Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-01-13
SOLID oUT.
NJ. Vanderbilt Made the Laughing Stock
q all Wall Street.
Opinion Of His rnrsIaa.e the Nickel Plate
Raiirssd-

New York. January ia great
deal Of laughing is done on Wall street
over a morning YapeTs article CONCERN
ing the inside history of the Nickel
Plate Railroads.&c. to Mr.. Vanderbilt
Tor S3W0.cO more than the market
price Of the road. a reporter had an in
ierview with Mr.. Jay Gould 10 get his
side the case. Mr.. Gould was still suf-
feriuu from a severe cold and the re-
u,orteT was referred to Mr.. w. F.
t'ouuor as Mr. Gould's repre-
sentative in the case. Mr.. Con-
nor said: "My business relation
ship in that matter preciudes me from
committing myself on the facts in the
case. OF course. as Mr.. Gouid's part
neT. / know what was done as far as
we were concerned. but would prefer
not 70 say anything publicly about the
sale TO Mr.. Vanderbilt
at Il positively stated that Mr..
Vanderbilt paid SS,ceo,0o0 more for
the property than IL was in the market
fcr.n said the reporter.
"That is the report in financial cir
cies, said Mr.. Conner. "The street
has been full OF runlors about the sale
OF the stock az a very handsome profit
on the Inrt Of the Seney syndicate.
zone dispatch from Cieveland,states
that Mr.. Seney and the Metropolitan
Bank had loaned the company 81, 23a,-
600 which loan was due December !.
It il stated also that Mr.. Gould had
refused the control OF the road offered
to him at s. ,000. 900; that Mr.. Wander
biIt subsequently bought 1900
shares OF the common stock at IL and
I l3D U)8 shares Of the preferred at 81,
I paying In the neighborhood OF $1,000
J zoo for the control said the reporter.
Yes. | saw that statement in the
I y0gRdt. All ! have 10 say in the
matter is that YOU are on the right
( track, perhaps He added, laugh
inglv. you can get further infornla-
( ton at the Windsor. Amy disinter-
( e.ted party there can tell YOU more
than | can about it,
{ Cammack, at the Windsor hotel,
said; "IOu want To know about the
/ sale Of the Nickel-plate Road, do you?
Well. you have come To the wrong
man, said Mr.. Csmmack, with u
I smile. ~ am going TO be as dumb as
I an oyster when the press men call on
me again. You know / don't like to
! be interviewed"
Cant you give point on the
1 Nickel Plate transaction
Not point, said the big bear. 81
don't know single fact / have
! heard all kinds of rumors about the
sale, but outside Of the papers ! am
not posted. Ii is very poor time to
buy railroads at any price, in my
opinion, and that is all can say he
added with a grin.
AIr. Seney, the leading member OF
the syndicate, was called on by re-
porter at his residence in Brooklyn.
This gentleman when requested for
his views OF the case returned the
answer through his son that hedesired
to be excused, He said: II have been
so prosecuted by the newspaper men
to-day, since the publication OF the
Morning Journal article, that / cannot
possibly say anything"
\ well-known Wall street operator
was subsequently found mt the Fifth
Avenue Hotel. When asked for his
opinion on the Nickel Plate sale he
said THE fact is your Cleveland dis
patch hit the nail square on the head,
and every word of it was true. The
road wash Il bad way, and on the point
of being foreclosed on notes held by
Mr.. Seney and the Metropolitan Bank.
The company refused to put up more
capital, and there yet remained an ex-
penditure of nearly S3,00O,000 on
equipment account before it could be
put in running order.n
Mr.. Ktene thought that Mr.. Van
derbilt could afford to pay for it and
not hurt his pile.
Mr.. H. n. Smith said he wouldn,t
trade his horses for the Nickel Plate
shortage and John ID. Prince thought 9
man must he crazy to want railroads
now. The opinion was freely ex
pressed that Mr.. Vanderbilt ha,
bought n ''pig in poke and that h,
ought to have guardian appointed as
soon rs possible.