Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-02-26
MORSE CONTROLS
ATLANTIC COAST
q
Millionaire Ship Magnate
Is an Enigma to Wall
Street
special to Evening Keller.

quarter of a century ago, a captain
of industry" controlling practically
every steamship line from New Bruins
wick to the Gulf, epitomizes the ca
reer of Charles Wyman Morse, whose
recent ventures have again caused
New York financiers to sit up and take
notice.
The methods and successes of
Morse-ice king, owner of a chain OF
banks, and steamship magnate-can
be compared only with the amazing
celebrity, secrecy and force with which
e. H. Hartman has conducted his un-
paralleled campaign in the railroad
world.
Buys Many Steamship Lines.
Mr.. Morse has been baked for the
time being in his efforts to buy from
the New Haven railroad their line OF
Sound steamers.
But it is believed he will ultimately
attain his object, for he usually gets
the lines of steamships plying the Hud-
son river.
In 1901 he picked UP the Boston &
Kennebeck Steamship company, and
then the International Steamship COM
pany. which put him in control OF all
the lines running out of Boston to
the Maine coast
His next ACQUISITION was the splendid
Metropolitan Steamship company, OPP
Grating between Boston and New
York to the south. This made his
steamship holdings greater than those
Of any other man In the country.
10 Still an Enigma.
Should his negotiations with the
New Haven company terminate suc-
cessfully Mr.. Morse win probably
bring all his various holdings under
the control OF one parent company,
which may possibly be the Hudson
River Steamboat company. That would
probably mean a capitalization some
what in excess Of s1oO.0oO.OoO.
i With ali his big deals and all his
successes. Morse still remains some
what of an enigma to New York flnan-
ciers. They have never been able to
exactly size him up.
They are even yet in doubt as to
whether he is to be the real and per-
manent force in the financial world OF
the metropolis, or whether. simply
through combination OF shrewdness
and good luck. he has broken into the
multi millionaire class with his dol
lars as Jimmy, but lacking the per-
sonal force and character necessary
to place a man on that financial plane
now occupied by less than a dozen
New Workers.
First Buys Ice Plants.
While he had been measuraply well
known here and well thought of, fol
same years, Mr.. Morse flashed into
the game rather spectacularly back in
1893 when he took over most of the
ice companies and got himself and his
business talked about not a little.
The revelations at that time were
of character to cause head-shakes
among the older and more conserva-
tive fnanciers.
! While Morse wasn't born with "the
gold spoon, in his mouth" there were
in his family financial independence,
thrift, business ability and business
reputation. So he had everything nee
essary to give him a good start in the
world. He first saw the light in Bath,
Maine, in 1856.
For time he was engaged with his
father who was in the tow-boat BUSH
ness on the Kennebec. But this was
too slow for Charlie" and he came
to New York in the early eighties to
seek wider field for his energies.
During the early years of his resi-
dence in this city he speculated in ice
by the cargo, in hard-pine cargos, in
pieces" Of schooners and tugs and
steamers, and meanwhile took his
father and other relatives along easy
street with him.
They came to own a big feet of
ocean carriers and ocean tugs, and
their ice interests were vastly ex-
pended.
Varied Matrimonial Career.
When married. shortly after coming
to New York, he was already a rich
man, and not eight years out of COL
lege either.
His wife was a Miss Hussey of
Brooklyn. They made their home IN
Brooklyn and lived in good style. But
Morse was bound up in business