Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1884-04-10
TELEPHONE WEALTH.
Tho Quick Fortunes Made by In
vestors in Telephone Stocks
How Faith, Energy aud Hhrewdnes1
Have Led on to Phenomenal
Fortune-- Brief Mention
or Leading Men.
boston Globe. |

Boston Globe.
The fortunes made in connection With tho
organization and business Of the American
Bell Telephone company, are numerous ana
phenomenal. No other enterprise in recent
years has given such return to those who
were engaged in or connected withit Started
but a few short years ago with its stock sell
ing at nominal figure, 1t has risen with
such rapdty that men have become million
aires before they were aware Of it, while hum
tlreds of others have amnssed larger fortune
than thcy ever expected to possrss, in the
short space Of from three to six years.
At the time that William H. Forbes first
invested in the telephone tho stocks was sell
ing very low-somewhere from ~ to S40
per SHARE That stock has since been
"watered" by giving the holder OF every share
seven new shares, and the eight are now
worth more than $50 each, making risS
of from $50 to $1,000 or more. Gossip
has it that Forbes borrowed or received
$G4, COZ from his father to put into telephone
stocks, and that this was swelled to a larger
fortune than ever his father owned. He is
credited with being worth from IS, ,0O to
$s,0OO,COJ lie lives in luxury and splendor
at Milton.
BLAKE AND BELL.
At thu time of the great fight between the
Western Union and the Bell Telephone conf
pany. the latter was apparently getting the
best of it when the Blake transmtter made
its appearance, and fortune at once began to
dawn upon the young company. 1t is not
known definitely whether anybody was inter-
ested with Blake III this invention, but it IL
pretty certain, according to all reports that
the latter got very large sum from the Bell
company for his invention, and also securet
considerable stock as we'll as royalty on his
patent His share in the stocks and royalty
from his invention has netted him a fortune
which will approximate S4,0OOOO0 Alex
ander Graham Bsl, the originator Of the en-
terprise, was, prior to the invention OF tho
telephone, a teacher of languages in the Bos-
ton university He and his father made q
specially of teaching articulation to the
mute-.tkoso whose vocal powers lack train
ing because the power Of hearing was lack
ing During this time he was making ex-
periments, aud it is believed it was then he
conceived and consummated the idea Of
speaking by means of electric wires
pIa FIGURES.
The prospect wa, not ilattering at first but
with the assistance Of his fntharin-law, Prof.
Bell finally enlisted the interest and money OF
such men of John NJ. Forbes, William II.
Forbes, G. l.. Bradley and Others. To-day
Prof B.ll is residing in Washington, and he
also has magnificent resienc in CAM
bridge. His fortune is variousiy estimated at
from s3,OOO,oOO to $5,OU,0oO. Gardner g.
Hubbard invested something like slOO, ,OOO i'll
the company, and this money has
yielded him a return upward OF s3,OOo,-
OlO Among those who went into tho ell
torprise In its early days may TO
mentioned Alexander Cochran and G. p.
Bowdtch. Of Boston, ami Thomas Sanders,
of Haverhil Sanders is to-day wtrth about
So,5O0, ,OOp or $3uO0, 900, while Cochran and
Bowditch are worth something like 81, .OoO
apiece. o. E. Madden, who is now assistant
general manager, came to Boston from Now
York, whe: be was acting as manager Of
the Domestic Sewing Machine company. His
business it was to select the licenses for the
telephone company, and he has usei such dis
cretion in this, in all parts OF the country
that the success OF the company is largely
due to his judgment. And he has been fairly
rewarded with such opportunities that he'
POSSESSES from &S0o, 900 to sJD, 900.
FAITH, ENERGY, FORTUNE.
Theodore N. Vail is general manager Of
the company. He was at one time tec-
graph operator in the employ of the UNION
Pacific Railway company, but by persever-
erce and integrity he gradually worked his
way up to the position Of superintendent Of
the mail service, very responsible posi-
tion. From this he came to the Bell com
pany, with small fortune but large faith AMI
energy. Rumor gives him from S2,U0,O Oo0
to s4,OO0,OoO. Perhaps he is wor tn more. He
resides at the south end, aud has magniti-
cent residence, with all the modern improve
ments. He also has wellstocked farm i'll
New Hampshire, in which he takes great
deal of interest AMI prids As q business
man he has few equals.
The gentlemen connected with the Southern
Massachusetts, Telephone company have made
GOOD money fast. The most heavily inter-
ested are ex Congressman w. W. Crapo,
Charles j. Clifford and William Ivers, all Of
New Bedford. Their original investment
was something like S10,OOO or $25, 600, and
they could easily take out from $SoO,0O0 to
81, ,0OO, 900 if they wanted to sell out Other
pioneers in the telephone business were
George W. Piper AMI Albert p. Sawyer
Of Newburyport, who were connected with
Ctar.es Sanders Of Salem and A. d. Swan
and Mr. Knox in tho Essex company. All
these have now withdrawn from the conf
pany. and they have probably taken out
from slO0,0Oo to $l5O,O0 apiece There
were Charles +. Cutler and Joel G. Clark OF
South Farminston who were interested
largely in the Bay State company. from
which hey took out large sums OF money
when they withdrew. only to invest in thu
business in Pennsylvania, where . fortune
awaits them.
Then there is tho Lowell syndicate The
principals are Charles ]. Glidden, William
A. Ingham and Loren N. Downes, although
A. A. Coburn and William H. Bent have
been connected with the so-caled syndicate
for the past year or two. The street credits
Gid len and Ingham with now Icing worth
81, ,OOO, ,N>O apiece, with perhaps three quartz;
Of o million for Downes, while Bent an
Coburn are supposed to DO worth in the
vicinity Of $500, 900 apiece.
No Pay. No Sing.
[Mapleson to st. Louis Interviewer
"Ivhy will the papers print such stuff