No one seemed anxious to know the facts. Quite the contrary was the case. When I proceeded to gather information of a most important character, J. D. Fry, uncle of Mrs. Ralston, commanded me in the name of the family to cease. To this I had to bow. But Mrs. Ralston is here to say whether her kinsman was her faithful friend or not.
Even Mr. Ralston’s private papers and personal accounts were seized, and disappeared. In some ways he was a secretive man. Once he asked me to send a check to A. A. Cohen for $5,000 each month until ordered discontinued. I followed instructions till the total amounted to over $100,000, yet I never had an inkling what the payments were for. Thus, it was currently believed that he had many interests in other people’s names. Mrs. Ralston well remembers that her husband took her to inspect a fine business block in process of completion, which he told her was his. After his death the title to this same property stood in the name of another, and in that family name it stands to-day.
There were many wild rumors of wrongdoing that followed the failure of the Bank of California. The only one deserving notice is this: that Mr. Ralston over-issued and marketed stock of the Bank of California. Without any evidence to support it that would be received in any court, this unfounded charge has received an astonishing credence, for I can find nothing to support it except absolutely irresponsible hearsay. Besides, it is contradicted by unquestioned facts.
Mr. Ralston had no reason to over-issue any stock. He had oceans of prime securities. What he needed was cash, not certificates of shares. His 50,000 shares of Spring Valley alone had a selling market value at that time of $5,000,000, nearly twice as much as the bank started business with later on. The money simply wasn’t in the town to realize on even that splendid security. That’s how Ralston and the bank went down.
In a way, my acquaintance with Mr. Ralston was somewhat tragic. With the best intent on either side, something always went wrong. It changed the whole character and purpose of my life. But I only recall him as a most loyal, consistent friend, a financier with a very nice sense of honor and an exemplar of candid courtesy. It seems to me the time has come when tardy justice should be done to the memory of one of California’s most illustrious pioneers, who loved his State as no man of station has loved it since, and to whom the present generation owes much.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Author Tries Luck in Wall Street and Makes Big Fortune, Only To Lose It in Mining Investments.
Silver Falls and Land Slides, But Disaster Fails to Discourage Man Who Has Outlived Old Associates.
All the various people of the story have been accounted for and decently retired. Before the curtain falls I have just a word to say about myself to those who have followed the narrative of sixteen tempestuous years from 1857 to 1873.
The role of a Kentucky country gentleman was not to my liking. As I have said, I sold out everything and retired from California after the bursting of the diamond bubble. I resolved that nothing should tempt me again into an active career. But the lure of the busy world was more potent than I realized. After a few years of the simple life I made my headquarters in New York, studied and grasped the investment and speculative markets, and became one of the recognized figures of Wall Street.