Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with underscores: _italics_.

MY ADVENTURES WITH YOUR MONEY

BY GEORGE GRAHAM RICE

RICHARD G. BADGER THE GORHAM PRESS BOSTON

Copyright, 1911, by The Ridgway Company

Copyright, 1913, by Richard G. Badger

All rights reserved

THE GORHAM PRESS, BOSTON, MASS., U.S.A.

To The American Damphool Speculator, surnamed the American Sucker, otherwise described herein as The Thinker Who Thinks He Knows But Doesn't--_greetings_!

This book is for you! Read as you run, and may you run as you read.

G. G. R.

NEW YORK, March 15, 1913.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I THE RISE AND FALL OF MAXIM & GAY 11

_The Birth of an Idea to Coin Money._
_The Higher Mathematics of the Operation._
_How "The One Best Bet" Was Coined._
_Real Inside Turf Information._
_The Public Asks to Be Mystified._
_Prestige Restored by a Clerk's Ruse._
_A Boastful Race Player Gives Aid._
_Fortune Changes Her Mood and Smiles Again._
_The Kentucky Colonel Falls in Line._
_Betting the Public's Money at Great Profit._
_$130,000 Is Lost and Won in a Day._
_A Disastrous Newspaper Wind-up._

II MINING FINANCE AT GOLDFIELD 46

_A Partnership of Pure Nerve._
_Bucking the Tiger on the Desert._
_Bidding $3,000,000 When Broke._
_Millions in the Vista Held No Charms._
_"Human Interest" Versus Technical Mining._
_Beginning the Advertising Business._
_Some Advertising that Paid._
_Building Gold Mines with Publicity._
_Hair-Raising Stories for Distant Readers._
_The Mercury of Speculation._
_The Birth of Bullfrog._
_Enter, Charles M. Schwab._
_Why the Bottom Fell Out._
_How About the Public's Chances?_
_Jumping Jack Manhattan._

III THE BREWING OF A SATURNALIA OF SPECULATION 89

_Trying It on the Stray Dog._
_Advertising for Thinkers._
_Yes, "Business Is Business."_
_Fortunes that Were Missed._
_The Tale of Bullfrog Rush._
_Prize Fights and Mining Promotion._
_The Year of Big Figures._
_The Story of Goldfield Consolidated._
_At the Height of the Frenzy._

IV THE GREENWATER FIASCO 133

_Getting Into the Game._
_All the Copper in the World._
_The Collapse of Greenwater._
_The Shame and the Blame._

V ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT GOLDFIELD SMASH 144

_The Rise of Wingfield and Nipon._
_The Winnings of a Tenderfoot._
_I Am Landed High and Dry._
_The Beginning of the Raid._
_Some Pertinent Personalities._
_The Time When Money Talks._
_Clouds in the Western Sky._
_From Credit to Crash._
_Down with the Sullivan Trust Company._
_Some Hindsight that Came Too Late._

VI NIPISSING AND GOLDFIELD CON 179

_An Orgy in Market Manipulation._
_The Guggenheims Enter Nipissing._
_Nipissing on the Toboggan._
_Who Got the $75,000,000?_
_The Wonder Mining-Camp Stampede._
_Teague Attacks Senator Nixon._
"_Calling for a Show-Down._"
_Manipulating Goldfield Con._
_Enter, Nat. C. Goodwin & Co._
_The Story of the Goldfield Labor "Riots."_
_The Death of Governor Sparks._

VII RAWHIDE 219

_Real Gold at Rawhide._
_The Rawhide Coalition Mines Company._
_A Race of Gamblers._

VIII THE PRESS AGENT AND THE PUBLIC'S MONEY 227

_Publicity via Elinor Glyn._
_"Al" Miller's Siege._
_The Funeral Oration for Riley Grannan._
_Among the "Big Fellows."_
_The Reverse English._
_The Power of the Public Print._
_Rawhide Again._

IX THE WALL STREET GAME 264

_Good Big Fish vs. Bad Little Fish._
_Righteous Wall Street and the "Sucker" Public._
_The Marketing of Mining Stock._
_I Buck the Wall Street Game._
_The "Double-Crossing" of Rawhide Coalition._
_"Inside" Market Support._

X ENTER, B. H. SCHEFTELS AND COMPANY 288

_More Truth on the "Mining Financial News."_
_The Scheftels Principles._
_The Scheftels Company Against Margin Trading._

XI A FIGHT TO THE DEATH 308

_The Firing of the First Guns._
_The Story of Ely Central._
_The Assault on Ely Central._
_The Clash of Battle._
_A Bombshell in the Enemy's Camp._
_A Government Raid Is Rumored._
_The Raid on B. H. Scheftels and Co._
_A Tool's Confession._
_The Guggenheims._

XII THE LESSON OF IT ALL 362