of the failure of the Jerome Manufacturing Company,
that I could do nothing in my own name, as he knew.
I had a little money that had been paid me for the
use of my trademark in England, and I felt very anxious,
as old as I was, to make a little money so that I
could pay some small debts which my family had made
a short time before the company failed. I had
also two children who looked to me for some help.
This man said to me, “you may have the use of
my factory for ‘so much,’ and you may carry
on the business for one year in my name for so ‘much.’”
This was agreed to by both parties. In a few
days he came to me and said that he had been talking
with his nephew about having the business carried
on in his name “& Co.;” ——
being the “Company” and he was to keep
his nephew harmless, as he had nothing for the use
of his name. The nephew came into the factory
a short time after, and I asked him if he had agreed
to what —— had stated to me; he
said that he had, and that I could go on with the
business in the name of himself & Co.; he was quite
sure that his uncle would keep him harmless.
I went on with the business in this name from May
to December, both of those men knowing all the while
just as much about the business as I did, and they
never said but that it was all right as we had agreed.
I paid in my money from time to time as it was wanted.
Late in the fall, I paid in at one time, one thousand
nine hundred dollars, through a firm who owed me that
amount, and who gave their notes to ——
on short time, which notes were paid. A short
time after this, knowing that I had no more money
to put into the business, he undoubtedly thought it
time to do what he had intended to do at a suitable
time from the beginning. One day when I was unwell
and confined to the house, a man who had a claim against
the company, called on —— to make
a settlement. Before this time he had made two
payments on this same account, but he now told this
man that there never had been such a company, and
that he would never pay it—while at the
same time, he had the same property which the man offered
to take back but which he had refused to give up,
and said that I had no right to use the name of ——
& Co. This was after he had been using the name
for me in drafts and notes, and all other business
transactions, for more than eight months. He
said that he would have me arrested for fraud and
put in the State Prison. This treatment was rather
hard towards a man who had never before been accused
of dishonesty, and who had done business on a large
scale with thousands of men for more than forty years.
He at one time requested me to borrow a note for him
from one of my friends, which I did, and which he
paid promptly when due. He did this, as I now
suppose, because the business was not in as good shape
for him as it might be in another three months; so
he wished me to get the favor renewed, which I did.
When it became due, he denied that it was a borrowed
note, declared that I was owing him, and had handed