The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-02-16
Called as Witness as to
Hooking Coal Pool.
COLLEAGUES GREEDY, Hf SAYS
Stock Was Too High, He Declares,
and He Told Them to Sell, but
They Kicked and Doomed
the Stock Until 1t Broke.

New York. Feb. l5.-JameS X. heene,
the veteran Wall street operator. was
raging and defiant witness at the III
quiry before United States Commits
sioner Alexander into the collapse of
the Columbus and Hooking Coal and
Iron pool, which carried down three
big stock Exchange firms, with liabilt-
ties aggregating ST.O00,O0O. Mr.. keene
was in court on subpoena obtained
by Receiver Ernst of the bankrupt
firm of j. NJ. Fiske & Co.
Mr.. Keene was calm enough AT
times in the searching inquiry to give
interesting details of the working of
the pools. He was ready to quit boost
ing Hooking, he said. when he sold
out pool No. / with the stock around
60.
81 told the members of the pool that
they would have 10 let me close il out
at that figure, as it was far too high
he declared. but some of them
thought they knew much more than
did. They were so greedy they kicked,
and so pool No. was formed, and the
price went up to "a before the collapse
came"
Eeene said he had an interest in
both pools besides being the manager,
but he refused to permit an eXamina-
ton of his books by an expert ac-
countant
Mr.. Keene positively denied the re-
ports that he had sold the stock short
Il; ha
price up for the members Of the pool.
81 sold no Hooking stock short lndi-
vidually. either directly or indirectly"
he said.
The first pool cleared up quarter
of a million dollars, of which he
''made a fair sum" Il told all of the
members of the pool to sell out at co."
he said. "At that figure the stock was
TOO high. But they thought they knew
more than me and they they could
make million. and they lost"
Mr. Keene said he was manager of
two pools which had been formed to
deal in Columbus and Hooking stock,
but denied that he had any written
agreement to carry the stock to par.
When asked when pool No. l was
fOrrfled Mr.. Keene produced copy of
the pool agreement He refused to say
who the members of the pool were,
declaring that the agreement spoke for
itself. Pool No was formed In
March. 1909.
WAS there subsequent agreement
to extend pool No. / to March, 1902"
asked Mr.. Wolf.
The witness. after some pressing.
admitted that such an agreement had
been reached In reply to further
questions concerning the members of
the pool Mr.. Keene shouted:
81 have nothing but copies of the
agreements. AS far as I am able to
md out. they ought TO cover all you
want TO know. Read them Don't ask
me questions about them"
Mr.. Wolf then asked about pool No.
2. Mr.. Hanford produced a copy OF
this agreement and handed II TO the
witness. Mr.. Keene cOntemptuously
tossed it to Mr. Wolf.
Did you hold any Columbus and
Hooking stock?" Mr.. Wolf asked.
Il had $500 shares which | bought
two years before pool No. l was form
ed"
Have you those shares nowT'
NO. sold them in December,
1909"
What did you pay for them. and
what did you sell them for?"
Mr.. Keene actually gasped for
breath. He pulled the lapels of his
fur Overcoat apart and pulled them to-
gether again and appeared to have diff
ficulty in remaining in his chair.
That is none Of your business" he
replied. Il knew this was nothing but
fishing eXcursion-a sneaking fish
ing excursion. What ] paid for that
stock or sold it for has nothing to do
with this inquiry"
Mr.. Keene said he did not know how
many shares were bought for pool No
l. He thought about 10000 shares
were bought and put into pool No. Q
BY dint OF careful and pressing ques-
tiOns Mr.. Wolf got the reluctant and
defiant witness to admit that as the
shares were bought they were assign
ed to the members Of the pool by him
self and Henry Stanley Haskins OF
the firm OF Lathrop & Hasklns.