Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-10-23
RICHEST NAN IN THE WORLD
The king Of the kaffirs," Said to
be Worth $lOO,0O0,OOO.
HE WAS ONCE A CIRCUS MAN
Made his Vast Fortune by spccuIa-
ton Within the rnst Two
or Three Years.


Nev York Herald.
In one of MIR. Besant's novels tho story
Is told OF n Cockney boy who held some
small post IN the city until he became
entangled In stock operations, Then, one
| bright morning. he woke up and found
himself the king OF the Stock Exchange
and the richest man IN London. Straight
way he was hcsieged by all sorts and con-
ditons OF men. BegBars OF high and low
| degree importuned him. The wise men
| Of the hourse sought his counsel All day
| long he held n crowded lovce, ana wns as
greatly fluttercd aud worshipped In his
prosperity as he hnd been desptsed when
| no was poor In u night his fortune went
| away, leaving him where II had found
| him, and then men wondered how they
| could ever have trusted their fortunes to
such dwelling dullard
| Up to the point Of decline this ia the
story OF Barney" Barnato, the king OF
| the I<aftlrs.' whom IL is the fashion just
| now TO call the richest man In the world.
| Not 10 many years Ggo he was circus
performer. Now he IL worth n hundred
| million or q thousand milllon-dollars or
| pounds stering-whnteve you like. lie Is
| banker, broker, promoter. Croesus. Maccc-
| nas-all things to all men. lie IL the king
Of London city, and all the money gettera
are his willing subjects, II he draws his
breath the world OF finance breathes u
sigh; " he smiles It's face Is wrinked with
laughter.
STARTED THE "KAFFlR" BOOM
Barnato is the originator Of the boom I'm
! 'Raiflrs" and "Kgfnrs' are shares IN the
| comparatively new gold mines OF the
| Transvanl, South Africa. This boom ~
one Of those financial fevers which period
ically possess the conservative Briton. The
| first one on record was the South Sea
/, Bubble" The latest Is the Kafdr boom.
| Intermediate are tho Argentine, Austral-
ian and West Australian blooms. Al have
burst in turn at the cost OF hundreds OF
] millions of pounds 81 ,rling-all, except tho
Kafir boom, which n stlll O-boOming
| II is the controlling passion OF England
| today. 1t II scarcely less rampant IN Bcr
| lin and Paris, A recent dispatch TO the
Herald from Chicago cont tlned irfornA-
ton that the boom had even reached that
citadel OF conservative finance.
But in London, the home OF the boom,
every man, woman aud child with money
| to invest has for weeks been buying kHf-
hrs The shares have gone to unheard of
figures. Fortunes have been made in "A
day; other fortunes are In suspense, The
| collapse which the wiseaCres have day by
day predicted Is still deferred, and still
the madness holds sway.
The head and center Of all this financial
system has been "Rarncy" Barnato, tR,
circus man. lie made his beginning by
n small but fortunate investment In Kaf-
iirs. which yielded the returns Of an Alad-
din with the fun courage OF his good
luck he rushed In again with all his VIM
uiugs and returned millionaire. In u
delirium OF bravado he played again and
again, always winning.
To-day he is seriously net down ns a man
worth 500 5000 or more one OF the
smallest OF his assets IL bank when
was originally capitalized at N2 900. 90. Tile
capital stock Is now valued ut si5,00ogl0,
The Sc shares opened at premium Of from
sic to 500. They are now beyond price.
This is against the rainy day which
mny core. Most of Barnatos wealth la IN
the Kafhr stocks, In which he originally
gnmbled on margin, but which lie now
owns outright. II he could soil these
properties at their market value he would,
without doubt, have more money than
any other man In the world. He could
not, OF course, negotiate so huge a trans
action without rrucipitating panic and
destroying the value Of the property.
PERSONAL IRREGULARITIES
This end-of-century Aladdin is not OK
nctly tho conventional king OF finance.
Neither II he OF the Goal OIL Johnny"
type. with n thousand and one daily
distractions and annoyances, he Il a good
fellow Raised suddenly from obsourlty to
an en- inence for which most men are
striving. he Is not putred up. At his Of
fee In the city he Ia as Inaccessible as the
emperor OF China. At the West End town
house. which he mas leased from Earl
Spencer, he is at home TO all Corners To
all his friends he Is Barney" and every
body ~ his friend.
Ills favorite, end. indeed. only, reception
hour is the hour Of breakfast. Tint meal
he takes with his wife and q thorough
bred bull dog Mrs. Barnato Is tall
brunette, whom fortune has in no way
spoiled, Hospitality IL her religion and
her husband Is Its prophet
grant man must have at least one
eccentriaity. Barney Barnatos is his
socks, which he wears OF white silk.
The wicked have no rest, nor the new
rich any repose. Even at his breakfast
table Barnato is besieRed' 10 hlih at that
rour come all the crnnks and heggar1 and
natterers and wild-eyed projectors, He
sees them all
An English reporter who was admitted
to this levee the other day found himself
one OF an incongruous crew. one man ma j
come with well nigh a continent Of land TO
ssll--lt only needed developing. There
was a woman with n choice bit OF old lace,
Several gentlemen who had written highly
meritorious plays were present to repre-
sant that they needed only little capital
TO enrich the dramatic armament. some
pals" from the city had dropped In TO
ask how the new Aladdin was after the
nights banquet, Some old professional
friends OF the circus days had warm
corner. And there were others.
To ole and all OF these Barney talked
In ,urn. managing the while to advise his
wife, play with his dog. counsel his son
and admire his pretty daughter. The swift
dismissal OF business, great or small is
one of Barney Barnnto's many strong
points.
Don't be serious" he said to the Eng
llsh reporter. "G'm never serious out Of
business. Life Is too short to be serious.
and don't let that artist sketch my white
socks"
A WONDERFUL MEMORY.
Questioned as to his methods OF busi-
ness and how he managed his multl:afions
AFFAIRS, he said; 81 have got them all In
my head or at my fingers ends. ] trust
absolutely to memory, and never make
any notes"
Then Barney fitted away TO MIR. Had
don Chamber. who was present and with
whom he IS collaborating on play, II will
be a comedy.
Barnato has or processes 10 have
| boundlass faith In the future Of the Trans
| vaal. He does not like his great rival In
Inc Cape Colony, Sir Cecil John Rhodes
asplres 10 s,atecraft, he Is n banker and
a broker. lie knows not a great deal OF
pineralogy: he deals In shares The
| q, .stsloh l,tu Fatr,ntta pTapeFilas