Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with underscores: _italics_. MY ADVENTURES WITH YOUR MONEY BY GEORGE GRAHAM RICE RICHARD G. BADGER THE GORHAM PRESS BOSTON Copyright, 1911, by The Ridgway Company Copyright, 1913, by Richard G. Badger All rights reserved THE GORHAM PRESS, BOSTON, MASS., U.S.A. To The American Damphool Speculator, surnamed the American Sucker, otherwise described herein as The Thinker Who Thinks He Knows But Doesn't--_greetings_! This book is for you! Read as you run, and may you run as you read. G. G. R. NEW YORK, March 15, 1913. CONTENTS PAGE I THE RISE AND FALL OF MAXIM & GAY 11 _The Birth of an Idea to Coin Money._ _The Higher Mathematics of the Operation._ _How "The One Best Bet" Was Coined._ _Real Inside Turf Information._ _The Public Asks to Be Mystified._ _Prestige Restored by a Clerk's Ruse._ _A Boastful Race Player Gives Aid._ _Fortune Changes Her Mood and Smiles Again._ _The Kentucky Colonel Falls in Line._ _Betting the Public's Money at Great Profit._ _$130,000 Is Lost and Won in a Day._ _A Disastrous Newspaper Wind-up._ II MINING FINANCE AT GOLDFIELD 46 _A Partnership of Pure Nerve._ _Bucking the Tiger on the Desert._ _Bidding $3,000,000 When Broke._ _Millions in the Vista Held No Charms._ _"Human Interest" Versus Technical Mining._ _Beginning the Advertising Business._ _Some Advertising that Paid._ _Building Gold Mines with Publicity._ _Hair-Raising Stories for Distant Readers._ _The Mercury of Speculation._ _The Birth of Bullfrog._ _Enter, Charles M. Schwab._ _Why the Bottom Fell Out._ _How About the Public's Chances?_ _Jumping Jack Manhattan._ III THE BREWING OF A SATURNALIA OF SPECULATION 89 _Trying It on the Stray Dog._ _Advertising for Thinkers._ _Yes, "Business Is Business."_ _Fortunes that Were Missed._ _The Tale of Bullfrog Rush._ _Prize Fights and Mining Promotion._ _The Year of Big Figures._ _The Story of Goldfield Consolidated._ _At the Height of the Frenzy._ IV THE GREENWATER FIASCO 133 _Getting Into the Game._ _All the Copper in the World._ _The Collapse of Greenwater._ _The Shame and the Blame._ V ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT GOLDFIELD SMASH 144