Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-25
A GAMBLERS CAREER.
Jim Keene on the Pacific Coast.
ChieQ00 DQiIy Neacs.

! street in this CITY, when he, Ralston,
Mackey, Flood, O'Brien, ID. o. Mills and
other big operators made things lively, and
| kept stock dabblers watching the ''ticker''
with breathless interest. But, alas those
old times when milliOnaires and paupers
changed places in a day are no more,
and stock speculation in San Francisco
is a thing Of the past. 1t is we'll that it is
so, too, for the coast is better without it.
OF all the heavy brokers and big opera
tors that made millions and spent them,
too, in this city none are left. The San
Francisco Stock Exchange building, one
of the most magnificent structures in the
city, is no longer filled with brokers' Of
fees. Attorneys have usurped the
greater portion Of the building, and the
murmur Of a subdued conversation be-
tween counsel and client is now heard
therein instead of the ribald jests and
merry shouts Of the brokers. Time
changes all things, so it is said, and l
cannot think of more remarkable exam
plifcation of the truth of the saying than
the stock business Of the Pacific coast
presents.
Only few years ago everything was
booming and all sorts Of mining stock
found a ready market at good, and in
many instances enormous prices. The
clinch game, however, was played too
often by the big dealers, and especially
by the bonanza crowd-Flood and
O'Brien. Then the bottom fell out Of the
COmstock lode, and a grand crash fol-
lowed. Innumerable small brokers and
operators were ruined, but as a general
thing the larger firms and heavy dealers
managed to pun out before the crash
came. This smash was virtually the
death-knell to stock speculation here, and
one broker after another pulled up
stakes and sought new stock markets
| to conquer at the East. A majority
headed for Wall street, and most of them
must have been Scalped there, as they
have not been heard of since. Jim Keene
was one of the last to leave the coast, and
when he did depart, about five or six years
ago, he took with him some $4,000, 900 or
$4,000,000. This sum, after he entered
Wall street, he run up to SS,0O0,000, which
is the highest notch Keene's fortune is
supposed ever to have reached. His losses
from time to time, the mOrtgaging of his
Newport property, the sale of some Of his
most valuable paintings, and the final
wreck is familiar to all newspaper read
ers, consequently l will cOnfine myself to
giving a short sketch Of the great opera
tors career on this coast.
Originally Jim keene came from Eng
land, but from what part | am unable to
say. 1t was along in the liftes that he
arrived in California, the plains over. He
took up his camp in the little town of
Shasta, finding employment as the driver
of milk cart. This occupation was i'll
suited for the future millionaire of chance.
and after few months he put on the milk
wagon brake and dropping the reins struck
out for fields and pastures new. HIS life
became that of a wanderer, and he led a
gypsy sort of existence, trampng from
camp to camp, doing just sufficient work
to enable him to get along. He ALWAYS
hailed from Shasta, and this, taken in
connection with his vagabond proclivi-
ties, earned for him the title Of 1.-The
tramp from Shasta" which has clung to
him ever since. He was a queer genius
and in the mining camps was anything
but fayOrite. The delivers after gold
disliked him and the feeling was returned
by Keene to an equal extent. No atten-
ton was paid to his movements and lust
when he quit tramping it from camp to
camp is not known.
He turned up in this city during the
early COmstOck excitement as a curbstone
brOker-that is, dealt in stocks outside
the board. This style Of business at that
time was very heavy, and hundreds of
thousands of dollars changed hands on a
mere word of themOuth. Keene appeared to
be in his element as broker, and his luck
was simply phenomenal, and in a short
time he had nice little bank account.
He was both shrewd, sharp, bold. and
fearless in his operations, and it was not
long ere he attracted the attention of such
operators as Ralston, Sharon, ana the
Bank of California crowd and
was engaged to operate for them on the
street. This ne did with great success,
and, as he always looked out for No. l, he
did not get left out in the cold himself
After some two years ON the street Keene
secured seat in the stock board and, CIV
ing up his street business, went into the
market as legitimate broker. In the
board he became leader, and carried
things with high hand. His good luck
stuck to him, and during the great bonan-
"a excitement he made $1,000,000 in a
bull movement and as much more in
riding the stocks down a short time after
ward. A quick thinker, he would act be-
fore his opponents had time to see his
move and clinch him.
On one or two occasions Keene ran
against the bonanza crOwd-FlOod.
Mackey and Fair-and, although every
body expected to see him thrown down.
he managed to come out right side up
with cOlOrs flying and considerable coin
ahead. Being WOrsted by a man single
handed, as may be imagined, was not cal
culated to inspire any friendly feelings
for the tramp by the bonanza crowd, and
they swOre to have Keene's scalp. In
this they did not succeed, however, as the
bold broker pulled out Of the market be-
fore they had an opportunity. 1t is quite
probable, though, that, had he remained
on this coast, the bonanza firm would
have had the credit Of breaking him in
stead Of the Wall street crowd.
Personally Keene is not an attractive
man. He is naughty and Overbearing; be
has few friends and hardly any taste for
social distinction. l think that by nature
he is a gambler. During his residence
here he lived quietly in an elegant house
on one of the fashionable thOrOughfares.
but he never went into society, leaving
all that to his wife. In fact, Keene was
not fitted for the social world. He had a
good stud of racing stock, and was what,
in the Darlance of sporting men, is called
a ''high rOller;" that is, in turf events he
backed his favOrites with fabulous sums,
and frequently excitement got the bet
ter of his judgment in horse mat
tiers, and he lost heavily. But what
ever he lost on the track one day he
generally made up in triple winnings in
the stock market the following day. His
house here in san Francisco was recently
sold at auction and presented many evil
dences of the milliOnaire's strange taste.
His bed-chamber, wherein he was wont
to lie in the still watches Of the night and
map out the campaign of the following
day, was built with a Yaulted ceiling
treSc0ed to represent the heavens. His
taste in pictures was for landscapes, and
his statuary was principally com posed of
nude subjects in bronze and marble. If
he had a library there were no traces of it
in the house, and the only book visible
was a well-worn prayer book.
The tramp from Shasta, however, had
his good qualities, and one of the most
conspicuous traits in his character was
gratitude. When, in 1875, the Bank of
California closed, and everything on the
coast was supposed to have gone to smash,
Keene, with others, came to the rescue
of the institution. He was involved in
the failure to the extent Of about $4,000
600 in coin, which he had on deposit.
Ralst0n had been good to Keene in his
earlier and struggling days, and putting
aside the fact that he was financially in
yolved the then millionaire broker came
to the front with a check for S250,000 TO
aid the institution in strengthening mat
ters out. Other milliOnaires, among them
d. o. Mills, William Sharon, E. j. Lucky
Baldwin, and others, also Clipped in, and
the bank was enabled to pay dollar for
dollar.
This is the one bright incident in the ca
reer of Keene on the coast that is we'll
known. AS a general thing, however, the
people out here do not like him, and his
failure has not caused much sorrow. AS
for myself, l believe that the eX-milliOn-
aire was much better man than people
L. - -, q 4