New-York tribune., 1906-08-24
AL ADAMS BIG LOSER.
RITTER BADLY BITTEN.
Erpe77ence scith VI. J. Sage s Co.
i Cost Him a Million.

Al Adams who aeeced thousands thousands
through The policy games which finally landed him
sn Sing Sing. appears to have been feeced quite
=. badiv when he turned some other fellows
gambling device. The assertion was made conf
IDENTIFY Yesterday by those who seemed 90 be thor
oushly conversant with the dealings Of ~ ]. Sage
e Co. the failed bucket shop which Adams backed
and other institutions Of a similar nature, mat
probably his experience with the Wall Street bubble
had cost hir1 from s1.OOO.Ooo 10 sl.5o0.OOO. They
were confident that the Sage 81 Co. concern had not
icst more than about one-tlsrd that sum.
An Official statement issued last evening by
William Betterly the assignee OF the firm, placing
i,s liabilities sS3OOOO. a more liberal estimate
placed them inside Of s5OOOOO These liabilities are
supposed 70. be made up Of the balances shown by
the Sage firms sheets due 20 its out-of- town
correspondents. BetteFly. the assignee. was the
chief clerk al the Jersey City Office which was the
clearing house wire centre for the chain Of small
bucket shops. He said:
In checking up the books of N. J. Sage G. Co. i
snd liabilities Of $3.50 900. The assets amount 10
United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company OF
s ssoint name name of myself and the bonding company.
defT comnsnT ~ e nn 1 9e heiG by me I and the
psny has been here to-day, and took joint charge
The most tangible asset of the concern appears
20 be some s25,Oo0 which Is in the First National
Bank OF Jersey City. This has been attached by
Betteriy- Other sums amounting 70 some $4,000
are said 10 be held IN various country banks to the
credit Of Sage Co. This. the assignee OF the firm
indicates will in time go TO the creditors Of the
defunct concern. which gives point to state
fnent by Al Adams jr.. who says that he is the
chief creditor. This declaration chiefly signih-
cant for its enuncation Of the following sentf-
nnents:
Ny father. Al Adams sr. had no interest what
ever in the corporation of NJ J. Sage & Co
se was not stockholder in the corporation nor
queer nor director He was not esen creditor OF
Sns COMPANY and was never in any way, direct or
only Al Adams in any way interested in the cor
poration and my interest was solely that of cred
the chief loser by the failure anu
Adams's announcement absolving his father from
connection with the bucket shop aroused much
interest among certain individuals who have been
watching the course Of Sage & Co. rather close
~ Adams. jr.. with Sage. had been recognized
as the ruling destines of the big shop but Adams
the elder, before he went TO Mexico TO watch his
Suanajuaro Amalgamated Gold Mining Company
property in which some of the Sage people also
We're interested. had paid frequent visits to the
Jersey City Offices of the bucket shop. According
20 commonly accepted reports in the financial dis
Uict he went into the Sage concern just after he
left Sing Sing, watched about 81 100000 disspate it.
self in the course of year, saw it recovered and
lost again. almost recovered and again vanish and
finally sent terse message, saying. in effect "As-
sign; nothing more coming from me-"
When the Sage concern was started. some two
years ago. Maurice J. Sage was fresh from a few
disastrous ventures in small bucket shops in his
own name and those of other persons He had no
capital Charles W Cannon out of a job
through the Woodend smash and the failure of
Jongley, Hale Co. Edward J. Bradbury, the sec
retary Of Sage Co. also was looking for a profit
able connection about that lime Now, men in the
financial district say. all prosperous. their
money evidently having come from the Sage & Co
connection. Sage himself is said TO live in expen-
sive style at Bath Beach, maintaining two auto
mobiles while Cannon and Bradbury are estimated
20 have several hundred thousand dollars apiece.
As operated by them and young Adams who was
credited with being the IMAM higher up in the
eompany's affairs Sage & Co was the biggest
bucket shop in the country. It had twenty wires
into The Jersey City clearing house. and 165
spoudents were scattered through the country. The
wire service TO the South alone said TO cost
$4,000 year. No branch housese were maintained
"a feature distinct the usual bucket shop
procedure. but, like the Adams chain Of policy
shops local correspondents. operating under their
own names sent their orders 70 Sage & Co; where
local concerns clearing its sheets with the local
firm each night. The profits deposited by the
q Co
One of the men connected with Sage & Co de-
clared yesterday that absolutely no exchange con
nection was maintained by the firm; We didn't
Street men said that certain Stock Exchange
hedge" when the bets its sheets toe
neaylly agalnSL ga. i ,5 Just as bo9kTakeT would
other bookmaker
Because Of the nature Of the concerns business i
would be impossible 10 ascertain with any degree
accuracy the number OF persons hit by the stoppag
Of business. The correspondents were scattered
through New Jersey, Pennsy ylvania. Maine Massa
ehusetts. Rhode Island and Connecticut, and
few in New York and Ohio. They did not go ives
OF Cleveland. Each correspondent had his own eli
entele. booked their orders and sent them to tn
Sage headquarters, first in New York, and later i
Jersey City but such orders were entered on tn
Sage books under tho local firms name, and no at
tachmenr be laid by any of those individual
against the Sage assets. The Sage creditors mus
be among the local bucket shops. Perhaps asdozel
aggFieVed customers visited the Sage offices her
and in Jersey city yesterday.
An opinion Vouchsafed IN usually well in
formed quarters last night that while the Sag
firm might have suffered. according to its books
~ the real truth could be shown il wC uld appea
that somebody had been victimzed and that tn
firm actually had not been badly on the wrenl
side Of the market According to gossip in tn
financial district. Cannon had told 3n Intimate tina
up in Pennsylvania, but that the old man
had refused TO put up any more Anothei bit o
gossip which ioated up from the waves mes oy IN
stoppage Of business the remark o. & maj
who had kept his eye the concerns affairs tha
he had put the old wise ~
Wan Street observers Of bucket shop habits ar
wondering if a frequent habit among bucket shop
Of entering fake orders would be disclosed in thu
Sage & Co. affair. This habit. il was explained
consisted in having a telegraph operator in tn
wire centre or clearing house, subsidized by tn
flake order would be made out in the bucket shol
itself. showing A good pl oft TO dummy. il woul6
be passed through the books. and the profit eventu
ally drawn Egy the perperator Of the trick and MI
operator accompice.