The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, August 10, 1911, Page 3, Image 3
MAN WHO TRIM
PIE
i
John W. Gates Has Had
I Was a King Gar
Lost Severs
John Warne Gates, one of the most
venturesome and interesting of
A ? ? . Ai/vWP TTT Vl A
America s specuiaimg nuaiicici ?,
now lies in a critical condition in
Paris, has had a life that reads like
I good, virile fiction.
During his life he has been called,
first, "Johnny" Gates, then "Betchera-Million"
Gates, and in later years
"Farmer" Gates. He achieved the
splendid fame of beating J. Pierpont
Morgan in a struggle for the possession
of the Louisville and Nashville
railroad, and again for having been
in turn trimmed by the greatest of
R all the American financiers as a re;
~ turn compliment.
John W. Gates, who would bet anybody
a million on anything that was
at issue, was no wild, harum-scarum
gambler, although the gambling spir
it possessed him all his life. He j
would turn over any proposition!
" ^ carefully, make his judgment, and
then stand or fall on it for whatever
money was put at stake.
As a barefoot boy of poor parents
at Turner's Junction, now a part of
Chicago, he was a hard worker, but!
I
he was also eager to stake his earn- j
ings. Whenever a discussion arose j
he would settle it with the one query, i
"What'll you bet?" His tops, jackfioKino
linao OuorvfhinC Vl (S
AilliCj UOUIU^ 11UCD) buiug
% possessed, would go up to prove that
he was right and the other boy
wrong. He generally won, for his
; judgment was good. In later life he
played the game in Wall street, and,'
for recreation, would stake fortunes j
at the track and more fortunes at i
the poker table. His life was the
life of a man who loved to tempt
fortune and try her out.
V As a freckled, sturdy, red-cheeked
boy on his father's little farm he
made his first money by shocking
corn. He saved it, and made a careful
bet or two and increased it. With
a little money in his possession, he
looked about for an investment and
found that he could get a third own*
ership in a threshing machine. II
linois farmers looked on the invention
as a piece of foolishness, but
that year there was a bumper crop
and the threshing machine worked
v , smoothly.
Young Gates did so well with his
share that he was soon able to buy
out his partners. With the machine
he made a tour of the Illinois fields
* and cleared up a profit of $1,200 and
married.
- ?- ?? * TSI1 J _
At ue Kaio, ill., Isaac jqhwuuu was
manufacturing barbed wire for
fences. Gates had bought an interest
in a hardware store and was selling
barbed wire. He went to Mr.
Ellwood and tried to get an interest
in the manufacturing plant. He was
5 turned down, but managed to get a
job as drummer for the concern. He
got so many orders and made so
much money on percentage that,
finally, he got an interest in the
> - plant, and, at once having this, he
began to pool the business of the various
wire-making plants. In this
if way he actually founded the present
if;> $90,000,000 Steel Wire Trust.
Whenever Gates felt that his
judgment warranted it, he would
risk his savings on the hope of
doubling them. Whether it was in
._ J.1 nn
a poKer game or m me manci ui ?ui
an investment he would take his
chance.
He soon became a capitalist and
this combination of wire manufacturing
plants was put into the larger*
fold of the great United States Steel
corporation. It was here that he
ran against J. Pierpont Morgan and
rubbed the fur the wrong way. Mr.
Morgan did not like the speculative
spirit of the westerner and stood out
against Gate9 being made a member
of the board of the newly formed
1 Steel Trust. Gates was bitterly dis
appointed. He proceeded on a plan
i to get even with the "king" of Wall
> . street, and cornered the. Louisville
and Nashville railroad stock, a road
that Morgan wanted in the great,
widespreading system of roads fiinanced
by his house.
Gates became a big factor in finance
and back of him rallied financiers
who came under the general
classification of "the Gates crowd."
The brokerage house of Charles G.
f Gates & Son was formed and in New
York- it soon made the record fori
transactions, handling in one day
425,000 shares, on -which the com-)
missions came to $50,000 for the day. I
Gates had always been known asj
i a calm winner and a cool loser, but;
the panic of 1907 almost floored;
him. When the bottom dropped out)
of stocks and he was asked what he!
thought of the situation he pulled his
hat over his eyes and said: "It's
hell!"
It was thought that Gates was
| v floored then. But he was not. He
L * had been through losses as heavy
MED
RPONT MORGAN
an Eventful Career and
nbler.?Won and
J Fortunes.
before, and it is said that in a poker
game in Chicago in which only mil
? ? 1 t- t- - J 1 x
lionaire gamDiers piayea ne naa iosi
everything he possessed. This was
before the panic and the Wall street
Clean up of the "Betcher-a-Million"
Gates.
But he always came back and there
were big winnings. One of these
was on the English race track, where
he backed a 25-to-l shot and cleaned
up the better part of a million on the
race. He is also reputed to have
made big winnings at poker as well
as at the races, although he made big
losings with the cards. One of his
unlucky streaks caught him in Saratoga,
when he dropped money at the
rate of $100 a minute, with a total
loss of $35,000. It is said that the
next day no one would have guessed
that he had been hit so hard at the |
national card game.
Four years ago Gates and his son,
Charlie, went to Texas, and there
the father became "Farmer" Gates.
He made his Texas properties pay
and started an oil company which
did a whooping big business and
which the Oil Trust did not seem able
to break. When he was ready to
take his tour abroad this year he had
millions to spend and risk and all
seemed well in the world for the
"farmer."
Just prior to sailing he was called
before the Stanley committee of congress
and questioned as to the form
ing of the Steel Trust, ms testimony
was highly entertaining, for
he told of an all-night meeting at
the home of J. Pierpont Morgan and
the decision to make and control the
trust. He told how Andrew Carnegie
had started in to fuss with the
railroad situation and how he was
feared by the Morgan group.
"Andy," he said, was always cutting
prices and wais generally an uncertain
and disturbing quantity in the
steel situation. He said that the
Laird of Skibo got $320,000,000 for
his steel holdings, although he had
o orraa/l O voar hpf nrp to Rfill them
A OVU M J VMA M v _
for half that sum.
When asked how he formulated
his opinions of the giant industrial
and financial situations in the United
States, he replied:
"I get my opinions from hard
knocks."
Mr. Gates was then a far from
well man, but he stuck it out on the
stand and told all that he knew in a
Vi.AAvtr and Hppisfvp manner.
Ul UUU v?vv*M* > ? ?
"Farmer" Gates was taken ill as
soon as he got to Paris; and his son,
Charles, rushed to his side. Conflicting
reports were given out, and finally
it became known that the game of
life and death was being played, by
the great speculator. The crisis came
and it seemed that the cards had
been dealt by fate so that John W.
Gates would have to pass in his
checks for good and all.
Always an interesting character,
frank of speech, daring in all his efforts
and having a big heart under
his broad bosom, "Johnny" or
"Betcher-a-Million" or "Farmer"
Gates had hundreds of friends who
sorrowed when he was stricken.?
New York Journal.
BRIDE BALKS AT TUNNEL.
Gave Up $1,000 Rather Than Wed
in Dark Chasm.
A special of Wednesday from Port
Collins, Colorado, says:
After traveling from New York to
Colorado to be married in the Laramie-Poudre
tunnel, 5,000 feet underground,
and for so doing to receive
the gift of $1,000, Miss Delia Stevenson,
of New York city, took one look
into the dark tunnel chasm and
promptly decided she preferred her
ceremony to be in Denver.
^1 ? ~ nlolm ffia
one gave up iuc itgui iu uaiw i.u?
$1,000 offered by the tunnel company
to the couple who would be married
in the tunnel as a feature of the
celebration yesterday of the completion
of the work. J. B. Alexander,
to whom Miss Stevenson was married
in Denver last night, is an electrician
in the employ of th'e tunnel company.
Department Almost Self-Supporting.
New York, Aug. 1.?Postmaster
General Hitchcock to-day told the
federal commission appointed to inquire
into the handling of second
class matter that the postoffice department
should be on a self-supporting
basis and said that the end of
the present fiscal year would show
it on this footing for the first time
in a long period. During the fiscal
year 1910, he declared, second-class
matter (sealed letters) brought
in a profit of $69,004,156. Equalization,
he said, would permit a reduction
of first-class rates to one cent an
ounce.
WOULD MAKE GEORGIA DRYER.
Temperance Committee of Legislature
Votes Drastic Measure.
Atlanta, July 31.?Instead of following
in the wake of Alabama and
Texas, which recently have discarded
prohibition for local option, the
house committee on temperance in
the Georgia legislature to-day voted
to recommend a bill that is intended
to restrict the present wide sale of
"near beer." The vote was 20 to 10.
The measure was introduced by Representative
Tippens and is remarked
as the most drastic bill yet prepared
as an adjunct to the prohibition law.
It makes it unlawful to sell or keep
or handle for the purpose of sale any
beverage or any liquid capable of be
mg aruiiK ab a uevcmge mai twutains
more than one-half one per
cent, of alcohol.
One amendment excepting legitimate
medicines used legitimately was
voted down and another barring all
drinks that contain any alcohol was
killed. A substitute authorizing licensed
beer saloons and "package
houses" also was voted down.
Mexican Mob Repulsed.
El Oro, State of Mexico, July 31.?
Repelling a mob of miners who attempted
to release the prisoners in
the local jail, troops fired upon the
men to-day, killing nine and wounding
32. The strikers were from La
Esperanza mine. This afternoon the
men in the Mexico mine, an adjoining
property, walked out and it is
expected by the management of the
El Oro mine that a strike will be declared
there to-morrow morning.
Fearing that they might be victims
of an anti-American demonstration,
many of the American women were
sent out of the camp on a special
train. More than 4,000 men, representing
the underground forces of
the Mexico and La Esperanza, are
out, and if these men are joined by
those in the El Oro the number of
strikers will number approximately
7,000. The men demand higher
wages, but unofficially it was stated
to-night that the properties would be
closed down before increases would
be granted.
A detachment of 100 troops was
sent from El Oro this afternoon, and
President de la Barra has been asked
for additional protection. He immediately
promised all assistance possible,
and it is expected that 1,000
soldiers will arrive here before morning
from the capital.
Early in the day. the trouble which
resulted in the shooting of nine men
began. Rurales hpd arrested all of
the strikers, and the idle men learning
of this determined to set them
free. Arming themselves with nothing
better than chucks of gold-bearing
ore, they started up the one street
of the town toward the jail. The
mob moved on the jail, throwing
stones as they went at such buildings
as offended their sight, and by the
time the little prison was reached
the rurales found control could be secured
only by the use of drastic
measures. The mob was ordered to
disperse. They shouted their defiance.
The rurales began firing, but
numerous shots were required to
scatter the rioters. Before the mob
had been dispersed, however, it had
succeeded in freeing the prisoners.
Rain Maker Offers Relief.
Charlotte, N. C., Aug. 1.?Mayor
Charles A. Bland received to-day a
j xr i. nx T~"U ^ AAA
ieu,er sigiieu wewiuu on,. juuu, vi o vv
Leggett ave., Atlanta, offering to produce
a shower of rain in 24 hours if
the city will agree to give the rain
maker $25,000 if he succeeds. Says
his letter: '
''I am prepared to submit to you a
feasible scientific plan to bring you a
shower in 24 hours after executing
the idea, I reserve the right to ten
trials."
Mayor Bland will consider the
propsition only in event of dire extremities
arising. Charlotte to-day is
receiving water from the Catawba
river at the rate of 300,000 gallons
per day, while 50,000 gallons will
be hauled in tanks.
Wife Kills Husband.
San Francisco, Aug. 2.?Unable,
she said, to "make a man" of her
husband, Anna Langley, a frail woman,
19 years old, to-day shot and
killed him. They had been married
15 months.
Early to-day James Langley left
home, saying he did not intend to re
turn. Mrs. Langley bought a revolver
and started to hunt her husband. She
found him in a saloon. According to
bystanders he turned on her with a
torrent of abuse. Without a word
the wife fired four shots. One struck
Langley and he died on the way to a
hospital. Mrs. Langley was arrested.
"I don't see why I should be detained,"
she said at the city prison.
"I did nothing wrong and I am not
sorry. Since our marriage I have
supported my husband and myself
by working as a stenographer. I
tried to make him stay away from
saloons., I tried to instill some ambition
into him for the firemen's
civil service examination. He would
not try. I could endure no more."
:'.V
WAS BLEASE IMPOLITE?
Governor Said to Have Offended
Lady Ticket Agent at Belton.
The Belton Times publishes the
following:
"The Blue Ridge railway's train
comes into Belton in the afternoon at
5:25, just 10 minutes before thft
train coming from Columbia gets into
the station here. At 5:30 the
Anderson trolley car comes in. Both
the Blue Ridge railway's train and
the Anderson trolleys always bring a
greater or smaller number of people
who want to buy their tickets and
board the train from Columbia going
towards Greenville, and when the
number is unusually large, as it was
Saturday afternoon, miss Kogers, me
ticket agent, has difficulty in selling
tickets to all who apply for them.
The train going to Columbia frbm
Greenville gets here at 6:20 in the
afternoon, and passengers who come
over on the Blue Ridge have 55 minutes
in which to bay their tickets.
"Saturday afternoon when the Blue
Ridge train pulled in at 5:25 and
the trolley car followed at 5:30,
something like a hundred people,
men and women, rushed into the station
to get tickets for points up the
road. There were numbers of ladies
standing around waiting their turn
to get a ticket for some point north
of Belton. A tall, black-haired man
walked up to the window, handed
Miss Rogers, the accommodating ticket
agent, two mileage books that
were nearly used up, and asked for a
ticket to Columbia. There was not
enough mileage in the two books
combined to buy the ticket; so he
asked her to tear the mileage out of
both books, subtract it from the
number of miles to coiumoia ana ne
would pay the difference in cash.
Miss Rogers very kindly asked him
if he wouldn't wait until she had
sold the tickets for those ladies and
gentlemen who were going to catch
the north-bound train. She explained
to hi^a that he had until 6:20 to
get his ticket.
"Instead of giving place to those
who ought certainly to have been
given place at the window, the man
straightened himself, and in a most
insulting manner informed Miss
Rogers that she 'must not know who
she was talking to.' He further informed
her that 'I am Cole Blease,
the governor of Sodth Carolina; I've
got a right to buy a ticket any time
I call for it, and you've got to sell
it to me.' He took occasion to tell
her. fhat if he didn't have to, he
would never have ridden on 'her old
Southern road.' He also informed
Miss Rogers that he was going to
'write her up' to her superintendent
"The Southern's agent here, Mr.
Harper, was not in the office when
Mr. Blease called for his ticket, or
we imagine the governor would never
have taken the advantage which he
took of the lady at thp window. He
was asked in the most kindly way if
- ? ???
tie wouia give piace iur a icw minutes
to the ladles and gentlemen who
wanted to. catch a train almost an
hour earlier than the train on which
the governor was going to Columbia.
And as a matter of fact, tickets are
not supposed to be placed on sale for
any train until 30 minutes before the
train arrives. Gov. Blease had no
more right to demand a ticket for
Columbia at the time that he did
than did any other man in the crowd.
Just because he is 'Cole Blease, the
governor of South Carolina,' is no
reason why he should have demanded
the ticket at the time that he did
and especia"y in the manner that he
used in demanding it. It was absolutely
unfair to the agent and to the
people who were waiting to catch the
northbound train. The real crime
which the governor committed was
not in calling for the ticket at the
- - ? /?- ti I
time he did, but it was m nis ianure
to show the young lady the courtesy
that any gentleman would have felt
it necessary to show her. It was the
insulting manner in which he talked
to her, after she had asked him to
wait until she had sold the tickets
for the train that was about to come
in."
Didn't Have to Wait.
/
A very weathy retired business
man has a big country place up in
the New Hampshire hills upon which
he enjoys spending a large part of
his wealth.
Recently he decided to build a
stone wall around his place. There
was no narticular point to having
the wall, which was a fine affair of
cut stone, except the fun which it
gave Mr. Smith (as we will call him)
to build it. The contractor who
built the wall was an Irishman. One
day when the wall was nearly done
Mr. Smith and the contractor were
inspecting it.
"I suppose, Pat," said Mr. Smith,
"that 50 years from now people will
come along here and look at this
wall and say, 'There was a man that
had more money than brains.' "
"Well, sorr," said Pat, shifting his
quid into the other cheek, "there do
be them as is sayin' thot now."?
Boston Traveler.
. .. ,-V i
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BAMBEBOWLDEBS SUPPLY CO. A
L. B. FOWLER, Manager
'Phone 33L Bamberg, S- C.
FRANCIS F. CARROLL MM
Attorney-at-Law -jll
[ Office in Hoffman Building.
GENERAL PRACTICE. J