The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-10-15
A NEW BONANZA KING
Once n street Fakfr and Circus Per-
former, He Has Made Millions i'm
south Africn's Mining Boom.
New York World.


timated at 500, O00, 600. That's the figure to-
day; what 1t may be next week no one
can tell. for Barnato Is the central figure
In the most gigantic and reckless specu-
latfon since the famous South Sea bubble.
This speculation has plunged Englishmen
ana Frenchmen and Germans who nave q
dollar to risk into a feverish and UMPIRE
cedented craze to buy and sell "Kaffirs."
On the London, Paris and German ex-
changes "kaffirs" is the name of a con-
fusing multiplicity of south African min
ing stocks, the lively ups and downs of
which have for the past few months been
making and unmaking fortunes. This wild
and insane craze has led to the unsettling
of financial values in all American stocks.
and has caused Wall street to hold it's
breath, as it were. pending the anticipated
bursting of the Kafir boom.
Barney Barnato, the man who has really
launched this unprecedented speculation,
has himself made millions out of it. and
when the crash comes. if come it must, it
Is believed that he will still be an enor-
mously rich man. Most of his fortune is
SAID to be on paper. but he holds the upper
the sort of man who has let the dear pub
hc' in on the ground floor without making
them pay him a profit.
vi Ia OIiSll dS little Is known as oil the
astonishing rise of the boom he has Gre
ated. 1t is believed that he was a Lon
don street arab. He is still young-not
yet forty-slightly over five feet in height,
fat. squat and short-legged. His appear.
ance Is altogether ugly. All sorts of vague
stories are told of his early career. He is
sald TO nave been a barber, a secondhand
clothing dealer, a bagman, a brokers' clerk,
a messenger, a street fakir, a tumbler, cir
Gus performer, contortionist and prestidigi-
tateur. He has dealt in South African dia-
1n0ndS and ahntf their cn,frioncnoac m
stories are recited by his enemies who
knew him in the mines. He left there
when he was about eighteen years old.
Three years ago, penniless and unknown,
he appeared in London. Not long after
there spraEg up among spectators and In
vestors great interest in South African
develope these mines and European cap
italists, big and little, were invited to take
stock. 1t was easy to find money backings
for these enterprises. Africa was a name
to ~conjure by. The Dark Continent was a
mystery not unmixed with romance. It's
resources We're unlimitable. its possibilities
incalculable. New strikes of rich veins
were reported. With each strike sprang up
a company to work it. Kafir's stocks were
in every mans mind. The English news
papers helped en- the widespread interest
by publishing long letters and dispatches
from the scene of activity. Conservative
English journals inveished against it, but
the people gave no heed.
GETTING A 'FOOTHOLD.
Barney Barrfato got into the Kafir
swim. He plunged deep. His natural dar-
ing and cool effrontery stood him well. He
won enormously. Then he branched out
independently and drew about him
his own following. 1t was another
case of the lucky gambler lead
ing the way for the unlucky.
He organized companies to feat 'KafHrs.''
There were Barnato companies" Bainato
groups" Barnato shares but there
were never any Barnato losses. He made
money even more rapidly than the great
Lcnanza kings of California in the palIniest
days OF the Argcnauts.
Shrewdly he made a conquest of Sir Ed
gar Vincent. Sir Edgar and Barney became
the plunger position which he never had
In spite of his fortune. Barnato had been
blackballed at the London clubs. The rich
turf set cut him. in spite OF his heavy sup
port Of races and his fine strings of horses.
Sir Edgar first of all made sure that Bar
nato and his South African enterprises
with Barney as Barney's guest, and was
accompanied by his wife, the beautiful
Lady Helen Dunscombe, sister of the Ouch
Africa convinced him. He took up Barnato,
gave him financial and social prestige, not
in London. but in Paris, and by clever
great Partisan financiers and boosted him
forward in Partisan society. Sir Edgar now
shares with him the title of king of the
KaffirS."
Barnato's latest coup was the creation
of the "Barnato Bank, Mining and Estate
Corporation, Limited" 1t needed no pros
tumble over each other getting ION the in
side" BY the mere stroke of a pen Bar
nato created an enormous capital out of
nothing.
The nominal capital OF this bank was
G., 5OO,O 900. The shares We're fl each, and on
the morning OF the issue there We're 1.5W
- -fxN ~-l~-- - h,,xv ~l~a and
in some ca. 3 thousands. of shares at the
market. The shares opened from 1914 to FAX
premium, and the capital Of the bank is
now valued at nearly f9,000.000. At the last
settlement. when there was talk about diff
Guilty in carrying over stocks. Barnato an
bounced that he would lend fl0.cVo,OOO on
the stocks of companies in which he was
The trading in these shares developed one
of the most exciting scenes ever witnessed
was an almost indescribable frenzy. and
the shares were bid up to more than. four
times their face value. They subsidized later,
tested by the fact that they are still quoted
at over three times their face value.
PUBLIC FAITH IN HIM.
The blind faith OF the English people in
this modern Midas upsets all theories of
their national conservatism. 1t Is estimat-
ed that not less than $500 o 900 has been
subscribed. a large part OF 1T by small in
vestors. in the schemes and enterprises OF
the plausible Barney
He was and is to-day the speculative foe
of Cecil Rhodes, and resembles the latter
in the scope of his enterprises and nerve
| with which he backs them. Rhodes COM
panies and Barnato companies are riya;s
for the favor of capital wherever ".Kaffirs'
are quoted.
Barnato resorted to the familiar method
of working a number of mines under the
| same capital. From this union OF workable
mines came the name groups
In London Barnato is spending a million
on a palace in Piecadilly, which he will
occupy when 1t is finished. Meanwhile he
is occupying Earl Spencers house. His
| name was mentioned as a possible chal-
lenger for the Americas cup. He Il .
it is reported. is a bath of champagne.
Alfred II. De Montgomery. a mining en-
| gineer of New York. who was in Kimberly
ten years ago. said he saw Barnato at
that time walking the streets peddling
watches, matches and all sorts. His for
tune was made by an accident, which no
body had foreseen. Shortly after the mines
of Kimberly were discovered there were
about twenty thousand diggers working the
surface of the mine. About one hundred
feet down the ground suddenly changed
as granite. All the miners gave up their
claims, thinking the mine worked out. Only
one digger went down about two hundred
feet, but he was stopped by the rainy
season which set in. He left about two
| hundred tons of solid blue earth lying on
the foc- and left the country.
After four months Barney walked over