The San Francisco call., 1906-08-12

They did.
Keene was a bull. and they were
bearing stocks to beat the band at this
moment of which I speak. Finally. one
| evening after Keen9 had been faiRsy
caught. making deliveries all day and
losing more than he had, being called
upon for more and more margin on the
stocks he was carrying. he finally at
the closing hour knew that he was
ruined unless he could raise a lot OF
cash-a million beyond what he was In
any way able to raise.
The heat Of the battle ragged IN tbs
/ Windsor that evening. All the princf-
pals were on hand. Jim Keene. who
was never known to De q coward, was
there to face his enemies. The men
who had beaten him and with whom he
had been battling were so intimately
related In a business way with the
Goulds that Sage. was not thought OF
az possible last resort in time OF need
for Keene.
No one thought thar sage would help
him. No one knew that Keene could
put up enough security TO satisfy Sage.
and IL was known that Sage was so
close to the Goulds that every one
thought that Sage would not bother
with this particular nsht.
| Keene was around there. and the re-
marks along the. Windsor corridors
were about at ths stage when real
I
good fight against heavy odds.
| The fellows of. the street who had
worsted him were growing to a quietly
exasperating extent when in walked
| your Uncle Russell. tai1 as a sycamore
\ tree and calm as an onion. with the
potential strength OF the same vegeta-
/ BILE inherent in his gait. his oily ap-
/ proach. his air ,oe Innocence and un-i
/ obtrusive interest in the world gem
orally and the possible topics of cur
rent conversation among the excited
threng in that historic hotel Office
/ You would not have known from his
deneanor that he had ever heard OF
stocks or the money market. He was
asttounded to hear that James r.
Keene was driven to the wall and
would have. TO go under entirely at the
| opening gong at 10 o'clock the next
morning.
But Of course the old fellow knew
to the minutest detail how Keene stood,
what Keepe had. what Keene had lost,
what Keene had been doing all day and
how desperate Keenes position was at
that hour: Sage had made up his mind
what he would do before he had
stepped cut Of his own house at Fifth
avenue and Forty-second street to go
over to the Windsor.
After a little while Keene sat down
and talked a few moments to Sage. An
ominous hush came over everybody
during those few moments. Just the
exchange of a few words. but - was
enough for James R. Keene and Rus
sell Sage to arrive at a bargain @..ore-
by Sage agreed TO advance Keene a
clean 81 100000 IN cash the following
morning and as much more as he
needed. il he did need 1t. at-at a rate
OF interest no one on this earth save
Keene will ever know.
Sage never told bis wife what he
don't suppose he cared much to view
the rate. as such. himself The aggre-
gate amount that he gained as IL
poured into his repositories was enough
for him TO know or think Of
Suddenly Keene walked quickly for
ward and confronted the men in the
Windsor Hotel lobby. saying:
II will meet all my obligations
have won over you. You thought you
had me, but you haven't"
That was the only time ever saw
RUSSELL Sage excited TO an unusual de-
gree.
yes He can have million from
me. Yes. two of them IL he needs 1t.
I'll let him have it-now, tomorrow
morning. at any time he wants It,"
That completely settled It
1t was as potent as the sukase OF an
Emperor. Every one there knew that
Keene, was saved Every one knew that
had agreed to let Keene borrow all he
needed to pay all his obligations. What
the transaction cost Keene no one could
conjecture. but II is probable that Sage
netted at least a half-million dollars
for himself in those few moments OF
conversation with James r. Keene on
the old leather sofa at the Windsor
Hotel that evening
Eeene has lost and won several for
tunes since that eventful night in 1880.
but II Is sure that he never went
through any more trying moments and
never came so near being completely
done up by his antagonists than he did
In 1850. Sage saved him. and Sage was
we'll paid for It.
That Is the detracting element in
every episode wherein you ind your
self saying that Sage saved anybody or
any interest. Look into 10 closely and
you will find that he was well paid for
saying 1T. That was his power. He had
the cash. He was the pawnbroker for
Wall street. His puts" his calls. his
spreads on the market constituted
only a convenient method for his maxi
ing a book on the market
But he would never help any ons
outright as matter OF genial brother
Iy humanitarianism- He positively had
brought himself to consider II a crims
to give a penny to a beggar. That was
encouraging poverty and destitution.
His Wtfe agreed with MIN, IN 50 Tar as
her spoken words went. but I believe
she will get over that after a while
Mr.. Sage was not a normal man as re-
CARDS the giving OF money for any pur-
pose. Mrs Sage grew to. be like him
from constant association She In like
ly to resume a normal attitude In this
respect as time goes on. To be identi-
fed with charities and have Mrs. Sage
do plenty of executive work IN ths
conduct Of organized charities was
their approved rule. They liked to see
the Sage name displayed In tie daily
newspapers In connection with any ap-
proYed charity.
In the lingering days OF extreme ags
1T seems that Mr.. Sage stretched his
ideas and loossned up slightly in his
apparent benefaetions to the extent OF
actually parting with some real cash.
This. / consider. was a noteworthy
Concession on his part. and a. remark
able change of heart, In 50 tar as he
was concerned.
BY temperament and nature he was
born coward When he held his
clerk. Narcrosse. between himself and
a bomb. and then refused to pay the
widow, proved that. No one who was