Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-01-23
STARTED BY A BLUM
DER.
"oAL" BRIcE's HANDSOME FOR.
TUNE.
How the Mixing OF Two kilograms by
an Operator Resulted In his OBJ
tanning $500, 900 and the Fos-
ters Four Times as Much.

tanning $500, 900 and the Fos-
ters Four Times as Much.
COLUMBUS, Jan. l3.-Since it ha
been determined that Calvin s. Brice Il
to go to the United States Senate he hal
become the most talked about man In
seven states. Countless stories are tolC
of bis boyhood, his ancestry, his wal
experience, his wealth and how he go
it, and very much, indeed of this is new
to the public, for until the campaign
of 1883 Mr.. Brice was not a national
character. His career has indeed been
meteOric. He shot into fame like q
rocket, and the strange thing is he
seems to fill the niche as II he had Occu.
pied 1t all his life. It seems like start
ing fairy story tn say that eleven OF
twelve years ago this man was poor
and obscure country lawyer, thirty
three years old, with two or three child
ren, and with his career all before him.
He had law partner named Irwin.
Brice & Irwin was the firm, and the two
used to sit in their dingy little offices in
Lima and wonder IL the world had any
thing in store for them. Brice was very
| ACSlACoo ONCh 1uu uoCu W paw bhC
floor with quick and nervous tired. He
had one warm, close friend in those
days; that was Charley Foster, ex-Con-
gresham now Ex-Governor. The Fos-
ters, father and son-the son being
Charley-owned little jerkwater rail-
road which ran from Sandusky down to
Fremont. Itoccurred to Foster that as
the little railroad had a good deal of
petty litigation in the way of "hog
cases" etc., it would be well to have a
regular attorney for the road, and
"Cap Brice was appointed at the fiat
tering compensation of ST. 900 a year.
That was Attorney Brice's introduction
to the railroad business.
eyes" said close friend of Brice to
the Herald correspondent, "that Is the
first start he ever had--the first salary
he ever earned. Now l can tell you
how he made his first big wad of mon
ey. The story is sensational romantic,
and withal there is funny tale con-
nected with it that I have never seen in
print. You mustn't give my name, for
Brice and are neighbors and l don't
want him to think Pm gossiping about
his affairs. But the story is such rip
roaring good one, and we folks from
the Miami swamp are feeling 30 good
that Brice is going to the Senate, why,
1 feel the public ought to have 1t.
IA year or so after 'CaP had been
made attorney of Fosters railroad, the
Fosters concluded that as the road
didn't pay they would extend it down
through Fostoria, their own town, to
junction with some trunk line and then
try and sell it out. They did this, but
the construction of the road nearly
swamped them. They built it with
bonds and stock secured by their indi-
vidual credit, and by the time they got
to Fostoria the Foster ship was carry
ing frightful load. Both bonds and
stock were listed on the New York
Stock Exchange, and both were nearly
worthless. The stock sold as low as 81
a share. Matters ran along a few
months, when all at once things began
to boom in northwestern Ohio. Oil
was discovered, the Hooking Valley
coal fields came into prominence, new
and great resources began to reveal
themselves, and right at the same time
railway values all over the country took
sharp rise in Wall street. The Ohio
roads were all very strong, and Fosters
deprecated securities went up with the
rest. The owners of the road made
calculation that if they could unload
their huge blocks of stock at $19 they
would get out whole. The stock had
got up from 81 to $11, and, though it
seemed like forlorn hope, they sent
Attorney Brice to New York with a
trunkful of securities and orders to
watch the market and feed it out when
ever the upset figures were reached.
"Now Attorney Brice was no fool.
He knew what it was that had sudden
ly brought western Ohio railroad stocks
into prominence. He knew it was the
coal and oil discoveries of that region,
and 50 he started in as Wall street
boomer. He could tell about the coal
and oil, and, as he made some
pretty big acquaintances in New York,
this knowledge was greatly in demand.
He not only watched the advancing
price of these stocks but he was adroit
enough to make market for big blocks
of stock when the time should come to
sell. The boom lasted over a month,
and finally the stock in the Foster road
got up to $l9 and 500, with a stiff de-
mand. Brice then telegraphed: Stock
is up to 500, but think going higher.
What shall 1 do?'
"Now here is where the fun comes
in," continued the friend of Mr.. Brice.
"Just about this time Charley Foster
was setting up deal In Stark county
to knock out the Democrats in this dis
trict. The only way it could be done
was to fix up q compact between the
prohibitionists and the Republicans,
and Foster had sent General Gibson up
to Canton to arrange the details. On
the very day that Foster got Brice's
telegram from New York about the
stock he also got one from Gibson,
which read: Can do nothing without
you. Better come up day. Foster,
who was then in Columbus, went into
the Neil House to reply to the dis.
patches. To Brice he wrote: "Sell 'em
all out, quick as you can.' To Gibson
he wrote: DO nothing more till ]
Gomez Now, the amiable lady opera
tor at the Neil House-she is not here
now, for she afterward got $4,000 for
her blunder-got those messages mixed.
General Gibson, who claims to be the
very soul of homer in politics, was fab
bergasted to get message instructing
him to sell out anybody or anything
| TY fook ho x.yoo iuoonoaI thok H.