The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-02

From Il Newspaper Reporter to One of the
Financial Monarchs of the Country.

| out of the Northern Pacific announced on Friday
/ that he was home in the hands of his physician
| the street smiled derisvely and said that his i'll
ness only pretext for an enforced resigna-
| ton, and that the directors who are anxious to
| get rid Of him willing to let him down easy
and to have it publicly announced that ill-heath,
| and not a revolt of his former friends driv-
ing him from office.
1t seemed to be accepted yesterday that he is
really sick. 1t is persistently stated so at the
Northern Pacific Offices, and even those who are
| accustomed to put the worst construction on
everything that Mr.. Willard does were willing to
admit that he is sick. NERVOUS prostration' is
said to be the malady which detainS him within
the walls of his palace
| Meeting a well-kuown operator, who is chiefly
| prominent for the part he takes in the elevated
railroad litigation the reporter asked him ii he
| knew Mr.. Willard.
talk about his illness is founded on fact He is
| sick, and it is no wonder that he is Why, Vii
! lards career during the past five years. marvel
Gus it is, is enough to have shattered the
! nerves of the strongest man that ever lived And
! Mr.. Willard is not a strong man. He Is robust
| appearing it is true, but he is of very nervous
temperament. His wonderful successes fairly
| carried the man off his feet and into the clouds
Willard is not the man he once was. i nc
| tSct that Ae was the first and only man who
| ever had $12 000, 0paced in his hands by prom
| inent capitalists to use as he deemed best
| seemed to have almost turned his head. Then
for a time everything he touched seemed to
bnrNe, anu all his projects ONeluONtl WIFI sue
cess. Now that reverses have come, and his
| big enterprises have collapsed, and those who
formerly believed in him turning against
him, it is wonder that he is worried, nervous
and sick
That Mr. Wizards resignation is only ques-
| ton Of a very short time. is the general belief
on the street. but the prominent operators do
not care to speak publicly in regard TO the
matter until the resignation is formally an
| nounCed.
1t was indeed stated yesterday on the street
that the resignation was already in the hands of
the directors, but was being withheld from the
public for private reasons. At the Offices OF the
| company it was simply said, Mr.. Willard has not
resigned"
Further than that no information could be oh
tanned 1t is said that when he resigns he will
take flying trip to Europe for the benefit Of his
health.
The effect of Mr. Wizards resignation has al
ready been discounted" said prominent mem
Der Of the Exchange yesterday. ''As far as act
ual power is concerned Mr.. Willard some time
since ceased to be president The directors have
already stripped him of his power. The abso
| lutte power that he once welded has been cut
| down to the size of a constitutional monarchy in
! which the prime minister is the power behind
| the throne. Frederick Billings is the prime min
! lister. The directors have thrown restrictions
and limitations around Mr. Willard so that he
must find his position very unpleasant so much
so that this alone will probably force him too re
/ sign, though his term Of office (andhe was elected
| for Il double term) will not expire for many
months His holding of the stock is very small
and he has not the outside backing to keep him
| in office "45.
Mr. Billings. on the other hand has held on
to his stock through the period OF depression.
He has seen the stock decline and his losses roll
up, but he has held on so that now he is the
| largest individual stakeholder and has been
made a sort of managing director. 1t is probable
that he will be Mr.. Wizards successor, as he was
his predecessor Fir. Billings was president up
| to 1882 when he gave place to Mr.. Willard.
His election would tend to restore confidence
in the company were it not that it is the general
| belief that the bottom has not yet been reached,
| and that some ugly developments in regard to all
the Willard and eX-Villard companies are sure
to come sooner or later The public has appar
entity lost all confidence in them. To-day though
| the general market opened firm, the Willard
stocks were very weak, and Oregon & Transconti-
mental declined to 30, the lowest price it ever
/ touched
HIS FIRST SUCCESS.
With the exception of Jay Gould. no man in
this country has had more wonderful personal
history than Henry Willard Not many years
ago he was reporter on the Tribune, and
achieved considerable success in the profession.
His first railroad operation was in connection
with the Kansas & Pacific, and in that he laid
the foundation of his fortune He was the repre-
sentative of the foreign bondholders of that then
bankrupt road and he succeeded in SO disposing
of the property to jay Gould as not only to sat
| isfy the bondholders, but also to clear modest
little fortune Of q few hundred thousand dollars
! for himself. The money thus acquired he put
into the Oregon Navigation Company. He was
| very successful in that project He bought up
the stock at low figure and succeeded in placing
! the enterprise on q sound financial basis, and
though he watercd the stock up to $4,000 900
| he made it pay good dividend
His success was so dazzling that it blinded his
friends and supporters, hence the blind pool.
| Mr. Willard was believed to be u financial genius.
/ Men of great wealth were so impressed with his
/ shrewdnesS and honesty that they placed I'M
bounded confidence in him The blind pool of
$l2 900, 900, which was placed in his hands to do
! with as he deemed most wise, the largest
! amount ever thus intlusted to one man. All
that any contributor to the fund received from
I Mr. Willard in payment of the money was SIM
pie acknowledgment that he had received so
much money from such and such and such an
| individual 1t was not a note, and did not make
him liable in the slightest degree
EARLY in 1888 Mr. Willard was elected to sue
! ceed Mr. Billings as president of the Northern
Pacific and under his management the loan Of
| $40, 100000 was all placed and all the securities
| were advanced to high figures in the Exchange
| Mr. Willard was then at the very summit of his
power He was president of the Northern Pa
| cifc, the Oregon Navigation, the Oregon Inn
provement and the Oregon u Transeontinental,
the latter a company organized to own and con
troll the stocks of the others.
Mr.. Wizards decline has been as sudden as his
rise. and those who have been strongest in his
ad v0cacy have now lost all confidence in him. 1t
is charged that his management of the compa-
MES has been that of Il railroad wrecker; that he
made everything subseryient to his own ag
grandizement; that he has made no account of
the blind pool operations; that he has specialized
largely on his own account, and when successful
has pocketed the profits, and when unsuccessful
has charged up the stock to the account of the
| 20. T.: that he has mloaded ora his friends his
immense holdings of Oregon Navigation at 80.
and then let the price decline to below par. that
while those who trusted him most have been inn
mense losers, he himself has rolled up an i'm
mense fortune estimated at from $1,000 600 to
| $4,000 900 so that at the very time the secur
ties of his several companies have deprecated in
value SO 600 600. he himself has been enabled to