The San Francisco call., 1896-04-22
By His Untiring Enterprise He
Built Up a Colossal
Fortune
AND SPENT MUCH IN CHARITY
Devoted Millions to the Cause of Co
religioniStS and in Establishing
Colonies.

VIENNA, AUSTRIA, April 81. - Baron
Maurice de Hirsch, the great fnancier and
phllanthropist, died last night on his
estate at Presburg, Hungary, from a
stroke of apoplexy.
Baron Maurice de Hirsch, whose full
name was Maurice de Hirsch de Gereuth,
was born in Munich sixty-three years ago.
His father was a merchant in Bavaria,
who for services rendered to the State was
ennobled in 1869. Young Hirsch went
into business at the age of II, associating
himself with the European banking house
of Bischoffsheim & Goldschmidt.
Before long his capacity as financier
became evident, his moderate patrimony
soon doubled itself, and his personal in
huence was greatly increased by matri-
monial alliance with Mile. Bischoffsheim,
daughter of the head of the banking house
with which he was associated.
He was the first to plan the system of
railways leading from Buda-P Pesth, in
Hungary, TO Varna, on the Black Sea. In
1866 the commercial collapse of NJ. La
grand Dumonceau, which shook the money
world of Belgium to its foundations, gave
him mis- opportunity. He secured the
most valuable OF the assets, including the
Turk sh railways, and by his valuable
manipulation Of them built up, in a
quarter of a century, a fortune which
nearly equaled that of the Rothsch1lds.
No man who acquired such vast riches
ever used them to better purposes. His
charities in Austria and Germany were
innumerable, and his scheme for trans
planting his unfortunate Russian CO.
religionists to South America cost a
colossal fortune. In Egypt and European
and Asiatic Turkey many schools, educa-
tional and industrial, were founded and
maintained by the Baron.
Baron de Hlrsch was particularly fond
of the sports of the turf, and he main
tained large racing stables. His principal
residence of late years was Paris, but a
great part of his time was spent in Eng
land.
A newspaper correspondent WHO re-
Gently visited Baron Hirsch had the fol-
lowing to say of the great Hebrew:
Notwithstanding his Jewish descent.
Baron Hirsch is a man of large and liberal
ideas on religious matters, many member
OF his family being Christians. Further
more, his adoption of two English chill
dren, who are being brought up in the
Christian religion, is sufficient proof that
his unequaled liberality is not limited to
his own people. For many years past he
has seriously occupied himself with the
miserable condition of the poor Jews in
Russia, and he determined to take all
possible steps to come to their assistance
He at once entered into negotiations with
the Russian Government to this effect,
and proposed to devote the sum of
f2 600 000 To that object
at can easily be imagined that this
offer was not lightly refused by the Rus
sian authorities, buS certain stipulaIions
imposed by the donor, though of the kind
usual in similar cases, such as that the
money should be vested in the hands of
trustees, not being in accordance with the
desire of the Russians, who wished to have
the whole and sole handling of the
money, Baron Hirsch was obliged TO with
draw his offer. He thereupon decided to
take other steps, as proof that he had no
religious preiudices, by handing to the
chief of the Holy Synod gift of FAC, 900
for orthodox Russian schools.
'Ghe persecution of the Jews still con-
tinuing in Russia, it became necessary to
find some other outlet than the United
States, and he sent out commission com.