The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-07-06
Barney BarmatO and
His Curious Ways.
Stories of the Late Diamond King-- How He
Became a millionaire Ills Dealings with
Cecil Rhodes.

pal owners Of the Kimberley mine is
still sold in Kimberley as a photo
graphic curiosity"
IARNATO'S CHARACTERISTICS.
candid friend has summed up Bar
nato's characteristics very fairly in the
following estimate: with q good deal
that was vulgar, bizarre, and outre,
Mr.. Barnett Isaacs Barnato had also
very likable qualities. He was the soul
of good nature, bright to boisterous-
ness, the most easily approached OF
men. He believed In taking broad
Views, and did so when men who are
mere money spinners would take mar
row ones. Then he was so open-h
ed. His readiness for giving free calls
| has become a kind of proverb. There
| are always lots of people to tease sue
| cessful men with their parasitical at
tentions-needy scribblers who pretend
| to be Journalists touts, people who
| think they have done the millionaire a
good turn, and so on. Some men choke
| these people off by deputy. Barney did
not choke them off when he could rec
ognize anything like q claim. l have
heard tales of his accompanying infor-
| nation for print with a free CALI for
| few of the shares to be Influenced by
the publication, the call to be made on
a certain future date. This meant that
on the fixed date the happy Journalist
had the right to cali for the shares at
the fixed price, or, If they had gone up
in price in the meantime--which they
probably had done-to receive a check
for the difference between the fixed
price and the market price. That's how
it's done. No doubt some of these tales
were true. 1t is certain that the beau
tiful bountiful Barnie' as a poetaster
once called him, gave away many a
free cali and many tip which was
far more valuable, to people in a far
grander social position than are the
hangers-on of financial and other or
gans.' Perhaps such policy paid well
by extending the financier's reputation
in various and devious ways.
"Recklessness, too, of the gamblers
kind may have Had something to do
with his admitted success. But a GER
tain kind of genius was also requisite.
There were deeper strains in Barney
than many were able to detect. With
such a man there Is much persihage--
much that seems debonair, and that
misleads the casual beholder; in the
recesses of his own windowless mind
the successful financier keeps O. deadly
grip on his essentials-a grip that
never relaxes. One of Barney's many
biographers once quoted some of his
subjects homely sayings, which struck
me as very characteristic. For exam
pie, Barney was an accomplished boxer,
and was fond of drawing SMILES from
the noble art of self-defense. Said he:
Never let a man put his hand on you
without giving him what for" and al
ways have the first hit He frequently
acted on this principle, as some friends
have the misfortune to remember.
His opponents found him a Heather
Chinee fer ways that are dark and
tricks that are vain and vexing. With
al he could be fair and above board
you have no right said he, to spoil
another mans game as long as he plays
it cleverly; he will expose himself soon
enough when he ceases to be clever
at it, Another of his Sam Slick-like
observations, combining shrewdness
of a very worldly kind with a knowl-
edge of human nature, was: Never
play game above peoples heads. Let
them think they understand it-but
keep bit in hand every time"