Show WERE A GREAT TRIO Rise and Fall of Three Napoleons 1 Na-poleons of Finance I BIG DEALS IN COPPER 1 i Three Ca of Bostons Pinanciil I World A Few Weeks Ago They were Worth 5000000 Now not I Only Embarrassed but One is Under I Un-der Arrest for Wrecking Globe National Na-tional Bank Inside History of Mining Mi-ning Deals and Recent Speculative Depression in Great Hub I Correspondence Tribune Boston Mass Tan 13 Stories of misfortune are always Interesting Doubly Interesting then Is the story of tho misfortune that befell the now famous Three Cs of Bostons financial finan-cial world especially as their downfall completed n chapter In the speculative book that rounds out the years history his-tory of Bostons stock market that far eclipses anything ever recorded In this great Hub of speculation From the time that a famous Boston Bos-ton sea captain secretaly curried away from a Chinese port an idol made of I solid gold thus gaining at once riches I and renown up to the time of the t bursting o Nervy Evanss great I I stock gambling bubble and the suicide of that man Bostons most noted stock market plungerno story has j shown such a rapid rise and toboggan I like decline as does this one of the I Three Cs Charles H Cole William H Coolidge and Edward A Clark i FALL A HARD ONE Carried to the loftiest peak of financial finan-cial success and personal riches as If Ion I-on golden wings they tarried there but momentarily and today find themselves them-selves bankrupt Messrs Cool ge and I Clark WithoUt a dollar and Cole equally as poor besides having to answer to a warrant charging the misapplication of 900000 of the funds of the Globe National Na-tional bank Surely this is a high price to pay for the privilege of being be-ing known as Bostons financial kings and that for so short n period Six months ago these three remarkable remark-able products of a modern commercial tendency wore serenely riding upon the topmost wave of business success and prestige They were worth between them about J5000000 In the high society of financial Boston they were j rated as dukes If not as kings In copper cop-per om the Standard Oil sun and Its local satellites stood still for a time and everything for the moment revolved re-volved around the Three Cs FARFELT OUTSIDE BOSTON I must not be thought that operations opera-tions on f scale so elaborate as those I of the Three Cs could be conilncd to Boston or oven to Now England The effect of their downfall was felt far and wide New York Philadelphia and Chicago financiers felt the Jar I while the West and Southwest were brought into the plot by reasons of property locations WHERE STAUT WAS MADE I The oil fields of Ohio was thc boulevard boule-vard on which the Three Cs first started on their fortune hunting pilgrimage pil-grimage Then came the care mining regions re-gions of Utah New Mexico and Colorado Colo-rado and finally the zinc properties of Missouri Their work slopped here only because well because something went wrong Something I hat old conservative con-servative heads had felt Impending for months and something that many knew would come us sure as death MARKET TAKES A TUMBLE The Boston copper market began lo decline Thai market which had marked the < greatest boom ever known In the history of speculation stonnIL wavered a brief time and then began a retrograde movement that made an eruption of Vesuvius a mere trifle when taken In comparison In this list of copper stocks were properties owned or controlled by Die Three Cs By and by these coppers began to drop more quickly than the rest and it wus known to everybody on the street that trouble was brewing for the men who were behind them and for the banks and brokerage houses that wore carry Ing tho stocks The financial clouds grew very black and the ground began to tremble under the feet of the Three I Cs EXAMINER WING ARRIVES About this time Dank Examiner Wing came to Boston on one of his periodical visits He visited several bunks and In good time came to the Globe Nation atonal aton-al Everything was all right and lie passed on wishing all hands Jas wlBhlnJ al presi I dent to messenger a pleasant good day for be it known that this man Wing Is n most polished gentleman 1018hed I He passed on to the Shawmut Nation I al In looking over these hooks Ex nlner Wing found a charge of 250 eharg 000 against the Globe Hold up bore a minute thinks Mr Wing I dont seem to recall any such credit at thc Globe in favor of this bank FOUND BY ACCIDENT A return visit was mae to the Globe and another examination cxamlnaLon made when cad to relate Instead of the small matter of 5250000 over 600000 5111 S60000 found to be standing against the credit of the bank which was not charged in the accounts Thus a mere accident aided and abetted the further down Cal of the air castles urt1C Three OWl jyCOLES COLES RESIGNATION FORCED This disclosure forced the rcsigna ton oC 11 Cole from the presidency of the Globe bank and lank another straw was added to the already overloaded 8trw back of the poor camel Things went camel to worse all under the surface however and finally to avert n general panic In Stale street the street clearinghouse was forced to come to the ad of the Globe bank Its M bank Is president went away but was ever who present In the memory of those had become Involved In his mis I directed schemes of financiering1 I COMPELLED TO CLOSE DOORS Soon It was discovered that the Globe bank ltuaUon was even worse than had a first appeared It closed Its I of doors the Currency br order ° and r the Controller an a warrant charging its Wfant I late Ine president with wfh seri ous misdemeanors I mlsdemcal01s was issued for his arrest He was traced to Los Angeles Cal where he had sought to evade the press of creditors and Inquisitive porters He willingly Inquln1ive r wlingly acquiesced to the t requests of the ofllcers of the law and WUB brought back to Boston to stand trial THREE FINANCIAL DEATHS Chares Thus came the fln nclar death of A Cole a demise that a also took away his frIn s and COl bOrerS I amir nn H Coolidge ltam COoldge and Edward A Clark These lIdwurd A are the men who six months ago were worth more than j W500000 each odu mOC priau 150000 Today they ULC cally bankrupt their fortunes Hl have practi I I foluncs re turned from fror whence they came their securities lie upon U > c bargain counter I i nf tho jjtoe k tl exchange and iho airy rntUlos which they hullded their brief days of power and POWCl l success have been s 4Ir I T 7i t 14rp I v I wIb1 12iIc vPUr1r 1 1 1 I I I I I I Charles H Cole head of the Three Cs Boston Financier charged with tho bank embezzlement of 8900000 and tho wrecking of the Globe National dissipated in the chilling mists of adversity ad-versity BROKERAGE FIRMS HURT Worse than all this is the sad train of trouble and loss It has entailed upon others who were in no sense partners in the ambitious enterprises of the triumvirate tri-umvirate Not to speak of the many personal friends and relatives of the three central figures who have felt constrained con-strained to help them bear their financial finan-cial burdens ul least two brokerage Inns have been seriously crippled because I be-cause of their business relations vifh the exmagnates tom exmagnlts This and the serious dislurbance of tho loc t speeulath e center as a whole served to make the ending of the year 3S99 an exceedingly gloomy one for State street Bostons financial center 1 The episode has never had a parallel u plalei here for not even the Maverick banlc failure about eight years ago had such Carreaching consequences in financial Boston as has the downfall of the Three Cs I SKETCH OF THREE Cs And now a brief sketch o these three men after which n more detailed account I ac-count of their financial operations their organizations and reorganization of different mining concerns The Three Cs were as previously staled Charles A Cole who Is a banker William II Coolidge a lawyer and Edward A Clark a gentleman of wealth and leisure leis-ure ureJust Just how this famous trio happened to drift Into such close business relations rela-tions leading lo such momentous conse quences coma probably not be sal faetorlly explained even by the men themselves Oftentimes these things do not happen but are the result of a natural and unconscious atlruclion that has done Its work before those tllt Is befolC tl e concerned con-cerned of It In the operation are fully aware NOT AT ALL ILLOGICAl That a banker associated with the street from boyhood a lawyer for years In close touch with big corporations corpora-tions and a promoter of modest business busi-ness enterprises with an Inherited fondness fond-ness for financial I d nlings should enter Into such relations < not at all IllogicaL l Illogi-cal Other comparatively Inconspicuous men have done the same thing and made money and fame although not often In the sam proportion and within with-in the same short period as these three COLE A FAMILIAR FIGURE Charles II Cole Is the elder of the trio being G3 i years olt1 Since almost boyhood he has boon a familiar figure In Bostons banking circles He cn lored the Globe National I bank when a mere youth in the humble capacity of clerk und gradually worked himself up to president to which ofilcc he was Ilectcd l In 1057 Bplul qr tisIl lennn In I Roslon financiers iQ was H therefore I lo I I him that the others looked for the I proper financing of the various deals in which thC were Interested and through means o whkh both Mr Cole and the Globe bunk hanI ultimately I came to such unfortunate straits BUSIEST MAN IN BOSTON During the halcyon days of the Three Cs Mr Cole was one of the I busiest men to be found In Boston for between the frequent directors meetings meet-ings of the different companies and bin duties at the bunk rendered nil the more onerous through Its connection with the enterprises mentioned below he oftentimes did In one day the work that would ordinarily fall to the lot of three or four men Great as were lhe responsibilities devolving upon him and heavy as were the demands upon his time ho always presented the same goodnutured unruffled demeanor and ever had a pleasant greeting and friendly word for the most obscure caller FLYING TRIPS TO UTAH Now and then the dally meeting directors di-rectors meetings or prl conferences 0 the threv friends wcro varied by a flying trip of one or the other to Utah or Joplin Mo 01 the oil fieldf of Ohio I was forever a case of hustle with all of them with one eye perpetually on the clock and another pn tho stock ticker Many men would have gone down under the strain months ago even the hardened veterans of Wall street but Cole and his associates kept pegging peg-ging away financing thin big deal reorganizing re-organizing this other company trimming trim-ming their sails to meet tho constantly veering winds of speculation realizing at last with sinking hearts that their great struggles by day and their sleep less conferences by night be were to of no avail and that the logic of events was dead set against them BRAINS OF THE TRIO William If Coolidge was generally spoken of as the brains of Three Cs He Is a lawyer I and Is best known to the general public through his connection with the Boston Maine I railroad as assistant counsel A gradUate I grad-uate of Harvard In the class of 1881 he I was during his college creel one of I the most noted football players one all I I round athletes of his class Mr Coolidge I Cool-idge has a breezy decisive way that is I I very attraclltfo to all who are brought I in contact with him wih except possibly those who confront him in court in the I capacity of I witness He lives In n beautiful home In Newton and Is a member of the Puritan and other or ga is hat t I OilS To ibis day there are many of State streets oldest habitues who do not know Mr Clark by sight He Is perhaps per-haps the most reserved of the three associates and ha not mixed up I among the brokers and bankers nearly as much as either of the others After I completing hit school educatIon he I studied for a while In the Mussachu I setts Institute of Technology possibly Imbibing there some of his love for mining matters WHO CLARK IS I was not until his connection with the United States Oil company four years ago that Mr Clark became at jail wpll known Inthestreet Ho te I about SS and wits married a couple rl I years ugp to tl daughter of William A French president l of the Massachusetts J i National bank Ho recently purchased an attractive estate at Jamaica Plain in lhe suburbs und has lived there in comfortable style His wife Is I extremely ex-tremely popular in society Mr Clark has not been very prominent In any public capacity and is not even known as n club man although he Is a member I mem-ber of the Algonquin club He Is re j I pu ted to have made n fiyer In Leather stock last full through which he netted a very handsome elY profit COMPANIES THEY CONTROLLED The companies In which Clark Cole and Coolidge were interested comprised I the United States Oil company the United States Mining company the American Zinc Lead and Smelling company und the Santa Fe Gold and Copper Mining company In addition to these they at one time had an op lion on the Centennial Eureka Mining company which they proposed to consolidate con-solidate with the United Stales Mining company These sudden Interruptions of their plans changed all this however how-ever and tho Centennial Eureka property prop-erty has recently gone into the control of other Interests The financial gyrations through which this trio went In the handling of these properties would put a female acrobat to shame After reading the story carefully one can only murel and wonder how any three men could curry so long such a stupendous load I can be seen when all Is told that the final crush was only a mailer of lime tmeINCOnpOnATI INCORPORATED IN MAINE It might be well to paienlhctlcally explain here something ol me ineoipo I raton las of the State of Maine as all of the enterprises floated by the Three Cs were Incorporated under the laws of that State Down East as people refer to Maine it costs GIn > G-In incorporate a company and you can place the capitalization at us many millions as you like 1 is further necessary lo have a meellng of lhe board of directors In the late once a year and to have a resident serre tar > The official gets a salary of i per year and there are men in Maine who hold that position In over 200 companies com-panies Once a year a few of the di rcetors journey to Portland eat a hearty dinner assemble for the meet big call It to order and adjourn Thus It will be seen that while New Jersey Is I the home of trusts Maine is 1 the mother of unlimited corporations with unlimited I capital mostly I imaginary I imagi-nary money NUCLEUS OF THEIR SCHISM l It 1 was upon lhe United States Oil company In maily1respects ono of the most legitimate and successful enterprises enter-prises ever floated that the Three Cs first concentrated ihelr I energies In I away a-way ihelr profitable notation of this company was the innlens of all the other enterprises that followed und for which in turn were to have beon succeeded by other and even more ambitious ot1el < bitious schemes In a way the United Slates Oil proposition was a suie thing fO there was aluys C ready market at good prices for Its product and II only required good judgment In administration and the purchase of new properties to make it a steady divi dn pIer indefinitely Hud the triumvirate trium-virate been content to stick to oil and not take their fatal plunge Into cop pen In which a far more powerful oil Interest was already angling for control con-trol all might have been well TOOK WELL WITH STREET The United Slates Oil company was organized In September 1805 Cole Coolidge and Clark all being associated In its notation From the Ural it took well with the streel and the shares rapidly rose In market value The company com-pany is capitalized al 2500000 and diirlnir 1SOO ihr > stnrk has sold as hlh as 551 ½ declining to JO during the recent re-cent shakedown Its properties arc located lo-cated in Ohio and West Virginia the soculled Scio oil found In the llrst nanied region being considered the bell grade of crude oil In the market ONE PLAN ABANDONED in January 1S9S the capital of the company wus doubled for the purpose of securing additional oil property In Ohio ThlH plan however was abandoned aban-doned because of the recent trouble of the Three Cs Clark who was president of the company hat been succeeded by I Joseph S ticker t Maine capitalist und the company Is now earning 2000 Oa week ThlH company com-pany of all that was in the control of the Three Cs comet out In rut the best condition In securing Mr Kicker for president there Is 101 no reason why If in the past the concern was prosperous prosper-ous it should not make money In the future The Three Cs confident of their ability to successfully flout any legitimate enterprise and encouraged by the boom conditions I then prevailing prevail-ing in the stock maiket began to branch out Into the broader Held of mining speculation speculaton I TACKLED GOLD PROPERTY Their first essay In this direction was the organization of the North American merlcan Gold Dredging DIedglng company which was Incorporated under the laws of Maine August 27 1S97 with a capital of 1 000 000 par value 10 Clark was made president and Cole treasurer The stock was listed on the Boston Stock Exchange December t 1S3S it ad vanced as high as 2J but h I hoar frost of public Indifference soon settled upon It and the price has lately been down to 21 The formation formaton of this company was In n way a result of the Klondike gold furore I was proposed to construct dredges with W drcse8 wih which to ge euro the alluvial gold in the beds of rivers like the Yukon oJ lke and one or two of them were actually 01 nctual constructed and placed In operation in Colorado Gold dredging was 0 process that the ven oral tn public had not Jhlc been very well to up however and the com pany and Its methods have never been thoroughly understood here COPPER PROBLEMS NEXT The next scheme of the Three Cs was the re Copper rehabilitation of the old Santa I I company under the name of J the Santa Fc Gohl and COhPer rIising I New iv The T minIs nndlolpel M I I cw MJ lnte a ohiewhal Pie j turcquC KrU icord on Wle Street esi p J dally 1 lth rspet to UK8ISSmenU vs hon th project of reviving the enterprise en-terprise became noised around there was a great searching of tin boxe on great tn the part of those who had bon tock holders In the original company Some of these had considered the certificates I nsgo worthless that they had destroyed I 1 them but others hud retained their holdings and came in under the new I old Plan of exchanging five shares of exchnnglng Jve f and the I i Stock for one share of new fnd payment of 01 J5 per share for new stock I I COMPANY ORGANIZED I The company was organized January I 21 1S07 wllh a capital of 2500000 rhere was 500000 cash on hand us u result of the subscription by old clock holders and 25000 shares of stock were I I Clark wan retained in the treasury made president and Cole and < oolldge I were In the directory as were also Leonard Lcwlssohn and Albert S Blge low the big Boston copper man The stock of 1H company wag listed February Feb-ruary 23 1SS9 and for n time was somi what of a heavy feature of the tradIng I In coppers I never fulfilled the prom I i ISPS and expectations of Ha sponsors however and has lately sold as low I UB 1GO per share UNITED STATES MINING tAll I t-All this lime the Indcfullgablc trio I were at work upon the most umblllous of all their schemes and the one that al I was destined to become their Frankenstein I Frank-enstein and wreck not only their own fortunes but bring a whole city into I the throes of financial disturbance This was the 10000000 United States Mining I proposition which has figured so prominently I prom-inently In the recent financial upheavals upheav-als here and which even at the pres I ent moment Is u serious element In lH financial situation These mines had I been worked for over twentyfive years and hud u productive record of 40000 I 000 to 50000000 In silver and lead before be-fore the rich copper deposits were discovered dis-covered at all At this time it was understood that the Standard Oil people were anxious to secure the propertIes at a certain price and it Is this understanding that gave rise to lhe report thai the smashing smash-ing of the stock In which Clark Cole I and Coolldge were interested was done I at the Instigation of thIs powerful interest In-terest The Three Cs however decided de-cided to go ahead and form lhe company com-pany HAD A ROSY LOOK I The United Staten Mining company I was duly Incorporated under the laws of Maine with an authorised capital I of 510000000 of which 2500000 was issued Is-sued Clark wus president and Coles I son treasurer while Cole Sr und I Coolidge were among the directors From a speculative slandpolnt everything every-thing looked as rosy for the United States Mining outfit as It had originally original-ly for the oil company The stock v us listed on May I 1th und became such an active Irading curd that as many as 16000 shares a day changed bunds in the board at times The stock was I put out at 20 per share and the promoters divided 2000000 among themselves thin representing the difference dif-ference of the cost price of the stock to them and the 20 at which it was put out The market price kept I steadily advancing ad-vancing until on September 6th It touched 1274 After the climax In the affairs of lhe Globe bank was reached I It began to drop with such rapidity that in order to prolecl the interests of all concerned Clark and Coolidge I with the heln of several others were obliged to peg the stock around rtO OBTAIN CENTENNIAL EUREKA Next the promoters took up the root ganisation of the Centennial Eureka properties for which an English syndicate syn-dicate had been angling and on which they had already secured an option The Boston hustlers went the Brllluh I I ors 50 per cent better on their otter however und ecu red the ou lilt It t was decided to capitalize the properly al 52500000 The novel feature ot this scheme was lo be the allotment of stoek to holders of United States Mining Mi-ning shares and lie general public at exactly what It cost lhe promoters proposition entirely different from thc flotation of the United Slates Mining I company The company vas chartered under Muine laws and Clark became Its president l with the younger Cole treasurer Cole SI und Coolidge being be-ing I members of the directorate It way part of the plan lo eventually consolidate the Iwo properlies but the lute disaster has prevented this for the present al least and I he Centennial Eureka has been turned over by the ClurkCoolldge l people to other hands ZINC AS A SIDE LINE Not satisfied with I I making millions I in oil und copper lhe Three < s found time to 1 lake on a side line I I of xinr and soon the financial world was notified that I the American Zinc Lead and Sinrlllng company waR thereafter I to te known us u component purl of lie Three fs oulfit This company WOK floated about t the lime t I that speculation in zlnr begun to give evidence of seriously se-riously crowding the copper boom The financial pages of newspapers fiamcd with alluring prospectuses of this thai and thc other aim company notation but Else nork of organizing the I American company proceeded quietly without the aid of either brass lands 01 paid advertisements The company sits organized under the laws of Maine with a capital of 2500000 with 1500 000 In the treasury I Clark was made president Cole JI treasurer and the elder Cole and Coolidge were dlreclor The stock was lIsted and opened at II 1 I advancing to 67 It Is I now at 13 The company controls moo acres of territory terri-tory In the Joplin district I NOT AT ALL WORRIED The shrinkage of million In the market value of their securities the loss of their actual and prospective fortunes the tremendous menial strain to which they have for months been subjected and the financial and legal perplexities which still confront them have thus far apparently fulled lo seriously se-riously disturb the equanimity of Clark und Coolidge and pome people predict lhat thCy will eventually regain their former position anti give to financial hIstory a i parallel case to lint of the Moore Brothers of Chicago who failed a couple of years ago for millions and have since made enough to pay their I debts and have a goodly sum left over |