Goldsboro semi-weekly argus., 1909-09-15
SEEN AT ADEN.
Hartman, Dssmed, Called
]. P. Morgan to
Conference.
Sick Man and Biggest Power in Wall
Street Discussed Matters of Ex-
treme Importance AMIGA
BILE Agreement Made.

BILE Agreement Made.
Arden, N Y, Sept IA mar
painting the castings of the windows
in Mary Harriman's ibarry in ArdeI
House a week ago last Thursday look
ed out and saw two men on the loggia
one story below him.
! They were seated face to face in
the warm sunlight and were conyers-
ing earnestly. He knew both. One
was seated in an invalid's wheeled
] chair, his lower limbs wrapped in a
steamer rug and light overcoat
thrown about his shoulders.
| This man was Edward II. Harri-
man.
The other was a many heavy of
body, with striking features In his
left hand he held a heavy black cigar
he had just removed from his lips.
The painter had worked for this man
| once.
He was ]. Pierpont Morgan
AS these men talked their gestures
showed plainly that the subject of
their conversation was something of
moment. To the painter this picture
meant nothing, and he went on paint
ing.
What this man really saw was a
conference between the two most
powerful men in American railroad
f1nance-one fearing death and the
other in the glow of health and
strength.
AS Mr.. Hartman spoke he seemed
to overcome his malady. Now and
then he would tap the palm Of his left
hand with the forefnger Of his right.
The other man listened attentively
and between puffs OF his cigar nodded
his head.
They were still talking earnestly
when two hours later the painter
went into another room. Probably he
was the sole witness to a scene where
eliminated the plan outlined exclu-
sively in the New York World yes
terday morning of the control by ].
of the Union Pacific, and the forma-
ton of the most tremendous railroad
combination in the history of the
world. Once Harriman's implacable
foe, the most powerful man in Wall
street, visited Arden at the invitation
of Mr.. Hartman.
1t was secret conference: cne that
had been planned and carried out
quickly with the consummate skill
that had marked all his great coups
in the railroad and financial world.
Mr. Hartman wanted to talk to Nor
rid of the newspaper representatives
who from the time of his return from
Europe had kept watch on his house
and every approach to it,
With Harrimanesque finesse he ac-
complished this. In a letter to them
he appealed to their generosity, prom
ising to keep them informed of his
physical condition if they would de-
part.
''Not for myself do I ask this" he
said "but that my friends be not sub
| jected to interviews when they visit
me-"
This ingenious request from a sick
man appealed to the editors of the
various New York newspapers and the
watch was withdrawn. The reporters
left on Monday of last week. Four
I days later, assured that they had gone
permanently, Mr.. Hartman received
| Morgan.
4
| What was Mr.. Harriman's motive in
| calling this conference at time when
he knew he was a doomed man? Did
he call Mr.. Morgan to defy him or to
/ ask a favor. Did he fear that the
market for Union Pacific securities
would be, raided when 1t had been
shorn of the protection of his strong
hand and brain, and that in that pro-
cess the "bloodhounds" of Wal street
as he called them, would devour the
hosts of their small stockholders who
had invested money solely through
their confidence in him? Or was it {
} more selfish motive, due to tie knowI
edge of his increasing weakness anC
the desire to protect his own by com
pact with his powerful rival, although
this might mean the overthrow of hi
former business associates?
These are the questions which per
sons well informed are asking eacl
} other here today. 1t is known tha
Morgan is practically in control Q
Union Pacific, the keystone in tn
mammoth railroad structure. to tn
erection of which Hartman devote
his life and on the steps of which h
!. eventually laid it down. It is ais
8 known that Morgan's supremacy cam
8 Immediately after the tense seen
6 witnessed by the painter on fFe 1oggi
of the Hartman home on Tower Hill