The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 18, 1903, Page 7

——— , to for viease send te-waistcoated, white- snow-white, short- burst unceremoni- Mr. cordially panted the portly man, lowa Midland?” in a half-com- jueak d the selling. I Ormiston?" aw it my- i you a good turn once Telegraph. I'm long Iowa Midiand. For if you know any- Mr. Ormiston, all I know is what I Jearn from my confidential reports of the TOE SUNDAY CALL. it Along the line of the Keokuk crop is not what I hoped < his head dolefui tick!" said the The § roached the machine ‘Tt € and an cighth. Thirty- Ormiston. “‘Great Scott! He did not ed out of 1 v good-by. er summoned a con- he Mr. Brown Co. are about lowa Midland, m to sell and that . M1 Coolidge must not e than 35 for it Mr. Coolidge is in your private room, announced an office boy e little financier confronted his dertial broker. Their relatio u cted by the Street erybody ght Coolidge was a pleasant and hon- able man. “Coolidge, go to the board at once. Or- miston is going to sell 6000 shares of Towa Get it cheap as you can. Don't v, though.” much shall 1 buy?’ asked the jotting down a few figures in his ok. “As much as you can; all that is of- fered below 37, squeaked the MNwupoleon of the Street. It was a Napoleonic order. ‘And, Coolidge, 1 don’t want this know. by any one. Clear the stock yourself. It meant that Mr. Coolidge was to put the stock through the clearing-house in bis own name. As there is a charge for this service, in addition to the usual buy- ing or selling commission, such steps are not resorted to unless it is desired to con- ceal the identity of the broker’s principal. Ormiston’s 6000 shares found their way to Mr. Coolidge’s office at from 3% to 85% The man who once had done Greener 2 good turn now did him another—the gift of $40,0001 AID) HE REPEATED "1 HAD PROXIES FOR 6l 830 SHARES ™ _ ge, employing several i 23,000 shares in all, ch meant that Mr. Greener, after *‘cov- wn's early “short sales,” was fon of fully 14,000 shares of the 1 ktock of the Iowa Midland Rail- any, at a price averaging near- ts lower than they could have on the preceding day, which ,000 cheaper. & Greener had made as much ales, which was actually But Brown n their short alent to having the lambs pay a man ge of being shorn by him! st of a series of skir- hes by means of which the diminutive poleon of the Street captured the float- 18 § y of lowa Midland stock, until had not less than 65,000 shares safe in clutches. All the old tricks that he knew and new devices he Invented were used to hide from the Street the fact that Mr. Greener was buying the stock on every opportun- But beyond a certain limit extensive purchases of a particular stock cannot be concealed from the thousand shrewd men whd make their living—a very good liv- mg, indeed—by not being blind. First one thing, then another, told these men that some powerful financler, or group of financiers, had bought enormously of Towa Midland, “absorbing’ unostedta- tiously all the stock shaken out by the violent fluctuations of the past few months. This fact and the remarkable im- provement of business along the line of the road caused a ‘“substantial rise” in the price of the company's securities. But no one suspected the little Napoleon with the shifty eyes and the squeak and the genius, who had bought in the open mar- ket, through unsuspected brokers, and in Iowa from the local holders, by means of gecret agents, until he had accumulated 78,600 shares, Brown said to his partner one day, a little uneasily: “Supposing we can't get any more stock, what are we going to do with what we have?” To try to sell it, however carefully, would be sure to break the market.” . “Brown,” squeaked the little man, plaintively, “I have concluded = that In case 1 can’t get enough stock to bring Willetts' and his crowd''—the president of the Jowa Midland and his fellow direc- tors—'‘to my way of thinking, we had bet- ter sell the block we now hold to the Keo- kuk & Northern- Rallway Company at the market price of $68 a share. Perhaps we could even run it up a little higher. Our etock cost us on an average $51 a share. We could take our payment one-half in cash and -half in first mortgage bonds at a fair discount. The deal would be highly beneficial to the Keokuk & Northern Com- pany, since, having such a large stock of her rival's steck, there would be no more fighting and rate cutting. Our com- pany would be a powerful factor in the Towa Midland’s affairs, for we ought to have two, or possibly three, directors in their board.” “Greener,” said Brown, “shake!’” “Oh, no; not yet,” squeaked the little man, deprecatingly. Shortly afterward began a campaign of hostility against the management of the Jowa Midland Railway Company and President Willetts in particular, It was a bitter campalgn of defamation, of ingen- jous accusations and of alarming prognos- tications, All the newspapers, important or obscure, subsidized or honest, began to print articles of the kind technically known as ‘“‘roasts.’” The road, it was de- clared, had escaped a receivership by a sheer miracle. President Willetts’ incom- petence was stupendous and incurable. There was, in sooth, some basis for the complaints, and many stockholders were undoubtedly dissatisfled with the Willetts “dynasty.” But not even the newspapers themselves knew that they were merely moving In response to wires artistically pulled by a financial genius of the first water. The stock once mose 3declined. Many timid or disgusted holders soid out. Mr. Greener gave no sign of 1ifs, sut his brokers bought the stock offered for sale, Aoctt wfis A GOODLOOKING- * "~ QUIET CHAP " ~ 'Midland was best of all, if it only could At length a well known and talkative broker confided to an intimate friend, who told his intimate friend in confidence, who whispered to his chum, who told, etey etc., that Mr. John F. Greener had been responsible for the fall and rise of Jowa Midland stock; that for months he had been buying it on the Btock EX- change; that he had quietly picked up some large blocks in Iowa. All of which was very sad, and, worse still, true. Also, that Mr. Greener now held 182,300 shares of the stock, which was even sadder, but untrue. It was very well done. The agnual meet- ing of the company was only six weeks away. The reporters rushed to Mr. Greener’s office. The little financier would not be seen, At length he reluctantly cbnsented to be interviewed. He admitted, after a skillful display. of unwillingness, that he had bought Jowa Midiand stock. As to the amount, he sald that was not of inter- est to the general public. The reporters finally cornered him and succeeded In making the little financler say, with a fleeting and very peculiar smile: “Yes, It is over 100,000 shares.” And not another word could the newspaper men get out of him, Hach reporter who saw that smile went away convinced to the life wagering point that Mr. John F. Greener was in control of the Jowa Midland. And they wrote ac- cordingly. President Willetts all but had an apo- plectic stroke. The street disgustedly sald: “Another successful, villainous plot of Greener's!” And such was his reputa- tion that the stock declined ten points in two days. Investors and spéculators alike displayed a frantic desire not to be identi- fied in any way or manner with one of Mr. Greener's properties. The little financier had not been mis- taken. His last card was his own evil reputation. On the widespread fear that followed his broker's artistic “indiscre- tion” he was able to “scoop” 32,000 shares more at low figures. Such is the value of fame! He now held 110,000 shares, or one-third of the Towa Midland Railroad Company’s entire capital stock—enough®to coerce ‘Willetts into making very profitable ar- rangements with Mr. Greener's Keokuk and Northern Raiflway Swmpany. Of course the absolute costra’ a¢ the Iowa forwardness. be secured. But of this this shallow-faced little man with the high forehead and the shifty eyes was doubtful. He estimated—it had cost him §11,00 to secure the necessary data—that Willetts and his elique held 105,000 shares, so that there were still 122,000 shares unaccounted for—probably scattered among small in- vestors throughout the country, who did not care who managed the road so long as they received pleasant promises of dividends, and also among banking houses and anti-Greener men, who, though they did not approve of Willetts, disapproved even more emphatically and vehemently of Greener and his methods. It he could not buy the stock itself he must try to secure proxies. He knew that some of the trust com- panies held a fair amount of the longed- for stock. He lald siege to them. He bombarded them with pledges and prom- ises so honorabls, so sound and business- like, as to plerce the armor of heir dis- trust. In the end they actually grew to believe that they were acting wisely when they pledged thelr support to Mr. Greener and they agreed to give him their proxies whenever he should send for them. He called his clerk Rock and told him: “Go to the Rural Trust Company and to the Commercial Loan and Trust Company. See Mr. Roberts &nd Mr. . They will glve you some Iowa Midland proxies made out to Frederick Rock or John F. Greener."” Rock was & good-looking, quiet ohap, with a very well shaped head and a reso- lute chin. His manners were pleasing. He had'a habit of looking one straight in the eyes, but. did not always succeed thereby in conveying an impression of straight- But he certainly impressed one as being bold and keen. “Mr. Greener,” sald Rock, “‘you are carrying 110,000 shares of stock, are you not?” “Eh?” sqteaked Greener, innocently. “I figure that; unless you are doing something outside this office, you will need proxies for 50,000 shares more to give you absolute control and elect your own board of directors and carry out your plans in connection with Keokuk and Northern." Not by so much as the ‘winkling of an eye did the little man betray that he was interested in Rock's words, or that the clerk’s meddling with the firm's affairs was at all out of the ordinary. ““Mr. Greener,” sald the clerk, very ear- nestly, “I should like to try to get them for you. “Yes," he squeaked, absent-mindedly. “Yes, sir,”" answered Rock. “Go ahead, then,” sald Mr. Greener, carelessly. ‘“Let_me know next week how you are getting on.” An expression of disappointment came into Rock’s face, whereupon Greener added, “Of course, if you succeed, I'll do well by you. “What will you do, Mr. Greener?"”’ asked the clerk, looking straight at him, “I'll give you,” he squeaked, encourag- ingly, “* ten thousand dollars.” “Is that a good price for the work, Mr., Greener? I may have to pay out a great deal,” added the young clerk, with a faint touch of bitterness. “It is all that it is worth to me, Mr. Rock, and I think it is worth more to me than to anybody else. I'll raise your sal- ary from sixteen hundred to two thousand a year. That's a great deal more money than I had at your age, Mr. Rock.” “Very well,”” said Rock quietly. “I'll do the best I can.” But once away from Greener, his face flushed with anger and indignation. “Ten thousand for what might be worth ten millions to the finan- cler!” The clerk had studied Greéener's Napo- leonic methods for two years. He had learned patience for one thing, and he had waited for his chance. It had come at last and he knew it. The clerk all that w L did nothing but collect the Iowa Midland proxies prom- ised by the complaisant trust companies. They amounted to 21,200 shares. From prominent brokerage houses, by means of alluring and unauthorized promises, he secured 7100 shares; in all he had 23,300 shares. This meant that the approaching annual meeting Mr. Greener could vote 138,900 shares out of a possible total of 320,000. Unless the opposition could unite the election was already sure te “go Mr. Greener's way.” From time to time, when the little finan- cler would ask Rock how he was progress- ing, the clerk would tell him he was do- ing as well as could be expected. He also told Mr. Greener that the trust compe- nies had given only 14,000 shares, and he sald nothing whatever of the 7100 shares he had secured from the friendly brokers. It was a desperate chance, this concealing from Mr. Greener how well he had done; but the clerk was bold. The moment Rock became oconvinced that thers wers no more pro-Greener proxies to be had by hook or erook, he begon his attack on the enemy. His problem was to capture the anti-Gresner votes—or stock. And the plan of thil healthy clerk with the unfiinching eyes and the resolute chin was worthy of the sallow-faced little man with the furtive look and the great forehead. t is a case of heads I win, talls you lose,” Rock muttered to himself exult- ingly. The young man presented himself forth. with at the office of Weddell, Hopkins & Co., prominent bankers and bitter enemies of John F. Greener and his methods. They knew Rock ne of the confidential clerks of Brown & Greener, and he had no difficulty in securing an audience from Mr. Weddell. “Good morning, Mr. WeddellL™ “Good morning, sir,” sald the bankes coldly, “I must say I'm somewhat sur~ prised at the presumption of your people in sending you to me.” “Mr. Weddell,” said Rock, “T've left the firm of Brown & Greener. They were,” ha added, youthfully, “too rascally for me.” Mr. Weddell's face frose solid He feared an application for a position. “Ye-es?' he sald. His volice matehed his face In frigidity. “Mr. Weddell,” said the young elerk, looking stralght into the old banker's eyes, “you, in common with other honest men, have been wishing you could pre- vent Mr. Greener from wrecking the lowa Midland. Now, Mr. Weddell” Nhe went on eagerly, as the enthusiasm of the plan grew uvon him, “I kmow all about Mr. Greener’s plans and resources and I want you to help me fight him. If you do we will win, sure.” “How will you go about it?’ asked the old banker, evasively. He was not cer- tain this was not some trick of the versa- tile Mr. John F. Greener. “Mr. Greener,” answered young Rock, “has not control of the property. - He bas only 110,600 shares. I had access to the books and I know to a share.” “I don’t wish you to betray an employ- er’s secrets, even though he may be my enemy. I do not care to hear any more.” He was an old fashioned banker, was Mr. Weddell. “I am not betraying any secrets. He himself sald he had over 110,000 shages, and all the reporters jumped at the cem- clusion that he had actually a controliing interest. And that is what he will have unless you help me. I have proxies here for 28,300 shares from the trust companies and commission houses. My plan is to get all the proxies I can from the anti- Greener and the anti-Willetts stockhold- ers. Then we can make Mr. Willetts give us pledges in black and white to maugu- rate the much needed reforms a stop nis policy of extravagance and his costly trafilc arrangements. Willetts will do it to save himself and the road from falling into Greener’s hands. But there's no time to lose, Mr. Weddell,” The excitément of the game he was playing stimulated him like wine. “And you? queried the ol¢ banker, meaning! Vhere do you come m?* The insinuation was his last weapon. “I? It might be, Mr. Weddell, thad Ot et ot s SR S R 70 3o Continued on Page 14