Frenzied Finance, Vol. 1: The Crime of AmalgamatedLawson, Thomas William
History
Frenzied Finance, Vol. 1: The Crime of Amalgamated
Lawson, Thomas William
Amalgamated Copper Co.; Gas companies -- Massachusetts -- Boston; Insurance -- United States; Speculation; Standard Oil Company
There remained now the tremendous business of putting all the
arrangements concluded into execution. A multitude of legal documents
had to be drawn up and executed, first by Rogers and then by the Bay
State board of directors and officers. It was a pile of work, but not a
second was lost, and by 11.20 that night we were ready for the third
act, which was to be performed simultaneously by different sets of
actors in Boston and Wilmington. For this our officers were split. With
the directors of the Boston corporations, Chandler, and Mr. Rogers'
attorney to supervise the legal end of next day's transaction, I left on
a special car attached to the midnight train for Boston; while Addicks
and the Bay State directors set forth on another midnight train for
Wilmington, Del., to be followed in the early morning by my New York
partner, John Moore's partner, Braman, Foster, and more counsel
representing Mr. Rogers. This contingent was to carry the money.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE CIRCLING OF THE VULTURES
I don't believe there ever was before or since a financial operation in
which so many things, each of vital importance, had to be done at one
and the same time.
Before I took the train for Boston, just after the last deed had been
signed, Braman, Foster, and I had come to a complete understanding in
regard to the manner in which the court proceedings the following
morning should be conducted. It was understood that no one should take
another's word for anything, and consequently that no money should pass
until specific performance of all the required conditions. Immediately
on the release of the receivership, Foster and Braman were to be paid
their "fee," and they asked that the $175,000 cash coming to them should
be arranged in separate piles of bills. The two packages containing
Foster's and part of Buchanan's, and Braman's $50,000 were to be in the
joint custody of John Moore's representative and my partner, who, with
Rogers' counsel and Addicks, had been assigned to represent Bay State in
the court.
What would happen after the transfer of these several amounts was
outside my jurisdiction. Addicks did not confide to me his own scheme of
revenge, but of Braman and Foster's purposes I had a clear idea. As
Braman had explained, the great winning of his adventure should be made
in the stock plunge he and Foster contemplated in Bay State Gas stock,
then selling at 3-1/2 to 4; but lest there be some slip-up in court,
"buy" orders to their brokers were contingent on the word "go!" from
Wilmington. To get this off at the right moment a clerk was taken along,
whose only part in the play was to telephone this word "go!" They
expected in this way to make at least half a million.[16]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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