A Final Deal and Final Justice

    Over a year later, there was an offer to purchase all the property held by the Receiver—for $450.  Written on stationery of the Pike County Bank, the proposal of July 26, 1929 came from a stranger, W. F. Hintze of Tarrant County (Ft. Worth), Texas.[1]  There is no evidence this offer, or any other, was ever accepted; yet, the following month, Hintze filed a Certificate of Incorporation at the Pike County Courthouse, declaring formation of the American Diamond Corporation, a Murfreesboro venture.  Hintze was President; Claude A. Rankin, a leading citizen of Pike County, signed as Secretary.  J. N. Hipp, cashier at the Pike County Bank, also appeared as an incorporator and one of three directors.  Initial capitalization was $300, the legal minimum; but 100,000 shares of stock were authorized at $1 par value.  According to the document, each incorporator subscribed to 100 shares.[2]

     The timing seemed appropriate, considering the reorganized Arkansas Diamond Company had just started working the southeast slope again, reviving interest locally.  This time, the Pike County Courier took a close look at the northeast slope and “found quite a bit of activity going on.”  W. F. “Hientz” of Ft. Worth “recently purchased this property in fee simple,” the paper reported, “and for the past 20 or 30 days has been busy in making preparations to uncover the ‘gems’ . . ..”  After obtaining a permit, Hientz’s group would lay pipe from the plant to Prairie Creek and start “’sluice washing.’”  The article described the process in detail, and said two small diamonds had already been found “employing hand washing methods.”[3]

    Noting the roles of Hipp and “Senator Claude A. Rankin,” the Courier was guardedly optimistic.  “At present seven men are employed and one foreman, but if his plans materialize, Mr. Hientz stated that he expected to run a day and night shift in about 30 days that would require the services of about 30 men.”  Hientz was “very optimistic over the prospects . . ..”[4]

 

    After almost three months, however, readers of the Courier learned of another frustrating turn of events.  The headlines:  “Diamond Mining Men Are Arrested—Charged With Using the Mails to Defraud. Hearing Will Be Had in Federal Court.”  Walter F. “Heintze” and W. I. Brashears, a “promotion man, said to have served a Federal term from Fort Worth on a similar charge,” were taken into custody in Dallas, Texas.  Heintze’s female secretary was being sought.[5]

    Moreover, Walter Mauney of Murfreesboro—currently a candidate for Pike County Judge—had a hearing before a U.S. commissioner the previous week.  Mauney told the Courier he had appeared voluntarily, and insisted “all he did was make a deed to W. F. Hientz” and place it in escrow in the Pike County Bank.  He believed the people of the county would understand “that his only interest was to dispose of the property, that it might be properly developed, and prove to be of some benefit to the county and state.”  He was, he said, still a candidate for county judge.[6]

    The news was doubly disappointing, for the U.S. postal inspector declared the group’s literature was not only misleading, but also “based on false hopes.”  Engineers from the South African diamond fields considered the company’s prospects on the northeast slope to be “negligible.”[7]

 

    Later, federal court proceedings in Texarkana cast doubt on the validity of Walter Mauney’s defense.  In May 1931, he entered a plea of guilty and drew a $750 fine, which the judge suspended.  Also pleading guilty, Hintze was fined $300 and sentenced to a year and a day in prison; Brashears’ guilty plea yielded a year and three months.  The secretary, Sue E. Nash, remained at large.[8]

    The obscure deed to W. F. Hintze was never recorded in Pike County.  According to statements at the time, Mauney simply sold an option to purchase, which expired April 1, 1930.[9]  But J. N. Hipp’s later affidavit provided further perspective:  although a deed was delivered to the Pike County Bank for escrow, the plan to organize the American Diamond Corporation “did not materialize.”  Those who were “suppose [sic] to furnish the money” failed to do so.  The deed was never delivered to Hintze, who was said to be the president of the American Diamond Corporation “if and when organized.”[10]

 

    The Mauney family entered the 1930s effectively bankrupt and still depending upon friendly creditors to get by.  The Pike County Bank received very little payment on its big loan of 1923, backed by a lien on the Mauney Mine.  The obligation—$20,907.93, at 10% annual interest—became unmanageable as Walter’s various deals failed, and yet the bank never foreclosed.[11]  Similarly, the family’s much smaller loan from the Bank of Delight, in nearby Delight, Arkansas, became a problem for all concerned.[12]  But then came the Great Depression, a leveling force creating a society filled with irony and paradox, as well as tragedy.

    For many Americans, the Depression relieved both the pressure and the stigma of past mistakes.  In areas hit by severe drought, such as southwest Arkansas, forfeited land soon threatened to inundate both the banking system and state tax agencies.  While many foreclosures occurred, many debts were also dealt with sensitively, especially in tightly-knit rural communities.  Lenders often suspended mortgages, with debtors getting a fresh start as New Deal programs expanded and a second great war revived the economy.[13]

    Eventually, the Mauneys recovered from those hectic years of 1913-1933, still holding the Mine and the main family estate those ten acres had rescued back in the early ‘20s.  In February 1943, all of M. M. Mauney’s surviving heirs finally signed a deed transferring the mortgaged property to the Pike County Bank.[14]