which had attracted considerable notice in the papers.

One day, soon after our plan was matured, Brea went to Philadelphia,
and, by a mixture of audacity and finesse, procured from Jay Cooke
himself (the parent house of the New York firm of Jay Cooke & Co. was in
Philadelphia) a letter of introduction to the manager of the New York
firm. He wanted the letter ostensibly in order to consult the manager
about certain investments which he, as executor of an estate, desired to
make for his wards.

The transaction was made to appear as one of considerable magnitude, in
which there would be large commissions paid. With the grand send-off of
a letter from Jay Cooke to his subordinate in New York, the speculation
opened well--so well that we at once decided what we would do with the
money when we got it--a case in point for the old proverb. We had
ascertained the name of a Newark manufacturer who had recently failed in
business. I will call him Newman. On the morning after his return from
Philadelphia, Brea presented himself at James' office--it being arranged
that James himself be out, so Brea told the clerk that his name was
Newman, that he had lately failed in business, and intended to employ
Mr. James to put him through the bankruptcy court. The clerk told him to
come again at 12, and he would find Mr. James in. At 12 he came; the
clerk introduced him. James kept the clerk conveniently near, that he
could hear the conversation. Brea, as Newman, told James he had used in
his business $240,000 belonging to his wife and her mother, and that in
scheduling his assets he proposed to use enough to make those amounts
good, intending to conceal the fact from his creditors. He determined to
invest the amount in bonds--so ran his story--and was going to deposit
the money in the bank that very afternoon, at the same time producing
his letter of introduction from Jay Cooke. All of this, of course, being
for the eye and ear of the clerk, who might be required as a witness of
his employer's good faith.

[Illustration: "MAC AND GEORGE WERE WITHOUT, AND WERE STRICKEN WITH
CONSTERNATION, FOR A MINUTE'S OBSERVATION OF THE GATHERING CROWD AND THE
RUSHING INTO THE BANK OF EXCITED PEOPLE CONVINCED THEM SOMETHING UNUSUAL
WAS IN THE WIND, AND THEY KNEW NOYES MUST BE IN DEADLY PERIL. MAC RUSHED
INTO THE BANK IN HOPE "TO WARN OR TO BE OF HELP."--Page 236.]

Brea-Newman also paid James, in presence of the clerk, a retaining fee
of $250, which was