BARON GRANT DEMONSTRATES HIS TALENT FOR EXPLOITATION BY PUTTING
OVER A DEAL THAT NETS $1,500,000.
_Happy Directors Decide That Occasion Calls for Generous Cash
Souvenirs, But Stockholders Object._
Those who are familiar with the staid, conservative, even-paced London
of to-day can hardly realize what that same London was in 1871,
the period of my first visit there. It was the year of the great
Franco-Prussian war. The pleasure capital of the world was transferred
from the River Seine to the River Thames. Male and female adventurers
of every nation thronged the British capital; speculators eager to tap
the great reservoirs of English wealth, gentlemen who lived by their
wits, chevaliers d’industrie in general, made London a common trysting
place. And the life was to correspond. It was notable for undisguised
and shameless intemperance, a primitive, savage, heathenish pursuit
of women and a fevered spirit of gambling speculation that cut loose
from all moorings of common sense. I could compare it only to the
recklessness and abandon of a Western mining camp in the orgy of flush
times.
The speculative world was ruled and controlled by a strange character,
for many years one of the famous figures in London, Baron Grant, the
same man I mentioned in the last chapter. He was half Hebrew, half
Irish, and it has been my experience that wherever you find that
combination you can look out for something different from the common
run. His real name was Gottheimer, but he had it changed by act of
Parliament to Alfred Grant. He came by his title in a curious way. When
the nascent kingdom of Italy, years before, had attempted to raise a
considerable sum and had been turned down in the money marts of Europe,
Grant, then in the height of his prestige, offered his services and
floated triumphantly the discarded securities, for which service the
grateful Italian government honored him with the title of baron.
When I first met him Baron Grant was past his zenith. Some of his
transactions had been disapproved by the great financiers, but he was
still a potent factor in the domain of speculation and a promoter
without a peer.
Personally, he had the magnetic temperament more highly developed than
any man I ever knew. His manners were engaging, he was simply a wonder
in conversation, and as he spoke his handsome face was lighted with
candid smiles that no one could resist. Whoever came within the sphere
of Baron Grant’s influence felt the intoxication of his power to charm.
Meeting several times under favorable auspices, we talked of the
mines of California and the transmississippi region in general,
concerning which I could speak with first-hand knowledge. He was
deeply interested, said that such properties would have a ready sale
on the booming London market and promised that if I could only secure
an option on a high-grade mining proposition, it would prove a very
profitable piece of business to both of us.
I cabled Mr. Ralston, naming three well known developed mines and
asked him to secure me an option on one of them. In answer I received
a cable from William M. Lent, president of the Mineral Hill Silver
Mining Company, in which I owned a quarter interest myself, offering
an option on that property for a million dollars. Within a month all
the necessary papers arrived by mail. These included, besides a legally
drawn option, a full description of the property, its productive
history, maps, engineer’s reports, estimates of tonnage in sight and
all the details that a careful investor might require. In addition
there was a private agreement, duly executed, giving me a commission of
10 per cent.
It certainly was an alluring proposition. The Mineral Hill mine was
located in eastern Nevada. Traveling on the Narrow Gauge Railroad, from
the Palisades, a station on the Southern Pacific, to Eureka, you can
still see the ruins of its plant. It was a sulphide ore that required
preliminary roasting and then became tractable and free. Besides the
furnaces, the equipment consisted of only a 20-stamp mill. Yet the ore
was of so high grade that the gross production had reached the enormous
total of $150,000 in a single month. Much of the ground was totally
unexplored, though promising.
Baron Grant laid out his promotion with his consummate skill. He
possessed a complete knowledge of the investing public. At that
time--and probably still--investors and speculators, as a rule,
confined themselves to a single line. One dabbled in coal, another in
iron mines, another in silver mines, another in gold mines and so on
down the line. Informed of the specialty of each, the astute baron
knew exactly where to go for customers, and never wasted time. The
plans provided for an issue of £600,000 of common stock and £300,000
of debenture bonds, the latter to be used for a plant to quadruple
production.
The enterprise was ably advertised and this time Samson was tractable
and kind. Interest was keen, but I think even Baron Grant was rather
surprised at what followed. When the books were opened there was a
crush to get on board, and when we had a chance to assemble figures
everything had been gobbled up and the stock twice oversubscribed. Our
net profit was £300,000, or, in American money, $1,500,000.
I had several experiences in the easy-money line, but this put them
all in the shade. I was confident that my mission in life was to place
American mining securities on the London market. Baron Grant and myself
entered into a written agreement. I was to secure options on high-class
mining properties. I had in mind the Raymond & Ely, North Bloomfield,
Eureka Consolidated and Zellerbach mines. Grant, on his part, agreed to
handle no other mining properties but mine. With this understanding,
I did not even wait for the Mineral Hill melon cutting, but set out
post-haste for San Francisco to lay in a new stock of options for the
foundation of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice.
The news of my success in placing the Mineral Hill mine in London
had made quite a stir in my home town and I was deluged with offers
of mining properties, good and bad. Quite a jubilee occurred when the
first half million dollars on account of the purchase price for Mineral
Hill was made payable at the Bank of California. The directors of the
company were so enthusiastic that they voted themselves $5000 each as
a “souvenir” and added a “souvenir” of $25,000 for the president. The
other $500,000 arrived in due season, but the sordid stockholders,
who seemed singularly devoid of imagination, objected so strongly to
“souvenirs” that this feature of the celebration was overlooked.
I had no difficulty at all in securing options on several of the
most assured mining properties of California and the Pacific Slope.
From these alone I figured to make millions, judging by the history
of Mineral Hill. Figuring on a prolonged stay abroad, I broke up my
residence in San Francisco, gave Maurice Dore a power of attorney to
manage my local interests, and left with my family for London, to
change paper into gold.