The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-31
The Man in Town
Who Cornered Wheat
AUTO TEST.
Work to Be Pushed at the
Wheelock Works.

! Joe" Letter is in town, the irrepres-
sible and only Joe" the only man in
America, probably, who ever saw his
bank account make a lightning change
of S20,O0O,000 in one day.
He came into town early last evening
with Joseph H. Hoadley, president of
the International Power company; Wal
ter H. Knight its chief engineer, and
Henry w. King, Esq, one of the legal
advisers of the company.
After visiting the plant of the Ameri-
! can Wheelock Engine company and
\ witnessing highly satisfactory test
or one of the company's tractors, the
party went to the Worcester Club for
the night.
Joe" Letter, for he is known as
Joe" to all the world, hasn't turned
a single hair, nor lost a single pound
of flesh from the hour that he entered
the pit, in the big wheat deal of 1897
To look at him it would be hard to be-
| lleVe that he had done such fierce bat
Tie as to make the great wheat oper-
ators Of the country run to cover, and
cause men like Phil Armour to fear
that they might see the finish of the
great fortunes they had been accumu-
lating for so many years.
Letter is young man still and in
point of physical build most remarka-
BILE one. He would be sure to attract
| more than ordinary attention upon the
street. He has a massive and finely
Formed head, with the neck and mus
cles OF a gladiator; shoulders as sturdy
as sullivan ever boosted In his sunni
est days and a form to correspond. 1t
is not TO be wondered at that he has
| stood the strain Of the past two years
so successfully. 1t seemed the most ma
tural thing in the world that 1t should
be SO when he told the Spy man after
midnight, in the Worcester Club, that
ms business affairs had kept him up all
through the previous night and per-
mitted him to indulge in only an hours
sleep in the early morning
lie is one of the very few figures in
the financial world able to keep it up
and live. He was as bright and CHEEKY
IN conversation as though he had just
awakened from long and refreshing
steep, ana all his conversation relative
10 business affairs was most charming
iy enliyened by the bits of humor cha
racteristic Of him, and he seemed in
oeed TO appreciate them as much as
his listeners themselves, though the
joke turned on himself at times.
1t was Intensely humorous in his re-
ference to the big wheat deal, when ne
| CllDDln0S JDd1
ne had carefully preserved relative to
the cracks perpetrated upon him at a
minstrel performance One told of a
dream in which the joker saw Phil Ar
mour trying to pass st. Peter at the
gates of heaven Armour was told he
couldn't enter because he was a specu-
lator.
But see Letter in there" said Ar
mour. That's all right" said st.
Peter. He's no Spectator. He SIM
ply thinks he is
And then he called attention to the
story that he loves to tell the best. 1t
was parody in poesy, at the time that
MS wheat deal had become a losing
game. His father was represented az
coming on the scene and advising Joe to
close his trades, and the last line of ev-
cry verse of the old gentleman's advice
carried the caution: You're up against
the real thing now"
Mr. Letter carried this about In his
pocketbook, and prizes it more highly
than any literature bearing upon that
particular period of his life.
Mr.. Letter and his party came to
worcester from Providence, where Mr..
HoadIey appeared yesterday as a de-
PENDANT in equity proceedings insti-
tuted by Col Thompson of the Corliss
engine works, who is trying to stop the
deal by which the plant will pass into
ny and restrain its officials from fore
closing mortgages against the Corliss
| company.
Mr.. Letter declares it to be one of the
| most extraordinary and unprecedented
proceedings that he has ever known, as
| he does not understand that the mort
| cages could be foreclosed now even if
they desired to foreclose them, which
they do not, he says. Mr.. Hoadley said
I to The Spy man: Il am in physical
| possession of the plant, and 1 intend to
remain so. The matter having been
| brought into court, will remain there
until decided by litigation. No com
promise can be effected"
| Mr.. Letter and Mr.. Hoadley both
stated that the test Of the auto truck at
| the American Wheelock engine works
was most satisfactory. They state that
it was run on half charge for sixteen
miles, and more than met their ex-
pectations, and the company will begin
! work Immediately on the order for 1000
| from the New York Auto-Truck Com
pany. All of the gentlemen expressed
| themselves as being somewhat wearled
| Of proceedings in so far as the Corliss
works were concerned, and they looked
/ over the Wheelock property last night
with an eye to charging 1t, in the
| event that the Corliss complications
are not speedily settled, and transfer
ring the manufacturing that would
have been done at the gHrliss works to
| the Wheelock plant in this city.
| Mr. Letter expressed himself as thor
oughly confident of the future of the
International company. Said he:
eve propose to make a speciality of
the manufacture of auto-trucks, air
locomotives and cars and air compress
ers to furnish power to the same 1t
Will be a sort Of parent concern to all
the auto-truck companies, The pos
sbiities that present themselves in
New York city alone so far as our
| ocomotion is concerned are almost lin
| itless. IT is a matter OF fact known
| only to the few who have investigated
that 900 horses are used in truck
| transportation in that city. Our plan
does away entirely with the horse
power and very great percentage of
! human labor as an economic PROPOSE
| ton. Our scheme is profitable one.
As soon as the detail work of our com
| pany is settled in this country, / shah
go to London to organize an auto-truck
company there, and ! shall then estab-
| lish one on the continent. All the
manufacturing will be done here. We
| can do better work and do 1t cheaper
| in America than In England"
The members Of the party quoted