The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1905-03-17
DOWNFALL or GREAT
B%UCKETSAOPPER
George j. Hammond, President
Of the Defunct Coe Com
mission Company.
CLOUDS ON HIS RECORD
But He Has Made His Career Spec
~tacuIar and Led the Minneapolis
Chamber Of Commerce a
Merry Chase.

Minneapolis, Mimi. March lo.-ln the
failure OF the Coz Commission com
pany here Tuesday. the greatest
bucket shopping concern in the coun-
Try went to the wall. The Minneapolis
Chamber of Commerce. which has had
occasion TO feel The power of George
j. Hammond. president of the failed
company. is especially jnbilant over his
downfall.
George j. Hammond is the worlds
greatest bu~ckctshopper. When in his
heyday about a year ago he operated
from his Minneapolis headquarters ia
Offices. These offices We're in Mime
sofa. North and South Dakota and
Wisconsin principally. There We're en-
tensions, however. into many other
states. There We're private lines to
Winnipeg and TO New York. Chicago
and Boston. On the Pacific coast there
WAS a big business. Oregon had nine
teen toe commission offices at one time
and Montana. Washington and other
western states were connected by pri-
waite Wire with the Minneapolis head
quarters.
How much business Hammond did no
one but himself and his immediate as
socrates know. but he was reputed to
NV Nv hilli.liSS VI Ill hIt us
100000 in single turns at times. and
WAS known positively to have had re-
sources. Recehtiy affairs have not been
favorable. For six weeks ii has been
known that he was i'll trouble and
many checks have been thrown out of
hank Tor lack of funds to make them
good.
Thousands of small spectators
through the country heard the vague
ruinorS of financial embarrassment and
fought shy. Business fell off and Ham,
nlond found himself forced to adopt a
policy of retrenchment and to close
up a number of outside Offices. The
recent embarrassment of the firm of
~. +. Dapron & Co. of the Guaranty
Loan building, and the posting of a
h"tlce on the door over MIR. Dapron's
signature to the effect that he was un-
able to force a satisfactory cast set
Element with Hammond added fuel to
the fire and rumor had it that Ham
mond was down and out.
A Losing Fight.
But he pulled through and stood
against every attack. To all who APP
proched him he was courteous and
cheerful. saying that IA SPECTATOR must
have his ups and downs, and that his
Vas one of the downs and that he would
pull through and pay up all right if
given time. Those h knew his re-
'''i' aiilCSS hlIh IllS a IlS 10 ii SltC-
ulator believed it possible that he would
yet win out by a bold stroke, but the
fight had been too great for him.
George j. Hammond first appeared in
Minneapolis about the fall of 1900. He
began here very quietly and by the
spring of 1901 had a business of con-
siderable proportions in operation, un-
der the name Coe Commission company.
No one ever saw Coe. who was a Wash
ington, ID. c. man, and who never APP
peared here and finally pulled out of the
firm. A reputation, not of the best
from a commercial standpoint, followed
Hammond, but did not prevent him
from doing business. He had a big bank
roll and was a ready spender. and very
liberal with his employees besides being
rather charitable in an open way. He
made many friends and drew much pat
ronage from the speculatively inclined,
who cared not whether they ~patroniZed
a legitimate exchange house or a buck
etshop.
In a year Hammond had built up sc big
a business that people began to inquire
about him. ard his past history came out.
Hammond was alleged to be the man who
ran the Combination Investment company
of Chicago, a concern that went bump in
1899. leaving 1900 creditors with claims OF
s2S0.GW and assets of So, 900.
Hammond's Bad Record.
The farther back the investigators went
the worse the record became, for by go
ing another year. to 1898. 1t was found that
Ianlmo had been in a mess at Terre
Hautc, Ind. through an attempt to make
n raid upon the strong boxes Of the book
makers at the races. The story, which
appeared in all the Minneapolis papers
when the Hammond-Chambcr OF Com
mcrce fight was on here, showed how o.
NJ. Stone and G ]. Hammond were in n
scheme with Burley Stevens. a conductor
on the Chicago and Eastern Illinois rail-
way. Stone and Hammond tapped the
wires and sent names Of the winning
horse to their confederate and pulled
down 500 on the deal. They bought the
tapping outfit from w. a. Graham of Chi
caGo for $50.
Chief Colle1an of the Chicago police de-
partment said at that time: ''Stone Is
one of the best wire tappers known. Ham
mond is his partner. Have been in SINH
lar trouble before, but not convicted. Both
are bad men"
Farther back than this. Harmon was
an advisory agent" He had an office
in the Medinah building in Chicago. and
he sent out inside information on the
market for a consideration, advertising
that he could make big money for all who
trusted him.
Such in brief is the history of the man
who IN four years worked into such prom
incnce in Minneapolis.
BY 1903 Hammond had reached the stage
whore he desired to become more "A lcgiti-
mized trade in the commercial UNDER
standing of the term, and the result was
the organization of the Independent Grain
and Stock exchange of Minneapolis. Ham
mond also secured control of a small ele-
vator on the Hastings and Dakota divi-
sion OF the Milwaukee road and advertised
for consignmcnts of grain, but was never
abba to do anything this way. Finally he
threw up the sponge as a legitimate con-
Germ and was an out-and-out buckctshop-
Per to date.
Beginning Of the Fight.
About this time began the greatest
huckctshop fight in the history of the
United States. the effort of the Minneapo-
lis Chamber of Commerce to prevent the
use of the quotations originating on the
floor in the buckctshops, the chamber
fought Hammond by legal means, and tho
case now before the United States SUI
preme court regarding the property rights
of an exchange in its quotations came
about in part from this fight. Nothing
could down Hammond. however. He
flo,risheI and extended his business IN
every direction.
Tn most sensational episode of this
bitter ilght occurred on Saturday, January
II. 1903.