The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-01
GATES FORTUNE IS NOW S18,OOO,OOO Story of His Great Success
 in Wall Street DWINDLED IN WILL Growth of Texas Company Was One of the Most Phenomenal Sue cesses Ever Made by the
 Big Financicr
DWINDLED IN WILL

Big Financier
 From the New York Times.
 According to the appraisal of the estate of John w. Gates, the financier, who died in August, 1911, his fortune totals, in rond numbers, only $ls,ooo000, which is less than half the figure he was gem erally supposed to be worth at the time of his death. It Is less than year ago that the value of the estate was placed at between S3O0o0,00o and slo,o0o0OO by Judge Henry A. Gldersleeve, his counsel and the drawer of his will.
 For several years before his dea,h Joha ". Gates had been practically out of
 stock market speculations and had devot- ed himself to the upbulding of several large enterprises with which he was
 identified chiefly the Texas company. the rival of the Standard oil company in
 the southwestern oil fields. He with drew from Wall street in 1907 ,he panic year. under circumstances which at first
 convinced the street that fe had been crippled financially, but as events pro-
 gressed those who had believed that the
 house of the twelve partners had dis solved on the brink of ruin were com peled to revise their estimates. This | Stock Exchange firm of c. c. Gates x
 Go. was nominally headed by the fnan- i cler's son. but the older Gates vas the dominant factor in it's affairs.
 | It had been organized to succeed har-
 ris, Gates & Co.,, the brokerage house | through which John ". Gatos conducted 1 lis earlier operations in the street. Dug 1 ing its brief existence 1t had been by far | the most spectacular firm on the board, and was credited with carrying at times | as much as Sl25, 000,000 on margin
 Gates himself had been one of the bold | est operators in the market and was the l biggest bull during the boom of lso6
 His Wall Street Successes
 Armed with millions made in the pro- | motion of various steel combinations in which he was interested. including the ab- sorptlon of his American Steel and Wire
 company by the United States Steel cor | poration, Gates first broke into Wall street as a great figure in 1901. His suc- | oesses. had made money for a large following. With their help he became a 1 factor in the street and worried even the
 Morgan interests. It laid up many scores against him, which the public generany supposed would be paid off some aay. His first and most famous triumph was shortly after the formation of the Steel corporation. Wall street woke up after brief period of excitement on the stock | market to find hr1 in control of the Louisville & Nashville, taking 1t away l from the Belmont interests. ]. r. Nor gan & Go. stepped In and took the road , off the hands of the Gates crowd at a handsome profit. In later years ne was frequently arrayed against the Morgan l interests and was one of the big figures | in the pool which acquired the Tennessee I Coal 6 Iron company and the Republic l Iron & Steel company. These TWO con | cerns were commonly believed 10 have | been bought the nucleus for a pro- posed rival to the United States Steel corporation. The panic killed any poss- | bility that might have existed of such a combination when the syndicate was 1 forced to relinquish the Tennessee Coal
 & Iron company to the steel trust Ii was when the silent panic early in | 1907 began that whispers first gained cur roncy of a heavy shrinkage in the Gates I fortune, but after the smoke had cleared | the street evolved the opinion that with I characteristic mobility Gates had switch ed his bull position before the crash came. He himself, shortly after the dis
 solution of his sons Stock Exchange firm
 in the summer of 1907 made public an-
 nouneement that he was as rich as ever
 Growth of Texas Company
 The Texas company in the four years
 after John ". Gates decided to leave Wall street alone grew phenomenaly. It
 WAS the outcome of a venture made by him less than a decade before in the new
 oil fields of the southwest, then donii-
 mated by the Standard oil company At
 the time of his death fl had grown to a $50, ,000,000 concern, in which he was by Fosr lnr. In, tfata
 with this development he had bought
 heavily of Texas land, and was the pro-
 nIoter and practically the sole nnancicr of Port Arthur Texas.
 From the SIS 0O0 appraisal deductions for administration expenses, debts. and commissions amounting to S2,50)010 are
 made which brings his net estate to about s15,50OC0Q. No definite valuation can
 be placed on the estate because the bulk of MT. Gates fortune consists of stocks and bonds, and these continuously nuctu- ate as the market rises or ialls.
 A report of the appraisal of Mr. Gates New York property was filed yesterday in the Transfer Tax office of the surro- gates court by Deputy State Controller Fraser. Appraiser Solomon Goldenlranz finds this to be worth only s62,9s0. This property consists of his garage at l06 West Fifty-second street, valued at sco,- 0o0 office furniture at r Battery Place, H orth S9Sy, and 1909 model or Packard limousine. worth s2,000-
 Residuary Estate to Wife The estate elsewhere includes his res idence at Port Arthur and farm land in that vicinity; farm in Michigan, and a farm in Illinois. By the terms of the will Mrs. Gates receives the residuary estate, and his son. Charles G. Gates, s1 ,O00,OO0 At his death. however a stipulation was made whereby the son re- ceived a portion of the residue. A large number of other hequests are made to other members of his family, friends and employees. To Edward J. Baker, his brother-in-law. he left his farm at St. Charles, H., and s25oce. Mir. Bakers wife also receives s25,ooo, and their son, Henry R. Baker. $loooo, and if he has graduated from some college at the age of 90 he gets s2490o0 more.
 s. W. Gates Durand. Mich. re- ceives another farm F. W. Kruger. Mir. Gates valet, s100Oo; Craig F. cullrnan of Houston, Texas s25,ooo Mrs Henry E. Evans, of Brooklyn. s100oo; ]. $. Cglll- nan of Houston, Texas, and John J. Mitchell and James C. Hutchins of Chl- cago, Ill., s1o,090 each; Methodist Epis- oonoI poa rd of educatfou of Yorlx