Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-08-19

l AklNbs
With the influx OF so many people
there came the inevitable real estate
/ boom. Fort Payne real estate drew In
| many Maine investors who had not put
/ anything into the Coal and Iron Com
pany's stock. Some good judges who
/ are in positions TO know, believe that
I fully IS much Maine money has been
/ lost In Fort Payne real as Is lost through
the stock Of the company. Lots rose
/ I'm value from SIS to $500 front foot on
| Gault Avenue, the principal street of
/ the city. Many houses were erected
/ for Northern men with the purpose OF
l renting them to inhabitants Of the city
that was TO be. Men were very busy
/ buying land to-day 10 sch 1t al an ad-
/ vance tomorrow.
at all seems very ridiculous TO you
now" said a gentleman who was
through it to the Press, but the situa-
ton was such as 10 carry away the cool
est New Highlander. We went down
/ from q land OF snow and ice TO Verita-
/ BILE Garden Of Eden. We saw great
mills going up, railroads building, mines
/ being dug; people were focking in,
work was plenty and consequently
money; everybody was talking OF the
present and future prosperity Of Fort
/ Payne, hope was In the heart and conf
deuce on the lips Of every man. We
had no doubt there was the place to be-
come wealthy and happy, aud We put
. our money in
Moreover, the Fort Payne Coal and
/ Iron Company was the prolific mother
I of other companies, which raised money
on their own account 70 put into Fort
. Payne industries. W. P. Rice, who was
Vice President Of the Coal and Iron
Company, was also active III these COM
Danles, through whose agencies two
blast furnaces were erected at cost Of
SIPS, 600 each, and a magnificent steel
. plant at cost of over 5000, 900. All this
. money came from New England, and
much OF it from Maine. These works
are not involved with the Coal and Iron
Company. and as they are fine plants, it
is thought they may yet be worked 20
. the profit OF their owners. The steel
plant is said TO be one OF the finest OF
the kind south Of PlttSburg.
When the Fort Payne boom was at Its
height, Rice and Ford sailed for Eu-
rope. They went oStensibly In the in
terest OF Fort Payne, but when they re-
turned they launched that remarkable
and now ridiculous financial bubble, the
. Cardiff (Tenu.) scheme Many Maine
man rememb erS, with aching heart, the
gorgeous trains OF palace cars in which
Rice hauled New England capitalists
down 10 view that FL Dorado In the
mountains of Tennessee. Many thou
q q IS
90 Cardiff, and while people were
watching that dazzling enter
prise" the more solid establish
mcnt Of Fort Payne, with the 1000, 600
or more New England dollars invested
fra It's stock and improvements, began TO
wane The men who were specializing
In real estate began in the year 1890 10
tiud their holdings drag on the market
The mills and furnaces did not get 10
running aS was expected. Some say
that the coal was found 10 contain too
much sulphur for the production OF
coke, and that the iron mines were not
of such kind as TO be worked al profit.
But this is probably o disputed point.
Wendell p. Rice mas been quite as &C
tive in the failing days OF Fort Payne as
he was in the boom days. IL was decided
when the Coal and Iron Company began
10 find itself in Strengthened circumstan-
ces that the TO- 600 shares Of treasury
stock should be sold Rice had started in
Boston the big banking house of w. p.
Rice & Co., and il was decided that he
should be the selling agent, al a COM
mission, said 20 be fixed at s. share.
. At this time the Fort Payne stock in the
Boston market was at about 81, it hay-
/ Ing sagged back from the 80 which 1t
reached In boom times. Yet it was
considerably above the % at which it
had been bought originally by the
+ stockholders. The figure at which this
treasury stock was to be 81, and the
problem before W. 2. Rice Il Co. was TO
/ put 10000 shares amounting at 81 to
/ $40, OOOl upon the New England mar
I ket without knocking the stock down
disaStrOuSly. Rice was i'm the full tide
/ of prosperity, reputed TO be exceedingly
/ wealthy, aud full OF confidence IN his
| own ability 70 do anything financially.
/ w. r. Rice Il Co. decided TO bolster up
/ the market while they were selling the
I 10000 shares for the company by taking
/ themselves all Fort Payne stock
offered at 81 This was expected
+ % show their confidence in the stock
/ aud keep 10 up. IL is said that Rice put
/ out $3.50. 600 in this effort TO keepup the
stock. He sold the treasury stock, but
practically no bought II himself and
lch more with it. And as soon as he
ceased supporting it the stock began to
. fan, and was down to 10 OF the annual
meeting In February, 1891.
+ In the early part OF lse1 the stock
/ holders began 10 be uneasy Rice had
4 teen Vice President and manager OF the
company. In the February meeting,
/ 1891, he was tipped out, and Gov. Good
T ell, of New Hampshire, was put in his
/ place This movement against Rice
was participated in by the Maine inter
/ ests cutie generally, the Portland inter
est being quite influential in that direC-
ton. Gov. GOodel was a man OF repu-
-ltjon for conservatism, and much was
expected Of him.
At this meet ug, also, the company
/ decided 10 raise money 20 carry on the
enterprise by issuing $1,000 OF bonds
. no $ per cent. In all about $500 600 Of
these bonds were sold, a considerable
sum having been placed in Portland.
With this money and Governor God
. deI's administration considerable was
expected by the stockholders. But they
were disappointed. Fort Payne declined
. Go advance. 1t even went the other
way, aud when the annual meeting of
February, 1892, came round, there was
+ 81 large BODY Of dissatisfied stockholders