Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/33

Rh ""To, Seattle.

Will you and Horton authorize Phillips to sign indemnifying bond with me for two thousand dollars? .""

The guaranty asked for in the telegram appearing above was not sent, hut instead a dispatch was sent to Mr. Mercer authorizing him to use funds that had been entrusted to his care by Mr. Bagley for another purpose. This did not afford the anticipated relief, for those funds had been used by Mr. Mercer months before. Right there was the secret of Mr. Mercer'c failure at that time and at other times in his life. He was ever prone to take whatever he urgently hoped for as certain of accomplishment. When he had been promised the ship he took all else for granted. Large sums of money had been put into his hands by his relatives and friends for certain purposes. All these he diverted into this immigration scheme, and the failure of the enterprise made it impossible for him to pay back these moneys. He broke up several of his best friends and financially crippled others, and was made the subject of ugly charges by many of those whom he had injured. That he had used these moneys for his personal benefit no one claimed, but the fact that their money had gone toward the accomplishment of the immigration scheme did not reconcile to their losses those who felt they had been robbed by Mr. Mercer.

Mr. Mercer became interested in the matter of securing this immigration to Washington Territory because he realized that much public and private good would follow, but he did not lose sight of the financial profit that might also be obtained from it. as the following contract, with names omitted, will show:

"I, A. S. Mercer, of Seattle, W. T., hereby agree to bring a suitable wife, of good moral character and reputation, from the Hast to Seattle, on or before September, 1865, for each of the parties whose signatures are hereunto attached, they first paying to me or my agent, the sum of three hundred dollars,