.

It was now well on in November, and the press of both Boston and New
York was filled with scathing attacks upon the Syndicate. The reporters
became so inquisitive as to be annoying to the peaceful Miller. "Send
the reporters over to me!" directed Ammon.

The _Post_ (of Boston) said the whole thing was a miserable swindle.
Ammon, accompanied by Miller, carrying a satchel which contained fifty
thousand dollars in greenbacks, went to Boston, visited the offices of
the _Post_, and pitched into the editor.

"The business is all right; you must give us a fair deal!"

The pair also visited Watts, the chief of police.

"You keep your mouth shut," said Ammon to Miller. "I'll do all the
talking." He showed Watts the bag of money, and demanded what he had
meant by calling the enterprise a "green goods business." If the thing
wasn't all right, did Watts suppose that he, Col. Robert A. Ammon, would
be connected with it? The chief backed down, and explained that he had
jokingly referred to the color of one of the receipts--which happened
to be green.

In spite of Ammon's confidence, however, there was an uneasy feeling in
the air, and it was decided to put an advertisement in the _Post_
offering to allow any customer who so desired to withdraw his deposit,
_without notice_, upon the following Saturday. This announcement did not
have precisely the anticipated effect, and Saturday saw a large crowd of
victims eager to withdraw their money from the Boston office of the
Franklin Syndicate. Powers paid the "_Pauls_," of Boston, out of the bag
brought on by Miller containing the deposits of the "_Peters_," of
Brooklyn. Meantime, Ammon addressed the throng, incidentally
blackguarding a _Post_ reporter before the crowd, telling them that his
paper was a "yellow paper, had never amounted to anything, and never
would." Some timid souls took courage and redeposited their money. The
run continued one day and cost Ammon and Miller about twenty-eight
thousand dollars. Ammon took five thousand dollars cash as a fee out of
the bag, and the pair returned to New York. But confidence had been
temporarily restored.

The beginning of the end, however, was now in sight--at least for the
keen vision of Bob Ammon. He advised stimulating deposits and laying
hands on all the money possible before the crash came. Accordingly
Miller sent a telegram (collect) to all depositors:

We have inside information of a big transaction, to begin Saturday