The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-06-26

ness. His puts and calls were peddled
through his agents indirectly. Mr..
Sage has been known to put out puts
and calls in great quantities in order
/ to depress a stock or elevate it-mak-
ing a vast profit by taking advantage
in the open market of the price move
ments which he had thus brought about
at small expense
Mr. Sage has all of the love
for money in the concrete which
might be predicated of his life
and habits. However. much he may
share with other millonaires the liking
for vast quantities of stocks and bonds
which water and legislation may cor
rupt or syndicates break through and
steal, Mr. Sage pins his faith, and al
ways has pinned it, to actual specie.
He has under lock and key and within
his reach more ready money than any,
other man in this country-probably
more than any other man in the world.
1t IS at the service of any one who will
pay for the use of il and who can salts
fy Mr.. Sage that it will be returned
promptly and in full. His transactions
are for the most part made in secret.
But now and then a typical one comes
out in the courts. 1t is but a few years
since one White, of Boston, money
less person, made a bid for 81, 500, 900
worth of government bonds of the is
sue of 1896. The bonds were awarded
10 White, who, if he had only had the
money to pay for them, could have re-
sold them Immediately at a profit of
$4,000. A Boston bank entered into ne
g0tiations with White-slow and pom
derous negotiations. Emissaries from
Russell Sage appeared before the trans
actions We're completed, Offering to take
the whole difficulty out of Mr. Whites
way for the paltry considera ton of
$1,000 It is of such methods and such
devices that the history of Mr. Sage's
bioodless alliances with Jay Gould and
other fnanciers and freebooters of the
Wall Street history must be written if
it is written. But the tune of his soul
is always on one melancholy string
money, more money, my money!
! 1t would be wrong to describe Mr..
Sage as friendless. But his friends are
to be looked for among those who, like
the horses and children, are in no way
potentially hostile to his fixed life CAM
paign. There is no room left in his
soul or his heart apparently for the
big human feelings. Only three times
in the public prints has it been re-
corded that Mr.. Sage openly gave way
to his feelings. When Grant & Ward
failed in 1884, Wall Street descended
upon Mr.. Sage with puts and calls
which meant that he must paw out
about $S,000,000 He barricaded his
doors and summoned the policeI Jay
Gould came over and took charge of the
office and fairly blackguarded the old
man into meeting his obliga tions 1t
was years before Mr. Sage recovered
i,,
than scalp the market here and there
and lend gold and silver at high in
terest on unquestionable security
Norcross, the maniac, exploded a
satchel fun Of nitro-glycerine at Mr.
Sages feet. The millionaire escaped
with slight injuries, but he moved in
terror for months and esta blished
guard and a succession of steel and
netting defences around his office
Joseph II. Choate, in the course of the
suit of Laidlaw, a rnessenge to re-
cover damages because Mr.. Sage had
grabbed him and had used him as
shield from the explosion OF the nitro
glycerine, put Mr.. Sage to such a tor
ture of sarcasm and satire that the old
man timorously and at last angrfIy
cried to the court for protection. That
he showed human Weaknesses on these
these are the Weaknesses. perhaps.
not of strong man, but certainly of
leathery one.
Mr.. Sage was married to a Miss
Winnie of Troy in 1871. She died in
1867 and within two years he married
his present wife who was her school
mate and friend. Mrs. Sage has been
far more sensitive to the ridfcule and
the envy which have grown up around
her husband than he is himself What
a woman can do. by tact and persever-
ance and marvellous ingenuity. she has
done to make the name of Sage known
for generosity and for, charity. She has
made his home comfortable: a COM
Portable home is worth a high price.
! therefore perhaps she is humored in
her eEtravags noes in educa tional prof.
ects and in like good works
{ Mr.. Sage's birthdays are always no
ticed by the newspapers. The best
picture of the home life which has
grown out of his wears OF scra ming and