The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-13
tom" LAWSON.
Most Daring specu-
lator In the Uni
ted States.
At Is, He HAD MADE $4,000.
He is Known in Every
Stock Market Of the
World.
At is, He HAD MADE $4,000

Down on the ground floor of the
Warrington building in State street,
Boston, are the attractive offices Of a
young man who is today the central
figure of financial operations in every
money market of New England.
His offices form a veritable rendez-
vous, not only for his business asso-
ciates and the more daring operators
Of the street, but for every financial
writer of the press as well, in whose
hearts the proprietor occupies a very
warm corner. Yesterday it was The
Spy's good fortune to be represented
at Thomas w. Lawson's moon le-
wee"
Picturesque" is a word that has
been sadly overworked of late years,
ana yet there is scarcely any other
term IN the English language that win
adequately express both the personali-
~ and the life story of this remarka-
BILE man.
There are very few men In the coun-
try, and probably none at all outside
OF Wall street, who have had such a
brilliant career in finance as Mr..
Lawson. Certain it is, too, that there
are no others whose alterations be-
tween the roof-tree and the signboard
have had so deep and exciting an in
terest for State street and its envi-
rons.
Long ago he came to be to financial
New England what Cammack and
Keene and Deacon White and some
OF the noted Wall street operators are
or have been to that mighty specu-
lative centre, no man but himself know
ing what the next day was likely to
bring forth as result of his CON
ference with a select coterie of New
York capitalists the night before, or
his sudden inspiration after he
has read his morning paper or glanced
at the opening quotations on the
ticker tape.
Not since the palrny days of the late
lamented Merry" Evans has sedate
Boston possessed financier of
such dominant influence, such a
spirit of daring, and such an unlimited
capacity for doing the seemingly i'm
possible.
1T may seem almost incredible to
YOU said Mr.. Clapp, private secretary
to the great operator, in talking to d
Lutte fact nevertheless, that Mr. Law
son has been in his main office in the
Worthington building but once in four
months, and then he came in with his
children in order that they might
witness a parade. He is actually forced
to secrete himself and change his quar-
ters continuously or the crowd of CALI
ers would never permit him to carry
on any business at ALL
But The Spy man found him even in
the hurly-burly of the MONDAY rush
on Change hidden high up in one of
State streets lofty sky-scrapers, coolly
watching the tape, with that fugitive
smile fitting about the corners of his
mouth, that smile which is always
there whether he has lost a thousand
or hundred thousand dollars.
In personal appearance the hero of
gas wars and copper combines is tall
and athletic and generally striking. AS
he stands at the ticker in his easy and
characteristic attitude, SO fairly illus
trated in this article, it needs only a
casual glance to learn just what man
ner of a man he is. A good general:
careful and secretiVe; quick to think
and to act. His eyes move almost as
rapidly as thought itself. He is a good
judge of men, a keen reader of men s
minds; one feels that instinctively the
moment ones eyes meet his. He who
can read human nature half Alright has
no need to be told that his friendship
is as firm as his enrnity Is enduring
And yet every newspaper man on state
street knows that liberal ideas and gen
erous impulses dominate his whole ma
ture, and that if the true story OF
what he has done for people in ais
Iress could be printed, it would make
a good sized volume But like the MS
tory of many of his great financial
deals, it never will be told in all Its
fulness.
He had little time to talk between
oil ma inA hut
event. He was glad to see The Spy
man. and said so frankly. Long be-
fore he had heard of the word finance"
he had heard of The Spy, and he was
pleased with it's attitude, both on bust
ness and political affairs. AS regarded
himself. all the world must have
learned Of him If all the world read
the newspapers. He has been on the
street since he was II, and he has just
turned 40. He began as clerk in a
Boston bank, and his transition to
financial operator on his own account
was easy and rapid. When but "a he
was a fill-fedged financier, with the
right to place his feet beneath the same
table with those Of millionaires that
comes of being directors in big corpor-
atoms. The story in detail could be
obtained he said, of his private secre-
tary, who probably knew more about
him than he could remember himself,
At present he is busily engaged in
bucking those who are trying to "pick
up cheap Arcadian copper stock He
Is advising every holder to hang on, is
predicting that 1t will pay large divi-
dends in 1900 and thereafter. and will,
in a few months, have become one OF
the. largest and most profitable mining
companies in the world. He points to
the fulfilment of his predictions on AM
algamated, Montana, Butte or Isle
Royale as a proof Of the wisdom Of his
advice now.
And then when the interview ends
and there is no installing the end
comes in--he closes with jolly joke
or story bubbling over with
good nature that is fairly infectious
Then 1t is time to so, and one knows
IL. But there is nothing about the vs-
it that leaves particle of unpleasant
feeling or of envy. One is glad to know
that the young man, for he is still
young. has been able to handle the
"animals" so well, and one who has any
sense of admiration begins to feel
sort Of pride in him without being Just
able to explain the reason.
If Mr. Lawson has experienced
troubled minute in all these pyrctechni-
cal years in "the street" his most in
innate friends have never been able to
detect IT, His keen sense of humor,
more than any other trait perhaps, has
made him popular with his acquaint-
ances, and at the same time has enabled
him to successfully conceal his bust
ness secrets and make him practically
invulnerable to the most insidious flank
movements of newspaper men and his
business associates. In everyday in
tercourse nobody who knows him well
ever pretends to take him seriously,
and yet there is no man In the financial
world who has everyday dealings Of
more greater moment to himself and
others.
Mr.. Lawson was born Al years ago in
co,,.Irtdoo 20 "a how he utac dtotft.of-