The Romance and Tragedy of a Widely Known Business Man of New York Part 21

Our former clerk, the broker, George Norman, also failed, claiming our failure as the cause.

In our operations it was often necessary to cover our ident.i.ty by using a broker's name, an established custom in many lines of business. We had favored George largely and our business had been very profitable to him. We did not know at the time, but learned a little later, that prices on the contracts made through him were on our books in excess of the prices he had paid the seller, whereas they should have agreed. This really made him a princ.i.p.al instead of a broker. Actually he had bought of sellers for his own account at one price and sold to us at a higher price, he making the difference in addition to his commissions. His representations to us were always that the price we were paying him was the lowest the seller would accept.

Norman also had been operating on his own account, and by failing escaped his losses. The general opinion of the trade was that he really made money by his failure.

On our books at the time of the failure were a number of discretionary accounts. All of these clients were our friends, and most of them had been with us for many years and had received their investments back in profits over and over again. In order to do justice to all we had to syndicate these accounts. The combined capital was large and the operations had always been very profitable.

These clients had come to us without our solicitation and it was distinctly understood from the start that their investment was at their own risk. All this money was now lost. We had no legal liability, but we did feel, as they were friends, that there was a moral responsibility and we told them one and all we would accept it.

We did something else for them; a few knew it at the time and showed their appreciation. Some of them will not know it until they read it here.

Every one of those clients could have been held as an undisclosed partner, for a very large part of our losses were made in the December operations for the syndicate. Morally, they were not responsible, for they never intended a.s.suming any such liability, nor would we have allowed them to; but legally, technically, they were liable, and we saved them, keeping the burden where it had fallen, on our own shoulders. We had one discretionary account that was not in the syndicate. It was the account of Albert Caine. This was operated under our guarantee against loss, we taking half the profits as compensation for the guarantee. Although this account stood in Albert's name, it was his wife's money and her investment. It had been running for a long time and profits had been paid her to the extent of about forty-seven hundred dollars.

Although we had not the affection for the Caines we had for others in our circle of friends, we were extremely intimate. I have told of our amus.e.m.e.nt fund and of how residing near each other we were meeting them continually. They had visited us at "Redstone," at Great Neck, and at Monmouth Beach, and I hardly expected they would be the first to desert us. They were--and worse.

As soon as Caine heard of the failure he began a search for property to attach. He told a mutual friend that papers were being drawn to attach the horses and carriages and the house furniture. For some reasons he changed his mind, which was just as well, as all were beyond his reach.

Then he made a statement reflecting on me, giving as his authority my bankers, on whom he had called. This I took up at once. I knew it was false.

Without letting him know the object, I arranged an interview at my lawyer's office, which he attended, accompanied by his lawyer.

I had asked George Todd to be there as a witness who could relate an account of the interview to our mutual friends. Caine, when he saw Todd, objected to his presence, but he remained.

My lawyer repeated the statement and asked Caine if he had made it.

He replied, "Yes." He asked him if the banker had told him this, and he answered, "No."

Then Todd said, "Albert, do I understand you to say that this statement you made and said you had heard from the bankers, you admit having made, and now say that you did not hear it, and that it was a lie"? To which he replied, "Yes," and burst into tears.

That ended the interview and thereafter the Caines were ostracised by our circle of friends.

A little later Mrs. Caine commenced suit. Just to tease her I fought the case, claiming that while guaranteeing against loss, I had not guaranteed profits, and that these should be deducted.

After keeping her on the "anxious seat" for about two years she secured a judgment for the full amount, and she owns to-day the only judgment against me. She would have had more money now had she remained a friend.

There were two of my liabilities that distressed me far more than the others and one of these caused me the keenest anguish of mind.

At the time of the settlement of the Slater estate, Mr. Pell, Mrs.

Slater's father, was a creditor for fourteen thousand dollars. Frank had been using this money and had paid Mr. Pell ten per cent. per annum on it, not regarding it as a matter of interest, but merely to give the old gentleman, who was out of business and becoming feeble, a certain amount of income. Mr. Pell asked me as a favor to take this money and do the same for him as Frank had been doing.

I did so, and later he added two thousand dollars to the amount, so that I owed him in all sixteen thousand dollars.

The other liability was for twenty-five thousand dollars due to Mrs.

Slater. There had been a time a year or two back when temporarily my resources were pretty well tied up, and I then borrowed this amount of Mrs. Slater. When I asked her at the time if she wanted to help me out, she replied, "I am only too delighted, Walter, to do anything you ask," and she meant it. The loan was made without security and was an act of purest friendship. To make it she had to withdraw the money from her invested funds and of course I told her this would not diminish her income.

It was this liability to Mrs. Slater that caused me such torture of mind. The one thing that slightly relieved this feeling was the knowledge that neither she nor Mr. Pell wanted the money. If the income could be kept up, and this I hoped to accomplish, I could take my own time for repayment of the princ.i.p.al.

My mail was crowded for days with letters of sympathy. Practically all our out-of-town customers wrote us, and to their kindly expressions of regret for our disaster was added the hope that we would continue in business, and promises of hearty support in the matter of sending us their orders.

With our compet.i.tors it was different. One or two called on us and were sincere in their regret. Others, as we met them, talked the same way, but we knew they did not mean it; and one, a Sunday-school teacher whom I described in an earlier chapter as doing business on a paving-stone heart, was reported to me as having made derogatory remarks regarding us.

As soon as this report reached me, I went at once to his office, and while his face crimsoned in his confusion at being confronted, he denied that he had made the remark. I accepted his denial, though I did not believe him. I had no more use for him than for the sort of Christianity of which he is an example, and thereafter I treated him with the barest civility.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII

THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS

One of my friends once said to me, "Stowe, it is worth all the trouble you have had to find out what a n.o.ble woman your wife is"; and his wife added, "She is the bravest woman I ever knew."

Did not I know full well the bravery of the woman?

Had not her character and n.o.bility of soul been revealed to me time and again in the troubles that beset us in the early years of our married life? True, this catastrophe immeasurably overshadowed anything that had come to us before, but I knew how my wife would take it and I was not disappointed.

If it were possible, she loved me more than ever. Her constant effort was to cheer me up, keep up my courage by imparting her own brave spirit to mine. Never a word of regret for all the luxuries and many comforts that must now be given up, never a suspicion of despondency. Only the brightest of smiles and most tender caresses were lavished on me by my devoted wife, and with all was her earnest desire to do what she could to lighten my burdens and to share in the struggle before us.

The same spirit animated the children. One and all they supported me by their strong affection shown in every possible way.

Immediately following my disaster the loyalty and regard of my social friends, with the one exception of the Caines, was shown on all sides. Kindly letters and personal calls were numerous and did much to relieve the terrible feeling of despondency that weighed me down.

The bright particular star in this firmament of friends was Mrs.

Slater. She had made a heavy loss that she could ill afford and she accepted it without a shadow of reproach to me. Of course she expected and hoped that at some time I would be able to repay her, but this thought did not influence her in her stanch friendship.

Had she known there was no possible hope of my ever repaying her, her feeling toward me would have been the same. Mrs. Caine, who knew her, while calling and in a spirit of malice endeavored to turn her against me. As a result, the call was never returned, and the acquaintance ceased.

At this time I was seeking no favors from friends except in one little matter in which I was a.s.sisted by George Todd and Will Curtice. They were not called upon for financial aid, but they guaranteed my carrying out an agreement which made them jointly liable to the extent of four thousand dollars. I fulfilled my obligation and then returned their guarantee.

The spirit shown by the tradespeople with whom I had dealings touched me deeply. I had always been prompt in the settlement of bills and immediately after my failure every account of this character was paid at once. Of course we immediately cut off all unnecessary expense.

King, the well-known up-town fish dealer, had been serving us oysters and fish regularly each day. We were through now with course dinners and these items were cut out. The next day I received a letter from him, from which I quote:

"I want your trade if it's only a pound of codfish a week, and you can pay once a month, once a year, or whenever it pleases you."

Then there was old Tom Ward, the coal dealer. I had in my cellar about thirty tons of coal and I called at his office to get him to send for it and pay me what he could afford to. As I entered the door he sprang forward with outstretched hand, saying, "Mr. Stowe, I am glad to see you, and I want to say you're the whitest little man on the West Side, and I have a few hundred dollars in the bank.

If you want them you're welcome to them." My tailor, with whom I had traded for a great many years, told me I could always have anything in his shop and no bills would be rendered until asked for. And so it was with all.

Of the house on Eighty-sixth Street, I had a lease at three thousand dollars a year. My landlord, Mr. W. E. D. Stokes, told me to "remain until the end of the lease and not bother about the rent." I accepted this offer for one month. The Misses Ely, where the girls attended school, called on my wife and asked her to continue the girls for the rest of the school year without charge.

The larger tradesmen, such as Tiffany, Altman; Arnold, Constable, and the like, all wanted our account kept on their books, but we were through with the pomps and vanities and had no use for them.

My coachman offered me his savings and with the house servants it was the same.

Before the end of January arrangements had been completed for our new scale of living. The horses and carriages, representing an investment of ten thousand dollars, I sold for less than two thousand. There was no time to look for buyers and I made a forced sale. Of the contents of our home we sold nothing except a panoply of armor and one piece of bronze. These, Mrs. Veidler, who had always admired them, bought, and added to the appointments of her Fifth Avenue home.

At Westfield, N. J., we were offered a large house with modern conveniences, well-stocked conservatory, and attractive grounds, at a rental of fifty dollars per month. This we accepted, and on the eighth of February took possession.

Before leaving the city we were entertained at a series of dinners and theatre parties given by our friends of the "Immortal Ten,"

and though these occasions were somewhat saddening, partaking of the nature of a farewell honor to a fallen "Prince," we appreciated the compliment.

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII