Foster's Daily Democrat

BETRAYED HIMSELF.

The Merchant's Bluff Indicated His True Standing to His Creditors.

" 'Tis true as the book," says a Maine lawyer, "that more crimes are discovered through the efforts made to prevent discovery than in any other way. The mind of the wrongdoer is not satisfied with simply keeping still. It is uneasy and overcautious and leads its owner pretty surely to do some act he would not have done if innocent. In just the same way shrewd business men read the minds of their debtors.

Let an apparently prosperous man become seriously involved, and very often he will try to screen his real situation by doing things that imply a solvent condition, all for the purpose of deceiving his creditors.

"A quarter of a century ago I was practicing in a western Maine village, and among my intimate friends was a young merchant who had apparently been doing a very successful business for several years. His credit was as good as almost anybody's in the town. To my great surprise, one evening there came to me the principals of two large Portland firms, to whom my friend was indebted, and they requested an immediate attachment of his stock of goods. I protested that such a course was unjust and unnecessary. Then one of the merchants explained that a day or two previous he had received a letter from their debtor in which he casually mentioned some proposed action of his which would involve a considerable outlay of money. He didn't believe the man really intended any such outlay, and he asked himself, 'Why has he mentioned this?' Conferring with his neighbor, he found the young man had at the same time written him an exactly similar letter. That was enough and they decided to sue. Feeling almost sure they were wrong, I had the attachment made so secretly that none knew of it except those immediately concerned.

The young merchant was immensely surprised, and at once got friends to become his security on the Portland debts. But the developments of the next few months showed conclusively that the merchants had rightly read the meaning of the unusual letter, and that their debtor's affairs were at that time rotten to the core. Only their prompt action saved their claims which, altogether, amounted to something more than $1,000."—Lewiston Journal.