Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-09-26
MADE MILLIONAIRE
BY FAKE CUBA WAR
Frank Steinhart, Who Was
$1,000 Month Soldier, 10
Traction Magnate.

1880
of a suit filed in New York city against
Frank Steinhart by II. j. Reilly. a con-
tractor. Reilly vaguely threatens to
make this suit tell tales out of school
about certain affairs In Cuba where
Steinhart was consul general until
July l. when he became manager Of the
Havana Street Railway company.
Reilly claims that Steinhart owes him
some $35, 900 on a street railway deal
closed In April, while Steinhart was
still consul general.
There is a keen appetite in official
circles here for any light o N the career
OF the man who entered Cuba as a
private soldier with the invading army
of 1898. and who, In ten years. be-
came a millionaire and traction mag
rate. Steinhart Ia one soldier OF for
u II who has the fortune. His
capture of the Havan street railway
system in the panic OF asst years
Cuban revolution was as fine a piece
of inside financial strategy as one
Ould wish to see. He Is the man who
one time United States minister to
Cuba.
Touching tho Oil Trust.
lust now Steinhart represents the
big New York financial house OF Speyer
& Co. and hfs associates on his trips
to this country would seem to indicate
friendly relations with at least the
company. 1t is the inside story be-
mind this bare outline that Reilly
threatens to bring out In this suit Of
his.
steinhart has hardly yet reached
middle age. He is a man Of medium
haiUhf and hIIil1 n dark af1lrslV mr.
mer sort of man. He came originally
from Pennsylvania and he had been a
stenoHrapher when he enlisted in tho
regulars at Chicago for the Spanish
war. AS IL stenographer he was ma
turally picked out of the ranks for
company clerk and eventually. after
General Wood had been given supreme
control of things In Cuba. Steinhart
went into the headquarter offices on a
detail to pound a typewriter and an
swer Yes. sir" when he was spoken
to. There WAS about one chance In a
hundred that he would receive any per-
sonal notice from the governor general
of Cuba, but %Steinhart's whole career
In Cuba has been Il succession OF win
ing hundred to one shots. He Is not a
man who hides his light under a
bushel.
When Steinhart became consul gen
eral he found Herbert g. Squiers. the
United States minister. Diplomacy was
oQuieTb enU OF IL, OF course, WnllC inc
consul general was supposed to loo
after American business In Cuba and
after opportunities for more OF II.
Squiers was a graduate of West Point.
had been an officer in the famous Sew
enth cavalry. was down In the his
Pekin legation siege In 1900. and
Squiers was also very rich. He and
his wife were socially ambitious. d.
plomacy was their career" and they
preferred to be regarded as aristccrats.
Sympathy Impossible.
There could be no sympathy etween
Squiers and the rough and tumble
Steinhart. who slapped men on the
back at a first Introduction and asked
them what they would have to drink,
who was not rich but wanted to be and
who regarded the consu generalship az
= w%atchtower from which good things
might be discovered and subsequently
picked up. SQuiers was popular with
the OFFICIAL set in Havana. or at least
reasonably 80. but Steinhart knew ev-
erybody worth knowing by his front
name and could even pick out the par
entage Of Cuba's young hopefuls naked
In the streets OF the city.
Squiers had an acquaintanceship that
might have elected him president of q
Havana bank or the city's chamber Of
commerce. Steinhart could have run
for mayor of Havana and won hands
0D"U AVV 0ANA'A q s0tIAAS0HpCu ~
the start.
Real Coup d'Etat.
1t was at this time that the Cuban
liberals dug up their machetes and
rusty mausers and started their revolu-
ton. Estrada Palma and the whole
Cuban cabinet. fearful Of being shot
against a stone wall. came iutterins
begged him to take charge and a v
them. The revolutionists. VIII knew
and liked Steinhart. sent in word that
they did not want to buck the United
States government ana they would do
pretty much what he said.
Steinhart grinned cheerfully and
while he held the trembling admins
tration on the job by the scrun Of its
neck and the revolution at arms
length with his other hand on its
convention. which both sides beGged.
but no one in Cuba but Steinhar
knew that this American intervention
was coming and he kept his w com
sci.
Meanwhile the stock of the prontah nj.
Havana street railway system went
down. down. down. steinhart let thu
revolution light a few bonnres on the
very edge Of the city OF Havana and
the street railway stock tumbled some
more. When 1t hit rock bottom. ana
every stakeholder was desperately try
ing to let 60 of 1t with both hands.
Steinhart announced the coming armed
intervention. That day the stock skv-
rocketed In fine style. Tha day. too
some asitated Cuba fnanciers discov.
cred that steinhart a the stock, or
most OF 1t.
He had pulled off the only real conn
d'etat OF this opera bouffe revolution.
Now comes Reilly. who claims to have
! been In on some OF these Cuban trsc-
tion deals. and says Steinhart owes him
| $4,000 on an option that figured In n
OF them. 1t IL this suit to which COS
sippy Washington looks for some inter
L AafinU doAa liz ~ A1a>.la.-