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
During the Addicks gas campaign in Boston one of his lieutenants
demanded as his share of the deal a large amount of money, which he
claimed Addicks was withholding from him. Addicks refused to pay.
Friends and associates urged him to settle. While yet refusing, he
agreed to meet this man at one of the leading hotels in the presence of
counsel and lieutenants. The interview was a hot one. Addicks surprised
all by his absolute fearlessness in the face of a savage attack, which
culminated in the production of a document signed by certain
Massachusetts legislators, wherein they receipted for the bribe money
Addicks had paid for their votes. The man who claimed he was being
cheated threatened this would be laid before the Grand Jury the
following day. All the witnesses were dumfounded at the situation and in
concert begged Addicks to hush the matter up by paying what was claimed.
"Gentlemen," said this great financier, "my honor, my business and my
personal honor, has been assailed, and rather than submit to this
outrage I would die! I now ask you all to bear witness that under no
circumstances will I pay to this man a single dollar!" And he
indignantly left the meeting.
While his counsel and associates were appalled at what might be the
outcome, they admired Addicks' manly pluck, and asked themselves if they
had not, after all, been mistaken in their estimates of his courage and
principle. In the middle of the same night, the man with the document
was surprised by a telegram reading: "Meet me in Jersey City to-morrow
sure with paper; keep absolutely secret." Next day in Jersey they met,
and Addicks simply said: "There is the full amount. Give me the paper.
You don't suppose I would compound a felony in the State in which it was
committed, and before witnesses, do you?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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