The Portland daily press., 1888-06-15
SPECULATION RUINED THEM.
How Judge PrebIe's Widow Lost Her
Money. cess
Boston Brokers sued for Sixty Thou
sand Dollars.


sand Dollars.
In the United States circuit court for the
district of Massachusetts,, in Boston, there
will be tried, within a few weeks, case in
which Mrs William Pitt Preble charges the
firm of Bates & Valley. stock brokers, of
Boston, with having taken from the son of
Mrs. Preble divers stocks and bonds, know
ing the same to belong to her The value of
the certificates was about 100000, and that is
the amount sued for.
Esaias Preble, of Portland, was the faith
er-in-law of the lady who brings this
suit. Her husband was Hon. William Pitt
Preble. LII. D., also of Portland, who, in
1929, was appointed by the President OF the
United States minister extraordinary to the
Netherlands. He was married twice. He
died at Portland, Oct IL, 1857. leaving
widow and one son by his second marriage,
and number Of children by his first mar
rage. His second wifes maiden name was
Sarah A. Forsaith.
Mrs. Preble's story will be substantially
that the property left by Hon. William Pitt
Preble to his widow and the son by his
second marriage amounted to about $4,000.
At the time of his death, Mrs. Preble was
about AZ years of age, while the son was not
quite one year old. Mrs. Preble soon placed
the money left herself and son In good pay
ing investments, and as she did not live ex-
travagantly, her property increased. Be-
fore 20 years had elapsed she had, by capable
MANAGEMENT, more than doubled the amount
Ill ,,,,f int har dc nd tha acffn,-
ated value of her property was then nearly
100000. This was the state of affairs when,
in 1875, Mrs. Preble returned to Boston from
Europe, having takena trip abroad to COM
plete the education of her son, and took up
her residence on Beacon street.
Young Preble became one of the So
ciety men of Boston, living as most young
men of property and leisure do. He became
acquainted with |. c. Bates Valley, and
later the acquaintanceship resulted in close
intimacy. In 1877 Mrs. Preble and son went
to California and, while there, Mrs. Preble's
legal adviser and custodian of her funds.
Mr.. George G. Richardson of Cambridge,
died. Mrs. Preble was too feeble to return
to Massachusetts and SO she gave her son
full power to act for her and he returned
home. The executors of the estate handed
over about 100000, Of which 100000 be-
longed to Mrs. Preble, and $4,000 to the son
then nearly Of age. Young Preble met his
old friend, Mr.. Valley, and that gentleman
told him he had just formed a partnership
with Fl, M. Bates, and was in good posi-
tion to advise him in regard to investments
If he wished to speculate.s
Whau prah1a laff California khis rnothar
had told him that she wished that all the
property which would be turned over to him
should be deposited in a.safe in the Union
Safe Deposit Vaults. The stocks and bonds
were put into safe and carefully locked up,
but, on the advice Of the young broker Wal
ley, Preble decided to have duplicate key
to the vault made, and leave it with Valley,
giving him permission to have free :access to
the safe at any time. This was done with
out the consent or knowledge of his mother.
on his own authority, and at that time he
was not q years ef age.
Mrs. Preble and her son returned to their
Boston home in 1878, and again took up their
residence on Beacon street. Prebe and
Valley had become very intimate friends, and
the former was invited to make his head
quarters at the latter's Office. and he often
spent hours in watching the course of the
stock market. The plaintiff claims that
Preble was induced by the firm to put some
of his money into stocks. Soon Preble be-
gan to speculate. When he first went into
the market he bought stock outright paying
for and receiving certificates. It was not
long, however, before some one, the plaintiff
Is not prepared to prove who. informed him
OF the advantages OF buying and selling on
margins, and Of the amount of money that
could be made in that way Mr.. Preble
bought some Grand Prize mining stock in
that way, but it is said that it did not "pan
OUT very well, and the course of his luck be-
gan to change. In 1880 Preble had been in
duced by some one. the plaintiff is not prepar-
ed to prove who, to invest every cent of his
$4,000 in stocks, and every cent of it had
been lost. Then he began to handle the
property of his mother, the key to whose safe
he had in his possession, and in 1882 the
young man found that he had speculated
with and lost every cent of his own property
and that of his mother, in all about 800, 1000.
He. however, managed to keep from his
mothers knowledge the fact of their poverty
ing notes he had made and presented. At
that time his mother visited the vaults of the
Union Company, where her money, stocks
and bonds were kept, and all that she found
OF 100000 worth of papers were few emp
ty envelopes. Then the truth flashed upon
her. She found she had been ruined by her
son. She had arrived at the age of nearly 20
years. and now, after life of affluence and
ease, was reduced, by the perfdy of her only
child, to something little better than beg
shock SO affected her nerves that she has not
yet entirely recovered from the illness which
resulted from her discovery.
The arrest Of young Preble occurred in the
spring OF 1884. and it was made on a charge
Of embezzlement. Some one had induced
him to invest in the stock of a company
formed in New York for the purpose of re-
ducing ores. Preble was told that he would
get a remarkable bargain If he bought it at
SIS per share, and gave his note for six
months for the amount. He bought about
5000 worth on these terms, but before the
notes became due he ascertained that he had
paid about 81 per share too much for his
stock; that Is, 1t was worth ON the market 81
per share. When the notes became due, he
informed the company that he was unable to
pay them. The officers OF the concern, how
ever. sent him on new notes of their own to
take up his old ones; that is, they furnished
him with sufficient to pay the notes origi-
nally made. which had been negotiated, and
ne was to give new notes for the amount.
But Preble had been bitten enough, and he
refused to agree to this. When he had given
the notes and bought the stock, it was UNI
derstood that the notes should be used as Sc
went up, he could sell, pay the notes and
have enough left to make a tidy little sum
on the whole transaction. But the plan did
not work; the stock did not go up, and
Preble found that he had given notes for a
sum outrageously above the value of the
stock. Still, he was responsible for the
amount of the notes. even If the value of the
security given did not amount to SO much.
As he refused to pay, warrant was got out
for his arrest, and he was taken by the offic-
ers as he was leaving the Hotel Vendome one
morning.
Then his mother discovered their loss. She
|. would have paid the notes gladly IL she
could, but there was no money to do it with.
Kind friends came to her aid, and the case
| OF her son was compromised on the payment
| Of $3.50. Then nearly heartbroken, and
with no money of any large amount, she went
to live with her relatives in Portland. who
had offered to give her home. She was un-
able to bring suit for the recovery of the
money until about year ago, ON account of
| financial difficulties. At that tlme however,
she retained Mr.. Lewis c. Southland as coun-
| sci in the case, and he, in turn, retained
Gen. Benjamin +. Butler, as senior coun-
| sci.
The defence is a general denial, and the
defendants have retained Mr.. Samuel G..
| H0ar as counsel
A RICH TREAT