Produced by Barbara Tozier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in | | this text. For a complete list, please see the bottom of | | this document. | +------------------------------------------------------------+ [Illustration: THOMAS W. LAWSON AFTER TWELVE MONTHS OF "FRENZIED FINANCE"] FRENZIED FINANCE BY THOMAS W. LAWSON OF BOSTON VOLUME I THE CRIME OF AMALGAMATED NEW YORK THE RIDGWAY-THAYER COMPANY 1905 _Copyright, 1905, by_ THE RIDGWAY-THAYER COMPANY _These articles are reprinted from "Everybody's Magazine"_ COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY THE RIDGWAY-THAYER COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY THE RIDGWAY-THAYER COMPANY _All rights reserved_ TROW DIRECTORY PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK TO PENITENCE AND PUNISHMENT THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO PENITENCE: that those whose deviltry is exposed within its pages may see in a true light the wrongs they have wrought--and repent. TO PUNISHMENT: that the unpenalized crimes of which it is the chronicle may appear in such hideousness to the world as forever to disgrace their perpetrators. TO PENITENCE: that the transgressors, learning the error of their ways, may reform. TO PUNISHMENT: that the sins of the century crying to heaven for vengeance may on earth be visited with condemnation stern enough to halt greed at the kill. TO PUNISHMENT: that public indignation may be so aroused against the practices of high finance that it shall come to be as culpable to graft and cozen within the law as it is lawless to-day to counterfeit and steal. TO PENITENCE: that in the minds of all who read this eventful history there may grow up a knowledge and a conviction that the gaining of vast wealth is not worth the sacrifice of manhood, and that poverty and abstinence with honor are better worth having than millions and luxury at the cost of candor and rectitude. TO MY AUDIENCE SAINTS, SINNERS, AND IN-BETWEENS Before you enter the confines of "Frenzied Finance," here spread out--for your inspection, at least; enlightenment, perhaps--halt one brief moment. If the men and things to be encountered within are real--did live or live now--you must deal with them one way. If these embodiments are but figments of my mind and pen, you must regard them from a different view-point. Therefore, before turning the page, it behooves you to find for yourself an answer to the grave question: Is it the truth that is dealt with here? In weighing the evidence remember: