Omaha daily bee., 1885-02-04
WALL STREET GHOSTS.
Jim Keene Drops Out of Sight-How
Spectators Retrieve Their For
tunes-A Wiser Plan,

New York, January 31.-The enforc'
ed sale of James r. Keene's last horse,
and bis disposal of his final remaining
share In a large apartment house, mark
the failure of his latest attempt to recoup.
This has reminded busy Wall street that
Keene still existed, but needed some.
thing of the sort to recall him to memory,
for he has dropped entirely out of the
financial world, and is no more a factor
In the making of prices than is any bro
ker's Office boy. Yet Keene had a bril-.
liant career while it lasted. He came on
here with S 1000, GOO or thereabouts
in his pockets and struct the boom
of 1879 so, and at n time was
worth not far from S15, 600, 600, The
riff raft and the hangers-on and the ad-
venturers of thestreet fastened on to him,
flattered him, told him of his mission In
life and his duty toward mankind was to
break Jay Gould, and offered theiradvlce
and influence. Keene made money fast
as long rs prices advanced. He bought
with great freedom and courage, and his
name was in every ones mouth. But
when the tide turned Keene was loaded.
He did not have the sagacity and celebrity
of Gould, who has a knack of turning
even misfortunes to good account, but
kept on getting in deeper until the in
evitable raped at his door, and he found
he had lost all. Keene's error seems TO
have been the error common to beginners
in Wall street. He wanted TO trade all
the time. The cool.headed operator
waits until the market suits him. Three
or four times a year all hands in the
street agree that stocks are very low.
There has been a furry, and prices have
gone down 10 or 20 per cent. they ara
sure to react within a comparative short
time. Then tits that theprudentmaucomes
to the front with his cash. But the man
who goes down into the street every day
and buys or sells for a short turn feels as
though he must do something every day
and that kind of trading never fails to
wreck the longest purse. Keene was
always In the market, and he was always
buying. The sharp set of fellows who
manipulated Denver and Rio Grande up
to ITO or thereabouts and sold q great lot
of stock to Keene, and he was compelled
to take more to hold the price against
their raids when they had sold 1t short.
I16 llofcE WOE CuhnihS OhOuRu W COuCtdl
his operations, and the sharks of the
street marked him from the first. He
was lndiscreet enough to quarrel with
Jay Goull and to threaten him, and
Gould the reafter did not count him as q
friend. 1t is very much better for a
young Wall street man to have Gould's
friendship than his enmity. And 80
Keene foundered until his money was
gone. He bids fair to become what the
boys call a ghost of Wall street.
WALL STREET GHOSTS.
Thai thoroughfare is full of ghosts-of
men who have been rich and who now are
penniless. They march down to the
street every morning regularly as do the
~millionaires and wander from one brokers'
office to mother, bending over the tape
and talking all day long about the market
and predicting its course. Once in a
while they up a So ill in a bucket. shop
and strut around like fighting cocks if
they increase it to $40; put that Is the
end, for they immediately stake the $40
and lose 1t. There are ex-railroad presi.
dents, ex.bsnk presidents and ex-svery.
bodys. 1t Is sad TO see them and sadder
to hear them talk; but it is the old story
of fortunes thrown away in gambling
for Wall street operating a usually con
Quoted onimargin is gambling simon pure