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THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL; SATURDAY. JULY 25, 1903, TWO BIG FIRMS OF BROKERS ARE FORCED TO THE WALL Talbot J. Taylof & Co., Keene's Agents in Losing Fight Against Harriman, and W. L. Stow & Cé6., Manipu- lators of Mexican Central Stocks, Suspend Busines S | | ! 1 | - — TR -+ JRK p, there was also dread of to- n the Stock Ex- |morrow. v i« afternoon of the | To those who were, in the “know” the the firms of Tal- | Btow. fallure caused little surprise, but ; | the Taylor embarrassment was really un- ' £ & Co. and W. L. | expeeted. Much had been said of the Stow & was sec a period | firm’¢ affairs in the last two years and in ©f exciting selling of stocks and wide |its operations in Southern Pacific, Metro- de prices wk ¢ not been equai- | politan Street Railway and certain other . sent s 4 still fresh in-the minds of those . < follow the market. The “street” ¥ . hifg and many visitors understood the Tay- 2 traced to busi- | jor_Keene connections. Talbot J. Taylor litions outside the |is J. R. Keene's son-in-law. His brother, g close to a 4 James B. Taylor, and Foxhall P. Keene, e. Both son of James R. Keene, constituted the pools formed for the | It Wae the veritable “black Friday p an. although the market rallied very de- £ A Nog, of gtocks. at the close and the general sit- g their price hy supporting or- nipulative, and seeking to 8 * Keene. by reason of Keene's pections with and frequent of the firm. Kgene are toc d much mystery them neces- sarily from their nature. But the mar- ket manafement of the United States Steel stocké on Behalf of the syndicate and the conduct of .4 Southern - Pacific posl are ‘the operations with which his namé are most notably comnected. ~The acéumuiation, according to common be- lief, of 3%.000 sharcs of Southern Pacific and the lifting of its price above 0 were based upon the assumption that Southern Pacific bonds were to be issued for that rosd’s work of improvement: and the net carpings applied o dividends. = Talbot J Taylor & Co., as representatives of the pool, felt themseives powerful enough to e Union Pacific adopt this policy challenge fusal to party’s re- and carry the quarrel 1o: the courts. “Thé “animosities and TeSentments engenfered by that guerrel are supposed to have added to the welght of the firm's dimculties and to bhave aided in bringing it down. The Stow fallure was announced short- ly before 2 p. m. and that of Taylor & Co. followed within less {han ten min- utes, The Stock Exchange was crowded, as 1t had been all day, with brokers, many of whom in recent months had been more conspicuous by their absence from the board. but who were regular in their at- tendance this week because of the gath- ering financial storm. The visitors® gal- lery of the Stock Exchangé held an ‘ex- cited throng of strangers, The floor was the scene of wild excite- ment all day. A tip that something would drop befbre the close of the mar- ket had gone around.” The Mush that fell as the officlal announcements were made whs broken only by the ill-suppressed busz of brokers. who gathered ' groups and listened intently to the words of the chairman, perched in his little white marble balcony. S Then followed & wild scramble all over the rooms. A thousand telephone bell rang And almost -as many . uniformeq messenger ~ boys seemed to leap out on the floor and scurry - in all directions. The excitement sub- sided only with the clang of the buge gong which marked the closfig of the sarket. While many a sigh of relief cided] uation in the minds of some was much improsed, the great many persons having interests in the street went home in any- thing but a cheerful frame of mind. It, was freely predicted that trouble even more serious was impending.- From | trustworthy sources it was learned that three more commission houses had been point Contracts made to-day hold out till Monday, which may enable embarrassed individuals to get their second wind The best indication is that the insolvent frms had comparatively few outstanding fommitments, and these, it 4s believed, were settled privately on the floor. It is =ald that a prominent intérnational banking house, with important railroad interests in Mexico, bought liberally to- day of Mexican Central. Report says that Taylor & Co. sold Pri- vately to a large banking interest, which it some time ago ,antagonized, 40,000 ehares of Southern Pacific. : A great deal of interest was manifested in Wall street as to the cause of the sus- pension of T. J. Taylor & Co., and to what extent, if at all, James R. Keene was involved in it. “The general belief in the street was that Mr. Keene had no | connection, but that he refused ‘to come to the relief of his son-in-law. There was | no copfirmation of this notion, but it is based on the following story: Last summer Talbot J. Taylor was re- | ported to have had a falling out with iz father-in-law, arising out of reported pur- ¢hases of Southern Pacific by Taylor on his own account, independently of the pool which Keene was running in that stock. According to the story, Keene was angry when he discovered the fact. | With the break in the stock market last | October Southern Pacific declined severe- Iy and it was asserted in some quarters that Taylor was among the losers. Since that time Keene has not been much in the office of T. J. Taylor & Co., but this probably was due to the fact that he was ill at his hotel. Foxhall*Keene, who is an international sportsman, is a special partner in the sum, it is sald, of $250,000. He fs now abroad. His father was at the latter's office to-Aay, but denied himself to all but a few close friends. The ¢ffect of the Taylor faflure upon James R. Keene's personal affairs is pure- ly a matter of conjecture. Aeccording to some reports the veteran operator is heavily involved, and according to others, scarcely at all. There are many who be- lieve that the Taylor fallure is directly due to the bad blood stirred up by the firm and Keene in the Southern Pacific and Metropolitan suits. In fact, it has frequently been said that the Harriman and Whitney interests would not be sat- isfied with anything less than the scalp or | SENIOR MEMBERS OF SUSPENDED — ‘squeezed” almost to the bursting | : Whermn L. 'S/row. Howard’s Death Reveais Plot of Bitter Enemies Continued From Page 1, Column 1. On February 21, 1902, Coholan wrote to Howard saying that “his cllents were prepared to purchase the claim on the Indian River on the terms asked, provid- ing that an investigation of the claim proved that it was as valuable as rep- resented.” . “John H. Mangham' of 49 Wall stredt, Neéw York City,” also appears to have ard’s land. During February, 192, Mang= : 1 bam wrote letters to Howard saying he | would do all he could to help Howard sell the claim to €oholan. | _The correspondence then shows that | there was a slight delay in carrying out the purchase of Howard's mining. claims. According to some of the letters Coholan had doubts that Howard's. title to the | property was a clear one and it is sug- || gésted that Howard go'to Ottawa, Can~ .1 ada, and secure proof of his title to the clatm. from the Canadian g FIRMS AND VETERAN BROKER FOR WHOM ONE WAS AGENT. ——— lr»r the Keenes and, Taylors because Ft | these episodes. | The firm of W. L. Stow & To: (W: lL | Coolidge) was organized in 1399 and has | been known almost ever since ‘as the | stock market represenfatives of the Mex- | fean Central Railroad. The firm’s manipu- lation of Mexican Central securities was frequently & matter of general gossip. Mr. Stow is well known in club and social circles and has had a handsome country | estate at Great Neck. He is a prominent | automobolist. His partner, Coolidge, is | very popular on the exchange and much s was expressed for him to-day, | "Almost 76,00 shares of Mexican Central | were dealt in to-day, the stock selling down violently from 19 to 11 and closed | The first | at 12%, a net loss of 6% points. income bonds declined more than 5 points. | During last year's bull movement Mexjcan | Central stocK sola as high as 31%. | The Mexican Central Railroad Limited | of Mexico was incorporated February %, | 1880, under the Massachusetts law and | holds & Mexican charter and subsidy. Its main line i from Mexico City to Juarez, a distance of 1224 miles. In March, 191, a syndicate, H. Clay Plerce of St. Louis, acquired a majority of the stock, the amount of which outstanding at the time was about $48,000,000. | issued $10,000,000 collateral trust five-year | 4% per cent bonds, secured by $16,129,000 | consolidated 4 pér cents, held in the treas- lury, the proceeds of which were used for | the ‘retirement of $6,000.000 worth of notes issued in payment of the Monterey and Mexican Railroad. . The balance was used, aceording to re- port, for the extension of the Monterey | road. The Mexican Central Securities Com- pany Limited was founded in 1899 to ac. | auire the 4 per cent consols of the I | ican Central Rallroad, e their place two classes of securities.” Several prominent Englishmen, includ- ing Lord Hollingdon and Lord Revelstoke, | were among the original trustees of the securities company. The appended statement was issued at the office of Taylor & Co. this evening: Talbot Taylor & Co. have this day executed general agsignment for the b to Philip J. Britt and he has ac assignment and_has taken charge of the prop- 1 assets of the firm. headed by liquidate banks held for théir account. ANl banks hav- ing loans with them gre well protected, but in- lability to liquidate the etocks so held has | caused the suspension, which It 18 hoped will | be temporary K the banks take the reasonable | view that by waiting gradual liquidation can | be effected without disturbarice to the stock market. The largest uisecured creds | firm ts Mr. James R. Keene. 53 i | Efforts to ascertain the amount of the firm’'s indebtedness to' Mr. | unsuccesstul. v The assignee is a prominent Tammany politician and is well known as a close friend of Keene, - y To-day’s failures on the exchange were the firat since May 5 last year. That day | three firms, all of them Involved in the | Webb-Meyer syndicate, went under. Two resumed business. No statement of Taylor & Co.’s asset: and liabilities has beehi made, but from the president of a leading bank it is learhied that the liabilities may be well on to $6.000,000. Esfimates of Stow & Co.'s llabilities range from $1,250,000 to $2,000,000. —_—— They Are Engaged, And thelr invitations, when sent out, will be correctly engraved. The size and tint of stock will be the newést. The engray- ing ftself will be well and reasonably done by Sanborn, Vail & Co., 741 Market . street. ————— Of Interest to Pacific Coast. | WASHINGTON, July 24.—Postoffl Hshed: . Washington—Tvans, Brevens oy, Margaret Hutchinson, postmaster. (2 Postmaster _commissioned: Washington— John E. Youngblood, Holly i ‘ourth class postmaster appointed: . nia—John Warner, Warnersville, Bt&l{fia’. Countv. vigs Michaal Kinser. resigned. In January, 1902, the company | fit of credit- | ted the | ignment of the firm is due to their | the stocks whieh the | Keene were | Minister of the | 1nterior. £ |~ On April ¥,1902, a jettél was sent from {the Department of the Interior at Ottawa, Catada, td Barrister Chrysler of that city.. stating _that the -mining claim on | the Indian River had been leased to Cap- tain Howard and that no lease for the | property, had, been igsued to ‘any other | person.. The department also wrote that |'the . assignmgnt of the claim by Howard | to Coholan- had been approved and -en- téred on the Fecords. Coholan seems to have reached an agreement with Captain Howard on i March 22,1902, when a compact was en- tered- into whereby the New York fihan- ; cler was, to put up a certain sum as a guarantge of good faith and pay the ex- fipenses of Captain Howard and a mining expert to the Klondike. If it was demon. strated that the property was not what Lits owner claimed it to be Coholan was to bave the privilege of a right of sale. | 'The expert chosen was George L. Taylor {of M -West Twelfth street, New York. With him Captain Howard left for Daws | son, arriving thére on June 24 | SUSPICIONS AROUSED. From the correspondence both in writ- ing and in cipher telegram which passed between Captaip Howard and his attorney during. the next few months it | becomes evident that the former thought himself the victim of a gigantic fraud, the result of which would be to rob him of his concession. That his bellef was well founded is attested by letters { from legal advisers. His first suspicions | founa vent in a letter written to Attor- | ney Clay in New York on July 26 It s | in part as follows: “I had been looking forwards to re- ceiving some word from Coholan when | on.the 23d I said to Taylor, ‘As you Know, 1 have not sent word of any kind to Clay. | |1 think T must do so, as all this delay ‘means” unnecessary delay.’ He at oncé sald to do so. 1 said: ‘Well, then,~ you must 16t fne know the nature of your let- {ters apd telegrams to Mr. Coholan.’ He | | Planning a Mighty replied- that he had not kept a copy of | the: letters. . {*,“I asked him to let,me see his instruc- | tiofis from Mr. Coholan, and’ to -my suf- 'prise. e said that he had .only received | oral afrections. When I find Taylor here without instructions of any Kind agd lthgt it appears that he keeps no record { of anything he does I am naturally very anxious.” Captain Foward's diary shows, that | Taylor's reports to him of the property on. Indian River were reassuring. But that the mining engineer was.sending’ re- ports of a: far; different nature to Coho~ lan, the New York manager, ' became: ap- I'pafent.when Attorney Clay sent.the. fol- Vloting telegyam of .the date of Jaly 2 | to Captain Howard | "“Favior reports no sold “whalever on immediate ex- property. -~ Better send planation.” s 3 HOWA GETS DESPERATE. The distrattéd bwner of the concession, realizing that he was the victim ‘of dou- ble dealing, immediately forwarded the following telegram of July 29 to Clay: “Do mnot lunderstand alleged report | which is false in every particular and | the stataments in report are lies of Tay- | !or's. Notify Coholan that his notice is | premature as Taylor has not, as he ad- | | mits,t had time to examine property suffi- ciently.” Meanwhile Captain Howard had been | assured by E. H. Bennett, a mining ex- rt at Dawson, that the property was of great value. He reported that the hy- draulic tests which he had made showed the highest average of $45 per cubie yard. It became evident that Coholan and his | associates meant to take advantage of | expert Taylor's adverse report to bring | suit for the property on the ground that the owner. had misrepresented its value. A letter from Clay dated July 30 warned Captain - Howard of this as follows: “Yesterday I called to see Mr. Coholan pursuant to your request. He read me telegrams and letters received from Tay- Jor and_they were to the effect that your property contained no whatever, that it was worthless, and that | the ignorance which you displayed con- cerning vour property was colossal. + “Coholan iz very much exercised over the ontcome of this matter and charges you with obtaining money pretéenses. He even threatens to have you indicted if you come back to New | York, “It seems to me that Taylor is not giv- ing you the same information in regard to | his investigations as he is giving Caholan. | | 1 understand Taylor is examining other | gold mining property in_Yukon Territory | besides your own for Mr. Coholan and his | assocfates. 1 would advise you by all means to ascertain exactly what he is do- | ing there, as it may have an important bearing on your business.” sens¢ of his peril and in a reply. dated than one danger to fear. He wrote: “I can’t believé It possible that T have been.aseociated with' Ssuch a séoundrel. “You will see the whole game in this; it has been a put-up job from the beginning. “T write this merely to show you what'a jacKass I have had with'me. Now that 1 have found him out, I won't spare him. do net intend giving him a chance of | drawing his gun on me. \ “I am worried, as you can understand, but won't be swindled out of a property that {s of immense value.” HIS SUSPICIONS SUPPORTED. That Captain Howard's opinion of the fraud being practiced on him was shared by others is shown by the following letter from F. Congdon, an attorney of Daw- son: “From what you state and from the conversation of Mr. Taylor at the house of Mr. Lithgow, I am quite satisfied that | no such examination of your property | has been made by Mr. Taylor as would | entitle Mr. Coholan to exercise the power of sale contained in your agreement. Such salé can be restrained, and that, too, without imparting into the contest any- thing regarding the suspicions you enter- tain that the affair has been from the first conducted on behalf of Mr. Coho- lan with the direct object of doing you out*of your property. “The question now is, How are you to guard yourself against the exercise of the power of sale vesting in an innocent pur- chaser of the property covered by the agreement? 4 “I would notify the Minister of the In- terior and endeavor to stop ratification by him of any sale made under the power until you had an opportunity of submit- ting to him evidence of the treatment to which you have been subjected.” Here the muté testimony to the strug- - gle which was going on for the posses- sion of the rich concession ceases. The scene of the drama as displayed by the letters shifts to San Francisco. Pawn tickets for various articles of jew- conglomerhte | under false | This letter awoke Captain Howard to a | August 25, he stated that he had more | But he has already killed one man, and I | ADVERTISEMENTS. 'READY FOR BUSINESS OPEN TO=-DAY This morning we open our magnificent new | been interested in the purchase of How-} et e store—the largest exclusive clothing estab- lishment west of Chicago. Our beautiful daylight salesrooms contain the greatest WHOLESALE CLOTHIERS l‘CJam:hmecl From Page 1, Column 5. secured title to- about 10,000 acres in Western Oregon. Thes¢ men—known for | years as the lumber:Kings of the Middle | West—have sought to perpetuate their | names in the increasing industry farther typthe west. They were shrewd, however, | to realize that the time was not ripe for i I beginning operations on their new lands, { beéause the price 'of -timber has been | steadily advancing and the Government sz-(lsuclanuhsvé been sending out figures that fully Warranted the prediction that the' top notch in prices had not been rcachas. & | While these men were eagerly grabbing up all the available land in this and other coast States Harrtiman was figuring on the future and wondering what his lands in thé far West would fimally net him. During his contemplation of the profits that his big rallroad would some day de- rive a friend took the magnate into his confidence and unfolded a scheme where- ing the greater part of the timber output of the West might be guaranteed to a | syndicate for time indefinite. s Harriman, after mature deliberation, thought the scheme plausible and later, | after a conference with other of his bus ness associates, it was pronounced feas- | ible. Then Weyerhaeuser was taken into the camp of the Harriman people, and through the lumber king, it is sald, the plans were finally put into shape and con- siderably broadened. The greater portion of the land in the | West, valuable for its timber growth, lies | either "along the raflroads leading to or | down the coast or within an accessible | distance from the great railway systems | which are controlled by the Harriman | and the Hill interests, and hetter still, | the major part of this rich timber acre- age is already owned by the roads. It was the shrewd foresight of the experi- enced Weyerhacuser that suggested to Harriman the advisability of taking Hill into the scheme, for it was shown that without him the contemplated monopoly | @ imimieirimjulmiminieldrinieinininirieil @ elry, pathetic entries in the diary of petty expenditures and a host of despairing let- ters from his wife, tell the tale of Cap- tain Howard's heroic fight against the odds which opposed him. On June 6 he met J. J. Hassell of the Hassell Auditing’Company and interested | him and J. B. Treanor, of 501 Montgomery street, in his rich concession. Of his de: | ings with Captaln Howard ,Hassell yesterday: *I met Captain Howard on June 6 and met his schemes with approbation. We had several confereénces and finally I told him that if he could give us an expert's | opinion on the property we would prob- ably start a company. “But he had a haunting fear of some people, whose names he would not reveal, | who ‘he sald were trying to get his prop- erty away from mim. “He was afraid to stay away from his concession and wanted to get back as soon as possible. I believe Mr. Treanor {'gave him the money to get his ticket with ‘Fnd about $176 besides. “His fears perplexed me. On the night of July 4 we were walking on the street together and he told me that hé never went out at night without company. “The last T saw of him was on Satur- day, a week before his body was found. Then he said he was going to leave for Victoria that night. He seemed always in the best possible spirits and the rumor that he committed suicide I think with- out much foundation.” The Berkeley Coroner yesterday re- ceived the following telegram from J. M. Langley, Chief of Police in Victoria, which finally completes the identification of Captain Howard: “Party found near barn answers de- scription of Captain Howard, English- man. Further description -as follows: Lump right temple, third finger right hand bent and stiff; black mark on one finger near nall; light gray mixed hal ‘partly bald; about five feet ten inche: may have linen marks H332, D112, HD112, 2316, 326, and steel rule in pocket; seal and crest of lion's head with arrow in mouth. If this answers wire me at once. His wife and daughter here.” . B. Treanor and Rev. Edward Gra- ham of 2419 Channing way viewed the body yesterday and declared it to be that id i to interview him. | big tracts of redwood on the coast, and of Captain Howard without doubt. A Guaranteed Cure for Piles. Itching, Bl Protruding Piies. money it PAZO SN e 5 canta. o —————————— LA JUNTA, Colo,, July nt.l’——OGnflul Manager Mudge of /Santa Fe Railroad has been un- successful in settling the strike in the shops Timber Combine. N CRERER Y would never be effected, as Hill would at all times have a timber territory of his own with which to compete with and | the prices would not be assured for any great length of time. Just what arrange. | meént was entered into between Harriman | and Hill no one here Is able to say, but | the story is that Weyerhaeuser accom- plished the end desired and proceeded with | the big project. | One of the first deals made by him is| ald to have been a trangfer of six m11-| | ion acres of timber land in Washington to.his company by the Northern Pacific, this about three years ago. This land | lies hgtween the Sound and the Columbia | iver and is rich In fir. Later Weyer-| haeuser added to his possessions between | two and three milllon acres of timber in | Idaho, the majority’of which was pur- chased from the Hill companies. Weyerhaeuser suggested that it was time for Harriman to begin negotlating | with other and smaller holders in the West who had been buying up land, and | ‘°"flg upon this suggestion the railroad presifient is said to have sent his agent, E. W. Eberlin, to the coast for that pur- pose. Eberlin arrived heré several months ago and when in the city he has dwelt at the Palace. He has conducted his business quietly, dealing with everybody through a representative. In fact he has" been so discreet that no one at the Palace has ever guessed that he Is an agent of | Harriman or agy other great promoter. | He has denied himseif to all callers and | has refused to make any statement to press representatives who have attempted | According to the information that has come to light Eberlin has been worki! in a roundabout way toward securing op- tions on-timber land held by various Eastern people who purchaseéd it sinceé the boom in California timber began about three years ago. Among those whom Eberlin's agents are said to have ap- | proached with a view of securing options | on their holdings is A. L. Hopkins, a resi- | dent of Pennsylvania, who owns 40,000 | acres of sugar pine near Klamath, one of the most valuable tracts in the West; Dave Whiting, formerly of Detroit, who owns 100,000 acres in Oregon: C. A. Smith | of Minneapolis, who has holdings in the sugar pine district above Sacramento | and a large strip of fir timber in the southwestern part of Oregon; the Ham- | mond Lumber Company, owners of the the Stéwarts, who purchased what known as the Scott & Van Arsdale i terests in Northérn Shasta County. Many of these owners refused to listen to the propositions of Eberlin’s agents, but others are sald to have put a price on | their properties and they are now within reach of the Harriman representatives. With the many minor holdings which Harriman and his associates may count on it is sald that<the plan is to merge the more valuable lands controlled by | the Hill roads and the Southern Pacific into a trust. The Southern Pacifi¢’s prin- | cipal holdings are represented in the grant of ten miles on each side of its road, lying between the southern boun- dary line of Oregon and a point south of Portland, and consist of about one mill- fon acres of fir and sugar pine. In plan to place these lands in a pool Har- riman does- so conditionally, with provis- jons for the protection of the company's creditors, to whom all the lands of the company are pledged in security for its indebtedness. With the lands of the H:ll and the Har- riman roads and those of Walker, Weyer- haéuger and others in Washington. Ore- gon, ldaho and Californfa under contral, Harriman and his associates will be in a position to dfctaté terms to nearly the en- tire world. Sell at what price they may see fit, the trafic resulting from the cutting of the timber will be assured their roads and if the figures of the Government statisti- clans may be rélied upon this monopoly will extend over a time indefinite. Since the Harriman folks began working out their plan for a combine the prices of California timber lands have been stead- ily advancing. The price of redwood land alone has almost doubled, and the de- mand has increased threefold. During the last three years the demand for Cali- fornia fir in the East has increased 50 per cent and thé demand for sugar pine has Increased proportionately. It is esti- mated by the Government officlals that 3,000,000,000 feet of timi ‘was cut in Cali- fornia, Oregon and Washington last year, and that the product still in sight in the three States is over 500,000,000,000 feet, which, allowing for an ircreased con- sumption every year, means that there will be timber to cut in the States men- tioned for the mext 100 years. It is upon these figures that Harriman and his associates in the big deal are said to be making their calculations for an enormous revenue. \ stock of entirely new clothing, of the finest grades, ever shown in the West. man, boy and child at wholesale prices, which means money in your pocket. COME AND SEE US TO-DAY You g:qnndt afford to postpone a visit to the great m_oney-"savir{ng clothing store. We clothe BROWNBROS & C» LilAN RETAILING DIRECT TOYOU 516-SISMARKET ST NN ~oPvaianT Man’s Comfort These hot days depends not a little upon his linen, and this, in turn, upon the laundry he patronizes. If you'll place your dependence upon e U. S.’s work “cool as a cucum- ber” can be emblazohed on your linen and satisfaction on your countenance. No saw edges. UNITED STATES LAUNDRY OFFICE 1004 MARKET STREET, Near Powell DOHEMIAN “King of all Bottied Beers.”™ Brewed from Bohemian Hops. California _sunlight, dust cause e, routle, Murine is a favorite tollet faded eye to natural soothes n. lfllllll“_”- "