The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-07-11
DIR. sTRoUsBERG.
Another Railway King Gone,
From the Philadelphia Bulletin.

FROM the Philadelphla Bulletin.
The cable brings the news of the
death of Dr.. Strousberg, the former
German railway king. His career was
a remarkable one, resembling. that of
many great spectators, both European
and American, but still especially fitted
to point a moral, if not to adorn a tale.
1t may be doubted, however, whether
he was guilty of the dishonesty with
which he was charged when, nearly 10
years ago, all the vast enterprises and
schemes that he had been carrying on
his shoulders collapsed. He was by
birth an east Prussian jew. But in his
youth he left Neidenburg, his native
town, and settled in England, where he
was baptized 81 a Christian.
Although occupied in business
he found time for considerable literary
work he conductedthe Merchants mag
azine and Shapes London magazine,
from both of which he made money, but
the chief source of his wealth was his
insurance agency. Having got a fortune
and having presumably learned the
more enterprising commercial methods
of the English, he returned to Germany
about 20 years ago, to apply both his
fortune and his experience upon his
countrymen, who are proyerbially slow
in business matters. Hesoon astonished
the plodding Germans by the vastness
of his projects. He undertook what
seemed-and proyed-two much for a
single man to achieve; but for several
years, as contractor, railway protector
and %financier his success was equal to
his expectations. Not onlyin Germany
but also in Russia, his power was felt.
Unfortunately, DIR. Strousberg did
not count upon the effect which the poll
itical aspirations of Count Bismarck
might produce upon his ventures; and
when the Prussian statesman deftly sue
ceeded in forcing q wal upon France,
whatever may have been the benefit Ger
many derived from that master-stroke
of diplomacy and war, Dr.. Strousberg
was ruined. For some time he man
aged to keep his head above water, but
the German victories caused a fever of
financial speculation which, eliminating
in a panic in 1878, carried off all the I'M
steady stock gamblers and schemers.
DR.. Strousberg had tried to recover his
balance by throwing fresh capital after
that which was lost; but, when the end
came and his affairs We're investigated,
it was found that he had hypothecated
his property several times, and that
many Of the corporations of which he had
been the founder were only bubbles.
Two years he staggered under his in
creasing burden, and then his Russian
ventures collapsed also; he was tried
forfraud and acquitted, at Moscow, and
went into bankruptcy in 1875. Since
that time, by small enterprises, he had
attempted to wipe out his losses and
once more to take a leading position
among the daring spectators of Ger
many; but he has not; so far as is known,
been more than moderately successful.
DR.. S~trousberg's career suggests the
equally dazzling and vicissitous career
of George Hudson, the English railway
king, who for three years literally held
the balance of power in the speculative
financial world of Great Britain. For
IA years he satin parliament, but his
bubble burst. and the last years of his
life-he died in lS71-he lived upon an
annuity derived from the charity of O
few friends. But we need not go either
to Germany or to England for examples
of the ups and dowirs OF the stock gam
bler's life. Within six months have we
not seen Willard and Keene fail? Judg-
ing from past experience Jay Gould
himself, the acknowledged railway king
of the present time, is not free from
danger similar to that which overcame
S~trausberg, Hudson and these others.
Every speculator-no matter how gigan-
tic he appears-has a vulnerable spot,
which sooner or later is bound to be hit
by evil fortune.