The Municipal Telegraph and Stock Company, 1898. Telegraphs and stocks might make some sense together . . . after all, the early stock tickers were essentially telegraph devices. That this company also dealt in grain and provisions seems a bit odd. Just a few years after this, in 1903, the company would be involved in a case before the State Court of Appeals that makes the nature of its business no clearer, and involves the kinds of exchanges that must make judges just want to beat the witnesses:
Q: Where was 47 James Street at that time?
A: You are asking me something I don’t know much about.
Q: Are there two companies?
A: Yes, the Municipal Telegraph and Stock Company is our company.
Q: What is the other?
A: The Municipal Telegraph Company.
And so it goes.