Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-12-08
[Chicago Tribune, Dec. s.

Rufus Hatch Believes 1t Is a Big Ihinq
A sluggish feeling generally prevailed the
wheat market yesterday, and prices for pres
ent and January delivery ranged triae
lower than on the day previous. The fine
weather and the consequent large receipts
have had very depressing influence on the
Keene combination, and they have been
compelled to change their tactics. Yester-
day they were free sellers for January deliv-
cry at the declining figures, with the hope of
inducing the bears to put out a line of shorts,
but in this they were mistaken. The boys
would bite no further than was necessary for
their own preservation, and the attempt to
induce them to follow suit was a melancholy
failure. The fact is, the bonanzists have
been beaten by the weather and the receipts.
They expected to find the roads snow-bound
and dearth of arrivals. The boys are
happy, and propose to watch the game from
the other side of the fence.
There arrived at the Palmer house yester-
day, pleasant hammered gentleman from
New York, whose autograph on the register
showed him at once to be man of genius,
nothing short, in fact, of a prince of the
blood royal, or king in Wall street The
genial and withal joyial stranger was no less
parsonage than Rufus Hatch, the New
York broker, about whose luck they tell all
sorts of extravagant stories. They say, for
instance, that Rufus-they call him "Ruf''
for short-was in that peculiar condition
last spring which men denominate as "dead
broke" His clear, long head saw good
thing in st. Paul stock, and with Jim Keene
to stand financial sponsor to the scheme, he
organized scheme which brought in no less
than $ 750,000, of which amount Keene gen
erously turned him over 10 per cent. This
set him on his financial pins again,
and when Perry 81. Smith made his lucky
strike last summer in Northwestern, Rufus
is said to have added no inconsiderable sum
to his pile. His arrival in this city was sup
posed to have some connection, near or re-
mote, with the Keene wheat deal. AS the
story went, Keene furnished the money
while Rufus supplied what is often still bet
ter-the brains. But street talk went little
further, and there were whispers to the eff
feet that the Keene combination, as above
stated, had been compelled to change their
tactics, to attempt to unload, as it were, and
that Rufus, wiser in his day and generation
than the child of money -Keene-had sold
out his interest in the deal, and was chuck
ling at his fortunate withdrawal from what
portended dire losses.
A representative of this paper paid his re-
spects to Mr.. Hatch last evening, found him
in his most genial mood, and sat down to
have quiet chat with him. With deft-
ness which must have been born of long ex-
perience with the interviewer, Mr.. Hatch
warded off the reporters attacks, talking all
around, over, under, through and at the sub
ject matter, and never but once coming
down to it in anything like satisfactory
manner. just why he had come to Chicago
he would not tell, but his coming had moth
ing to do with Mr.. Keene. Had he heard of
Keene's wheat-deal? No, except from the
papers. Did he imagine there was any cor
ner hidden away in the thing? Oh, no; not
at all. Did he know anything about
Keene's business? No, again ex>
cept from the papers. What did he