The Indianapolis journal., 1903-08-09

to 1t, and we will have the money distrib-
uted where 1t will do the most good"
The transaction was speedily completed,
and this very comfortable sum of money
proved of very material aid to various char
ity organizations in the great city. Two or
three seasons ago Mr.. Keene's swift race
horse Cap and Bells, won the Oaks in Eng
land, worth $4,000 This sum of money was
equally divided between English and Ameri-
can institutions for the aid of the needy.
one-half going to the Prince of Wales Hos
pital in London and the remainder being
cut up among free ice funds orphan asy-
lums and other charitable institutions in
New York, entirely without reference to
creed.
A PRACTICAL PHILANTHROPIST
The winter before last was bitter
son in New York. and cruel suffering was
brought to the homeless wanderers of the
streets. One morning, when the cold was
cutting and the pavements were covered
with snow. Mr.. Keene electrified the COM
munity by handing over $4,000 to the United
Charities Organization with terse and Wig
orous instructions that it be employed inn
mediately for the succor of those in distress.
He went on to say this money was to be
whatever purpose they needed it most.
Their antecedents had nothing to do with
the case IL man or woman required
food, supply it at once, or if whisky was
| necessary it was to be given without hesi-
tation. The contribution was distinctly for
the relief Of suffering, no matter where it
existed or how it had been brought about.
The proposition may not have met with
ba nf ub N
! believe in extending aid only to those who
are morally deserving, but 1t touched a
quickly responsive chord in many other
quarters. and for once in his experience of
life Mr.. Keene was referred to without acri-
| mony in most of the public prints.
man prominent in social and political
| life said to me the other day.
do you know why America is the great
est country in the world, and why its peo-
pie are beginning to dominate the other
races? It's because those who possess
money here have made it by their own ef-
forts, and those who have achieved power
and leadership have arisen by their own ex-
ertions."
At fifteen years of age Mr.. Keene was a
working miner i'm the tunnels and drifts of
| a Nevada silver mine. At sixty-six, a
pam, NiSiloI W loHuO0, he
was invited to meet the King of England at
| dinner, and at the express wish of the
| British monarch conversed long in private
| upon the resources of America. At parting
| King Edward took occasion to express the
| great satisfaction he had derived from the
wide range of knowledge impaired to him
| by the American finanoier.
Probably even King Edward himself was
Il
| Englishman born. Certainly few on this
| side Of the Atlantic know this to be the
| fact 1t is nevertheless true that Mr.
Keene was born i'm London some sixty
\ seven years ago. His father. who was the
| descendant of an ancient family in the west
| of ireland. brought him to America when
| he thirteen years old. They at first
| settled i'm the East. but ultimately moved
on with ''the course of empire" toward the
| coastline beyond which the setting sun dips
| down TO the Pacific.
The younger Keene was barely of age be-
| fore his fame for daring and success in
| the field of speculation had spread from
! San Francisco TO New York-and that at
| a time when his competitors included such
| gigantic stock gamblers the Mackays.
Floods. O'Briens. Fairs. Crockers. and. in
| deed, all the plungers who rose and fell with
| the fabulous bonanza fluctuations OF Cali
| fornia and Nevada. In due time Mr.. Keene
became president of the. San Francisco
| Stock Exchange. but with that wide-reach-
/ ing. instructive foresight which has led him
so far along the causeways of conquest. he
ultimately broke from the limitations Of
| his early life and turned to the broader
world through which Wall street cuts.
| REMAINED IN NEW YORK.
He was on his way TO Europe. by order
/ of his physician. and merely stopped of in
| New York to await the date of sailing
| The traveller began to amuse himself with
the market. and his steamer sailed without
| him. He remained 10 build up and tear
down enormous fortunes, to lift prices and