getting by and were we're here bere in New NewYork York waiting for the right idea and the right chance Do YO you want to togo togo togo go back back back- Gene Burr disclaimed any such am am- A a a. matter of ot fact he be was WaR merely tired and querulous He rose In fn a moment and shuffled oft off to bed leaving his his brother to his couch couch and his thoughts And that brother lay back blew a a. thick cloud of smoke at atthe atthe atthe the lights and proceeded to enjoy both Two Brothers Plan Flan a n Campaign They were a a. not uncommon pair t these ese two young men harbored id an obscure little apartment In Harlem I and planning assaults o on n the financial I citadels ol of t the e great strange city L Many Matiy like them drift Into the metropolis oIls ells every year seeking the golden I i fleece of success Most do not find It i end and are washed out again obscure and defeated Only the occasional few achieve In the army of such arrivals I In the beginning of 1906 the two Burrs were mere atoms without any apparent apparent apparent ent qualifications for the battle with the masters of life Ufe Shelton Burr dreaming through his smoke cloud considered these things minutely tely but without the slightest dismay y If If he had o one e pronounced advant advantage ge it was an o optimism that rose almost to the power of tion Well make It ft t he murmured to himself as ashe he lay considering Worse tha than we we e get rich He lie let his mind slip over the future and and decided decided that there was nothing to tobe tobe tobe be raid Mid Th The Burrs were born In Leavenworth Leavenworth Leavenworth Leaven- Leaven worth a pretty military town on th this the bluffs of the Missouri River Just north I of Kansas City as fair a site as man man manover manover over chose for ant aborted metropolis Their father had been a shoe manufacturer manufacturer manu manu- using the labor of the convicts con can in the Kansas prison for his his his' factory He had been prosperous In Inthe inthe inthe the small town fashion and had left lert his widow and children a competence e eC and a place in the Ibe p. p petty tty respectability C of f the western middle-western town The boys boyi had gone through high school and started out to work Gene had eventually eventually eventually event event- put his savings into a haberdashery haber haber- hab r. r and Shelton had sold coal to manufacturers There was nothing handicapping b is ball all that Shel Shel Shei Burr reflected lying on his couch As a matter of fact both he be and his brother had been salesmen and it was selling ability that got the tho money If you can sell eU coal you can sell chances at riches he said to himself He lIe was not mistaken In the good old aid days ten years ago it was still a comparatively easy matter to v vend 1 Engraved paper and promises for the tho self self- self denying ening saving of the people Many men urea did it some were peculiarly adapted for tor It From what came cache after one must include these two men inthis in inthis InthIs this class They were tall look good in ing fellows fellow s light of tongue and meticulous meticulous meticulous me me- of ot dress Any AnT kind of selling came natural to them They possessed neither the fundamental honesty nor northe north northe th the sensitiveness which handicap i many men from such huch pursuits Thus I of a certain kind of at abilities they had no lack Even their townspeople townspeople- and neighbors generally have ha not reformed reformed re- re formed their traditional Jealousy r must have admitted admitted this this But what gales of ot derision must have greeted any suggestion of ot the Burrs as as finan finan- financiers financiers financiers ciers I IShel Shel Burr laughed outright to tol himself him himself self at the thought Then he be set his jaws and waved his cigar i Well show them ho he snarled under under under un un- un- un unI I I der his breath Well make em sit up and take notice He thought of the wealthier townspeople townspeople towns towns- people who had bad treated him u- u and wondered at their envy enTY once he had put It over He considered considered con con- on the limited coal dealer who had once employed him and enjoyed that mans man's consternation He settled back In blissful anticipation and went off to sleep peacefully Shelton Burrs Burr's Opportunity Men fond of allegorical mood are prone to imagine Opportunity as a a woman knocking softly at al doors and vanishing from the grasp of all but the swIft and sure And this this' may have be been n the original garland garb garl and method o of this powerful and elusive spirit But nut other times other means The night he dozed off dreaming of oi his future vengeance upon his detractors detractors de- de e- e tractors Shelton Burrs Burr's opportunity was sitting dejected in an abject room clad in somewhat debilitated good clothes and wondering about the next days day's meal This Opportunity was a duality and neither nor femi femi- nine In fact It had Just escaped a a. a bankruptcy disaster In Chicago and I was at present enlisted along with the Burrs In the forces of at the spring 1 fortune hunters in n New York Opportunity too considered itself Itsell a genius in he the ilia selling line and with Mth somewhat more Justification than In Inthe inthe inthe the case of or the tho Burrs Opportunity did not say vaguely that on one might sell Buncombe preferred Opportunity had found the specific way of doing i it Il t But up to this pathetic evening noone no nc noone one in New York had been convicted So the duality sat in Its room anc and brooded Theres something wrong with wiLh us said one member We haven't turn turna a wheel We haven't hit the tho right people that's all said the other oU er But WI ve e got to do it 11 soon that's a cinch It may have been the following g morning mornings or the following week that thai Burr Brothers Bothers and Opportunity mel me meland meland t to and sealed their bonds The tw o J Burrs had stepped ed Into a rendezvous in i n lower ewer New York for tor a few minutes' minutes rest and nd a a 11 little refreshment when a an n acquaintance Introduced them to Harry Tobey and Frank pr Preston ston Just how and by what magic phrase e or word great events are originated 1 is s seldom recalled later on when causes cause s have bave been lost in the burly burly-burly bl or I results So no on one recalls just what I took place in this little tittle group of fortune fortune fortune for for- tune hunters on this occasion save sav that Harry Tobey talked and boasted and Shel Burr countered and questioned ques ques- But Dut they parted to meet again in n the flat in Harlem that night all four tour of them expectant and hopeful and full of plans Getting Down to Business Ive JIve got a plait plan said Harry Tobey as soon as the first highball was wae de de- and the cigars were burning that ought to get the money It will take a little capital to start tart it and the results ought to be quick and big With an instinct learned from tram his customers Shelton Burr was wary You can do most things It if you h havethe have havethe ve the money he be suggested said it ft itin Sure Tobey You can put in the bank and get 3 per cent The Tho group laughed uproariously atthe at atthe th the suggestion and Tobey went back to his argument nt As I understand It ft be he said you men have got some somo money and you want t to get into the stock game with it it Now most people who do that come out with nothing But Ive I've got a scheme that cant can't miss All I want is ismy ismy ismy my snare share Im I'm willing the other man shall have If you men mean business business busi busi- ness Im I'm on but I want to see eee the money and I want an agreement to protect my idea That's all It sounded sound d like business to the Burrs They admired this man if only for his directness and his shrewdness Tl Toy They e dug out their bank books and showed where the proceeds of ot the haberdashery and the savings of the coal salesman had been hoarded boarded and andset andset andset set aside for tor this venture So far tar as the rest goes goel said th thelder theelder the theelder elder Burr all ail you can do is ig to trust trustus trust trustus us just as we trust you If I we dont don't do business the Burrs wont won't use your scheme any more than you can use their money Hows How's that Harry Tobey and Frank Preston were in no condition to quibble Certain tain tata risks must be taken and this appeared to be a a. reasonable rea rear oneAll oneAll one All right night Bald Tobey Youre on h 4 lets Then lets let's get down to busine business s Advertising Is the y Mainspring T T h he e mainspring of my idea said rI t rf rt 19 Tobey is advertising l You cant can't sell anything any more without It and you never could se sell anything with as lon lona long longa a profit Gene Burr interrupted His sole sol experience with advertising had bad been comprised in the inch 3 announcements announcements announcements announce announce- ments his haberdashery had carried in inthe inthe inthe the local papers at Leavenworth and he had not noted d no miracles right answered Tobey You have to know how Of Ot course it dont don't pay in the smalltown small smalltown t town wn way because that's the wrong way But look at the order houses They advertise and In the the end they sell their millions of ot customers cue cus- cus customers g goods for more than the town store store charges and make them th m believe believe be be- lieve they're getting bargains They drive the small stores out of business bustness Simply advertising right The Th argument went Vent home as Tobey knew It would It must go home He was talking for the rare opportunity now now for for the meal ticket in tn fact And he did not Intend to w fail faU Shellon Shelton C. C Burr nurl 8 Co Securities Now iny my plan he proceeded is this Y You Yu u want to s sell ll stock and youve you've got the money to to start How Howare I are you going to do it By peddling It from house to Nix I That dont don't pay The commissions the advances advances advances ad ad- vances and the salesmen that lay down on you eat you YOJI up The other I way is to advertise But nut weve we've got nothing to sell- sell yet objected Shel urr Simplest part of it countered Tobey There Thoro are corporations born every day that are are looking for some someone I one who will sell the stock and will pay a big cut for it What you do first firsts is to 98 be incorporated as fiscal agents Then find out tome some of these new com com- Go to them and bid for tor the job of selling the stock on the commission commission com com- om- om mission basle basis You underwrite the whole issue at 60 lets let's say Then you advertise and sell the stuff stutt You keep the difference between 60 and the price you sell at minus the cost of promotion promotion promotion promo promo- tion See The conference ran ra ran on for several hours with its argument pro and con can always dominated by the glib and imaginative imaginative im im- im advertising man He badan had bad hadan hadan an answer to every objection an idea for every emergency In truth he had hada a detailed d plan of the most ingenious l character ready drawn and it did not fail rail to impress the Burrs It was the coming of the right idea At the end Shel Burr walked over to Tobey and took his handI handI handI hand I think we can do business he said Come back morrow to-morrow night and well we'll talk terms In a few weeks an Instalment furniture furniture furni furni- ture house began to equip a large portion porI portion por por- I tion of the s sixth th floor of the he Flatiron Building with ornate furnishings A Afew Afew Afew few days later the work was done and the painters began to ornament the windows with signs which which- read Shelton C. C Burr Co Securities The conferences in the Harlem flat had borne their fruit Fortune Hunters on the Job One morning the heads of the new business arrived took their places in |