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 di