carry out Ward's promise of the night before, and open the strong box in which millions of securities had been deposited. Ward held the key of this box, but the moment demanded heroic measures. The box was forced open, and found to contain only papers of doubtful value, amounting even on their face to less than $400,000.
While the others still stood aghast at this discovery, Spencer, who had been listening at a ticker, came in and announced in fateful voice, "The Marine Bank has closed its doors." With profound conviction in his face, he turned to young Grant: "This carries Grant and Ward down also."
"I don't see that," replied Grant. "The loss of $600,000 will cramp us, but it won't break us."
He was soon undeceived. Instead of being worth $15,000,000, with an enormous bank account, he and his friends found themselves without a dollar and with a flood of demands pouring in upon them.
Just when matters were at the worst, the General himself hobbled slowly into the room. He was still disabled from a fall on the ice some months preceding and used his crutches. "Well, 'Buck,' how is it?" he cheerily asked.
The son, his head still ringing with the blow which had fallen upon him, replied harshly, and without any softening words, "Grant and Ward have failed, and Ward has fled."
For a few seconds the old warrior faced the people of the office, his keen eyes piercing to the bottom of his son's anger and despair. Then he turned slowly, and without the quiver of a muscle and without a single word, left the room and ascended slowly to his own office, to be seen no more in the office of Grant and Ward. About five o'clock in the afternoon, however, he sent for Spencer, the cashier, to come up and see him. As the young man entered the room, he found the General seated close to his desk, both hands convulsively clasping the arms of his chair. His head was bowed, and the muscles of his face and arms twitched nervously as he said: "Spencer, how is it that man has deceived us all in this way?"
Even as Spencer tried to speak, the General did not look up; in fact, the young man's stammering attempt to answer seemed not to interrupt the current of the General's thought. He went on speaking. "I had not the least idea that Ward was concerned in government contracts. I told him at the beginning that I could not be connected with the firm if he was going into any business with the government. I supposed the contracts he spoke of were railway contracts." He went on for several minutes with an explanation, to which Spencer made no reply. He was evidently suffering the keenest mental anguish, and the cashier would gladly have uttered some word of comfort, but was himself too deeply moved and bewildered to do so. Finding Spencer as ignorant of it all as the rest of them, the General became silent, and the young man withdrew, leaving him seated with bowed head in the same position in which he had found him.
Without Ward, it was impossible to tell what the firm owned or what it owed. Claims developed of which U. S. Grant, Jr., had no knowledge, and which did not appear on the open books of the firm. The excitement on the street was very great. Investors with whom the Grants had no dealings whatever clamored to be secured. Great pressure was brought upon young Grant to make an assignment in favor of certain creditors, but he refused. So the day wore on. At the end it was apparent that Grant and Ward were hopelessly involved, and that every dollar possessed by General Grant was swept away.
On Wednesday, U. S. Grant, Jr., went down to the office, but Ward did not appear. The papers had immense headlines, and all sorts of charges and insinuations were in type. Creditors called, saying that the bonds given to them for security by Ward had been rehypothecated. Some of these men covertly threatened young Ulysses. He could only reply: "I presume what you say is true. I know nothing about it. I can't do anything about it. All I can say is, you'll find me here during business hours and at my house thereafter." He was ready to answer to any call.
The entire Grant family were in singular straits. Every cent of ready money was gone, and many bills for which checks had been given weeks before to butchers and bakers, who had neglected to cash them, came up now a second time for payment. The General and Ulysses, Jr., found themselves actually in need of money for daily necessities. Mrs. Grant ordered her Washington house to be sold, and that formed the fund upon which the entire family lived. They sold horses and carriages, and prepared to move into cheaper
