The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-12-24
RECENT PANIC WAS HIS
He Wins and Loses Millions
Without Blinking.
Story Of the Thirty Thousand
Dollar Pink.

/
the stock markets of the world; to
lombard the money kings of the coun-
try and compel them to acknowledge
his power, through trenchant articles
in magazines and the newspapers.
This is the rapid summary of the
work of the so-called Financial Moses
of Boston, Thomas w. Lawson, who
| sits at the base of Bunker Hill monu-
ment, as if to seek inspiration for his
deeds.
''TooIey Street, Proclamations.
Like the Three Tailors of Tooley
Street." he issues proclamations and
scatters them broadcast over the
American continent, and in Europe as
well. Like the whirlwind are Law
sons methods. They are entirely orig
| inal. Not since the days of Col. James
Fisk, jr., has the country seen anything
| so impudent, audacious and spectac-
ular as the performance of the Boston
plunger who posed as the guiding
genius for the people during the storm
that Frustrated Wall street and the
financial centers last week. Jay Gould
was credited as a wrecker in Wall
| street; Jim Fisk enjoyed stirring the
animals, but Lawson poses as the
Prophet and peliverer of the People.
His Hand in a Panic.
The panic of Wednesday and Thurs
day last cannot be credited entirely to
Lawson and his methods. But, GER
tain 1T is, he had a powerful hand in
the decline in prices that lost men for
tunes, that wiped out prospective
Christmas money, and left the specu-
lative field strewn with wrecks. at a
cost of 5000, 100000. For months
Lawson had been busy Identifying
himself in the popular mind with a
knowledge of Amalgamated Copper.
This stock early in the year WIS low
in 1.-The 40s."- In the beginning of Oc-
tober it was in 1.-The sos" 1t was
last week it was in 1.-THE sos" A pool
directed by the Boston plunger was
credited with lifting the stock to this
high level, aided by a notable rise in
use of the advertising columns Of
newspapers. Last week the transact
lions in Amalgamated stock were
enormous, with practically no change
nificant indication, the plunger on
Tuesday last spread through the coun-
try a hamboyant warning" to his fol-
lowers that he had received a mystic
rious revelation that the stock was too
high, and urging all holders to sell at
once, as it was about to tumble down
with crash. 1t did. A fall of nearly
SO a share on Wedn esday and a fur
Their drop of $40 in the first two hours
on the stock exchange on Thursday
gave the market shock which. being
assisted by bear attack, dislodged an
enormous volume of other stocks from
the hands of weak or overloaded spec
ulators.
While Lawson takes to himself the
creQ1C Tor the Oeclne, LneTe were OlIIeF
cause.-the presidents message, the
high range of values, etc. The mar
ket was topheavy and finnicky. 1t
needed but lightning stroke to set
needed article to set off the match,
and he did it.
srLawson's Panic"
The events of December s, 1904, will
go down in the annals of finance as
fLawson's Panic for the terrific break
no inc a continual
tion of the violent collapse of the pre-
ceding day, the Immediately melting
cause of which was the series of adver-
Using and Geographic Examinations
launched by the Boston operator
against Amalgamated Copper. A total
of 2,S69, 751 shares were traded in at
New York, against 100000 shares in
the 1901 panic.
A Man Who Can Lose Millions.
The new financial Moses is of social |
istic tendencies. Physically, he is
handsome specimen, standing over six
feet in height, built like an athlete,
with clear-cut features. He Is forty |
five years of age, and has been in the |
turmoil Of Wall and State streets and
the financial whirl for thirty-ffve years
Although he made $4,000, 900 in a year
and a half; lost 81 900, 900 in a few hours
and made 100000 while he slept, there |
are no lines in his face to denote worry |
and his eye is as clear as If he had |
never lost a nights rest.
His methods are entirely novel to the |
world of finance, yet they are charac- |
teristic of the man. That they have |
proved effective the events of the last |
six months abundantly show. Lawson |
has singled out for attack, and has |
brought his guns to bear on the money /
kings of the country who are fntrench- |
ed behind the great Standard Oil bull |
warks and the ramparts of Steel First |
he sought the columns of a monthly |
magazine, and to everybody he told his |
tale of 'Frenzied Finance" With him |
self as the hero, and John D. Rookie
Teller the head of the Standard Oil; H. |
H. Rogers, the man behind the throne |
in Standard Oil; William w. Rookie
Teller, the financier of the same corpor-
alton, and ]. Edward Addicks, as the
public was led into the Amalgamated /
Copper parlor as was the fly into the
spiders web. The rise and fall of the
great Copper Trust and the inner work.
ings of the machinery of the money |
kings was laid bare before the thous-
ands whose dollars had dropped into |
the abyss
Confidential Chats With Public.
ciers' heads proved attractive, and the /
people applauded. Some of the finan-
ciers cried "Ouch!' Others declared |
that Lawson's brain had been turned, /
while the more discreet kept their
counsel But this was only the fore
runner of a more novel style of dealing |
with ones enemies. Next this man of
novelties sought to address the public. |
The methods of old-style confidential |
circulars were discarded. Great broad
side advertisements, embodying his
thoughts and words of advice to the /
people and warning to his enemies, were |
the medium of communication. These |
advertisements were transmitted by l.
wire last week. so that they appeared |
in all the principal cities of the coun-
try at the same time and at the same |
financial agencies