The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1909-09-10

THE = RM0 llI " 80 W
track. in bad physical silaIe, WAS ons
OF the best money fers IN the c-oliii.
TT. Hartman want ed; it 80 did the
.Gnulds the STANDARD OH people atid
other bi g INTEREST," B. Blackstone
3of; Chicago was It's pres lid emit He ftnSi
Kept aale road free fr1zn the ti0nal
frafilc arrange and the road was
an 81 buEabpo by Other roads;
Blackstone was an ODD imam
tcier. He knew what road VIA
worth, and he w0u1in.t slcr3lice IT,
He tfpn1atsd that before he would
sell ,he must be given the fun mari1et
value for Ibis own stock and that every
either stockhoid err Who so desired
mus. be allowed to sell his stock at
the same price. Otherwise. -tkere
was nothing doing = ", 81
I 1T remained for Hartman. "the
great unknDwn..H but Hartman, the
great borrower" to go into the mar.
ketanl get hold of S42,O 00, 900 In cold
casll-an unthinkable sum in those
days-to bury the road. N
It was an eye-opener for tie big III
nancfers. aBut Hartman went still
further. He. issued mil hons and mil:
liens :of dollars worth of Improvement
bombs which she sold to himself and!
his friends, and cleared up $40. 900 900
on the sale. When The was through.
the road had cost him but $12 ,000, 600
IN the two years he was in ic.1arse so9
the road $57 .000. 900 had faded away,
by such methods of high :financlerinE
that the Illinois courts took up the
matter! and kept up an Investigation
for two years. Nothing came of the
however, nor did the.
millions leave the strong boxes OF Hart
riman y, .ti 53.
WE'LL street STOOD amazed and wont
dere,l what tho great borrower.
would do next. i For years 1t heard
nothing or the quiet little man with
the great big glasses. Is, 81. [ I
But in 1898 Hartman electrified the
financial world with the announce.
ment that he, with Kuhn, Loeb & Go, |.
intended: recognizing the Union, Pa
ciflc This road. built with 1.-THE ffnan-
cfal help Of the federal government,
watch. to put 1t mildly. was most gen.
erous. had fallen into rut. 1t owed
the government $4,000. 900. which 1t
could not pay. The government hntl
foreclosed Its mortgage and was run
ming the 'road by receivership. Morgan
had tried to make the road success
and had failed. Wall street thought
Harriman was doomed. !,
Hartman began TO buy the stock OF;
the road wnen 1t was selling at Sc a.
share. and kept ON buying. I'm two
years he had the stock selling Mt 81 SO
q share. 4 In n few more years 1t was
H. n.vxsx.
lions and millions of dollars OF com
mon stock. -.,.i !
The road had great hamdicnp: IT.
had no. ocean outlet. 1T extended only
from Kansas City to Ogden. Hnrri!
man wanted an ocean outlet. 1t was
not long before 1t was announced that
the Union Pacific had taken over the
Oregon Railway and Navigation Co.
and then the Oregon Short Line. He
had reached the Pacific. ~.
He turned south from Oregon. f!ol-
lis P. Huntington was quietly resting
on the laurels ne had won by building
the Southern Pacific anil the Central
Pacific. Hartman motlestly asked for
the ,iCenarl Pacific. running from Oil-
lien to San Francisco: Huntington re-
fused to let him have It, Hartman set
about to build line 10 parallel It.
died and the tluff worked
with his heirs. and Hartman took
over .ther Southern Pacific and the
Central Pacific, $500 miles OF slisten-
Ing rails at one fell swoop--and all On;
a, bluff.
Then came the proposed .mergar|
which "Jim" Hill and Morgan scontenl-
plated with the Northern Pacific, the
Great .Nothorn ); and the. Burlington:
The merger 4imDeriled- Hartman. Hell
asked to be allowed to get
In -on it.. HE was turned down.
Wall Street was then treated to the
most spectacular fight for railroad col:|
troll the fworld ever saw. and the stock
to the widest day in its his
tory. l.. Hartman didn't ordinarily like
a fight In the open. but he went into
this one with a vengeance.
The fight conferred in the stock EI.
change for til stock of the Northern
change for the stock Of the Northe.R
natlroad builder. and Morgan. the ban:)
Ter. while on the other stool the silent |
railroad wizard Hartman, and hisi
powerful! Silent partners
1T was a, frightful day when the two
rreat forces clashed In the narrow con-
zines OF the stock exchange. Hartman
literally unloaded his millions into the
market with apparent reckless aban-
lon. The force of his gold won. He
vas 4pitlless. He had been denied the
light to participate in tho merger and
lis foes were going to pay him well
or the refusal. Cruelty be forced lip
he price ,nt@ the stock. From 100 he
lrove the price to 200. to 800. to 400;
Ie knew mo compassion. Fortunes
we're dwindling; some were gone. up.
IN. up, hessent Northern Pacific. It
cached 800. Fortunes were gone.
3rok erage houses suspended. Up went