New-York tribune., 1905-08-20
KEENE AND THE SYSTEM" :"
Lazcsofa Tells of Secret Working IN
High Finance.

The September instalment OF Thomas W. Law
sons "Frenzed Finance in "Everybody's Mag
azine." is devoted principally to a recital of the
experiences of James r. Keene with the System
MI Lawson sketches Mr.. Keene's rise TO fortune
in the West and his career as the most skilful
stock manipulation in Wall Street. Continuing. he
says:
:, Fqr over quarter century. indeed. JsTes ,e
sttTTategy and daring His magic knowledge OF IN
his his enemies marvel At Intervals il is revealed to
in a street that some Of its great corporations are
Tbeyn nave nav been paving dividends out Of capital.
curry in a freeze, and 1t leaks out that one man
Iw hnew the deadly secret weeks and months before
R Keene begins to cover the short sales he had
IN sWePs for the & fall m and his bank ac
a eaTaS 4et&aGation m & astounds the financial world II
TO take advantage of it, Indeed. it is tradition
OF Wall Street that any clerk or confidential man
is the best for such valuable considera
csree ana although he has had in all his 1n
20 j quote ms own phrase the sources Of means OF
IN ShlS hour he moves as mysterousy as on the Day
ne began operations
In 1900 Mr.. Lawson says he noticed selling of
Amalgamated Copper stock in such quantities as
10 indicate sudden unloading by one of the chief
insiders and sooH afterward, on the occurrence OF
an Improvement in the conpanys condition, not
generally known. a furious buying movement.
n n Rogers. whom he promptly consulted, de-
TENS camp. and Lawson prepared a snare:
Next day sent to Mr. Rogers and to Mr. Rookie
5 CSIIer cohnaental communications in regard to
if me contents of either leaked we should have the
cuIprlt- sure enough, next day transaction
clearly indicated a knowledge Of the statements l
ad aad as Mam R0ckefeler followed the eew
tesfn Ii a. first i'll concluded had got twisted but
the conclusion It was indeed, top-and- thinkIt-
Stendpr ri, Al !aSt hesne had penetrated tne
choicest secrets. He was in the enemy's country
with with vengeance, and wondered what the conse-
Que-5es would be. reported what had found TO
MT Rogers. who instantly grasped the whole In
oret partner Of James r Keene. the nyst9 rious
Rqnger Wqg Of the stock market was none other than
knew knew almost much about Standard OH and its
and Il was agreed that this time for blood
no exposon Ts PeraTH s sea for spg oS
pleasantly and kindly that. IS he had decided to
taat he should do so from outside OF No IS Broad
way. and in equally pleasant way he offered his
gret from Mr.. Rockefeller and Mr. Rogers, check
warm handclasp and fervent ''Ciodspeed you in
your new sphere and this man was where he
jack Wall Street
Amalgamated Copper stock came to be in a
'waterlogged condition. and Lawson proposed TO
Rogers his plan for restoring it:
1t was 10 send for Keene. turn over the entire
manipulation of Amalgamated to him and make
MS Forgiveness conditional upon the successful
IS 1ablsnnent OF the corporation with the public
provided he restored the stock to favor. and at
once began 10 treat with the exiled plunger
heene 1oyously met US more than half way. We
negotiated agreement to the effect that he
and that as a further inducement ne could buy
from us at cost all the stock that had been accu-
mulated in the Flower pool. Also he was promised
critics into company. and our talk went so
Tar as to plan out this in detail This
bargain was finally clinched by Rogers and Rookie
fellers subscribing for and half millions OF
the new rubber stock, the subscription hingng alb
soutely on Keene's success with Amalgamated.
Mr.. Keene went about his work with energy and
brilliant skill and the price of Analganated rose
rapidly.
And simultaneously he at work on his rub
things Already the enterprise had run the gantet
OF public announcements. which had plainly stated
that Standard Oil was behind the enterprise and
had subscribed for and half millions of the
stock.
Poor Keenel Neither he nor I estimated rightly
the Indian nature of the men dealt with. There
came day soon afterward when the great plunger
sent round his check for the last share of the
Flower pool stock and with II a note of congratu-
lation to Mr.. Rogers. sat in the office of the
ter Of Standard oil when this letter and inclos-
to and left the room. returning few moments
later with a sheet of Standard OIL letter paper
which he tossed across the table for me to read
This the message:
You may cancel subscription of seven
and half millions 10 your rubber company. and
please announce to the public-or 1 wil-that we
will have nothing more to do with it.
1t q staggering blow to Keene. He the
result of his magnificent work fall and vanish like
q tower of cIoudiand vet he dared resent what
had been done to him.