The San Francisco call. [volume], November 17, 1907, Page 1, Image 1

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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The San Francisco Sunday Call.
Magazine Section
Part I.
WHEN MULTI-MILLIONAIRE
JAMES R. KEENE
PEDDLED MILK
IN SHASTA
Elizabeth Gregg
WHEN Jim Keene, the New York
multimillionaire, was 20 years
old he waa peddling milk in
the old town of Shasta, Call
forata. The pessimist who says "It:
Is only the poor boys who amount
to anything" will find In Eecne'a pov
erty and early struggles further proof"
of his theory, and ao will the optimist
wfco says "It doesn't matter how' a boy
Is situated, he will succeed If he has
ft in him." In *62, and for several years
after, young Keene carried milk from
<floor to door and drove his father's and
the neighbors* cows to pasture. •
He was as poor as any young fel
vlow could well be. but because he had.
St tn him to be a power In the financial,
"world and knew his own worth, though
others dorrbted It. he saved tip a little
money and left the decadent mining
town to try his powers. In San Fran-'
cJsco. How he succeeded all the world'
knows.
There is at least one. pioneer living .
tfn Shasta today, who remembers when
*tb« Keenes arrived there In '62. He re-,
members ft because he was running the-
I>>wer Springs hotel, which was crowd
«d with miners, and he needed a girl "
t» wait upon the table. He vu In
town tn quest of a.waitress when. h«
saw th« Keer.es standing In the street
]ast as they had left the .stage. Seeing
a woman In a calico dress, he Imme
diately thought that she might be a
girl he could get to work for him. and,
no he accosted her, but was surprised ;'
when she turned around to find her not
a young girl but "the old woman," Mrs.
Keene. The landlord explained his
reed of a waitress and James Keene Sr.^
ptLld that he had some girls, but that he'
wouldn't let them go. Later, -however,
when Keene had learned something
about the respectability of the Lower
Springs hotel he let his daughter. Jen
nie, who was later Mrs. John Follans
bee. go there to work, and during the
months she \u25a0was there she made herself
very well liked.
The Keenes had come to California
from England in ISSO, when the gold
excitement was at its height. Shasta
was one of the earliest and richest •
mining towns in the state, and they ;
raturally drifted there two years later.
Like many another man who came here. .
Tilth the intent to prospect for gold,
Keene Sr. satv better possibilities In
other lines, and. after, reaching Shasta,
he purchased a dairy . and went into
t^e milk business. .Tim. was then abo:;t
19 or 20. a very boyish', playful'youth,
who, for amusement, tied ran* to the
dogs' tails and for work drove rows
and peddled milk. Besides Jim. tii»r»'
was a younger boy, Harry, »n<3 two,
girls. Jennie and Polly, the latter »i
whom became Mrs. Anderson. .Ti'.o
father was a quiet, scholarly man. wlio
was coon needed In the Judicial affair*
of the town. He was at diiferent tlmos:
deputy county clerk, associate ju«Jk<*
and Justice of the peace. After serving'
several terms as Justice of the peace. h«s.
was defeated by Tom Tlynn, thefir«t
husband of . Jennie K*cne Follansbee,
fro:n whom she was divorced" because s
of his -Intemperance. Mrs. Keene is.
spoken of by. all wlio. remember her as
one of the kindest of women and ex- -.
xreselvely good hatured." She had the.
business head of- the family, and it Is.
from her that young: Jim is *a!d. to
have Inherited his financiering ability.
Not a Youthful Wonder
Everybody who 'Ived In Shasta v.-hen
the Keenes were there remember them,
but no one tells anything remarkable
about the young milkman, Jim.. He;
Is remembered just as any boy of his
age would be who-had helped his father
w?th > *"the milk ranch," and had done
[c6A jebs on the side -for- a little extra
"money. Tes, there was one distinctive
ifeature about this milkman- — he was
ja beautiful whistler, and as he walked
'from house to house carrying the pails
icf milk his customers always knew of
|hls approach by thc_ strains of music
'be aent before him. He needed no bell.
' The Keenes, while well thought of In.
|the community, were byno means one '
the aristocratic families of Shasta
j. though Jim Keene later married Into
lone of the most exclusive families.'
i"How were the Keenes liked V I asked
{of several people who had known them.'
!"Oh, well enough," %vas the halfhearted'
reply. "The old man was well enousrh;.
Mk*a to jet votes."
"How about Jim?**
"Wei!,. Jim was a nice, smart appear-,
ing young fellow, and he always wow
pood clothe*.' Tes,. we liked Jim.".. \u25a0>.-'-
So ran the general comment/ but one
man»was honest enough to say: '."Harry.,
\u25a0was always better liked' than Jim. No- •
body thought much about Jim one way
or another until he went : to San ; Fran
cisco and -made a lot. of money, and .
then, they began to think he; was. pretty '
fine, Just an they'd do about you or me
If we went down there^and got.rich." '*.
\u25a0One thing which might have marked ;
the young Keene ;f or future. success, if.
the people had noted the characteristic,
was the absolute .confidence he had In.
his own abitlty to do anything he chose.
After the fire In Shacta, In. 1553. .he
worked as a teamster and -hauled lum
ber for»the rebuilding of -the town. At
one time. he worked In' a store. In' fact,'
he did anything he could get to. do, and
managed to work other things In along
with the milk buelhess .without estab
lishing, a reputation as a hard worker.
Nor an Editor : • '.. 'U ,/;. *:.
>In '^5 the^ bought' a part; Interest; In"
tha Shasta Herald, one "of \u0084*th« leading,
papers In the mining- town, : v *nd- edited^
It f for -two years. * But as., an V editor^
Keen* -'was \u25a0 not- a \u25a0> success. -'An' J ol<J
pioneer-- said' to -> me: v -"'Jlm,'.Keene had -.'.
a*. paper lieresiri early.; days, but :it
didn't 'amount- to much." . V Holding up .
his cane," he 'measured. off two. inches
on i It. ; "He never 'wrote pieces * any
longer thanthat," he said. T "
\u25a0 \u25a0 ;\u25a0 The last-issue of Keene's = paper, Oc
tober 31.' IS6I. contained the.foUpw
ing notice (copied from^an old scrap
book): . ; ..:"\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0:.-' '.;\u25a0.\u25a0; r : ';.''.: VIV I ;• ..,
•"Notice— All those A indebted to the
firm of Street &., Watson,"; or Keene *&/
"Watson, • are 'requested .to "make', im
mediate- payment. El This is' the last
. \u25a0 , . ........ \u25a0 . :t- i_t'^,_
i«sue < of- the Shasta Herald as fat- »s -
we are concerned.- Circumstances -have •
transpired; since .our last Issue . which
give' us an- opportunity, to .dispose f>t
the-'material.' and we 'must,-. ln Justice;
to ourselves, do so, although our cdi
toi'lsl career had- scarcely commenced.
"We .iiave 'been connected. \u25a0with th*
Herald for "over, two years .and. as
those. ,w;io; r.riow' us are -. aware';*.' have
labored night! and « day 'to make. tb« •
paper acceptable- to ! lts patrons, typo
graphically as Veil aV editorially. -The
result has 'not been ..satisfactory; from
a pecuniary '-. point '_of yJew. ; In; plain
lsng.uage/;thV institution has not paid. ;
We. have io?t..inon*y in the, business
and have -come .to the' conclusion that
it Is better -Vo'sell out than to be sold*
out or frozen- out .next winter." ; \u25a0
For the' jpext ittireo "years, untll'he^
left' Shasta, Keene did anything h«
could get to 'dOj2 Mr. Gawne, who ovri«J
the Gawne'/grßt mills on Cow- creek,
took a fancy l to Jim and save him an
intereat^lnHhe- ;mlll, and "J'm and his
father went there. to v.-ork. / Theyman-'
aged to make,several;'thousanddoi!ars,".
.which they took' to San. Francisco' and.
commenced their speculations. .;• It Is
said, that Gawne, later, a. war-';
den in San Quentln, felt that he was re- \u25a0.
eponslble for -the making' of
fortune, and felt deep] j\ hurt that after^
be- becaras wealthy Keene had" done :
nothlns; ; for his old friend. Keene 1 *
generosity seems ' not to have extended
beyond the . members of his "own ' family!*',
.;• Among- other 'thing's ' Keene dldf was'
his love making and his marrying • : ; dur-'" :
Ins; his las.t years In Sha3ta*. ;. There '.was*
iu_. the_ town "a" southern girl,' Sarah fj.^
Dalrtgerneld^wh'o lived with her.brotherl:.
Judge' Dalng:erflfi<3, later on "the'- bench \u25a0
in* San 'Francisco!* 'The' v Daingerflelds:
were -from^Virginia", and were said'; to
\u25a0b e ,of ; the';T.;F. ,V>^t : Mj7;irat«^tte7; ;
a"sso<:lated\wlth ; :very
;Shasta,*;;wer« extremely .rese^ed^ and,'.'
ln[. the i "eye'sTi of . some,;- haughty. ... Sarah !;
baingerfleld-VV&s >- nelthor^ >yo un grj' nbr r
pretty,' i: but 'i she =.: was .'exceedingly ; neat:
. and'trim/almost.old.raaidlshly so.^She ,
;was of ( the*sort';.who. believed in keep
ing -Uier Sabbath day,. ; holy,'., and^ sh^
walked;- 'ilhjtoji- churchy with . her f eyes
Siued" to a*spot in'"front of. her. and
when '.the sermon, was^overahe : walked
"out ,wlUv\hcr eyes ,sluedyln ;the.oppo
site \u25a0direction,'; arid she;spoke; to ,no ' } one.
It(" was : the :-'. peculiar. . custom" 'In Jthls
church ..forr' the -'congregation ito^rUe
during \u25a0 the 'and: ; turn \u25a0 Its back, to
the mln^ter^ln'rojder^to^ace^t^
Sarah fpalngerfield enjoyed \u25a0 th«
tfon> of jbeingi the bnlyjperson who \u25a0 al-^
vrays^ facedjthe minister. . \. . ' -.;>. ;>
' ' Just what ther*; was in the. obscure
Jim Keen* 1 to attract;her no. one knew:
nor -;Hd ' they .knowwhyj. she", yttn- ber ;
. pu: :ian, Ivrays - and .lack of personal
, cnarrii.l should attract ,h.lm. but; so It
', wai.'i She '^.wak. .lonely and^none -too
-happy, .'. and .^Keen»'s • light ; heartedness
; probably' meant more to her. than sraoJ
\u25a0'family .- connection*".- -A .white- haired
-woman, "who., as a child," carried notes
\u25a0\u25a0•• to -Miss : Dalns9rfiei-i -'from Keene. says
\u25a0.; that_Khe oftfri^founri her, with her head
• in v herf hjtnd.<«. -.the picture or despair:
she always 'brightened up
•/Then,the;nole.was delivered. Keene Is
,' <l.uotert -as saring:'""! -will furnlsh. s the
i-.bralns -and she ;*ran the blcid,"
t but -r.'hlle''4jrv doubtless ; aprreclated^the
\u25a0^'a<ivanta^es-.to^he gaine'l from -marry
_•'ing;into so, good a" family. It doe? -hot
. . seem*-. to , have^ been; quite., such aMiust
• njss proposUioj!, . for-.r ,'ir.anj-.' clrcutn
- stances.-; which occurred before • ar.s
y after, marriage* point-! to . hjs genuine
..\u25a0fondness: for '.Sara.v; Dainj:erael3. . \u0084 .;
L v. l '-TheCold-rr.arrlafe records^ nl
•^-county-ahov.' -that on' November 22. IS6C,
• :.;JamesiP.: K»en .Cthe name was- spelled
'-/then, without the- ilnal:..e->. and .Sarah
s/vJay.f.paingerneld ,Tv»re united ,in -mar
•/ riage, by the'Rey.VJ.^MeLaughiln., Both
• Miss Dalnfferfield- and Keene .desired^o
V b» married; by jan Episcopal minister, so
• ;> - they sent to .Red ~ Bluff,, a . distance of
'SO.jmlles^for^RevijMr. .McLaughlln.^ He
) -drove to Shasta, but Kesne was ill and
the wedding eoald not talcs plae«, a«
the rector mad© another trip to Shast*
on Nevember S3. about "10 days later,
and married the. pair. It Is stated as m
fact -that Keens did not offer th« min
ister-anything for his service* or h!s
carriage hire. The wedding ring Is
also still charged to him on the- books
of A. Dobrowa&y in Redding. KeesA
and his wlf» went to live in the old
X>aingerfleld place, which had b«an
brought around tho * Horn, and they
lired there until *«4. when Jim and h!s
father decided to try their luck in San
Francisco. -
The Keenes had made two or thres
thousand dollars In the grist mill and
they were anxious to us<» It In th« bro
kerage business In San Francisco. Jim
.began as a curbstone- broker and was
fairly successful for * a while. Hs got
his father and a number of Shasta peo-
Dl<» to put all' they had Into his Cnm
stock speculations, and they all want
broke. .Later h» cade h!i fortune on
Comstock. . \u25a0 . * ' . , .
-.Those were dark days for the Keenis.
.They had been poor many times before,
but never so" poor ;as n»w. James
KeeneSr. wrote a good hand and rs
celred. employment -dolnjc^ojeylns; for
• laTyArs.-.Jlia Ke#n» and -his^wlfa at*
" ofT-ta- dry goods 'box la their one room.
and ; wh*h he went; en the, stock «x
' chang« for the first tfana h* was weiN
In g . a pmlr of carp« t sllppsra. It waa
"at , this \u25a0 time that lira, v K««no, the>
'mother, died.
As a curbstone broker -Keen« had
attracted the attention of "W. C. Ralson.
the capitalist, and now RaHton had a
deal.h*- wanted manipulated and which
he preferred not to 'handle himself, so
• he went to Keen* and offered to buy
him a'seat on th» stock exchange) If he
\u25a0 would; act for him. . Th« seat was pur
chased for $10,000 and Keen* was given
his -tlpa by. Halston "and his' brokers.
Now cams Jim Ksena's chance for <%
fortune, and he did not neglect It. E9
.^borrowed all th» money h« could s;et.
.most of it from his wife, and sold their
, furniture and everythlna; h» had whtcti
was of, any value. Taking, this money
he acted on Ralston' s tips and bought
first for himself and then . for h!s
patron. ( Accounts vary as to ths
\u25a0 amount cleared from this first big deal.
• but It was.'enough for him to b« able
\u25a0 to; nettle, on Mrs. Keens more- than
double , the- amount she had loaned him.
so that, no . matter what happ«n«d In
. the: future, sho would not be- forced 1 to
endurs .poverty.
.From then on th« fortnns grew rap
idly. . In pn« and a half years .Keen*
had ,as many million donars."- PJe -and
his father stayed In San -* Tranclseo
_ until they had 'amassed a. fortune and
|_ were • ready - for r.th*- larger, stock ex«
f<hange"*ln New; .Tork.^ Some* plone«r«
";say tfiat! th«y" left* B*.n Francisco be
cause! as they said., they would not «Jo
'business ,und*r*:thß new\eonstitutlon;
' but'lt is more); likely -that thoy sought
only a larger
"ghastans are fond of saying, "Jim
'.Keene. used to peddle m!lk;h*re»** and
. they } enjoy .telling 'how^h* fosa' from
• insignificance in Shasta to prominence
in ' San Francisco andiNew- 'York:; but
they .wo'.ild .perhaps have . a fonder
memory ol htm If he> had not seemed
• to. forget 'the old .town "after he made
- his /wealth- He never returned ' -.to
\u25a0 SUasta. Uidugh his two sisters 'lived
' there fn'r. a .'number ,of years after he>
left^ antl some of* the Shastans .\u25a0who saw
him In San r'ranclsco wer«,not received
very cordially, thoush he was always
glad to see his particular friends.
When the old " ( church tower, toward
whose' building, he' had contributed and
In which he was. married, was exten
sively'repaired several j - »ars ago -a
letter Was sect' to Keeni* asking "him
'''to contrTDUte toward'the fund, but he
did riot reply.
' ; If Keene fatl-d to. do anything far
his* old : fflend.v or his .town". h»-' made
up for It by his attentions to his'fam
ily. He s"ttled a*. large sum of money
•--uoon"n!3 father, so that ho could re
- . - - •
: turii to Ensl;*.nd. where he ., died 's am 5
;'; ' years ?jco." He., gays employment in
jthiSi offTces l.to h:a brother Wafry' and
• to his brother In law-, John Follansbee.
. and ; aftVs the latter's death he provided
I; I:ahd3OTnely'- for Ms widow .» and her
\u25a0 children. ' ; He also cared for. hts. other
\t sister." Mrs. > Anderson, . after she - sep
i arated; from her husband.
>• 'Jim JKeeas was -.not ;a remarkable
i, milkman! but .he became a. remarkable
'\u0084 financier. ; The optimist !s- right: "It
• .doesn't matter how a, boy Is- situated;
I he :wUK succeed If h« has It la him."