New-York tribune., 1897-06-15

Branatos companies. before that he had only
been known III the Transvaal
THE FLOATING OF BARNEYS BANK SHARES.
AS example of the craze that seized English
investors during 1896 the career Of the Barnato
Bank Mining and Estate Company. Limited, may
be cited. 1t was formed in the autumn of 1885, and
the announcement was made that the capitai
would be 10000 In shares Of f. The public re-
ceived no Information a the object OF the COM
pany. to the stocks properties in which 1t in
tended to deal. or. in fact. anything about It, No
prospectus was issued 10 attract investors. None
was needed for the name 'Barnsto" attached to IL
was enough Barney merely announced that he
and his broker had subscribed to the entire capital
stock and had subsequently, sold portion OF 1t TO
syndicate, which would offer It the market.
That was little basis for investor. ordinarily.
but 1t was enough. When the syndicate put the
stock On the market there was the widest kind Of
a scene. such one the London stock market
never witnessed before. even in the days OF the
South Sea bubble OF John Law. The public
went wild to buy the security and orders were
given without the slightest regard to price. The
first trade In 1t September g. and the eager
Of the public to put It's money Into the scheme
about which IT knew absolutely nothing drove the
price Of each share of stock from fl to f4ss. The
original capital OF the company placed at
fl,25O.coo, but the first day that the public had at
it forced the value to f5.7SOOoo London financia!
paper described the day follows
We have reason to believe that business was done
yesterday In other stocks than "Barneys Bank,
but it was difficult to discover it. If you happened
to come across snyeody who had actnaS iS GONE zone
about the market until you gaye hin the g,Ts
happened TO be 10 or is shillings different from
what he had last heard he scorned American rails rails
YOU were right about "Barney's Banks" In ths
market the morning scene was wonderful s ana 'nf
excitement was intense. Brokers had oei,,I orasLs a.
limits based on one or other OF the r,o, Goni1c, won
open; but the work of these was simple compa,rea ,
and ar i've Who orSafrs Sad to sS fs
crowd to get the opportunity OF askms J,ta Joncda'
but ST there VIII % be mucs heart burning this monrg
TO the prices at which the purchases wers maoS
capacity that scored yesterday. To have both was
ds'inct adyanage bus on one saaniio naG 10 desder
atum. A big man with big voice gettins IN lrpht
Of a o9 man %'h I y eeSs S o TOfS tho f Hen o. the
latter The market. IN fact, went mad anoIt ,,n tno
recognized by NJ Ba'n@fo ana his celleaeues in
the Rotation: To CHECK the insane dema5d iSr for
supply. ana this done with the result that they
left off at ahou; 31i-lf
About the concern the public knows compaGauSS;'-
y little except tha; Mr. Barnato has given ,e ms ms
to S ami thai S5n, k Knd ow many %9
ion pounds sos s5E Of IN and be ABORT he s
Excl Exchange % The estimates vary in the most pic.
iurcsque way but on all hands It is Is asfee1 oce llt
sary to enable him TO make success or even DIG,
ger hng than he has yet o taken be IN bgeer vet 10
come.
WON OVER SIR EDGAR VINCENT.
A good deal of Barnato's success was owing to
the conquest he made of Sir Edgar Vincent. a man
of the highest integrity. whose name is one TO
conjure with In London financial circles. That
Barnato. arriving in London almost unknown.
worth a good deal Of money. II is true, but an, am
bilious TO become power In the financial world
port IS only another proof Of his remarkable power
Sir Edgar. first Of all made sure that Barnsio
u He vent SS"'n o" to 1E south ea With Bsrnato
what he saw there convinced him Of the value Of
a. S
rd AT one M % time began to be spoken Of as the
temperament and ambition, and for short period
@ their coH be s
NOTED NOTED by by combination. and the De Beers Consoli-
dated Mines were the result These mines are the
most valuable Of their kind In the world.
MARRIED A BARNARD.
Barnato married while in Africa. and the mar
rage resulted in the birth Of two sons and daugh
ter. His wife said 10 have been a barmad Al
the diamond fields. to whom Barnato gave his dia-
monds for safe keeping.
When at the height Of his prosperity In London |
Barnato besieged from morning to night by an
army of callers and beggars. The only time at
which he was accessible was at breakfast, when |
every who called was admitted. He gener- |
by In the autumn Of 1885. when he sent S75Con to
the Lord Mayor for distribution among tho Io7dou
Door a special correspondent of "a London paper |
spoke of him At this period as follows.
"Barraio stands as representative OF tho trc- |
mendous fortunes made IN Kaffrs' during The last
two years. His wealth is estimated al from 500. |
900 go 10 s2O0OO.00 At least 50 pc. of IL has |
accrued in two years. The majority is paper |
but Barnato Is In a position where he can create |
Il 900 30 of capital sell IL 10 syndicate for f. 40
(oh, and The syndicate sell l. 10 the public for
$4,000 In twenty -four hours. This is soccr |
fact and exactly what occurred In connection with
the Barnato Bank. Tha nominal capital o! this |
bank e. 2.500oc). The shares Il each. and |
teen
hundred brokers with orders TO buy hundreds a n |
in some cases thousands. OF shares. al the market
The shares opened from 1914 to fila premium. ana !
the capital of the bank is now valued al nearly !
f3.CO0gO. At :he last settlement, when there /
talk about difficulty in carrying over stocks Bar
nato announced that he would lend 0U0Gp on
ested."