Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-26
Multi-MilIionaire to
Make Home in
New York
John P. Gruet Seeking
Vengeance Because
He Lost Job
st. Louis Man Also After Senator
Baiey's Scalp-Interesting De-
tails of Three-Cornered
Fight
Special to The Herald.

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 25.-Henry Clay
Pierce multi-mllionaire chairman of
the board of directors of the Waters
Pierce Oil company, director in nu-
merous local corporations and financial
institutions, member of the exclusive
Country, st. Louis and MONDAY clubs
and owner of a magnificent mansion
in Vanderventer place, is no longer a
resident of St. Louis.
His permanent residence, according
to his son, Clay A. Pierce now presi-
dent of the Waters-Pierce Oil company,
is in New York. His home is at the
Waldorf Astoria
Missouri, Notwithstanding that he spent
many years of his life in St. Louis and
here laid the foundation of his present
great fortune. There is in pursuit of
Pierce a Nemesis-following him up
with the "reminiscences and swiftness
characteristic of the ancient goddess of
chastisement and vengeance.
John P. Gruet, for sixteen years the
trusted secretary of the Waters-Pierce
Ol COulpduyi lu6 CHlel lleulelldIJ VI
Pierce in the development of the oil
industry in the southwest, is the Mem
esis of the aristocratic multi-million-
aire. Gruet Is directly responsible for
-practfcuiiy all or the legal troubles in
which Pierce is involved, and his rev.
elations have drawn into the vortex
of a legislative investigation a mem
Der of the United States senate, whose
business relations with Pierce he has
disclosed.
Gruet Aided Hadley
When Attorney General Hadley be-
gan his crusade in Missouri against
the Waters-Pierce Oil company the
Standard of Indiana and the Republic
of Ohio charging them with being in
combination in restraint of trade,
Gruet was one of the first men to go
to his assistance He gave Hadley
documents which enabled the attorney
general to establish the fact that the
Standard Oil company of New Jersey
owned and controlled the three COM
panies which Hadley had assailed in
the courts. These two documents also
assisted the attorney general material
ly in proving the combination in re-
straint of trade-that is the division
of territory and the absolute sitting
to the respective subsidiary corpora
tions of the Standard OIL trust.
When Hadley's case was proven
Gruet's desire for vengeance had not
been satiated. He knew the condi-
tions in Texas, and volunteered to
furnish the attorney general of the
Lone Star state with evidence upon
which to base both criminal and civil
action against Pierce and the Waters
Pierce Oil company.
AS the result of Gruet'S disclosures in
Texas the Waters-Pierce Oil company
has been sued for penalties aggregating
more than Sc, 900, 900 and it's right to do
business in the state has been chal-
lenged; Pierce has been indicted for
perjury, the basis of the charge being
that he made an affidavit in 1900 to the
effect that the Waters-Pierce Oil COM
pany was not owned or controlled by
the Standard Oil trust or in any way
connected with or related to 1t, and
charges have been preferred against
Senator Joseph M. Bailey, which are
now being investigated by committee
of the Texas legislature, that he was
hired by Pierce to have the company
reinstated In Texas after the license had
been forfeited several years ago for vio-
lation of antitrust laws.
After Vengeance
A requisition from Gov. Campbell of
Texas, calling upon Gov. Folk to turn
under consideration in Jefferson City.
Gov. Campbell, according to press dis
patches, is also seeking to learn wheth-
er Gov. Hughes of New York will honor
a requisition for Pierce.
Gruet is playing the role of Nemesis
to both Pierce and Bailey for the sake
of vengeance-and because. too, of his
desire to help a prosecuting official of
- Texas earn the big fees which hang
upon the success OF the pending suit
against tie Waters Pierce Oil company.
The prosecuting attorney under Tex
as laws, who successfully prosecutes
a corporation for violation of the anti
trust laws. is entitled to 25 per cent of
the penalties collected as his fees. If
Judgment In the amount demanded by
the prosecuting attorney of Travis coun-
~ is allowed by the court the prosecut-
ing officer would receive about $780, 900
In fees.
Gruet with Standard OIL
John Pension Gruet. the Nemesis of
Pierce, is 81 years old and Is a native
or New Jersey. After being educated
In the public and high schools of New
ark he went to New York and became
a Wall street broker in the Gold Room
and Stock exchange in 1866. He con-
tinued in the brokerage business until
1886, when he went to the Standard oil
company as an auditor, remaining
there four years.
In 1890 he came to st. Louis as audit
or and director of the Waters Pierce
OIL company, was afterward made sec
(COntinued ON Page TwO.)