Omaha daily bee., 1914-01-04
HOT TALE OF THREE CITIES
Man Who Couldn't Fool Omaha and
Denver Very Long Worked New
York to the Limit.

A man who could fool Denver only six
months. and Omaha little more than a
year. went down to New York a score
OF years ago and has ever since been
foollng the wise men of that little corner
OF the east We use the term wise men,
advisedly, and for the purpose of restrict
ing it's application to the supernatural
wisdom of the owls of Wall street and
the financial district We are confident
that there are many sections Of New York
in which David Lamar, or David Lewis,
he himself admitting the ownership of a
number of aliases. could not fool any
body, at least not any longer than he
fooled Denver or Omaha. There are Sixth
avenue merchants, we doubt not who
would refuse to cash a check for him
Men around Hester street, whose under
shot jaws bear a striking resemblance to
many seen on Wall street every day,
would soon let him know that the resem-
blance ends there should he attempt to
play upon them any of those confidence
games which Hester street abbreviates
into ''the bull con- Yet in the financial
district where worldly wisdom has long
been supposed, by the uninitiated, to be
sublimated and enthroned. he has long
made the easy money enabling him to
maintain splendid quarters on Riverside
Drive and to be a lavish patron of the
lobster palaces along the Great White
way
He has fooled the very elect. The
kings of the money trust put him out of
their counsels at last, but not, as we can
plainly gather from coincident and CO.
ordinating facts, and in spite OF the vigor
and vehemence OF their denials, until he
had shaved some of the wolves who were
| dickering with him for a shearing OF
lambs. The statement OF the younger J.
| Pierpont Morgan that his father never
had any dealings with Lamar, is no doubt
true. 1t accords with the well-known
character Of the elder Morgan, who would
| trust no man he had not put to a test,
and TO whom Lamar's church creden-
tials would represent nothing more than
paper, however sound his own faith in
orthodoxy. But the wrath at Lamar. of
such a self-contained and self-repressed
man as the elder Morgan, could only
have grown out OF his discovery that the
man had penetrated. at least, the outer
counsels of the banking trust and in
volved some of its attaches and retainers
perhaps even some of it's partners, in
shady transactions not only Improbable
but threatening disaster. As for the
smaller fry OF the street, Lamar had long
been such veritable wolf that the name
| wolf Of Wall Street" fastened itself to
him long enough ago to have ended the
career OF a man In any other place than
one where the wolf is admired as beast
with a peculiar penchant for the location
of lambs no matter how the wind blows.
Perhaps the lobby quiz will not be un-
productive Of good results II it can add
a few more TO the brace Of Wall street
workers who have already been before
the committee telling how they have
made financial magnates sit up and take
notice and action. as results Of false inn
personations and false representations
/ over telephone lines. on the evidence al
ready at hand. Denver and Omaha can
plume themselves. Denver has always
stood somewhat in awe of the Wall street
broker II has regarded him as an incar-
nation Of craft, subtlety and worldly ex-
perience and has sought to cultivate his