The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-04
Millionaire Has Almost ~0n
Gack His Zig Fortune
MADE MONEY IN PRISON
Morse Says He VIII Be Acquitted In
Higher Court and Attributes His
Troubles to Action on the Part
of Roosevelt.

New York. October 3.-Cspecial)-
Charles w. Morse is practically on his
feet again. The man who is under SEN
tence of 10 years in prison and is out on
bail awaiting a new trial. and who lost
81, 100000 in the panic of 1907, owes only
$50o,000. 1t was said when his fortune was
wiped out that he owed nearly S,OO00OO
In three and one-half months, he says,
he has paid 80 odd per cent of his in
debtedness and owes only $500,OOO
To the ordinary man under 15-year
sentence and with a debt of $5O0.OOO there
would be little sunshine in the world. To
Morse the world appears rosy, and he is
confident that he will retrieve his fortune.
Since he was released from prison on
June 13 last he has had one days vaca-
tion. That was on Friday, when he went
up the Hudson on the steamer c. W.
Morse and viewed the naval parade Some
persons thought Morse took vacation
when he left the city and went to Bath
Me-. in July, after his release from the
Tombs, but ne did not. On the way to
Maine he was planning and while there
he formed s1O,000000 corporation, about
which there was some mystery.
Bath, Me-, never lost confidence in
Morse, and he went there and received
fair amount of money and a promise of
more to help him along with his invest
ment enterprises.
Fight Against Odds.
While he was in the Tombs it was stat
ed that Morse was making a fight for a
fortune. With his back against the pris-
on doors and facing the sentence of 15
years. 1t is declared he laid the plans
for acquiring the money he has made be-
fore and since his release.
From his cell he directed operations in
! Wall street, and made money. AS fast
as he made it he settled wit'l creditors.
That Morse, who went 10 Jail practically
penniess, was paying his debts was
known in Wall street before his release.
and those who did not like him admitted
that it was plucky for a man who, shut
out from the world, still continued to
battle on and make good.
What Morse did while in the Tombs for
seven and one-half months had a great
deal to do with the readiness with which
his bail bond was furnished when the
court agreed to accept 1t. Several persons
were willing to go it all, but the court
refused and the result was nearly a score
of signatures, most of them for $5oO0
Victim of Big Stick.
It was while in the Tombs that Morse
gave out an interview in which he de-
cared he was the victim of the "Big
Stick Morse said he was being hound
ed while in the Tombs.
1t was upon the deck of the steamboat
c. w. Morse, where he was viewing the
naval parade with his wife and daughter,
that Mr. Morse talked about his debts
to reporter.
The conversation was opened by a ques-
tion whether he expected to return to
Jail on October 8, when his bail bond ex-
pred His appeal will be heard October IL
before the United States circuit court
He said mo: my counsel, Mr.. Little
ton, assures me that my chances of ac-
quittal are excellent"
Morse was told that his friends said
that he had raised between S.O00,0Oo and
S. 900, 900 since his release and had applied
1t to his debts.
''The amount is substantially correct
was the reply Continuing, he said:
ut is too early to tell how I have made
money this summer. In fact it Is too
early to go into any detail The score is
not yet wiped out. When it is then 1
can talk.
Did Nothing Wrong.
Il have been made the victim of a
system under which national banks of the
country operate I did nothing wrong
and the change in public feeling since /
was prosecuted has come from q better
understanding of the transactions out of
which the indictment grew"
Asked whether he thought personal or
financial enemies were behind his indict-
ment, Mr. Morse said;
mo: the time was ripe for the govern
ment to make an example of someone and
I was chosen, / feel sure, at the per-
sonal direction of Mr.. Roosevelt.
II am certain that 1 could guarantee
to convict the officials of almost any ma
tional bank in the United States upon the
same grounds that myself was convicted
upon, not because they are guilty of
wrong doing, but because they all commit
the same technical offenses that were
charged to me. The things / did ara
generally practiced and in the eyes of
national bankers do not constitute an
offense.'