THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, POKTLASD, JDLT 29, 1906.
; m v " : CV M .... -i&Fh
krdM The Pawnbroker of WaU Street zz
VkJJ Ready Cash for People tssss55 mX
in Need, Was His Motto Wt f V N
I I 111 -' w YV jAhWk iC7&
I I'll A 11 !u J?? bL of the merits of their charity. He looked . I : '
I It II Vrm' I II'' ' I Jr pj over the subscription paper, and wrote f'::'l j? 1tmrr" ' v ' 1 - -
' 1 lnr il l I if r Sf upon it. ff kjj ' f ::,,,-.K.x If
I 111 ft I "There. I think that will be about II " , ' ' - I ' ' '-' 1 1 1
1 llftJL ll i ' right," said he. as he folded up the f F. f ' , '- r '-, , J f... ' ' H
Afc. Vfl II , paper, and they went out delighted that I I 1 - ' ,w If
1 A. "hX m&hJLs OAGS Zrrout on Broadway they I , - ' ' XS '
'
rHE power of Russell Sage's name
was the millions of dollars thac
it represented.
As a man he was not liked any
where, although the most impressive
characteristic about him the trail that
you noticed first on meeting him was
personal charm.
You cannot call it anything else.
It was precisely what you mean
when you speak of a woman as charm
ing. It was his smile his manner
his tact, his well-oiled Intelligence.
That might easily have made him a
widely popular man, if his character
had been different, if he had been gen
erous, for example. But, In fact, this
regularity with which he always made
a hit with everyone he met at the out
Bet rendered him the most despised
und hated of men. In the end with
nearly all persons who had the mis
fortune to come in contact with him.
For he used this tactful and insinu
ating charm of temperament to
wheedle his interlocutor into doin?
Just what he wanted him to do at the
passing moment.
t nscrupulousncss did not bother him
In the least. I know of few people
within the radius of his acquaintance
who did not feel, at one time or an
other, that they had been bamboozled
by this smooth money and property
accumulator.
It may not seem in good taste to
dissect the attributes and personal
customs of this man, now that he has
Just stepped into the hereafter, but
his life teaches so many lessons, , so
many truths.-that are of intense in
terest and positive Importance to the
Americans of the present moment, and
from the fact that you cannot under
stand correctly any one of these lessons
unless the bald, plain, unvarnished
verities be written in unequivocal
terms, perhaps something may be
gained and I may be excused for en
ergetic frankness when I jot down
some of the prominent occurrences
that made this millionaire better
known to me than many other per
sons whom I have interviewed and met
In private life.
I knew him for years in a business
way In New York, as I was a newspa
per man, handling many stories with
which he had to do, and Mrs. Sage is
a relative on my father's side. Therefore,-
I could, and did, often see Mr.
Huge down town, talked with hira
zbout many exciting happenings In the
"street," and was & visitor to his
house on Fifth avenue. Just above the
old Bristol Hotel, 606 Fifth avenue. I
think It was, when I could not readily
get out of going there.
Mrs. Sage was a valued source of
news to me. and a gracious lady
withal, when she was not too much
under the baleful influence of Mr.
Sage's peculiar tenets with regard to
everything .and everybody. Let her
alone, and she would have made a
genial, wbole-suled, generous, fine
minded, broad-gauged woman. But
she grew to be as like Russell Sage as
two peas can k alike mautally. And,
as they had no children, they seemed
to dry up together, in a sort of money-
ined leatheriness of atmosphere that
you could cut with a knife when you
entered the tomb-like portals of that
brown stone mansion, where a nigger
kept constant watch to see that you
did not steal anything.
I have been to Mrs. Sage's house
when she was giving an afternoon tea,
and felt sorry that the biscuits and
cake and tea perhaps cost so much. In
some inscrutable way you felt that It
was a phy to spend money on any
thing for comfort or sociability or
such things. I would not have dared
to help myself to a second piece of
cake, or a large .slice of toast, or
gulped down a copious swig of 'tea,
for fear of appearing extravagant or
wasteful or Sybarltish the cardinal
sins in the decalogue of that house.
After a short session of that kind,
wherein I usually managed to get the
report of some charity enterprise in
which Mrs. Sage was interested (I
could always secure something in the
line of news from her, as she was on
all the committees for charitable
schemes), I have gone further up
town to some up-to-date hostess and
fairly reveled in the contrast.
Where stiff-necked gloom reigned
down in the neighborhood of the Bris
tol and a nigger stared at you to see
that you did not eat too much, further
up the avenue you could find a gath
ering of ease, where one might per
haps get a cup' of tea with a "stick"
in it and the others, npting my sigh
of relief, would exclaim that they,
knew .where I had been.
Mr. Sage wanted Mrs. Sage to 'take
charge of all their interests in char
itable enterprises, and she did. When
applications were made to him for
contributions he was wont usually to
refer all comers to Mrs. Sage. She
was more of a worker than a glverT
although she gave a great deal. She
believed in organized' charity,' and was
prominent always In the ' best-known
charity work that went on in. New
York. In the evening Mr. and Mrs?
Sage would talk, over matters, and
chus the old gentleman controlled the
affair, although Mrs. Sage was the ex
ecutive, and he was relieved of all
seeming responsibility. He" had genius
in arranging every circumstance . of
his life in a similar manner. . He did
not care for the limelight, " but' could
perceive the outcome of things could
peer to the end, the result, and you
seldom found him in a weak position
where results were concerned. He
managed everywhere- to reap some
sore of harvest in anything that he
mixed up in.
This method of handling charities led
to the famous episode wherein a commit
tee 'Of ladies called upon him at his
Rector-street office one beautiful day to
secure his subscription to a worthy char
ity. They Informed him, as they handed
him the subscription paper, that Mrs.
Sage had put her name down for $25, and
they expected something handsome from
him. He was affable and complacent, and
listened approvingly to their explanation
of the merits of their charity. He looked
over the subscription . paper, and . wrote
upon It.
"There, I think that will be about
right," said he, as he folded up the
paper, and they went out delighted that
he had subscribed.
When they got out on Broadway they
thought that they would like to just take
a peep and see whether he had put his
name down for $500 or $1000 or what. .
They looked and found that he had in
serted the words "Mr. and" in front of
Mrs. Sage's signature for her original $25.
thus participating in her subscription and
having gotten rid of the Importunate
ladies.
Such a deed as that almost tickled him
to the point of distraction. It was not
that he was particularly afraid that peo
ple were after his money. It was his
sense of outwitting some one.
That was in line with his supreme sat
isfaction in making money in the street
by Judging and guessing better than the
other fellows. Making or saving a few
dollars would give him Just as keen a
delight as the favorable turning of a large
amount. In fact. I believe that he took
a more intense pleasure in the successful
outcome of a small dicker or piece of
smooth cunning than he did in the 'suc
cessful completion of some gigantic trans
action. His parsimony and. thrifty habits were
Inbred and part of his bone and flesh. No
man knew him better than Mr. Whiting,
the financial editor of the Evening Post,
and Mr. Whiting liked him in certain
ways and for certain traits. He amused
Whiting. Whiting liked to study him.
And it was Mr. Whiting's positive and
unshakable belief that if there were a
barefoot -race from Harlem to the Battery
In mid-Wrinter for $10, and Mr. Sage
thought he could win It he would surely
enter.
I have heard Mr. Whiting say this him
self, and also that be would be afraid to
go. out of the room and leave his valuable
diamond ring on the table alone with Mr.
Sage. Of course Uncle Russell would not
theoretically "approve of taking the ring,
but the boys of -the "street" knew that
the temptation would be too cruelly
strong for Mr. Sage. Mr. Whiting
thought that under those circumstances
Uncle Russell would surely - fall. . He
would see value right there in front of
him, and tio one "protecting it. He could
not help annexing the stuff. The liking
for property was too strong in the. blood.
The funny part of all this Is that Mr.
Sage was perfectly- aware of the estima
tion in which the boys of the "street"
held him. He would laugh over it. And
he would pinch them just as hard and as
often as the market rates for . money
would allow him to do. .
. I was an occasional emissary from
some of the boys to obtain "puts" and
"calls"- and "spreads" from Uncle Rus
sell. Very few times during these opera
tions do I remember of our getting much
out of him. Nearly always, he got our
money. -
He sold these securities on the market
for years and years. The boys tried all
the time to get the better of him. But
he netted himself a great deal, instead of
their getting his money. They were
tempting baits. But be manipulated the
sale of them and the figures were fixed
by him. so that with his Judgment on
the probable turn of the market he was
not often caught heavily.
The one great time that he showed his
essentially cowardly nature was when
Grant and Ward made their spectacular
failure. He had a lot of securities and
loans out and lost millions that day. He
was so rattled at the thought of losing
this great sum of money that he tried to
welch. He closed his office to stop pay
ment of his. losses, and fled up to the
Western Union office, from whence the
Goulds sent him back down to Rector
street again to stick it out and show
manhood.
He went up to the Western Union build
ing at noon every day during the time of
his greatest activity in Wall street. He
was interested in Western Union and a
lot of other properties, elevated railroad
stock, etc., with the Goulds, and it was
necessary, in his opinion, for him to talk
to the Goulds each day. Another thing.
Jay Gould and his son George had a fine
lunch served each day in their offices in
the Western Union building. Uncle Rus
sell dropped .in just at lunch time and
bummed his lunch.
This was laughable, but appreciated, es
pecially by George Gould, who has a
strong sense of humor. If you . missed
Uncle Russell down town, -if he were too
busy to see you for a few moments during
the morning, you could always catch him
at lunch with the Goulds. He must have
saved as much' as 'a dollar or two. a.
week on what he might have otherwise
bought for lunches in that way, and Gould
could stand it- They had enough lunch
brought in, at any rate. .
Again, Mr. Sage would never go through
the elevated railroad gate first. .That
would mean that he would have to pull
out some of the tickets he always car
ried, and perhaps deposit one lor you as
well as himself. He habitually permitted
you to go thtrough the gate first, and the
probabilities were that you would deposit
a ticket for him and he would ride, on it.
He owned a great part of the stock of the
elevated roads at the time, and of course
the tickets he carried in his pocket cost
him nothing. But if you bought a ticket
for him that was so much more money
for the earnings of the road. - -.
These are fair samples- of -the ingrown
and double-dyed habits 4hat served to
swell his coffers, bit . by bit, penny by
penny, uninterruptedly, steadily, ever
lastingly. . ' "
He never missed a chance for this sort
of thing... -It came as a natural reflex
action .in the regular events of his daily
life, and, just as the drops of water wear
away the stone, these perennial, constant
flowing small accretions to his wealth
just as surely kept on building up, his for
tune. He could no more help getting
richer and richer as the days went by
than he could help becoming thirsty on a
hot day.
As Gordon Blanding said In San Fran
cisco, comparing J. B. Haggin with Lloyd
Tevis. "one is a prince, the other a pawn
broker." Mr. Sage had the pawnbroker
instinct, and his early life and youth,
steeped in sharp bargaining and the wiles
of country trading up In Troy, N. Y..
helping him to enjoyment when he saw
the person with whom he was trading
handicapped by anything even liquor
fostered and solidified that predominant
characteristic of his physical and mental
equipment.
His love was money-making. It con
sumed the bulk of his wakeful existence.
It guided every move he made and every
thought that passed through his mind.
Similar to the habit of Cyrus W. Field, he
never carried any change in bis pocket
a quarter would be a large find. Similar
to the chronic pirsimony and penurious-
ness of Lloyd Tevis,' he would have an
old umbrella repaired and hunt out a
cheap shop for the job, Instead of buying
a hew one. I never knew him to buy a
cigar for a friend, but. I have seen him
accept the treats of acquaintances who
accosted him in the Windsor Hotel at
the cigar stand and down town. - What
ever you expended upon him availed you
nothing, however, unless it was an op
portunity to study someone who was
slicker and cleverer than his associates,
and who seemed to be pleased to have
other people spend their dhange while he
spent nothing. In the matter of spending
small amounts, Mr. Sage was a joke
among the hilarious, qulck-witte?, ener
getic, entrancingly interesting crowd of
stock brokers, market operators, finan
ciers, sporting swells, merchants, dabblers
and respectable, staid citizens, who con
grebated nightly at the old Windsor, and
where Sage always showed up" for at least
a little while every evening during the
'80s, for example, -and down at the Hoff
man House, where the crowd was a lit
tle more light and flippant and transitory.
Yates, Bennett, Flower, Joslyn. Bel
den, Sage, Keene, Gould such men
were to be seen, each-evening on saun
tering around the Windsor lobby, and
a. host more.
Sometimes Drivate sales were ar
ranged right there and then that sent
the figures of the market skying up
ward or tobogganing - downward, ac
cording to what was doing. It was
the solid aftermath of the 3 o'clock
closing of the stock exchange. It was
the arena where Sage and -Gould and
many -of the powers of the street lolled
around in the evening, said Important
things, and sometimes did astounding
things. '
: Down in the Hoffman House, where
David B. Hill lived, where the Brunswick
and Delmonico's were near by, and the
swift horsy crowd, Harvey Durant, De
Lancey Kane. A. H. Hummel, Charley
Bacon, the Rathbones, the smart set, and
indiscriminate roysterers hung out, there
was often a sympathetic flutter as stocks
were talked over.- - .
But up at the Windsor was the spot
where things happened. ' If anything un
usual was expected, the newspapers sent
their trusted men of the "street" up to
the-Windsor. You might drop in at the
Fifth-Avenue Hotel and Inspect the
Amen bench." where you would find half
a dozen millionaires, including Tom Piatt,
General Arthur. Andrew D. White. Frank
Hiscock. politicians, men of affairs, who
were talking, and could give you the gist
of what was going to happen In finance
or politics. You might look In at Del
monico's, or the Brunswick, or the Hoff
man House, but you'd find the news all
ready for you up at the reliable and sub
stantial old Windsor. There was the real
crowd that regulated the turning and the
revolutions of the financial firmament.
But you never felt sure that you had
solved the problem until you had located
your Uncle Rusjfell, and knew just what
he was going to do or had done In the
particular question that absorbed atten
tion that particular evening.
It is amazing, when I look back upon
the kaleidoscopic and fast-changing pan
orama of events of that time. Spectac
ular event after cataclysms, stunning an
nouncement after surprising develop
ments, bull movement after bull move
ment, and bear raid after bear raid; cam
paign after campaign, startling rumor
after disturbing report, roseate story after
glorious dream of soaring prices all these
would succeed each other, and pass by
now in my memory, and still I see the
steady specter of Russell Sage quietly and
shrewdly gazing at it all, taking it all in,
comprehending every iota of the situation,
standing ready always at a moment's no
tice with the ability to draw the largest
individual check for money in New York;
ready to step in where wanted, where he
could get the largest rate of interest
saving men, corporations, stock firms,
even bitterest enemies, from dire disaster
with his reafly Cash at the highest rate of
interest he could command.
Then he was perhaps at the height of
his power the zenith of his ability and
success. Since then he has accumulated
more and more, and ever more. But he
had enough, in all conscience at that time.
. The fierce turmoil and conflict of Wall
street, with its cohorts of bright, des
perate men, its lures for everybody who
has some money and wants more, the
apparent respectability of gambling in
that quarter, the immense approval of all
womankind shown to every successful
Wallrstreet operator or broker, nowhere
In the wide world so potent and so un
avoidable as right in the precincts of the
City of New - York, was going on apace,
as it ever Is. The outward glow of afflu
ence dazzling in its splendor uptown,
around the theater district, the restaurant
territory at night, cropping out unmis
takably in the constructfon of the upper
sections of the city, the thousands-of man
sions, the stupefying magnificence of Mil
lionaire Row along Central Park, east
from Fifty-ninth street on and out be
yond One Hundred and Tenth street all
this creeps into your blood and veins as
you live there.
It is the money-making center of the
universe to you. Wall street, the hope,
the despair of everybody!
The different cliques that aid, abet,
fight, oppose each other form one of the
most interesting and dramatic of groups
imaginable. The eye of all New York is
upon them from day to day. Theirs is
the money-creating grist. They preside
over the destinies of the most Important
institution in the great city.
Now, when they are busiest, most fran
tic, most crazy in their picturesque antics
to beat each other, push stocks up or pull
them down, manipulate securities, buy
and sell, gain, gamble, go stark mad in
their efforts to make fortunes in a day, or
wrench fortune from some one else, the
strangest of strange things come to pass.
Speak Uncle Russell's name, and you
will see any one and every one who is
wise stand still and ponder.
You can stop anjr broker on the floor of
the exchange by beginning to tell him
something about what Mr. Sage- is going
to do or has done.
You can secure the undivided attention
of any financier or big operator or wildest
gambler on the curb by merely mention
ing Uncle Russell's name.
In truth, he Is a power a wizard.
Why?
It is because his positively known stu
pendous sum of ready money, ever at his
command, and the unbelievable amount
that he could raise at a moment's notice,
can be thrown on one side or the other
of a fight for millions, at the whim or
will of Russell Sage.
So, at times of great excitement, when
something big was happening in the mar
ket, when men were failing, when firms
were going to the wall, when a great bear
or bull campaign was under way, that
was Uncle Russell's opportunity, and he
ruled the day.
- It was a comparatively simple matter
to compute his position, to reckon on
what he would do so far as certain abso
lute principles went. No one would be so
vapid and amateurish as to presume that
sentiment would weigh an ounce in Uncle
Russell's movemefits. It was simply and
solely a question as to where he could
obtain the highest and safest rates of
interest for his money when loaned, and
how best he could secure payment of the
tithes he demanded. The greater the
stress the greater the impending calam
ity to others, the better he liked it. He
was bothered never with any qualms of
sympathy or sorrow over the new ones
who were losing money or strung up be
tween heaven and earth, their all jeop
ardized, their property, their life in the
balance. He was a financial warrior, a
calm general, furnishing the sinews of
war as a commissary would, selling at
the highest rates when the goods were
most needed, and exacting the fullest
payment for the supplies, even to absorb-
I
Ing the entire personal estate of the bel
liferents if he could manage it. His
safety at such tremendous times lay
chiefly in the fact that he did not get ex
cited when he was winning. He only
got . excited when he was losing and I
really believe that the smaller the amount
he lost the bigger fuss he kicked up in
his own mind about it. I know of one
night that he did not sleep at all because
he had a paltry J18.000 lying idle that was
not working for him. It positively went
over night without being out at interest
somewhere. He lay awake thinking about
It, and his household was treated to a
lot of whimpering and cross-grained talk
in consequence. It was imagined that he
might be ailing on account of too hard
work and too close application to his of
fice and affairs. There was nothing the
matter with him whatever. He was
worrying that that I18,)00 did not earn
some interest over night. And I know
that the first thing he did the next morn
ing was to put it to work somewhere and
relieve his mind.
The best example of his universal po
tency, the way magnates of the "street"
hung upon his words and the complete
way in which his actions turned gi
gantic battles into defeat or victory for
this one or that, according to Uncle Rus
sell's own sweet will, was the case of
James R. Keene, in 18S0.
Keene had come on to' New York from
triumphs to the tune of a few millions
in the stock market of the California me
tropolis. He had brought his money with
him. and stopped to make a little more
In Chicago. When he arrived In New
York he felt that here was a field worthy
of his mettle. He made some brags, un
doubtedly, and the peculiarly pungent
phrases expressing confidence in his own
ability to cope with the best of them in
Wall street, certainly reached the ears
of the quickest and slickest of the roum
traders and brokers generally. Forthwith
they determined to "lay" for the artful
Jim.
Great master of manipulation that he
Is, -it was inevitable that these fellows,
when banded together, would catch him.
They did.
Keene was a bull, and they were bear
ing stocks to beat the band at this mo
ment of which I speak. Finally, one
evening after Keene had been fairly
caught, making deliveries all day and los-
ng more than he had, being .called upon
for more and more margin on the stocks
he was carrying and finally at the clos
ing hour knowing that he was ruined un
less he could raise a lot of cash a mil
lion beyond what he was In any way able
to raise. '
The heat of battle raged in the Windsor
that evening. All the principals were on
hand. Jim Keene, who was never known
to be a coward, was there to face every
one of his enemies. The men who had
beaten him and with whom he had been
battling were so intimately related in
a business way with the Goulds that
Sage was not thought of as a possible
last resort In time of need for Keene.
No one thought that Sage would help
him. No one know that Keene could put
up enough security to satisfy Sage, and
it was known that Sage was so close to
the Goulds that everyone thought that
Sage would not bother with this particu
lar fight.
Keene was around there, and the re
marks along the Windsor corridors were
about at the stage when real sports
opined that -Keene had made a good
fight against heavy odds.
The fellows of the street who had
worsted him 'Were crowing to a quietly
exasperating extent, when in walked your
Uncle Russell, tall as a sycamore tree
and calm as an onion, with the poten
tial strength of the same vegetable In
herent In his gait, his oily approach, his
air of innocence and unobtrusive interest
in the world generally and the possible
topics of current conversation among the
excited throng in that historic hotel of
fice. You would not have known from his
demeanor that he had ever heard of
stocks or the money market. He was
astounded to hear that James R. Keene
was driven to the wall, and would have
to go under entirely at the opening gong
at 10 o'clock the next morning.
But of course the old fellow knew to
the minutest detail bow Keene stood,
what Keene had, what Keene had lost,
what Keene had been doing all day, and
how desperate Keene's position was at
that hour. Sage had made up his mind
what he would do before he had stepped
out of his own house at Fifth avenue and
Forty-second street, to go over to the
Windsor.
After a little while Keene sat down
and talked a few moments to Sage. An
ominous hush came over everybody dur
ing those few moments. Just the ex
change, of a few words, but it was
enough for James R. Keene and Russell
Sage to arrive at a bargain whereby
Sage agreed to advance Keene a clean
$1,000,300 in cash the following morn
ing, and as much more as he needed, if
he did need it, at at a rate of interest
no one on this earth save Keene will
ever know. .
Mr. Sage never told his wife what he
made out oT any given transaction. I
don't suppose he cared much to view
the rate, as such, himself. The aggre
gate amount that he gained as it poured
Into his repositories was enough for
him to know or think of.
Suddenly Keene walked quickly for
ward and confronted the men in the
Windsor Hotel lobby, "saying:
"I will meet all my obligations. I
have won over you. You thought you
had me, but you haven't."
That was the only time I ever saw
Russell Sage excited to an unusual de
gree. He jumped up and shouted:
"Yes. He can have a million from
me. Yes, two of them If he needs it.
I'll let him have It now, tomorrow
morning, any time he wants it."
That completely settled it.
It was as potent as the ukase of an
emperor. Everyone there knew that
Keene was saved. Everyone knew that
Uncle Russell had the cash, and that
he had agreed to let Keene borrow all
he netted to pay all his obligations.
What the transaction cost Keene no one
could conjecture, but it is probable that
Sage netted at least a half- a million
dollars for himself in those few mo
ments of conversation with James R.
Keene on the old leather sofa at the
Windsor Hotel that evening.
Keene has lost and won several for-,
tunes since that eventful night in 1S80,
but It Is sure that he never went
through any more trying moments and
never came so near being completely
done up by his antagonists, than he did
in 1880. Sage saved him, and Sage was'
well paid for it.
That Is the detracting element in
every episode wherein you find yourself
saying that Sage saved anybody or any
interest. Look into it closely and you
will find that he was well paid for sav
ing it. That was his power. He had
the cash. He was the pawnbroker for
Wall street. His "puts." his "calls," his
"spreads" on the market constituted
only a convenient method for his
"making a book" on the market. ,
This was his pastime. He wag a
bookmaker on the market, and In the
long rup he wrote a sure-thing book
with his "privileges." No one on earth
could get a small loan from him. He
never helped anybody in generous mood
or in any way that Involved a sentiment
in any form. He would bet you against
the market with his "privileges," and
give you a chance to make some money
out of him if you were smarter than
hlButahe would never help any one out-
Concluded on Page 31.