The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-04-03

Six years had elapsed since the panic
OF 70. Prices were at their lowest ebb.
Keene, carefully studying the market,
| and the conditions Of the country, as he
has always done, was convinced that
| rock-bottom had been reached. anG that
| n great advance was coming. He
bought heavily, stalking the bulk Of his
fortune on his judgment in tho matter,
The rise In values came, and. continued
beyond the expectation Of those who
had predicted 1t. Keene added between
eight aud nine millions to his fortune.
People looked at Keene In wonder.
Here was a man who. had made n for
tune Of fourteen millions by specula-
ton, who had cleared nearly ten MIL
lions in Wall street In three years. His
fortune was without parallel for the
rapidly Of Its accumulation. He came
to be looked upon as sort OF financial
Wizard, 1t was said that he could not
lose. Perhaps Keene came to have o
little OF the same feeling,
1t was In 1885 that keene, In vulgar
parIance. BIT Off more than he could
chew. He tried to corner the wheat
market, an attempt that has been q
stumbling block to other able flnan-
ciers. In this same year his horse
Foxhall won the Grand Prix in Paris.
1t was nn honor that Keene priced
dearly, and when 1t came he was en-
gagged in q struggle that involved prnc-.
tically his whole fortune. Under the
stimulus Of rising prices, the western
| farmers rushed their wheat to market
| faster than Keene, with his millions,
could absorb II. Jay Gould, who had
| been watching Keene's course with In
terest, saw the vulnerable spot. With
| lHteoy, IN oil no ~ ~
! the market on the interests that keene
was concerned in. Some OF Keene's
partners in the combine became timid
and sold out. The load was too heavy
for the Californian to carry alone, and
he went down under It. Oven seven
millions Of his accumations were swept
] away. He tried desperately to recoup
| himself on what remained but could not
do 1t. Men whom he had aided before
were willing to profit by his downfall,
and In the language of the street, he
was sold out" He had the mortiA-
cation OF seeing the shares that he was
unable to hold on to. advance over 90
per cent under the skillful manlpula-
ton of Jay Gould and his associates.
| Keene was not overwhelmed by his
misfortune. He set to work quietly to
regain what he had lost. For time
| Ilc "aS NtdAo VI pul lllllSs I1S 40 III
Wall street. and was making progress,
but he did not attempt any NapoIeonic
maneuvers. Still he made money ut
q rate that could not be accounted 9TH
erwise than rapid. He paid off all the
obligations remaining from his disas-
trous venture, and gradually returned
to something like his old position in the
| aF:l!ra Of t.. sheet. .5..
When the same period of CONNER
cial prosperity came Enthusiastically in
to view last fall, at the conclusion Of
the war, Keene recalled his experience
Of twenty years ago. and resolved to
profit by It. He was not guided by pre-
cedent. however. but by his own appre-
citation Of existing conditions. Heavy
crops In the west had brought large
! earnings to the western railroads. I'M
proved financial conditions were certain
to make investments plentiful and to
send prices up. Heavy earnings were
certain to make this advance strongly
felt in the group Of, railroad shares
known as the granger stocks. Accord
| ingly Keene bought grangers and i'd
vlsed others to do the same. How much
his operations will yield him is un-
known, for the end is not yet, but his
| fortune In once more restored to the
ten-mlllion mark and is not likely to fall
below 1t again +aEe .|t.