Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-19

made him rich man. Some time before he
had become possessed of some shares Of a
mining stock that was selling at almost
nothing. 1t was believed to be practically
worthless, but soon after Keene's departure
it panned out wonderfully rich The stock
went UP like a rocket from one figure to
three. Keene was away; news Travelled
slowly in those days. He knew nothing OF
his good fortune for a long time, but when
he returned to San Francisco he found that
his few hundreds had grown to 5000 OOO
Had he remained at home he would have
sold out probably at the first advance,
netting perhaps one-tenth of what he actu-
ally realized. AS he himself says, it was a
lucky journey.
The former lawyer. having brains, con-
fidence, sound judgment and 5000 900 at his
command, was ready to attempt larger af-
fairs He became broker and speculator;
invested freely and came out luckily in all
his undertakings.
In the Western Boom.
Those were days of great speculation in
San Francisco. Mackay, Flood, Fair and
O'Brien were the leaders. Keene took his
place with these men, became one of the
board and soon had a reputation for good
luck and sound judgment.
The boom and the rush of money for in
vestment had forced prices to a very high
point. Keene saw that the imitation could
not last When he believed that the turn
was close at hand he went short of the
Comstock securities, which had received
more attention and had been forced higher
than any others. In taking this course he
had Mackay, Flood, Fair and the powerful
Bank OF California against him. For a
Wu hat
rival influences, then the market began to
sag under the influence of Keene's persistent
sales and soon 1t was going down with a
rush. In the smash-up of values that en-
sued Keene realized SO, 900 900 from his
short interest in the Becher, Crown Point
and Ophr mines This coup made him
famous all over the country as the first
man who had successfully fought the Pa
citc coast triumvirate before named.
Although Keene had been on the bear side
OF the market, he was not then, nor after
ward, destroyer of values. In this case
he simply took advantage OF condition of
affairs that was certain to bring about the
same result After the crash, when values
were on a saner level, he did his utmost to
restore prosperity. The Bank of California
had been dragged down in the ruin, and
Keene set to work to rehabiitate it. and
put up a million dollars, along with d. o.
Mills and Lucky" Baldwin, for the pur-
pose 1t was due to the combined efforts
OF these men that the slump did not extend
further.
Keene continued mis- speculative career in
California until, in 1877, his fortune had
grown to $i,0O000O Then he started for
Europe to recuperate his health again. BY
that time the unvaryIng success of his
iinanciers and spectators, though he had
confined his attention entirely to the Pa
cinc coast
I'irst Appearance in Wall street.
1t was in 1877, in the course of his jour-
ney, that Keene first appeared in Wall
street. He came to see. but he remained
TO conquer. The attraction OF the larger
market, the opportunity for great under
takings were irresistible. Keene trans
ferred his interests to New York and at
once became one of the prominent figures
in Wall street.
One fact that the California millionaire
soon learned was that he could not run
the Wall street market to suit himself as
he had done the San Francisco. When
he threw out thousands of shares in an eff
fort to send the market down it sagged
only a point or two, instead of taking a
big drop, as had been the case in his earlier
field But he soon adjusted himself to
his new surroundings. One OF the first
big deals that he went into was the Western
Union pool which Jay Gould was engineer
ing, In this they netted a million be-
tween them.
Six years had elapsed since the panic Of
7S. Prices were at their lowest ebb. Keeue
carefully studying the market and the CON
ditions OF the country, as he has always
done, was convinced that rock bottom had
been reached and that a great advance was
coming. He bought heavily, stalking the
bulk OF his fortune on his judgment in the