The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-10-23

NOW GokpsMITHs GREW TO BE
BANKERs.
- Hira aal IrIbuIatIOns Of . 0reat JeWIsh

Fhe head Of the Goldsmiths enjoys
hhronesty in England and the dignity of
baront in Portugal. Little is known
theiIS early history except that they
rom Cassel, in Germany, ard that
probability they derived their
Y rom the branch of trade they fol-
at the time when goldsmith and
sker were pretty nearly one and the
n bipg.
n, the second son Of Benedict
bid, of Hamburg, settled in Ger
btreet, Goodman's Fields, near
s Chapel Church, as merchant, in
aarly part Of the last century. His
George was the father of Abraham
Iva Benjamin Goldsmid, who by their
aplendid capacities for business, strict
integrity and singular good fortune sue
ceeded in raising their firm from com
narrative obscurity to be the head and
front of Change Alley. At an early Pc
Rod of life these brothers kept brokers'
shop in Goodman's Fields, where their
promptitude and honorable dealings
noon gained them a considerable amount
of credit, This success encouraged them
20 enlarge their sphere Of operations.
Accordingly, in 1892, they set up as
stock brokers and money lenders in
Chapel Court. Here they made the &C
uuaintanCe of Mr.. Abram Newland, the
chief cashier of the Bank Of England,
whose name, appearing as it did at the
bottom of the national paper currency
for more than half century, was a
long time almost household word in
Shis country.
Inspired with liking for the two
brothers, Mr.. Newland made them his
financial agents, and through him they
soon attained thesummit ofstoCkbroking
activity. Thus taken in hand by the
'great man." and with the aid of their
talents, prudence and foresight, the sue.
cess of the Goldsmids was rapid. In 1901
they became for the first time competi'
tors for a portion of the Government
loan of &5,000,000, speculation which
proved 80 lucrative that at the next loan
they were enabled to treble their former
subscription. They we're the first men,
i bers of the Stock Exchange who COM
peted with the bankers for the favors of
I the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
succeeded in diverting into more egiti'
mate sources the profits hitherto absorb
ed by TIE bankers. In the course Of
ave years the brothers had amasssd a
fortune variously estimated at from
100000 to GSOOOOO. Naturally fond of
show and of society and possessed of
great benevolence Of character, they
spent their money freely. No sordid
parsimony was theirs. "The daily pa
pers," writes Francis in his Characters
of the Stock Exchange" "bore almost
daily testimony to their uniform and
boundless generosity. Naturally open.
handed, the poor of all classes found in
them kindly benefactors. On one day
the grand doings at an entertainment to
royalty was recorded, and on the next
few words related visit of mercy to
condemned cell. At another, mansions
yieing in architectural beauty with those
of our nobility were described; and again,
some gracious act of charity was dwelt
upon. Banquets to princes and ambas-
sadors reviving the glories of the Arabian
Nights were frequent, and galleries with
works of art worthy the magni6cence of
the Medici graced their houses" They
were awhile fortunes chief and especial
favorites. When in 1898 almost every
mercantile house in England expert.
enced the baneful effects of we'll nigh
unprecedented number of bankruptcies,
and when the bank in one day discount
ed G4,4OO0OO, their loss amounted but to
$50. One year they gained two sweep
stakes by naming the thousand in
which the first and last ticket in the lot
terry happened to be drawn, together
with several other tickets in subsequent
lotteries. But this career Of splendid
prosperity was cut short in the most mel
anCholy manner. On the morning OF
April l2, 1903, the valet of Mr.. Benjamin
Goldsmid, the younger Of the two broth
ers. on entering his masters room, found
him hanging suspended from cord at
tached to the tester of the bed. 1t haV'
ing been brought forward in evidence
that for sometime previously he had
been laboring under depression ofspirits,
the Jury brought in a verdict of lunacy.
Mr.. Abram G0ldsmid, it is said, felt the
loss Of his brother 30 severely that he
never recovered from the shock, and 60
intimate had been the relations existing
between the two members of the house
of Goldsmid that the firm, reduced to
one partner, was unable to do its acCus'
toned work. Hitherto invariably sue
cessful in all its undertakings, it now
became the reverse. Soon calamity after
calamity overlook the surviving partner
until, driven to desperation, he staked |
the remainder of his fortune, formerly |
amounting to about eight mil ions, in
one transaction. Mr.. Goldsmid was a
joint contractor for the loan of ETA 0OO,
900 with the house of Sir Francis Barring;
but Sir Francis dying, the esupport of the
market was left to his companion. TAX.
ing the largest possible range that he
had dealt among his friends one half the
sum allotted to him, the loss sustained
by the remainder at 65 per 600 was a
strain which no individual fortune could
sustain. About the middle of September
Abram, Goldsmid's losses amounted to
about E25O,0O0, and still the prices kept !
sinking lower and lower. Towards the
end Of the month the "Omnium" had
fallen 10 81 per cent. Ever since the de-