The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-11-26
HE RIVALS GOULD
WIcHITAHAS A C0LORED Fan WHO
WATCHES THE STOCKS.

He Clues His Eyes to the Market Quota
lions and STAYS with it Till Midnight
He has a Strange Literary Taste aud
Bothers with no Common Subtle Is
said to be an Expert on the Operations
of Railroads.&c. Acquired the Taste for
Railroad Literature Black Friday
and has Kept 1t Up Since.
Wichita, has a great many characters;
people who seem mysterious. For nVe
years a colored man is found in the
back part of the Kansas news stand
every night and he stays there until
midnight. He never misses night. hot
Or cold. dark or light, dry or wet.
This mysterious Individual is Tony
Mott who lives on Water street and is
as ne himself says. a common laborinS
man
Tony has his eyes always glued on
the columns of a newspaper. He does
not look to the right nor 10 the left until
he seems TO have a whole page or the
paper devoured. A dynamite cartridge
could explode within two feet Of him
on what he is reading. If man rush
cd in with the exclamation that the
city building had fallen Tony would not
hear him and if he did he would not turn
his eyes.
A great deal of curiosity had been
aroused and one night he became COM
munfcaffve with John Swain who learn
ed that Tony reads railroad news. He
sin1rylv devOurs it and has been doing
IT for years.
A reporter for the Eagle laid for Tony
last night until he got through read
ing and caught him for an interview
''Tony. why do you read railroad
news?"
simply because I want to keep track
of the movement Of stocks
'Do you dabble in stocks?"
NO sir. do not. / read about the
railroads because it is now the biggest
business institution in the country.
Not only that but the men who dabble
in railroad stocks are the greatest finan-
ciers in the world. If you want TO keep
track Of the business conditions OF the
country you must keep track of the rail
roads / may go into some little bust
ness some day and / want to be posted.
7 get a great many valuable pointers
from reading railroad news and about
the fluctuations of railroad stocks
Isn't it pretty dry reading?"
mo, not to me. IT has a fascination
for me that I can hardly describe to
you. Railroad news interests me more
than any novel in this house would. If
you make practice Of reading the rail
road stock markets you win find it ex-
citing, particularly when the market is
active"
when did you first take fancy TO
ft?"
THE first time ] took fancy to read
ing railroad news was on Black Friday.
] tell you railroad news was then excit-
Ing That is about the time Gould and
Ftske came into national prominence.
! saw then that railroad operations
would become the great business OF the
country and I kept track of il ever
since No other business has increased
like it. 1t has made millionaires Of poor
men and poor men of millioaires. 1t
not only is the greatest business of the
country but it employs the greatest tai
ent of the countrq. You take, for in
stance, its law department and you will
find uniformly greater talent in it than
you viii find in the government ser
vice. You can also take the business
department Of railroad and you will
find 1t better managed than the govern
ment service
Tony can tell the earnings Of every
individual road in the country for last
month, the aggregate earnings and the
individual and aggregate profits. He
can tell you the mileage of every road,
the branches that make up the system,
ITS navigation connections, its president,
general manager, and where its head
quarters is located. He can tell you the
exact distance between Chicago and
San Francisco. the time of departure
and arrival and the quickest time made.
at is so many miles" he would say,
from Omaha to Ogden and they make
II in so many hours. And from Ogden
fast flyer makes it in so many hours
and minutes. He can tell you what
Santa Fe stock was worth in New York
yesterday and what it was the CORES
bonding day last year. His railroad
knowledge is so extensive that those
who know his hobby call him Jay Gould.
Tony also reads about politics, but not
local politics. He reads what governors
congressman. senators and cabinet min
listers say, but ne does notbother his
head about the opinions of the COM
mon trash, such as state and county
politicians. He also reads way up
sporting news. His literary taste Is
confined to business. politics and sport,
but II must be of the very highest or
der and from the best authority
HE TURNS THEM OVER.