ganized,
into which Rogers would merge his companies, and Addicks our Boston
properties, in such a way as to leave Bay State stock and bondholders
high and dry, while Addicks, Whitney, and Rogers reaped tremendous
profits. These amiable plans were being hammered into shape at top
speed, and unless I could get into harness at once, my friends and I
would most certainly be ground up. Head-quarters had been opened at the
Algonquin Club, and there Addicks, Whitney, Towle, and the lawyers and
lobbyists were holding day and night sessions.

There was but one thing for me to do, and I lost not a moment. I sent
for my doctors and said: "I will devote to-day, to-morrow, and next day
to getting well; but on the fourth day I will be moved in a special car
to Boston and then to the Algonquin Club." I explained the situation and
showed them that regardless of all consequences this must be done.

I shall never forget the expression on the faces of these loyal
associates of mine--Addicks, Whitney, and the others--when I dropped in
upon their deliberations Saturday morning, four days later. My doctor, a
nurse, and my lawyer accompanied me, and I was swathed in flannels and
shawls. I got to a chair, dismissed my attendants, and launched in. What
little I had to say would be brief, I told them, but "edgy." It was all
that. I insisted that we should go right back to our old bargain exactly
at the place we had left it the night I was taken ill. If they did not
comply, I would make application for a receiver for the Bay State
companies and give to the afternoon papers the inside facts of the
affair from beginning to end. No one doubted either my ability or my
determination to carry out my threat. We sent for the documents that had
been prepared at Parker Chandler's, and inside of three hours these had
been substituted and the several agreements entered into with Rogers
formally renounced. I retired to bed that night with a chuckle of
self-satisfaction, and a convincing appreciation of the truth of the
axiom I have referred to.

The low-down treachery and double-dealing characterizing this
transaction, the utter callousness to sacred obligations it exhibits in
men of presumed high standing and personal honor, may surprise my
readers. I assure them that several such episodes will be told in the
forthcoming pages of this history. Indeed, among a certain school of
eminent financiers, loyalty is no more than devotion to the opportunity
of mak