Wolf Lamar

On many a petty larcenist as well as on many a bold manipulator has been fixed the title: "Wolf of Wall Street." Last week one of the Street's oldest wolves, one who has prowled more than 30 years, was again in trouble.

Oldsters in Wall Street can well recall many a situation in which Wolf David Lamar has figured. Sometimes he has associated with prominent men. There was the time when he attempted to get an injunction against E. E. Harriman's voting a large block of Union Pacific stock, solely because Harriman, then needing votes, might have bought for a stiff price the Union Pacific stock held by famed Speculator Keene, Lamar's friend. Later he charged Union Pacific with false book keeping, caused Lawyer Paul Drennan Cravath to exclaim: "He is the most unconscionable of liars!"

More famed, perhaps more fatal was Wolf Lamar's ability to impersonate over the telephone. Once he imitated Tammany's late Dan Riordan.

Once he telephoned Morgan Partner Ledyard, said he was Congressman (later Attorney-General) A. Mitchell Palmer, suggested that Mr. Ledyard interview a man who could fix J. P. Morgan with the Democratic Administration. Soon afterward Wolf Lamar was convicted, jailed for impersonating a Government officer.

From these days of big game, Wolf Lamar has sunk far, as have a great many other Wolves of Wall Street. In 1927 he was charged with the act most typical of the Street's wolves--raising the price of securities through "wash" sales to friends.

Last week Wolf Lamar, heavy, well-dressed, soft-voiced, continued to fulfill the common conception of his type. Cool, bland, he appeared unimpressed by charges that he had been conducting a brokerage business under the name of Murdock & Co., had failed to deliver 2,500 shares of Fox Film, could not account for the proceeds from 1,000 Grigsby-Grunow. His attitude coincided with that of his attorney who said: "The charges are a thousand miles from grand larceny." Reticent about himself, Wolf Lamar continued uttering such ultimatums as: "It is a bull market today and bear operators will be crucified."

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