The annual meeting of the stockholders of Consolidated was called, and the place named was Wilmington. Upon this fact Sessions seized with avidity. He flooded the mails with letters, pointing out that Findlater was afraid to hold the meeting under the jurisdiction of South Dakota courts, pointing out that Wilmington was not readily accessible to many of the investors, driving home new charges of trickery and fraud.
Now the fight was becoming serious for Macgowan, and the latter knew it. Thousands of the investors were registered with the Association, proxies were pouring in, and the denials and camouflage used by the Consolidated directors availed little. Findlater was himself carrying on a desperate battle for proxies, under the guidance of Macgowan, and neglected nothing in the effort to avert disaster. Armstrong wondered how the two of them would get out from under the swelling tide of libel and perjury which they were creating.
Then the campaign rose to a smashing climax—all that Armstrong could have desired.
Into Armstrong's office, late one afternoon, walked Henderson, the assistant treasurer of Consolidated Securities. He looked at Armstrong with a wry smile.
"I want to get into this Protective Association and turn over my voting proxy to you," he said quietly. "And if there's any information I can furnish, just ask."
"What's the answer?" demanded Armstrong curtly. He knew Henderson was square, yet—
"I've resigned." Henderson read his thought. "Things are getting too rotten over there to suit me. If you can use me in your company, I'd like a job—but I'm not offering you information to get it. My ten shares of stock look pretty big to me, and if the Association doesn't win this fight they're going to look pretty small. Job or no, I'm with you."
"That's straight talk," said Armstrong. "Come over and see Judge Holcomb."
Within an hour the Association was in possession of affidavits from Henderson which went into type and print the following day. At last the inside operation of Consolidated, under Findlater's management, was exposed to public scrutiny. To sum up Henderson's information:
1. The National Reduction Company, Findlater's pet scheme, had been put through just as proposed to Armstrong, with large free gifts of stock to Consolidated directors, and had to date cost the stockholders of Consolidated something over a hundred thousand.