The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1884-10-08
ANOTHER CASE
In Which Blaine's Generous Confidence
Perhaps Made Him a Victim.
y. henry Brooks Publishes a Statement of
the Facts Concerning the Standard
Coal and Iron Company.

his speculative scrapes by the benefit of
bubble. Vehement denials have been made
by Mr.. Blaine's friends-aud he has made
some himself, as reported-of any connec-
ton of his with a sort of syndicate formed
for speculation in Ohio coal and iron lands,
the title of the repudiated concern being
the Hooking" But that is not the title of
The concern in which Mr.. Blaine was in
ferested, if Intimstions here are true.
The statement is made that the Farmers Loan
and Trust Company, as trustee, negotiated
large amount of bonds-several millions-in
1852 for the Standard Coal and Iron Com
,pany." An officer of the Farmers admitted
to the Times representative that some bonds
of the Standard were disposed of as above
stated. The Ttandard is said to be now in
the hands of Mr.. H. c. Stanwood as assignee.
Stanwood, it may be remembered, is name
; which has figured in one or two important
episodes in Mr.. Blaine's life, but whether the
assignee is of the same family as the Plumed
knights earlier acQuaintanees,the Times rep
resentstive is not informed. A member of \
legal firm to whom application for facts
about the Standard was made professed to
have not much information himself further
than that Mr.. Blaine and Steve Elkins put
S25 COO into the enterprise and that Mr. W.
ID. Lee. OF Ohio, was in it as promoter. A
glowing prospectus, it is said, was issued, in
which Mr.. Blaine's name figured as some
sort Of
pa ORNAMENTAL DIRECTOR;
|but the legal gentleman insists that he never
acted. The story goes. however, that party
of capitalists went 10 the territory IN which
the Standard was to operate, in q special car
or train; Mr.. Blaine being of the number,
and II Is limited that his prOverbial magnet
ism was much felt in the party. At all
events, bonds of the Standard appear to have
been ultimately sold to very large amount,
the cash proceeds being stated In some quar-
tiers as high as 100000. Nobody here ap-
pears to have the fainiest idea of the
disposition made of the capital, but
wealthy gentlemen in variods parts of the
country are understood to consider the large
amounts of the bonds which they hold as
much more ornamental than useful,
. and have no great expectations OF large divi-
dends from the assets held by the assignee.
The representative of the Times has not
been able to learn the fate of the SIS 900
said to have been contributed to the scheme
by Messrs. Elkins and Blaine; but remem-
bering how the latter-poOr innocent
suffered in the Little Rock deal, it may be
assumed that this is another case in which
his generous confidence made him victim.
As so many of his speculations have been
unfortunate and his salary only 5000
year, the close economy which enabled him
TO save several millions since he entered
public life is very much admired.
ANOTHER LETTER FROM BROOKS.
The following was printed IN the Evening
Post tonight:
ITO the Editor of the Evening Posts;
'SIR-I beg the privilege of submitting to
you for publication second article on the
Hooking Valley. Ia the latter part of 1881
and early in 1882 the Standard Coal and iron
Company was brought into being. 1t started
in life with a magnificent array of colossal
figures and experienced q brief but brilliant
career. It commenced business with a capt.
tai stock of $25. 600, 900, and ayailed itself OF
the privilege of issuing a mortgage for Sl2,-
100000. Its President was General Samuel
Thomas of the Metropolitan Bank building,
RRd the offices of the company were in No.
2 Wall street, adjoining those of the Hon.
S. b. Elkins one room in fact being por-
tion OF his suite, and the business relations
between Mr.. Elkins and the company were
of the most friendly character. The legal
prelimlnaries consequent on starting so vast
! a corporation, such as issuing its securities
by the proper observance of Necessary forms
and other details OF a ike nature were at
tended to by Colonel c. H. Rippey, then of
Columbus, o., subject to rigid examIna.
ton of Mr. Elkins. There had always
been a strong feeling in the Hooking
valley that the transportation companies oD-
pressed the valley Dy excessive freight
charges. To meet this vital question the
first efforts of the Standard Company were
directed to sOlidifv the interests of the valley
proprietors as against said railroads. With
this IN view, contracts we're rapidly made
with the various large propnetors to join
the overshadowing combination. General
Thomas, being president of the company,
could be counted upon TO deliver over to the
combination the four furnaces, in which he
was largely interested, when they would be
required. 1t was also expected that he
would control the Ohio Central Transports
lion charges as well as the mining interests
on the Sunday creek side of the valley,
1 which were, / think, managed by the Seney
syndicate. The most important companies
with which formal contracts were made were
he Akron Iron Company, the Moss & Mar
shall property, or Bessie furnace, the Crafts
furnace and the New York and Straitsville
Coal and Iron Company. This latter COM
pany was incorporated, think, in 1874. On
the date of December / of that year Hon.
William Walter Phelps was president of the
company, and on October 80. $780, Hon.
Joseph Villas was the treasurer, when the
records of the company will show that Mr..
Phelps was large creditor of this CORPORA
ton. If the directors record books of the
New York and Straitsville Company were
subjected to examination l believe they
would show that for very brief period the
corporation declared monthly dividends OF
81 per share, and il is alleged that about this
time Boston parties we're permitted to pur-
chase what they thought was some of this
compaDy's stock at from par to ITO, but as
ii has also been stated, they found it i'm
possible to procure anything but trustee
warrants. rather than certificates, which
would be salable until the market
value had dropped to a nominal fig
ure. About this time a very important
contract was made with the Lechner Mining
Machine Company of Columbus o., j. A.
Gaffrey. of that city. being President of the
company, by which for a consideration OF
$4,000 the company were to obtain absolute
control of this company's patents for the
State of Ohio, with the exception of two
places where these machines were then in
nse-One in the Hockisg Valley that it was
expected would be included In the combina-
ton. and the other in the Jackson coal field.
Tt had been ascertained by a most careful
examination that machine mining would
cost from thirty to thirty five cents per ton,
where the miners were receiving from
seventy to ninety cents. The adoption of
these machines would of course, force out
of employment tbree-quarters of the miners
in the field, as their services would no longer
be required, and probably cause the remain
der to content themselves with much re-
ducec wage. It was absolutely necessary
that this nolfcv ahould be inauOurated to