Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-06-19
BARNATO DEAD.
First Real Billionaire in Worlds
History.
Life That Bankrupts Romance
From Fakir to King.

LONDON, June lS-Barney Barnato. the
South American diamond king. has com
mitted suicide by leaping from t1e British
steamship Scot. which left Table Bay, Cape
Town, on June 2, for Southampton. His
body was recovered. Barnato, who by
questionable or unquestionably bad -'
III ,thods went up in the financial world Ike
a rocket, was coming down like its stick. He
realized it months ago and began drinking
heavily. This, with the awful nervous
strain brought on softening Of the brain.
He has done no business for months, his
brother-in-law, Joel. ~ man almost as shrewd
and INSCRIPTIONS as Barnato, attending to
Barna.os affairs
The life of Barnett Isaacs Barnato reads
like romance. He was born of Hebrew
parents in the Whitechapel district of Lon
don As years ago, and grew up amid sur
roundings the reverse of favorable. At an
early age he became a strolling juggler and
contortionist. spreading his mat on the pave
ments, wherever u crowd gathered and
giving. with the aid of his brother.
one OF the usual exhibitions peculiar
to the English metropolis. In the
early seventies. when the South African
diamond craze overspread Europe, with his
brother he sailed for the diamond fields.
The brothers gave open-air exhibitions, bat
the infinite audacity of the man crcpt ont
when Barnato hired u tent, and, on the spot
where the town of Kimberley now stands.
played" Hamlet to audiences Of easily salts
fled miners. Then the little Hebrew. when
the profits of his theatrical ventures war
ranted il, began to buy and sell uncut
diamonds without regard to the right OF
ownership of those Offering them for sale.
in short, he was. or was reported to be- n
fence, In. SO shrewdly did he manage things
that lie was not caught. As the laws re-
garding the sale of stolen diamonds were
very severe. Barnato made enormous profits.
and quickly accumulated 100000 or s4OO.-
900. Finally he rose to the dignity
of II Speculation in mining shares, generally
acquiring stock that represented no par
ticular value at the time. and 10y adroit
manipulation disposing of it later at good
price.
The real rise of Barnato. however, dates
from his connection with Cecil Rhodes, who
was at that time the invalid son of an Eng
lsh Clergyman. temporarily sojourning IN
South Africa. Rhodes career is as dazzling
in n way as that of Barnato. At the time
their acuuaintanceship began he was poor.
but even his enemies conceded his genius.
and he was ambitious to an extreme
degree. They actually forced down the
price of diamonds until the gems were
drug. The stocks of the companies fell In
sympathy, but were quietly absorbed until
one day South Africa awakened to the fact
that Rhodes and BarnatO, through capital
which they controlled, were in command OF
property worth untold millions OF money.
Up went the prices of stocks again, and it
was not long before the most famous mines
of Kimberley were recognized as a part of
the property of the De Beers Mining
company, with a capital of S5O,OOO,-
900, Rhodes and Barnato holding large
slice of what was said to be the richest con-
Germ in the world. The real opportunity of
the Rhodes Barnato combination came af-
ter they had completed their diamond deals
In 1886 South Africa was treated to wonder
full stories of gold discoveries in the Wit
watersrand district. near Pretoria. the CAPT
tai OF Transvaal. and about $50 miles north
of Kimberley. Nine out of every ten of the
eager prospectors who had filed the country