The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-09
The $4,000 Pink Helped
Make Him Famous, and So
Did His Unsuccessful At
tempt to Defend the Amer
ica's Cup

TN 1872 there was boy of fifteen
who went into business for him
i self in Boston. Previously he
had been an errand boy and clerk
in a banking house. His name was
Thomas William Lawson.
Soon after he started business, Gin
ciunati, Sandusky and Cleveland Rail
road stock dropped all at once from
$50 to So a share. Then it rose again
Lawson was 'on the inside" for the
banking house he had worked for
did lot Of business for the railroad
He cleaned up 100000 by speculating
on the sudden fluctuation of the stock
A little while later he had lost it
all by a crash in Boston Water Power
stock. Talking about the matter sew
eral years afterward, Lawson said:
To be absolutely correct, l drop
ped Just $59,84I. Deciding to make a
clean sweep and start afresh, | gave
d dinner to a few friends at Young's
Hotel for the purpose of getting rid
of the $50 | had left.
When the dinner check was paid
there was still $3.50 left, and | gave
that to Horace, the head waiter.
Then I was ready to start again.
J Was broke at seventeen, after hav-
iI- made what some men would be
satisfied to call a fortune.
Since then Thomas w Lawson has
become one of the best-known fnan-
Ciers III the country, and has lost and
made more than one big fortune. To
lose, or make a round million in a
day has been nothing uncommon in
his career. He is one of the most
versatile and picturesque Of Ameri
cas- multi-milionaires. AS a friend
of his once said, Lawson is perpetu
ally doing some new stunt" and
"L.awsons latest" is a common
phrase in Boston.
He is being much talked about at
the present time on account of the
striking series of articles on a GER
tain phase of high finance" appear
ING under his name in one of the
popular magazines This is by no
means his first literary venture, for
he has always had an itch for serb
bling. He has published several
books and been a frequent contribu-
tor to magazines, reviews and news
papers since 1875.
40 American speculator-nOt even
John w. Gates-has had stormer
career than Thomas w. Lawson.
From the time he made and lost his
first fortune, at the age OF sixteen, he
has been doing battle with the heavy
weights of the financial wOrld-men
of the caliber of the late William c.
Whitney and H. H. Rogers, the
Standard Oil Notwithstanding
winning, sometimes losing, but al
vavs ready to come up smiling for the
next round.
After the historic crash in Amalga-
mated Copper, he admitted to a
newspaper man that he had lost seven
millions. and then added:
"The man who sets up to be stock
operator must be prepared to take
smilingly whatever comes. his way
You will observe that L smile.
About the same time, another man
remarked that he must have lot OF
enemies He replied enthusiastically
"Thoroughbreds I'm not better
enemy myself. They would get III
out of their first sound sleep to dc
me an injury. Long may they live!
They put spice into my life. his
game wouldn't have any fascination
II it were all one way.
Lawson is certainly a good hate1
himself. Many a man whom he has
crushed in the stock market coulo
testify to that fact. Of all the re-
verses he has sustained in the course
of his career none hurt him tentE
part as much as the manner in which
he was turned down" by the New
York Yacht Club when he wanted to
compete with his yacht independence
for the defense of the Americas Cur
H. H. Rogers swore on oath las
March. that Lawson still cherished
million dollars worth of anger OF
that account. Rogers went to hin
to see upon what terms he woulc
consent to keep his hands off th'
New England Gas organization iun
dertaken by Kidder, Peabody & Go
Lawson replied:
you know how l feel tfward
Henry NJ. Whitney and those othe
people down there who int rterec