Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1878-05-04
and unselfish champio nship of his
rights!
The Dead o'Br,.n's Great ror,uae


of manhood, supposed to be worth
fifty or seventy millions of
dollars, gives rise to curious reflec.
tions. w. s. O'Brien, the Bonan-
"a King, who died day before yes
terday, could hardly have rounded
fifty years. Until ten years ago he
was hardly regarded as man Of
ordinary means. In this last de-
cade ne has seen himself invested
with sums that surpass those with
which Dumas deals so glibly in his
Count of Monte Cristo. Many per-
sons are acquainted with the exact
age of O'Brien, but few know the
limits of his wealth. We have
often thought that it was a not i'm
probable thing that the whole four
partners of this firm, all COMPARE
lively young men, might live for
the next twenty years and then not
be very old. They would then all be
twenty years younger than Pal
merston when he abandoned office,
and q quarter of century younger
than Brougham when, for the last
time, he took his Summer run over
to Cannes. And if they had all
lived to reach this age, had invested
their money prudently, the mines
yielding as they yield now, and
San Francisco keeping on her pres
ent imperial course, who could put
an estimate on the wealth of these
men? Money has wonderfully
compromising quality. Commo-
dore Vanderbilt, when he was sixty
years of age, was worth three mil
lions of dollars. When he died at
eighty-four he was worth sum
never estimated at less than sew
enty.five millions and frequently
estimated as high as one hundred
millions. The probability is that
if the partnership Of these men had
continued, and the plan of aggre-
eating wealth had been carried out
for the next twenty years, the
mighty house Of Rothschild would
have sunk into q sort of Junior
fl nanciers in compai ison with
Flood, O'Brien, Mackey and Fair.
Again the question recurs, how
much was O'Brien worth? The
only answer that can be made is
that, since the Messrs. Flood,
O'Brien, Mackey and Fair have
owned the majority of the
stock of the California
and Consolidated Virginia mines,
about one hundred and twenty
millions of dollars gross have been
taken from them. Of this sum
about sixty millions have been dis
bursed in dividends, of which the
firm have probably received two.
thirds, or forty millions, net. OF
the remaining sixty millions, as
the firm supplied the lumber,
crushed the ores, ETC., it is not an
extravagant estimate to assume
that probably twenty millions
found their way into the hands of
these mining millionaires.
This would give sixty millions of
dollars for the four partners, with
its increment, at the high rates of
interest prevailing in California, to
be added. 1t was probably com.
pounded monthly, just as the divi-
dends were disbursed and the other
moneys were earned. 1t is not an
unreasonable estimate to assume
that, in the past three years, with
this monthly compromising, an en-
hancement of thirty.three per
cent resulted, thus insuring the
colossal sum Of seventy-eight mill
lions of dollars.
But this is by no means all. At
one time the stock of the California
and Consolidated Virginia mines
was selling at a figure which ag-
gregated, for both mines, one hun
bred and thirty millions of dollars.
Doubtless the firm disposed Of
much Of it at these figures, which
insured them another twenty mil
lions, at least. Adding all these
items together, it is safe to assume
that the assets of the firm of Flood
g. O'Brien would to day foot up one
hundred millions of dollars. To
this prodigious sum has to be added
the present worth of the bonanza
mines, which are to-day in con-
dition to pay dividends indefinitely
at the rate of at least eli ghteen mil
lion dollars a year. To all has still
to be added the fact that Flood &
O'Brien own very nearly the whole
range of promising mines on the
Comstock lode. The probability
Is extreme that, able 10 hold and
administer their property, and to
get the most out of it, as they are,
the Messrs. Flood & O'Brien are
worth three hundred millions of
dollars.
Yet what matters it to O'Brien
now? His riches count no more
to him than the rags of the veriest
Lazarus who lies dead by the
roadway. The only riches he can