The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-06-24
J.R. KEENE'S MILLIONS
WON, LOST AND WON AGAIN A FOR
TUNE IN WALL STREET.
Pyrotecnnic Career of One Of the
Most Successful Stock Opera
tors of Modern Times.
New York Recorder.

There is probably no distinguished finan-
cier and operator in stocks in this country
about whom more has been written and
less said than Mr.. James r. Keene. He
has never in any way courted publicity.
and while some of his splendid coups in the
stock market have naturally made him a
marked man. the public at large know less
of his history and his individuality than
those of any other man so widely discussed
and whose motions are so closely and anx-
iously watched.
Even Mr.. Henry Clews's Twenty eight
Years in Wall Street" which was published
few years ago, and contained sketches of
most of the massnates of the street" past
and present, made only casual mention of
Mr.. Keene, yet at or about the time that
book was in process Of preparation Mr..
Keene was power in the speculative world
and had made his shrewdness and ability
felt by the greatest Of the operators. Why
Mr.. Keene was thus ignored no one seems
to know, but the probability is that Mr..
Clews had no authentic informations con-
corning his career Io
Some old-timers feel inclined to believe
that the relations between the banker-au-
thor and the great operator were some
what strained when the latter first made
his appearance in the maelstrom of 4specu-
lation but this is not borne out by the
three or four mentions OF Mr.. Keene in the
book. All of these concede the shreWdness
and ability of Mr.. Keene and are coached
in language that is highly complimentary
to that gentleman. The fact seems to be
that Mr.. Keene is something of a mystery
except to his few intimates From one of
them L have been enabled to procure a
few points, if the reader will excuse the
use of Wall-street slang, which are given
here for what they worth. T
In appearance, Mr.. Keene is one Of the
plainest and most unassuming of the mag
mates of speculation. OF about the average
stature, but with a well-proportioned figure
which must have been gifted with consid-
cradle strength and agility in the heyday
of youth, the noted manipulation OF. stock
deals" strikes the beholder as eminently
a man of wonderful decision of character
and of prompt action in cases OF enaer-
gency His features are regular and clear
cut, and his dress, while OF the best ma
terials, has nothing remarkable about IT..
KEENE WAS AN EDITOR rsvs5
According to my informant, Mr.. Keene
comes Of a good English family and is
Briton by birth. He came to this country
when quite young and for many years
made his home in California. There he did
clerical work and edited newspapers for
awhile and afterward studied law al
though it is believed that he never en-
gagged in the practice of that profession.
Some time early in the seventies, at lit
tie before the time of what is known as
the Big Bonanza" in mining stocks, when
so many millionaires and paupers We're
simultaneously made in the Golden State,
he bought lot of mining stocks for few
cents on the dollar in the hope of making
a stake" wherewith to come to New
York, which he longed to visit
When the boom came his stocks went up
like skyrockets, but, unlike many others
he was shrewd enough to know when he
was well off, and sold them when they had
reached about what he considered the top
prices. On this deal he is said to have
cleared in the neighborhood of ST. 900 or
$S,00o,0O0, with which he came to New York,
in which city he saw a greater field for his
operations. This was somewhere about 1873
arrived. that the California millionaire had
come here to share the fast accommodating
profits of the late Jay Gould, and TO rival
the manipulate atoms of that wizard of finance
but this was mainly conjecture.
old .stagers say, however. that Mr.
Keene's first big venture was in Western
Union, stock which Mr.. Gould was then
manipulating for all IL was worth, and that
he suffered considerable loss During the
next year, which witnessed the resumption
or specie payments and an unprecedented
boom in business, the new arrival cleverly
recouped himself, his first deal being in
Delaware, I.ackawanna q Western stock,
and netting him a cool million of dollars.
Had he kept his stock a day or two longer
IT,,
his winnings, so veterans say.
AS it was he was satisfied, and well-in-
formed brokers asserted that he had by
this time more than doubled the capital
he brought with him from California. But
his luck changed. About this time the late
Rufus Hatch induced Mr.. Keene TO go into
"A big pool in wheat. Everything went well
with the proposed corner for a time, and
it might have been successful but for a
clever trick on the part OF some of5the
operators on the other side. Who they were
has never been discovered, but rumor has
it that a distinguished operator on Ex-
change Place, since gone to the great ma
jority,' had a hand in the scheme Becthis
as 1t may, the pool was broken, and an this
way: AioF
BROKE HIS WHEAT POOL. 81
One day a telegram purporting to-, Bear
Mr.. Keene's signature was sent TO that
gentleman's brokers in Chicago. To avoid
possible exposure it was sent from an of
flee in a ferry building. This missiye or
dered the brokers to sell two million bush
els of wheat. Suspecting nothing. they
made the sale, and prices went down with
rush, and with them went the pool. How
much MIR. Keene lost in this transaction
nobody but himself knows. rto
Undiscouraged by this great loss, which
is said to have impaired his capital con-
siderably, Mr. Keene lost none of, his cool
ness and self-possession, but kept right ON
with his operations. But the strain was
too great for him, and in 1881, late in the
time he was large dealer in privileges,
and, the market going suddenly against
him, he was forced to suspend payment
for a time. 1t was said tf his put ana
CALI shortage amounted to about S1,500Oe0
but this is probably mere conjecture. 1t is
to Mr.. Keenes credit to record in this con-
nection that the debts contracted on This
occasion have since been paid
1t said after this event that Mr.
Keene had sold all the property he owned
including a splendid cottage in Newport
r. l., for the benefit of his creditors ali
that remained being a fiat house in this
city, which was in his wifes name. 1t
is seldom that a Wall-street failure is thus
promptly and satisfactorily settled up, the
majority of the spectators who have come
TO grief having left their creditors In the
lurch. Notable exceptions to this rule how
ever. are Jay Cooke, Henry Clews and
Deacon" s. V. White, the latter of whom
to whom he was Indebted when he sus-
pended, year or so ago.
When the big boom in industrials began,
some five six years ago, Mr.. Keene came
TO the front again prominently, and began
fairly TO coin. money. The first deal" he
undertook a boom in Sugar Trust GER
tificates, which he engineered so success
fully that he pushed the price up to l26
In this transaction he is reported TO have
made fabulous sum- He was later en-
gagged in manipulating Cordage and Whis-
ky Trust certificates, but in these securi-
ties his success was not SO marked.
COMING MONEY OUT OF SUGAR.
At the present writing Mr.. Keene is still
largely interested in Sugar. and the recent