The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-05-22
WALL-STREET MAGNATES
SOME BIG LEADERS IN THAT
MAELSTRoM.
Opera Bouffe Career Of Jim Fisk Hank
Smith and His Final
Failure.

Charles J. Osborne, commonly called
Charley Osborne, who died seven years
ago, was representative stockbroker
and for a good while one of the leaders
of the street. He, like most mem
bers of the board, bought and sold
for others on commission, but, like
them, he operated on his own account.
Speculation is almost inseparabIe from
brokerage. How can a man help
doing finally what he sees done all
around him? 1t is as difficult to re.
frain as it is for a barkeeper to be
abstemous. have heard that there
are non.speculating brokers and strictly
temperate barkeepers, but have never
seen them.
Osborne was a shrewd, enterprising,
energetic fellow and served his Gus
toners faithfully. He gained wide
reputation, and William H. Vanderbilt,
lay Gould, ID. O. Mills and other big
men intrusted him with large orders,
knowing his capacity and discretion
He made much money out of them,
and their patronage largely increased
his business. His own ventures proved
profitable, and he soon got the reputa
ton of being enc If the keenest and
far-sighted men in the street. Conse.
quently great many small spectators
were always anxious to know what
Osborne was buying or selling, SO that
they could buy or sell the same secur-
tiles.
This is what it is to be a leader, and
naturally there must be a number Of
leaders, differing in wealth, boldness
and influence. Dozens of operators
have at the same time such a prestige
that ordinary purchasers on margins
will follow their example blindly, if
they can divine what the example is
Osborne was cited for years as the
bellwether that the common flock went
after pell nell. He was sociable; he
enjoyed the good things of the world,
and at 4o-a man in Wall street at 40
has generally lived 100 years-his
health began to fail He was less active
in business; he travelled; he tried vari
Gus methods to reCuperate, but they
were of little avail. He did not seem
seriously out of order, though he had
plainly undergone change. He knew
the end was coming and he bore the
knowledge stotically He was confined
probably to his house for few weeks;
he had been reading newspaper after
breakfast; he rose to cross the room;
he fell; he was lifted up unconscious,
and in an hour breathed his last That
is the way financial operators die.
They perish of exhaustion in middle
age. Osborne was 48 and worth ST.,
900, 900 to $1,000, 900.
Addison Cammack has always been
a bear, and though he has lost heavily
at times, he has generally come out at
the end of the year much better off
than he was at the beginning. A bear
in temperament, he is ever predicting
disaster of one kind or another. He
is reticent, gloomy, morose, and is not
liked by the members of the board or
his acquaintance generally. He is
credited with saying that friends can
always be bought, and that the men
most apt to have them are those who
can do without them. Cynical speeches
of this sort are often on his lips, but he
is not too cynical to understand his own
interest. Past sixty now, he has been
leader for twenty odd years, and is
supposed to be possessed of $1,000
900 or $1,000, 900. He so keeps his
own counsel that nobody can tell what
he is doing or intends to do. I'm
questionably he is an able financier and
an accurate student of the commercial
condition Ct the country at all times.
He has been called lucky; but luck has
little to do with the success of a man
like Cammack He gets at the facts,
and from these he derives the know
ledge on which he operates. Luck
may serve a man occasionally, but it
never stands by him. That which
stands by him deserves another and a
better name. Some years ago he mar
ried, to the surprise of everybody, and,
naturally, woman much younger than
himself. He was believed to be an
uncompromising bachelor. 1t is said
that the change has done him good;
that he is more genial and sympathetic.
He now has two fine boys, of whom
he is very proud. His wife is reputed
to have tact and to know how to man
age him.
Every man is managed by some wo-
man or other. The majority of US are
aware of such a petticoat management
those not aware of it are managed most
of all. They are SO accustomed to il
that they cannot see it,
Cammack can manipulate the board
he can frequently put up prices or put
them down. But now he is, in meas
uge, subject to the will, artfully con
Cealed, of woman. He cannot beal
the furbelow market.
Henry NJ. Smith was for years a
power in stock circles that could moi
safely be omitted in any calculation O
values He was wholly and exclusively
monetary, and hardly known outside Of