The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1894-02-17
PROFIT IN WRITING.

PROFIT IN WRITING.
There Is Much for Famous Mem
Who Care to Weld the Pen.
Leading Politicians, Fiusnclers and xit-
terateurs Who Have Bsen O3erea
and Paid Big Pricea for
Their Work.
There are q number OF men who have
no reputation as writer's who would be
able to command at almost any time
higher rates for magazine or newspa-
per articles than almost any of those
littcratcurs who have gained fame by
reason of their writings. Mr.. James
r. Keenc, who is we'll known as one Of
the most successful and picturesque of
those men who deal in Wall street in
New York city. has been many times
asked to write over his own signature
upon any topic which he chose and to
name his own price, which would
cheerfully be paid. AS Mr.. Keene
sometimes has found his fortune ap-
p,eciate as much as Sl0O, 900 in q single
day it is easy to see that if he charged
for such service in proportion to his
earning capacity he would receive an
almost fabulous sum for an. article from
1000 to 5000 words in length.
The only occasion since those early
days of his poverty, when he made his
living as q newspaper writer, that Mr..
Keene overcame his disinclination to
write was in the summer of 1877, just
after he had held at bay an army OF
Wall street spectators, having sus-
tanned the market single handed for
ON entire day, backed by gold which
his California friends sent to him, and
thereby unqucstionab1y prevented such
q panic as this country has not seen.
excepting possibly in 1857 and 1873.
The strain upon his nervous system
of thus maintaining the market against
the combined assault of frightened in
vestors and Spectators was so great
that q few days after Mr.. Keene was
stricken with an illness which threat
ened to develop into paralysis Of the
brain. He was removed to Long
Branch as soon as it was possible to
lift him from his bed, and there, after
some difficulty and through the offices
of the late Sam Ward, Mr.. Keene con-
sented to dictate an interview for pub
lication.
At that time Mr.. Ward was enter
tanning his nephew, F. Marion Craw-
ford, and had been so highly pleased
with story which Mr.. Crawford told
him of an experience in India that he
advised the young man to write it out
and that he would see that it found .
publisher, and thus it was that the
story which made Marion Crawford
famous, "Mr. Isaacs," came to be writ
ten and printed and Crawford's career
determined.
Mr.. Keene was greatly interested In
Mr.. Wards narration to him OF this
tale, which had not been printed, and
he told Mr.. Ward some of the early
California experiences of his which
seemed quite as marvellous as did the
story of Mr.. 1saacs, and it was then
that Mr.. Ward said to him: s'Mr.
Keene, if you were not great specu'
lator you might become great novel
ist"
Mr.. Keene finally received the repre-
sentative of one of the New York news
papers. He lay upon his bed, which
was in quiet room of one Of the Long
Branch hotels. The room was very
simply furnished, and it seemed impos
sible to believe that the man who lay
there content apparently with the al.
most humble surroundings of this ten
by twelve room was able, if he chose,
to buy the hotel and good deal of the
adjacent property without materially
affecting his pocketbook.
He began slowly to dictate. II
seemed as though he weighed every
word. He frequently changed a word
in order to put in its place another
which would more clearly express his
meaning. When sentence or para.
graph had been written down Mr..
Keene would ask to have it read over,
and when this was done he repeated it
several times, his patience and care be.
ing quite as great as characterized
Ruslin or Russell Lowell when they
were engaged in prose composition.
Thus for five hours this great finan-
cier lay there composing and debating
this article. The mental strain was
exhaustive both upon Mr.. Ward, who
was present, and upon the newspaper
reporter. Once during the interview
q telegram was brought to Mr.. Keene
from the hotel Office. He opened it,
read it and tossed it upon the table
with no more concern than though it
had announced most trivial matter to
him.
This article appeared the following
day in print. 1t was the sensational
of the month. It was re-
published either in whole or part in .
great number of newspapers. 1t COM
attention not only from finan-
ciers, to whom every word uttered by
Mr.. Kecne then and since upon finan-
cial matters was received with absorb
ing interest, but it also made deep
upon literary men on ac-
count of the singular purity Of its
English and the lucidity snd felicity
Of its style.
The editor of the paper in which the
article appeared would gladly have
sent Mr.. Kecnc check for 1850 for
it, but the great financfer did not and
would not write for pay. He earned =
fortune while he was debating that
article, for the telegram which he re-
,civcd announced that sudden ap-
probation that day in line Of stocks
leld by Mr. Keene was so great that il
le chose to sell his profits would be
;159, 900.
Ex-Spcalcr Reed has only recently