The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-20
BARNATO'SRISEANDFALL
CAREER OF THE SPECTATOR WHO
LATELY COMMITTED SUICIDE.
Sharp Trader, Actor and Ffnancier,
and subsequently Lost Most of 1t.
New York Papers.


suicide by jumping overheard from an
ocean steamer. Ever since shares in the
Kafir mines of South Africa began to
shrink in value al an alarming rate Euro
pean exchanges have been trembling and
lettering under the liquidation of these
| enormously inflated and overcapitalized
properties. On several occasions within the
last year or so, first in Paris and then in
London, big houses heavily involved in
these South African speculations have only
been saved from failure, and a disastrous
panic in securities been averted by the aid
of Barnato's vast resources. This process
did not stay the inevitable. There was
bottom, even to his purse. The value of
Kafirs' steadily shrunk, and Barnato' s
fortune as steadily melted away. At least
that the impression gained by the pub
lie from what little was printed from time
to time about his recent operations.
This sharp reverse of fortune evidently
crushed the bold "plunger," mentally as
well as physically. He left London and re-
turned toe South Africa, whence came not
long ago a significant press dispatch, say
ing that he had become mentally unbal-
anced and that his condition was such that
his friends had to take measures to re-
strain him from doing violence to himself
nounced false by his friends, who were
forced to admit, however, that he was i'll
with a touch of African fever and was suf-
fering from nervous prostra ton somewhat
This denial simply foreshadowed the sequel
telegraphed from Funchal, as given above.
That the end of this meteoric career would
come about in quite so dramatic fashion,
however, was hardly to be looked for.
Naturally, all London is talking about
Barney Barnato and every amazing story
that has ever been told about this modern
Monte Cristo is being rehearsed on the
streets. Strange to say, very few of these
stories reflect any credit on the man whose
income few years ago was placed at $25,-
600, 600 year. He was enormously wealthy
when he came to England from the mines,
but his fortune, huge as it was then, was
small compared with the tremendous piles
he reared out of his stock transactions
Barney Barnato Mines" became an evil
name ON change" He was such a stu
pendous figure in finance that people with
money to invest threw it into his securi-
ties without even a question. There can be
little doubt that many of these mines had
absolutely no existence, but it was all one
to Barney Barnato.
SON OF HEBREW SCHOOLMASTER.
Stranger than all the tales Of his extraor-
binary expenditures of late years are the
stories of his origin. There is nothing GER
tain about this. He is supposed to have
been son of the poor Hebrew schoolmas-
ter in the East End His real name was
IsaacS, and the first trace of him they get
is as cab driver and among the stories
are tales of his rapacity in that line. This
evidently ala not pay nm, because ne was
presently peddler or secondhand clothing
in Petticoat lane. Again he failed and be-
came billiard marker in an East-side sa-
Icon. In 1872 being then about twenty-five
years old, young lsaacS was given help by
some immigration society to go to the
cape. His brother went with him. On the
way out they entertained the passengers
and took up collections. They landed in
Africa with 500 between them, given them
by the passengers for the amusement they
furnished by juggling.
Arrived at the cape they struck out for
the diamond mines, leaving behind them
the name of ISaacs and assuming that of
came of the brother, but Barney Barnato,
after queer career in the mines, where he
was looked on with some suspicion, got
hold of some mines of his own, and in 1881
he sold these mines to a company for $780,,
900.
That was only the beginning of his for
tune. He put the money into other claims,
and was generally successful. But money
did not come out of the earth quick enough
to suit him. He started in with a series of
tremendous speculations; he worked up
news agency that brought tidings to the
cries of diamonds elsewhere. These sup
posed discoveries were so enormous that
every timid diamond mine owner in the vi
entity was scared. The report had it that
diamonds were so plentiful that they would
be forced to the price of ordinary gems.
BUYING DIAMOND MINES.
Naturally diamond mines came on the
market at a very low rate and Barney
Barnato bought more and more of them.
When Cecil Rhodes appeared with his stu
pendous dream of empire and a plan for
the amalgamation of all the diamond min
ing interests in South Africa in order to
control the output and the price, it was
discovered that Barney Barnato, a new
name then among big men, owned huge
tract of claims in the Kimberley country.
Rhodes's gorgeous scheme set all England
afire. The South sea bubble was only
circumstance to this excitement, and the
same financial tidal wave that raised Cecil
Rhodes to be the colossus of South Africa
washed Barney Barnato TO England. He
came into market with $500 claims They
were paying "a per cent. interest on cap
ital of $50 900, 600, and the sanguine investors
who rushed to give Barnato their money
swallowed without question the story that
this pei centage of income would be dou-
bled. With such Swarms anxious to put in
all they had the prices OF African stocks
went UP. The rise enriched thousands of
men, but every dollar that anybody else
made paid it's percentage to Barney Bar
natO, and when the crash came the swiftly
built fortunes melted, but Barnato held on.
Down went the stocks. Every day an
other specuator killed himself because his
own fortune and the money intrusted to
him by others had gone. In few weeks
the name of Barney Barnato was hardly
mentioned in London except with curses.
They cursed his mines and his bank, and
he talked of the inevitable ups and downs
in trade and declared he would spend a
million pounds to right the market. He
did He spent it in buying back securities
for tenth of what he had sold them for.
BarnatO became a power in moneyed Eng
land He dined at the Mansion House and
sat opposite the prime minister at the Guild
took up Barney, but for all that Barney
was never a society man. The earls
thought that they would buy him with
dinner and a seat in a coach, and between
courses of the dinner and the stages of the
coaching trip the titled ones besieged him
for tips" They got their tips Barney
was always willing to give advice to peo-
nile with money to invest To be sure, it
developed after the Barnato fever had
passed that Barney Barnato, when he
tipped a man to buy always tipped him
to buy something he had TO sell.
JUGGLED WITH NOBILITY.
However, Barnato was never stingy.
When the time came that he wanted titled
society he was willing TO pay for it. He
let the earls make some money without
affecting his own fortune at all and built
himself mansion in Mayfair, on Park
lane. While his house was building he
leased Spencer House, in st. James place.