The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1911-06-09

/" WaYe ol uoAAaEs huhoESu'
dred individuals who had
,lambered aboard the somewhat pi-
D,.,ca, craft OF the promoters.
The wave receding, his fellow voy-
.geurs had been hurried back. one by
one into the obscurity whence they
ssued but Barr made land-and, In
eIdentally, financial history.
In the old days as drummer for
hardware house." Joe" Barr had earn
a the reputation of the nerViest poker
olayer west of Chicago. But he also
aid goods, and when friend of his
conceived the idea Of making nail of
wire in place of iron the two had COM
biued their slender resources and built
plant for its manufacture, which de-
veloped until it was finally promoted
into the wire nail trust. Barr found
himself in possession of an even $780,
100000 and plenty of time to tilt with
fortune.
A brief survey of the field convinced
him that only in Wall street was the
limit sufficiently indefinite and the
stakes great enough to justify his I'M
divided attention. He promptly form
ed the brokerage house of Willis, Barr
6 Co., with John Willis as stock ex-
change member and several of his
western friends as special partners,
and shuffied the pack preparatory to
making the bespectac1ed financiers in
cobwebbed banking parlors sit up"
as he tersely put 1t.
And sit up they did, even to his, If
not their, entire satisfaction. They
vat up nights trying to puzzle out
what this western gambler" as they
unanimously declared him to be, would
10 next. In all things but one, Jo-
seph W. Barr walked with the hand
Of fortune, and 1t was out of this one
unfulflled desire that came one of the
most amazing deals In the annals of the
street
II you had looked in on the Wall
street Offices of Willis, Barr & Co..
where dozen tickers spun out their
miles Of fraction-laden tape, each frac-
don fortune lost or won, and where
Is many telegraph instruments flashed
messages to great cities afar, you would
have thought last of all that the short,
at man, with so much double chin
mat It scarcely yielded way to the silk
handkerchief stuffed beneath it. had
SOCIAL ambitions. But he had.
Two months before he had been
nopelessly blackballed at the most ex-
clusiVe club in the city, and Bars
soul still burned hot with anger at
ue banker whom he knew to be re-
sponsible This man had STACKED
me cards" he told his western friends.
Ald with this explanation went the as
saranee that he would somehow get
even II he went broke" doing it.
ana even as Barr watched the spin
Jung tape 1t was telling him that his
taance had come. With the loose ends
us handkerchief he mopped his
ace perpetual occupation of the
Lan' ana each click, click of the in
s =, translated, said to him.
him" eU Nihi' We got
through the subterranean channels
~ lniormation with which the street Is
sVleycombed Barr had learned some
lug week before which led tn q !
s consultation with his mariners
y sOa tne west. At its end he had sent |
,,sa SANFORD Pierce, the shrewdest ma
hOwn. TIC street hao ever
h ne ne place of the stock manipulation
coa ~ economy of Wall street is so
twa.t FAY aehned that while he holds be-
,cSo en- us hands the fate of vast
Sas sues' some reputable. manv not
q trn : no known instance of breach
Il. rust on his part-his loyalty to
pioyers is his stock in trade
4 n.y. er, IN this instance Pierce was
,,o san after Bars own heart a
,0Is, OF puny tradition and a hardy
To.. VI fortune on many fields.
osca ', n In the privacy of his own
and A. r went straight to his work
Ike ~ Orner listened with something
a. .n. fellow artists appreciation Of
he samn s OF the thing-for it was
gnp sale OF games-and a brothers
lot w., tor the genius Of it all the
In .h OF gambler thwarted.
Barr Tue Is nrst place, Pierce" began
psa,sn n'n a smile that was far from
tanElv = am going to tell YOU
"a ns,s mat I'm in this thing to salts
YOU h Sersonal grudge. That win show
M 4 - much confidence I mt in vou
carr Hn !. lengths I'm ready to 90
Question y through. 1t is neither a
hs Il a,t u Spending money nor max.
Ssio,ss Ss 81, I guess Wen do both
g. I Ioa,. I want is the control Of the
Eue tbinn southern railroad, and from
hsgooa 81 I've learned think there
d he 'r ro chance to get it. The capital
NO; tbaS Sa0 "a as you know, is $40 600
4hst s $4,000 shares. In addition
.,aalI.r know know that it has Just bought bought
ddsrSss - road, and to pay for # Is con.
.Aarss 3, me ne question of issuing $4,000 zoo
go and hs ,Uek authorized a long time ,
these g. Ne eoa In the treasury. II Is on ,
Or noo OuOO shares that I'm copn NJ NJ $