Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-01-14

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and heavy aa were the demands upon
hfs time, he always presented the same
good natured, unrlfiled demeanor, and
ever had a pleasant greeting and
friendly word for the most obscure
caller.
Now and then the daily meeting. d.
rectors meetings. or private conferences
| of the three friends were varied by a
| flying trip of one OF the other to Utah,
or Joplin, Mo-, or the oil fields of Ohio.
1t wal forever a case of hustle" with
all of them, with n eye perpetually
IN the clock and another on the stock
ticker. Many men would have gone
down under the strain months ago
even the hardened veterans of Wall
street, but Cole and his associates k3pt
pegging away, financing this big deal,
recognizing this other company,
trimming their sails to meet the con-
stantly veering winds of speculation
realizing at last, with sinking hearts,
that their great struggles by day and
their sleepless conferences by night
were to be of ne avail. and that the
logic OF events was dead set against
them.
William H. Coolidge. was generally
spoken of as "the brains Of Three c."
He is a lawyer, and is best known to
the general public through his connec-
ton with the Boston & Maine railroad
as assistant counsel.
A graduate of Harvard in the class
of 1881, he was during his college ca
reer one of the most noted foot ball
players and all around athletes Of his
class. Mr.. Coolidge has a breezy, de-
cisive way that is very attractive to all
who are brought in contact with him,
except possibly, those who confront
him in court in the capacity of wit
nesses. He lives in a beautiful home
in Newton and is a member OF the
Puritan club and other organizations.
To this day there are many of State
streets oldest habitues who donotknoW
MI. Clark by sight. He is perhaps the
most reserved of the three associates,
and has not mixed up among the bro
kers and bankers nearly as much as
either of the others.
After completing his school educa-
ton he. studied for a while in the Mass
achusetts Institute of Technology, pos
sibly imbibing there some OF his love
for mining matters.
IL Was uOJ III hAo
the United States Oil Company, four
years ago, that Mr.. Clark became at
all we'll known in the street" He IS
about SO and was married a couple OF
years ago to a daughter of William A.
French, President of the Massachu-
sets National Bank. He recently pur-
chased an attractive estate at Jamaica
Plain, in the suburbs, and has lived
there in comfortable style. His wife
is extremely popular in society. Mr..
Clark has not been very prominent In
any public capacity, and is not even
known as a club man, although he is a
member of the Algonquin Club. He Is
reputed to have made a flyer in Leather
stock last fall through which he melted
a very handsome profit.
The companies in which Clark. Cole
and Coolidge were interested comprised
the United States Oil Co., the United
States Mining Co., the American Iinc,
Lead & Smelling Co., the North Amer
lean Gold Dredging Co., and the Santa
Fe Gold & Copper Mining Co. In addi-
ton to these they at n time had an
option on the Centennial-Eureka Min
ing Co., which they proposed to con-
solidate with the United States Min
iEg Co. These sudden interruption Of
thier plans changed all this. however,
and the Observation-Disclosures property
has recently gone into the control Of
other interests.
The financial CREATIONS through
which this trio went in the handling
of these properties would put a female
acrobat to shame. After reading the
story carefully one can only marvel
and wonder how any three men could
carry so long such a S%tupendous load.
1t can be seen when all is told that
the final crash was only a matter of
time.
1t might be we'll to parenthetica!ly
explain here something of the incor-
poration laws of the State of Maine, as
all of the enterprises floated by tie
Three Cs" were incorporated under
the laws of that State. Down East
as people refer to Maine, it costs $50
to incorporate a company and you can
place the capitalization at as many mil
lions as you like. 1t is further neces-
sary to have a meeting of the Board
of Directors in the State once a year
and to have a resident secretary"
The official gets a salary of SIS per
year, and there are men in Maine who
hold that position in over 200 compan-
les. Once a year a few of the directors
journey to Portland, eat a hearty din
ner, assemble for the meeting, 'call
it t order" and adjourn. Tus it will
be seer that while New Jersey is the
home of trusts, Maine is the mother
of unlimited corporations with I'M
limited capital, mostly imaginary
money.
1t was upon the United States OH
| Co., in many respects n of the most
legitimate and successful enterprises
! ever floated, that the Three Cs" first
concentrated their energies. In a way
their profitable flotation of this COM
pany was the nucleus of all the other
enterprises that followed, and for
which, in turn, were to have been sue
ceeded by other and even more ambi-
tious schemes. In a way the United
States Oil proposition was a sure
thing" for there was always a ready
market at good prices for its product,
and it only required good judgment
in administration, and the purchase OF
new properties to make 1t a steady
dividend payer indefinitely. Had the
triumvirate been content to stick to oil,
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