River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-04-16
JIM KEENE.
rhe Ups al d Downs of the Noted Spectator.


The Ups AID Downs of the Noted Spectator.
One of the most recent as we'll as
most impressive wrecks of speculation,
writes a New York correspondent to
The Troy Times, is found in Jim
Keene, who is now one of the poor
devils of Wall street. A few years ago
his name was Photographed among the
most successful of modern money
kings, but to-day if his debts were
paid he has hardly enough left to buy
him dinner. His career has been one
OF sudden and surprising change, and
is peculiarly illustrative of what is
commonly called good luck and bad
luck. His early success turned his
head and he thought he could not
make mistake, but he learned at last
that it was just as easy to lose money
as to make it, and in fact little
easier.
Keene began in California as
school teacher, but soon turned speeu-
lator and made an immense fortune.
Then he came to this city and created
sensation by his bold movements.
He has operated in opium, pork, gas,
seemed ready to take in whatever
might be offered. He was the brains
Of the famous corner in wheat in 1879,
and, indeed, that was lucky year for
him in more than one operation. Some
of our readers may remember the ire
mendous bull movement in Lake Shore
which marked the time referred to,
and thus brought out the exclamation
of Uncle Rufus Hatch: 81 did intend
to go into Lake Shore along with Jim
Keene." Uucle Rufus, however, got
left, while Jim piled up his profits to a
degree that made Wall street stare.
That year was his palmy time. He
then had q villa at Newport worth
5000, 900, and also fine house in town,
and he kept a racing stable in Eng
horses at home. "FoxhalP' and
''Spendthrift' gave him prominence
in British sporting circles and bore oft
some of the best prizes, though at a
heavy expense. His luck seemed to
extend as far as he reached. This led
him to still greater ventures. He
thought he could crush Jay Gould and
become sole king of Wall street. He
extended his operations and went into
fancy stocks with an eagerness which
surprised all his associates. The con-
sequence was that he was loaded in
every direction when the shrinkage
came, and his wealth disappeared
with a rapidity that has rarely been
equaled. When, however, a man
is loaded with Denver and Rio Grande
at par, and unloads at s, it does not
take long to clean him out. How
strange it now seems that this worth
less bubble was one of his heaviest
deals, and that he stuck to it with
reckless determination. Last June be
failed, and since then he has been
struggling to keep merely home, but
his share in an apartment house has
Just been sold and the man who so
recently was reckoned at $10,000,000
is now almost an object of charity.
Such is life in Wall street.
There was time when he was
pointed out in Wall street with the
exclamation: There goes Jim Keene
with SI,000,000 in each pocket. NOW,
however. the word is: ''There goes
Jim Keene--all blown in" He has
tried to keep up nerve under this col
lapse, but his face bears the mark of
disappointment. He was thin before
his troubles began, and this makes his
tve-feet-nine-inch frame look still
taller. His mustache and stubby
beard have lost that expression of
power that they once seemed to have,
and his fiery temperament is abated.
There was time when he was ready
for quarrel at moments notice,
and when he damned the market or
the brokers in the liveliest manner;
but when mans pockets are empty
be is generally less boisterous. His
day is now over, and he may take his
place among the hungry crowd of
curbstone brokers and guttersnipes.
But yesterday the name of Caesar might
Have stood against the world:
Now lies he there and none so poor
To n n him