The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-06-27
BARNA TO WASpECULlAR
He Gained Enormous Wealth, but Not
Education Nor Refinement.
HIS USE OF DIAMOND MINE ENGLISH"
Hc Once Took Fart i'm Il RemarIxn b 10
Performance OF Hamlet mt kim.
berlJ Town fzail-Abhorrcd Din.
monds as Personal Ornaments ana
Never Woro q Precious stone.
Edgar Mels in st. Louis Republican,

Edgar N1els in st. Louis Republican,
Like all men of genius, and Barney Bar
Kaftlr millionaire had pecullarities The
imDress of IL youth spent in WhitechaDel
remained with him to the end: he was, al
ways Barney lsaacs, born and reared in
that historical spot in London whose
A Am; I1 prototype, was the Bowery OF
| the sidewalk iuggler whose sleight of
hand abilities Stood him in good stead in
his mantpulations and the rigging" OF u
stock market
Wealth brought neither education nor
r rem to him; and although he repre-
Cane Colony in the Cape parliament, no
vet managed to drop an III" now and
then He MAY, have been proud of his
pleban origin. but he never spoke of his
earlY DAYS: and Once resented an Inference
of lowly birth By 81 blow.
self opinionated. generous with the poor,
and took good care of his relatives. Like
all great men. he had his Notwithstanding
wing. and he smoked Malta cigarettes. He
| was shrewd TO degree. knew the value
and had the faculty OF attracting men to
! him.
Barnato abhored diamonds as personal
pite the fact that he practically owned the
Kimberly mines. In his office in Diamond
square s,nla stood 100. buckets along. the walls,
the entrance of customer. one of the
clerks would take a pail as he would II
bucket OF water and pour the diamonds
on table whose edges were slightly
| raised Then Barnato would sort out the
stones e;, With VT, iiEhninE rapidity and pick
| He was an expert at this and could tell
the value. weight and color OF a stone in
made mistakes He o could take 10 ooo 5e un
| cut stones and in half an hour apDraisc
| tho lot to q penny. The man who could
hot Slf i, az
does not exist-an assertion that Is proved
hv the fnct that the foundation Of his
fortune was made In diamonds.
He smoked cigarettes made iii Malta
made popular because the Prince of Wales
| uses them. American cigarettes he would
| not touch and the smoke OF them nnlIsaet-
ed him: DESPITE hisfpretty constant use OF
cigarettes. Barnato was tremendously
strong ply sicallytand often astonished the
natives by his display Of muscular abili-
On one occasion a drink crazed, six foot
KERR (club). Barnato grasped the nplifted
arm OF the native, and. giving It a twist,
broke it: Then he took the kafllr by the
cab. Finally he had the foolish native
driven to the hospital and taken care of at
They used to tell 4 story at Barney's
expense that will bear repeatinE. He had
two nephews. Solomon and Wolf Joel sons
good care of them and made them his
stock brokers. They developed
SlronS Hlanclal instincts and made
"Thev take after their uncle" said one
Kimberly citizen to another.
he leaves
And he spoke the truth, for what Bar
nev and his golden circle" did not take
| was scarcely worth taking. He had sur
rounded himself with men who were OF
| use to him. and he made them rich.
when .n on the floor OF the stock exchange
| was as cool as the proverbial cucumber.
lie never lost his head in a financial emer-
| Eencv
! ! went through the panic in the autumn
Of 1889 and the spring Of 1880. and have
seen shares, drop from 500 to a hundred
showed his character While everybody
else was half frantic and unnerved, he sat
smoking his inevitable cigarette and CIV
] Ing orders to his brokers. Time and again
he saved the day by taking all the shares
| for sale-transact:ons that amounted to
several millions. One day II was reported
that a rich find of asbestos had ben made
on the property Of the Griqualand west
COPPER syndicate. There were less than n
| hundred shares in the market and their
value advanced from 81 to s235 in one af-
| ternoon. Barnato was short and stood to
| lose His nerve did not fail him, how
ever. and he sold SO freely that the mar
ket broke and h" managed to get out even.
s am5ee o'Ss la''r inc shares jumped 10
Diamond Mine English was Barna-
ayof ro ana IN Sa he
Cecil RHODES founded. The English in in
and would come under the head of unfit
! tor publication" Barnato was addicted TO
| Its use and wien angry would let forth Il
| string Of epithets that was appalling. 1t
was a case Of whats bred In tho bone
| and he could not help himself.
DESPITE his riches he was as true to his
wife as Is the average millionaire and no
actress ever sued him for breach OF prom
faa.
He WAS a great adnirer Of dogs, and,
with his two nephews, owned the finest
Great Danes in South African country
where this breed of dogs is very popu-
lar. He also owned the homliest bun pup
in that part Of the world and was abnor-
mallv proud Of the fact.
During the thre years knew Barnato
he never showed any signs Of mental
weakness He was a strong personality
with a strong and clenr brain, though an
uneducated one. He was not q heavy
drinker: neither did he smoke TO excess:
so that If his suicide was the result Of In
sanity 1t must have been due to congenital
causes.
Perhans the only symptom OF alteration
was once when he played Hamlet The
memory of that performance still clinEs
about the Kimberly town hall. and is like
to he more or less revcred while the name
OF Barnato Is remembered. 1t was a fear
full and wonderful performance and the
natives speak Of It with hated breath
even at this late date
But. with all his faults, Barney Bnrnato
was a good fellow.