El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-03-07
SpecuIated Way To Riches
James Robert heene Rose From AMI
---SI C,unrI to King of Wall Street;
Mode Millions in stock Dealings.
By Madison c. Peters

IS name fitted the mamie was
keen every way. Like a live wire
he radiated force and energy in
- every direction From nothing he
cs-,e mn to millions and to be the &C
knowIedged master Of Wall street
This remarkable Spectator was born in
London in 1888. His father was a merchant
and in fairly comfortable circumstances
The boy was sent to school IN Lincolnshire
and afterwards to Dublin Wnere ne studied
uuder an old professor OF Trinity college,
learning Latin and French. At this time
however. a turn came into his fathers
affairs. and he was left almost penniless.
Came to America With Family.
Borrowing from friends he secured enough
to bring his family to America This was
in 1852 They made their way 70 Cali
fornia and settled in Shasta county Al
though but IA the pluck and manliness Of
young Keene showed itself He struck out
Tor himself His first employment was at
Fort Reading IN the nooesI capacity OF
one Of the guards Of the animals Of the
most which was then in the Indian terri
tory After three months service he had
earned enough to purchase miners outfit
turers who were prospecting every canyon,
guIch and stream for gold For several
Years he spent his time in mining freight
ing, stock raising and milling with fndif-
ferent success For time he also tried
Became Stock Spectator.
After the discovery Of the Comstock lode
in Nevada he turned his steps towards that
state but he did not delve into mining when
he got there. He prOspected, bought prop
erty and advantageOusly sold It, He be-
came a mine broker and made money. When
he had a few hundreds gathered he went
off to San Francisco and began specializing
in mining stock. He seemed to have an
intuition of future events or some power Of
clairvoyancy to gaze into what was to
come. No man ever had greater success
in speculation Within a few months he
had made S125. 900. Then he married sara
the daughter Of Col. Leroy Daingerfield. Of
Virginia, residing at the time in California
with her brother, W p. Daingerfield, judge
OF the 9Th district
Lost Fortune in Crash
In the crash which followed the first
excitement in shares after the discovery Of
made, and found himself almost penniless in
n strange city and with few acquaintance.
But he was a man Of indOmitable spirit.
For year he struggled, refusing offers Of
employment, for he wanted to be free to
speculate believing that speculation was his
forte and at that alone would he succeed
As operation in mining shares were then
largely carried on in the street, he secured
some business and attracted the attention
Of senator g II. FELTON,, then a member of
the stock exchange, ana large operator.
FELTON, let Keene do some bust ness for him
and was pleased with him Later FELTON,
became assistant United States treasurer at
San Francisco and offered his seat on the
stock exchange to Keene, but the latter
had not enough to buy. However, he took
the seat the understanding that if he
were elected to the stock exchange, he
would, when called upon, pay the price
which seats commanded at the time. Keene
was elected and once on the board he rose
rapidly TO great influence in the organf-
zatiOn. He made large sums OF money and
soon was elected president OF the exchange.
Made Millions in stocks.
By purchasing the stocks Of the Califor-
MIA and Virginia City mines, known the
world over as the bonanza Of the COmstOcE
lode, he made through these and other
stocks which he held, over million dol
lars When the bank OF California failed
Keene became one Of the four contributors
Of a million cash to the guarantee fund Of
IS 100000 necessary to secure depositors OF
the bank against loss and enable the insti-
tuition TO continue business.
Invested Heavily During Panic.
The strain Of large speculatOns becoming
prejudicial to his health, Keene was ad-
yised to take holiday in Europe, so he
started for New York to take ship. This
was in the spring Of 1877. When he arrived
In New York he found the stock market de-
and prices as low as they were
In 1873 in the great panic Having large
capital at his command. Keene deferred his
trip and bought nearly all the leading
stocks with his old energy and acumen- He
knew what was coming. his speculative in
5tinct was never at fault In the autumn
# 1873 he sold out at a profit OF So, 900, 900.
Re then visited Europe
King of Wall Street.
On his return he settled in New York and
became virtually king Of Wall street. Many
allied him the "Old Fox" he seemed to