FEBRUARY 18 — 1902 Teddy Roosevelt outbullies JP Morgan by dismantling Northern Securities; 1986 Happy birthday triple amputee motivational speaker Cameron Clapp; 1885 Twain publishes Huck Finn
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FEBRUARY 18
1902 – Teddy Roosevelt outbullies JP Morgan by dismantling Northern Securities.
Back in 1890, Ohio Senator John Sherman came up with a bill that would help regulate commerce and help competition by limiting monopolies. Known as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, it was rarely taken seriously and often completely ignored as United States courts would routinely side with big businesses. The American Sugar Refining Company for instance controlled 98% of the US sugar market, and in 1895 the Sherman Act would be ignored as the Supreme Court would not rule in favor of corporate dissolution.
Meanwhile in the booming railroad business of the turn of the century, James Hill, owner of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads, wanted Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, or CB&Q, JUST LIKE HIS BIDDING ARCH RIVAL Edward Harriman, president of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads. .
During the bidding war harriman demanded 1/3 interest in CB&Q, and Hill denied him. In retaliation, Harriman started buying stocks in Northern Pacific, forcing Hill to counter, and Northern Pacifics shares artificially boomed and nearly crashed the stock market. Finally banker JP Morgan and financier John Rockefeller stepped in with a solution for all four gentlemen to wrap up all railroads into Northern Securities Company.
NSC was about to become the largest company in the entire world, and President William McKinley turned a blind eye.
Then the president was assassinated, and Vice President Teddy, The Old Lion, the Great White Chief, the Man on Horseback, the Trust Buster TR Roosevelt stepped in as president, and would not turn a blind eye to Morgan and went right away to stop him, dead in his tracks. Railroad tracks, that is. On February 19, 1902, while Pierpont Morgan was entertaining guests over dinner at his house, his telephone rang. The telephone at the time was a nice communication gadget that only a couple million people in the US had. The man on the other line was a messenger calling to inform Pierpont that TR’s attorney general is bringing a lawsuit to Northern Securities.
Slap.
No warning.
Several days later, Morgan was at the White House, yelling at the President that he was being treated like a common criminal. President Trust Buster Roosevelt pulled out the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and accused Morgan of having an illegal combination “acting in restraint of trade.”
After the Court ruled 5 to 4 against the stockholders, Northern Securities would be forced to dissolve, and become once again, the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads. It’s becoming more widely believed that Morgan would get revenge on the President just a few years later by attacking his rival Heinz-Morse, and along with help from Rockefeller driving down the stock of Heinz Copper, thus creating the Panic of 1907. Which is a story I’ll get to another time.
Trust Buster Roosevelt earned his nickname because he believed that a trust that dominated the industry provided good service at fair prices, that’s generally not a problem. However, if it starts jacking up price and taking advantage of consumers, TR will find it, and tear it apart.
Business by business.
1878 – Lincoln County War begins.
General Store Monopoly, including Lawrence Murphy, James Dolan, John Kinney and Sheriffs William Brady and Pat Garret v the Regulators: Dick Brewer, Frank McNabb, Doc Scurlock.
Oh yeah, and Billy the Kid.
The result: Supression of the Regulators. Murphy and Dolan rna the only cattle store, called The House, in the area until Alexander McSweney and a young Englishman namd John Tunstall came in and tried to step on their monopoly. The Nolan Murphy gang were already unpopular in the New Mexico area since they controlled catle prices to ranchers and farmers, as well as large contracts with the US Government. Tunstall, on the other hand, had a friend named John Chisum, who owned a very large supply of the cattle in the area, and began competing with the Nolan-Murphy business at the House.
This nearly led to immediate violence, in fact Dolan attempted to provoke Tunstall into a gunfight but Tunstall backed down, instead hiring the Regulators as bodyguards. Since the House had strong political ties, they were able to obtain a court order demanding that Tunstall turn over some of his horses to pay an old debt.
When Tunstall refused, Sherrif Brady dispatched a posse led by deputy William Morton to take them by force. Tunstall stood up to the posse and as a result, on February 18 1878, got a bullet hole in the head. Right in from of Billy the Kid. Billy and the Regulators waged a war against the Nolan Murphy gang, which ended with 19 people dead including McSween and Sheriff Brady.
Lincoln County became a war zone, until 1878 when newly appointed Governor Lew Wallace offered amnesty to those who surrendered peacefully as long as they weren’t already under indictment, which included Billy the Kid.
1986 happy birthday triple amputee Cameron Clapp.
Typical California kid, Cameron loved skateboarding a surfing. But in 2001 he was drinking with his brother, rather heavily apparently and passed out on a train track. No, I didn’t make that up.
But when a train came and ran overt him, he lost both legs and an arm. I suppose it could’ve been worse. He got a couple prosthetic legs and a microprocessor in his head; he is not only back to being an athlete, but also a motivational speaker for other amputees.
Cam’s advice to patients dealing with their disability: Surround yourself with good people, good doctors, therapists, family and friends. Set reachable goals, work hard and maintain a good attitude. Cameron Clapp everybody, like a boss!
1856 – The Know Nothing party convenes in Philadelphia.
AKA The American party, the knownothings began in the 1840s as an anti-immigration and anti-irish roman catholic party of native Protestants who felt their economy was being threatened. The Order of the Star Spangled Banner and the Order of the United Americans were formed within this group, and when asked by the press about their political goals, they were told to claim to know nothing. By 1852 the Know Nothing party gained political momentum, and conservatives who neither support pro nor anti slavery movements found a place in this American Party. On February 18, 1856 they convened in Philly and nominated Millard Fillmore for their choice for President. But by 1856, the party split, Anti-Slavery Know Nothingers would defet to the newly formed Republican party, and pro=slavery Know Nothings to the Democratic Party. Fillmore only carried one state, which was Maryland, in the election of 1865, and the party dissolved.
1885 – Mark Twain publishes the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Few stories represent America as well as this book did.
But don’t take my word for it,
Ernest Hemingway himself mentioned that this marked the beginning of American history. It’s controversial to this day, , while Twain, or Samuel Clemens as he’s called in real life, is under fire from African-American groups for being racist in its illustration of black people, and using the N word about 30,000 times in the book while ironically the book was a strong criticism of racism and slavery in general.
The story was a direct sequal to Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.