The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-01

w VINO made flying leap to fame
by spending S42. 900 on newspaper
advertisements last Tuesday, simply TO
pEDilcly dGnoUnCe Thomas w. Lawson
as liar. fakir and charlatan, is a
curious tumble of Bat MdstersOn and
j. Pierpont Morgan.
He came to New York four years
ago. the sole owner of a property
which in 1902 had an actual market
value of S3S,016,O00. Today his real
friends hate to think of how much he
has got left.
Wall street has been a terribly costly
venture with him. His money has been
taken away from him in wads that
would Stagger half a dozen national
banks He boosted on Tuesday that
he had SIS 600 900 left to fight Lawson.
on Thursday he admitted that the two
days Of the Lawson slump IN Greene
Consolidated Copper had cost him e1l
actly 81, lA3, 32S.11- At that time he de-
ciared he had $5,0O0,000 left TO fight
Lawson.
Where all his millions have gone is
no secret to the men who have followed
his Wall street career closely. Many of
them regard him as the most colossal
angel" that ever got south Of Pine
street The estimates that these men
place upon the remnant of his wealth
do not tally with the most recent of his
own figures. They are lower by
wide margin.
His title of colonel is purely a cour-
tesy. 1t was given him when with his
sudden and stupendOus bound TO en-
OrmOuS riches he abandoned the less
conventional sObriquet Of Bronco
BILL by which he was known In
q century.
An Old Indian Fighter.
Colonel Greene is IS years old. He
was born in Westchester county, a
few miles above the present New York
City line. his family being very nice
people, but not distinguished in any
way. He got the western fever before
he reached the age OF manhood and
finally drifted to southern Arizona,
not far from the Mexican line Bisbee,
a little town forty miles from the line,
was the metropolis which knew him
best until he became thirty-time mil
lionaire-
People who thought the colonel suf-
fered with cold feet" when he failed
10 go TO LawsOn's Boston office on
schedule time. and characterized him
As a ''four-fiushing bad man." made
mistake
He has a number of absurd hangers
on and they tell absurd stories about
his ability as gun fighter, his courage,
nerve, etc. Conservative men who
knew him in the old days in Arizona
declare that while these stories are
ridiculous the colonel was as good an
all round man as the average expert
plainsman. He could shoot with the
bt-SL OF LneIn. rue With any OF them,
gamble with the nerviest of them, and
never showed the white feather in
times of stress. He herded cattle in
dangerous Indian country, and twenty
years ago shot at Indians and was shot
at by Indians times innumeTabIe.
Unlike Mr.. Lawson his friends do not
undertake to say how many: if any
nOtcheS he Is entitled to wear on his
gun. Lawson says Of four men that
he killed two We're shot in the back. If
he GNn1 an ~lsT,.I In 10 Ii
friends don't admit that he did they
say the colonel was justified, that he
was up against men who would have
shot him in the back if they could have
got him first.
One of the absurd stories told about
the colonel is this: The end Of the sec
ond finger of his left hand is missing.
y bullet took it off. In one of his In
dian fights twenty odd years ago he
was surrounded by a small band The
firing brought his cowboy friends up
on the gallon. They found him lying
dazed in the grass behind his dead
horse. He was wounded in two or
three places, one of the wounds being
On the finger. \ count Of dead IN
dams was made on the line of the cir
Gle which the attacking party made.
Thirteen corpses was the total.
Is a Great Spender.
Colonel Greene is anything but the
I1l2n
living, rich food and the luxurious life
of Il multi-millionaire in this city dur
Ing the past four years has piled noun
taius of fat on him. He is about >
feet 10 inches tail and weighs go
POUNDS or more. He is not only fat
he is flabby- Any exertion makes him
puff rheumatism 2ssaiIs him at
times He has a rich fIorid color, not
the kind due to outdoor life. but to n
hbersl patronage of a generously
equipped table.
The colonel is good natured, but CX-
plosive- In the company of million
aires he affects the manners of the
plainsman- In the company OF Ordin-
airy mortals he affects the manners of
the millionaire; the solid substantial
man of weighty business affairs: the
finaucier whose utterances are Of deep
import to the Wall street world
Here is the way the colonel came to
De the owner Of property that had a
value Of S5S,O0o.O00 and more. Just
across the Mexican line from southern
Arizona was a great tract of pasture
land which was purchased in 1888 by
"a syndicate Of Californiaus headed by
United States Senator George G. Per
kinS.
There were number OF ranches on
the property One of them was called
the Cananea- The land was in the
state Of Sonora. Year after year the
land afforded fair grazing for the cat
lie kept upon il.
In the latter part Of the nineties
'BrOnchO Bill Greene had amassed
enough money to give up cattle herd
ing and to purchase a small ranch Of
his own in southern Arizano close TO
the Mexican line His ranch pros
pered and ne began to pile up money
Ia his varie9ated lie he had picked
up practical knowledge of mining
and the value Of ore.
There is peculiar law in Mexico
Grants to pasture lands, such as the
Perkins syndicate had obtained do
not carry with them title to certain
minerals which may be found on the
land, such as copper gold or silver.
And person can go on to private lands
and locate for gold, silver and copper
II he finds il ne can put in a claim for
the land All that he has 10 do is TO
pay fair price based upon its value
as a pasture. Should the owner refuse
TO sell he can get possession by con-
demnation proceedings after paying a
nominal price.
Copper on Neighbours Land.
Greene's little ranch was on the Ari-
IONA side of the line. the pasture land
of the Perkins syndicate was on the
Mexican side. Greene frequently rode
over the TvOuprfv Of his naf~bHor= T.,