The biographical sketch seemed to satisfy readers that they were
getting their "dope" straight on Goldfield Consolidated. My name at
this time did not appear in connection with the publication except as
part of the aggregation of Sullivan & Rice who advertised therein, but
I was openly accused by Messrs. Nixon and Wingfield of dictating the
policy of the paper. This was a half-truth. My sympathies were with the
stockholders of Goldfield Consolidated--that's all.
The story is told in Nevada that when Senator Nixon received the check
for $1,000,000 from Berney Baruch, after having executed notes of the
Goldfield Consolidated, signed by himself as president and endorsed by
him as an individual, he took luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria in New
York. When the waiter presented the bill the Senator ostentatiously
tendered the $1,000,000 check in payment. The waiter put it all over
the Senator by politely stating that if he wished to pay his dinner
check out of the proceeds, Proprietor Boldt would undoubtedly attend to
the matter for him. The Senator was forced to tell the waiter he was
"only joking."
The _Nevada Mining News_ appeared to be catching on and was now
printing 28,000 copies weekly. Sample copies were sent in every
direction with the idea of acquainting investors with its existence.
A day after the issue appeared containing the editorial in which
Senator Nixon was accused of playing the rôle of Brutus, I was stopped
on the street by the editor of the _Reno Gazette_, a newspaper which is
loyally attached to the Senator and his friends.
"The Senator wants to see you, Rice. Better go over to the bank right
away. If you know what's good for you, you'll do it," the _Gazette_ man
said.
"I will, like ----!" I replied. "My office is up in the Clay Peters
Building, and if the Senator has anything to say to me he can give me a
call. I am not one of his sycophants, and I am not going."
I didn't go.
An hour afterward the editor of the _Gazette_ met me again. "Senator
Nixon wants to see you at his office right away," he said bluntly.
"About what?" I inquired.
"About articles which have appeared in the _Nevada Mining News_," he
answered.
"Very well," I replied, "I'll send the editor over."
Turning to Mr. Teague, I said, "I have no business with Senator Nixon,
and if he has anything to communicate regarding the newspaper you, the
editor, are the man for him to say it to."
Mr. Teague went over to the Nixon National Bank and entered the
directors' room. My stenographer accompanied him as far as the door and
took a seat outside, in the banking room.
As Mr. Teague entered, Senator Nixon jumped to his feet. He looked
black as thunder. He quivered with rage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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