Fifty years in Wall Street
attorney of the New York and Harlem Railroad. On the union of the New
York Central and Harlem roads, in 1869, he was appointed attorney of the
consolidated company, and in 1875 he was made general counsel. A few
years previous he had been elected director of the New York Central
road, and subsequently became a director in the Chicago and
Northwestern, Michigan Central, St. Paul and Omaha, the Lake Shore and
the Nickel Plate. In 1882 he was elected second vice-president of the
New York Central, and in 1885 succeeded Mr. Rutter as president of that
great railroad. He was born in Peekskill in 1834, and comes of an old
French Huguenot family. He still owns the homestead purchased two
hundred years ago by his ancestors. His mother is a descendant of the
brother of Roger Sherman, of revolutionary fame. Mr. Depew was graduated
from Yale College in 1856, and three years later was admitted to the
bar. In 1862 he was elected to the New York Assembly and acted as
Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means and part of the time as
Speaker. In 1863, the year after Governor Seymour’s election, Mr. Depew
was a candidate for Secretary of State on the Republican ticket,
overcame the Democratic ascendancy, and was elected by about thirty
thousand votes. He declined re-election and was appointed Minister to
Japan by Secretary Seward. He held the post several years, and resigned
it to resume business. His commission as Collector of the Port of New
York was once made out by President Johnson, but in consequence of
Senator E. D. Morgan’s refusal to sustain Mr. Johnson’s veto of the
Civil Rights bill the President never sent the nomination to the Senate,
but tore it up in a rage. In 1872 Mr. Depew was a candidate for
Lieutenant-Governor of New York on the Liberal-Republican ticket, and
was defeated. Two years later the Legislature elected him Regent of the
State University. He served one year as one of the Commissioners to
build the new Capitol at Albany. In the memorable contest for the United
States Senatorship in 1881, Mr. Depew for eighty-two days received the
votes of three-fourths of the Republican members, retiring then to
ensure the election of Warner Miller. Mr. Depew is President of the
Union League and a member of many other clubs and societies, and is very
popular wherever he is known. He is one of the wittiest and readiest
after-dinner speakers in this country, and when occasion requires, rises
to the height of a born orator. His tastes seem to be those of a
statesman and a scholar rather than those of a financier in the ordinary
acceptation of the term, but his conservative and able administration of
his office as President of one of the greatest trunk lines in this
country, reveals a thorough apprehension of railroad problems and a
natural capacity for whatever duties may be imposed upon him. His great
versatility is exemplified by the fact that he has succeeded in law,
politics and railroad management.
JAMES M. BROWN.
James M. Brown, the banker, was born in New York city, and is about 65
years of age. He is ex-President of the Chamber of Commerce, and is held
in general esteem and respect. The house of Brown Bros. & Co., in which
he is now the senior member, has an interesting history. Early in the
present century Alexander Brown came from Belfast, Ireland, to this
country, and settled in Baltimore, where he engaged in the dry goods
business under the firm name of Alexander Brown & Sons. Subsequently the
firm comprised five sons of Alexander Brown. The business of the dry
goods firm prospered, and branch houses were established in
Philadelphia, New York and Liverpool, a son going to each of these
cities to represent the parent house in Baltimore. In New York and
Philadelphia the style of the firm was Brown Brothers & Co., as the
father had died in the meantime. In Liverpool they associated with them
Mr. Shipley, and the firm there was Brown, Shipley & Co. Another house
was established in London later on under the same title as the Liverpool
firm. All the houses were still engaged in the dry goods trade. Here in
New York, in which we are more particularly interested, the firm made
advances on cotton, and received linens from abroad, and also orders to
buy cotton for Liverpool. Gradually the house began to make larger
advances to planters and others engaged in the cotton trade, and finally
the banking business became so large as to swallow up the dry goods
trade and the house thereupon dropped merchandise and became bankers.
Later on a branch house was established in Boston, and at times it has
had branch houses in New Orleans, Mobile, Galveston, Savannah and
Charleston conducted under the name of the parent firm. At present it
has houses in London, Liverpool, New York, Philadelphia, Boston,
Baltimore and New Orleans. All of the original Brown brothers are dead.
James M. Brown is a near relative of James Brown, whose picture appears,
and who was the original head of the house in New York. James M. Brown
did not enter the house in his youth. He was for years the senior member
of the dry goods house of Brown, Seaver & Dunbar. On the dissolution of
this firm James M. Brown became a partner in the house of which, by
reason of his years and large experience, he may be considered the head.
The other partners here are Howard Potter, John Crosby Brown, Charles D.
Dickey, Waldron Post Brown, a son of James M. Brown, and W. F. Halsey.
The New York partners are interested in the branch houses in this
country and abroad. James M. Brown was a member of the famous Committee
of Seventy which contributed to the downfall of the Tweed Ring in this
city. He is of the medium height and florid complexion, well preserved,
genial in manners, and is a man of high character.
STEDMAN, THE POET AND FINANCIER.
A small, slightly built gentleman with iron gray side whiskers, a
refined face and expressive gray eyes, is one of the notable figures in
Wall Street. It is Edmund Clarence Stedman, the banker poet. He was born
in a small town in Connecticut in 1833, studied at Yale, entered
journalism in 1852, came to New York in 1855, and soon began to
contribute poems to the _New York Tribune_. He became a war
correspondent for the _World_ on the outbreak of the rebellion, and
continued in this capacity till 1863. In that year he became private
secretary to Attorney-General Bates at Washington. Meantime he studied
law, and contributed to the _Atlantic Monthly_ and other leading
magazines. As a poet, he holds high rank; as a writer of polished,
graceful prose he has few equals; as a thorough gentleman and a
scrupulous man of business he is held in the highest respect. Through
the imprudence of another he has within a few years met with some
financial reverses, which he met courageously and honorably, and he is
now well on his way towards his former position of financial ease.
Although a poet, he understands Wall Street business thoroughly, and is
considered a keen judge of financial opportunities.
Victor H. Newcombe was born in Louisville, Kentucky, about 48 years ago.
His father was President of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, and the
son succeeded the father in that position. The elder Newcombe was a
financial power in Kentucky. He was sagacious and far-seeing. In every
respect, he was an excellent business man. Victor Newcombe has fallen
heir to his father’s laurels and is a successful operator in Wall
Street. He has achieved signal success in most of the campaigns in which
he has engaged, whether on the bull or the bear side of the market. He
is cautious, and turns quickly when he thinks there is occasion. He
seems to act on the French saying, that “only a fool never changes his
mind.” He lives in fine style on Fifth avenue, and also has a beautiful
residence at Elberon. He is one of a number of prominent gentlemen from
the South who have enrolled themselves among the citizens and taxpayers
of New York. He is an ex-director in the New York & New England road,
and a prominent member of the Union and Tuxedo Park Clubs.
MOSES TAYLOR.
Moses Taylor, now deceased, was one of the notable figures in Wall
Street life for many years. He started as a South street merchant, after
having been a clerk with G. G. & S. Howland. Wm. H. Aspinwall was also a
clerk with that house at the same time. When Mr. Taylor gave up his
situation to embark in business for himself, Mr. Aspinwall was admitted
into the Howland firm as a junior partner. Moses Taylor was a man
governed largely by intuition. There was little argument; with him, so
to speak, it was a word and a blow. Having formed his impression and
taken his quick resolution, there was no length to which he would not go
in the transaction, either in buying or selling or advancing money. He
was President of the City Bank and owned a large amount of its stock.
Under his administration the bank was wonderfully successful. His
son-in-law Percy R. Pyne, is now its President. Moses Taylor was a
valuable aid to the Union cause during the war. He was a close friend of
Secretary Chase, and whenever the Government needed the assistance of
the banks, the Secretary’s influence with the great merchant speedily
brought about the desired result. Moses Taylor realized the fact that
the support of the Government by the entire banking system was an
imperative necessity. The presidents of the banks would be called
together on one of these appeals from the Secretary of the Treasury, and
whatever action Mr. Taylor favored would be adopted, so strong was his
influence, and so high his standing as a merchant and financier. He
accumulated wealth very fast in connection with the sugar branch of his
business. Most of the large sugar planters consigned their product to
his firm, and they were also governed by his superior judgment in
investing their money, so that he always had important connections with
Wall Street, a fact that entitles him to a place in this book. While
investing millions for Cuban capitalists, he also invested very largely
for himself. Moses Taylor was the first to discover the value of the
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Coal property, and while the stock was
kicked about Wall Street, because the company was bankrupt, he picked it
up at a few cents on the dollar, and made millions of dollars from this
investment alone. At his death he was one of the largest owners of the
stock, as his faith in it was so strong that he had refused to sell it,
even though the price had risen above 140. He died worth at least forty
millions of dollars. He had no social aspirations, and no interest in
anything but business. It was his idol. Few men have been harder workers
from early in life up to their last days. He never felt that he could
spare time for recreation, and was seldom known during his long business
career to leave the city over night, summer or winter, except on
business. Moses Taylor had for partners in his business his son-in-law
Percy R. Pyne and Lawrence Turnure, both excellent business men, and Mr.
Taylor owed much of his success to the selection of these gentlemen to
aid in the management of his affairs. Mr. Taylor placed in the hands of
these two gentlemen, especially during the last ten years of his life,
the laboring oar of his vast business, and the successful results are
the evidence of their sagacity and marvellous ability.
ANTHONY W. MORSE.
Anthony W. Morse was once one of the remarkable men of Wall Street. He
made $150,000 in speculation, bought a yacht and went to Europe during