The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1897-08-17
A WONDERFUL CAREER.
BARNEY BARNATO'S RISE FROM
POVERTY TO IMMENSE WEALTH.

Where Barnet Isaacs Barnato, as he
.alled himself, or Barney Barnato, or
Barney Daacs, as he was indiscrimiu-
ltely called by those who knew him in
lis youth, was born aud how he was
educated and raised, are subjects he
Tery rarely discussed. The first
authentic reports OF the man who re-
GENTLY ended his extraordinary career
by leaping overheard from n steamer
are as little fellow in ragged clothes,
posing as aid to his brother Harry, a
sidewalk iuggler in the poorer Jewish
quarters of London. He was said to
De ten years old in 1860 When
Juggling proved unremunerative, the
brothers, always the closest of friends,
peddled clothes and pickles. Barney
Barnato's first regular employment
was IA n waiter in billiard room in
The East End of London. He soon
acquired n knowledge of the game
md was promoted to be marker.
Harry Barnato about the same time
obtained n place in n boxing school
and learned considerable about the
manly art He learned to play bill
liards from Barney, imparting to him
in exchange nil he knew of boxing.
They found both arts useful to them
in later days. In fact, it was his
knowledge of boxing aud his ability
to impart the knowledge that gave
him command of the capital that
enabled him to make the vast fortune
he acquired in the diamond fields.
When the news of the discovery of
diamonds in Griqualand, west of the
borders of the Transvaal, in South
Africa, was properly authenticated,
the Barnato Brothers decided to try
their fortunes there. Neither had
money sufficient to pay the passage
Ell from Dartsmouth-and it took
them more than year to acquire it.
1t was some time in 1871 or 1872 that
thep landed at Capetown from the
sailing ship Auglian and started the
long OK wagon journey across the
HOO miles of Karoo desert. Both lads
made money on the forty-four days
voyage by entertainments of juggling,
boxing and singing, and their com
bined capital when they reached the
Kimberley fields was little more
than G60-S300.
They found fair-sized settlement
of jewellers in canvas and corrugated
iron, and Immediately started to find
some way of increasing their capital.
Harry Barnato, although short, was of
athletic build, and rather attractive
presence of the fashy order. Barney,
on the contrary, was slim, sickly look
ing, with an incipient mustache and q
painful appearance of nearsighted-
ness. He wore glasses, without which
he protested to be unable to see foot
before his face
Before he had been on the fields six
months he had demonstrated that he
could see across a billiard table as we'll
as any man in the district, and that
very few even of the rowdiest fighters
could knock his glasses off with the
boxing gloves. 1t was admitted that
| none could intimidate him. Boxing
hnd billiard playing, with occasional
entertainments, paid the brothers ex-
| enses, but neither promised them the
I3rtune they were seeking. But the
chance came, and they took it
AT that time the leading bank on the
Diamond Fields was the Cape Com
ilercial. The manager, n Mr.. Ross,
Eas trained athlete and had been
}le champion high jumper of Oxford
University. He attended the Barnato
! fchool of boxing, and was early at
/ Iracted to Barney" Barnato sug-
Sested scheme of money making, and
| Mr.. Ross offered to advance the neces-
sary capital from his private purse.
| Dix months Later the sign Barnato
| brothers hung over the doors of the
largest combination hotel, saloon,
billiard and entertainment hall that
| South Africa had ever seen. Money
| poured in, and the brothers were on
the road to the fortune their pluck
and brains had early assured them.
After a couple of years, Barney Bar
nato left the saloon to the care of his
brother and became duly authorized
aud licensed diamond buyer and
broker. The license for each business
cost $4,000, aud could only be obtained
by those well recommended TO the
committee in charge. Fairly started
In Legitimate business, Barnato soon
became power in the community. =
In 1884, little more than ten years
from the day he reached the fields a
brawny youngster less than twenty.
two years old, Barnato had formed a
dozen diamond mining companies in
Du Tots Pan aud De Beers, aud con
trOlled them ALL His fortune was then
estimated at about $500, 900. His
brother, who had feared TO risk his all
in the purchase Of shares in the I'M
formed companies, was well-to-do with
4 fifth OF that sum.
From that time on, with the prestige
Of his indomitable energy, and his
genius for making money from every
thing he touched the Kaar King, as
no was later called, doubled and
tripled his capital almost ms he chose.
With Cecil Rhodes he organized and
formulated the consolidation of the
! great Kimberley Basin with the out
| lying observation-disclosures claims into
! practically one company, aud for the
! past five or more years has actually
controlled the diamond output OF the
/ African continent.
The above is the truth of u. I. Bar
nato's start and rise rs told by a man
/ who knew him rs n billiard sharp. as n
boxer and rs a saloan-keeper, and later
. ns legitimate difmond broker Just
"a.