The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-08-10
HON H(||)LEY WORKED
Career of EngIand's Stu
pendOuS SWindler.
NOBILITY IN ON THE DEAL
By Which He Made Fifty
Millions in Three Years.

New York, Aug e.-Ernest Terah Hooley
hmassed fortune of s5O,o0O0OO in less
than three years, and 100000 English
men believed that such a feat in financier-
Ing could be honestly accomplished.
That the pathway of his metoric sue
cess was marked with the rough jolts Of
bribery, ver-capitalization, brazen-faced
gambling and the .besmrching of almost
royal names did not appeal to the averag e
British mind until Hooley himself spoke.
Reaching that inevitable turn in the
lane that North, Law. De Lesseps and
all other gamblers with honor and coin
also come to, Hooley has paused before dis
appearing from sight TO dam the names of
seven English peers, to discredit the pro-
fessional and personal honor of a number
of London newspaper men and to give to
gullible people in all parts Of the world
of so-called popular financiering."
Hooley himself is nobody BY all &C
counts by what ne was able. to accomplish
was due more TO the people he had to
deal with, the peculiar condition of spec
ulation in England during the last three
of his own. Many Of his enormous pub
lished profits appear now to have been
on paper. Had he been a Gould or Van
derbilt or Rothchild his winnings would
be in coin today, and if he brbed to secure
them all heaven and the powers beneath
would not have caused him to open his
llpss.
81 had several conversations with him."
who met him first in Lonon and then at
Monte Carlo, "and he impressed me with
being what is popularity termed a smooth
fellow 1t was the general sentiment at
the time. however that ne was one of
those fortune hunters who make a shrewd
cues ora lucky strike and win vast wealth,
which they cannot retain. He played the
tables at Monte Carlo like a gamester,
and there were all sorts of rumors as to
his winnings and losses from day to day"
Willard was a genius. He made the
Northern Pacific a certainty when others
doubted. De Lesseps was an engineer Of
acknowledged reputation. Colonel North,
the nitrate king, was a diamond in the
rough. but ransack the life doings of
Hooley from beginning to end and his
performances are pyrotechnical, smacks
OF the vaudeville, end in financial distrust
and financial dishOnor.
He found the lust of money in ngland
stronger among cultured peers than
Walpole's dishonest sneer that every man
has his price and purchased the nobility
right and left. He discovered certain news
papers Of London susceptible 70 monetary
influence. and he purchased them or indi-
Vidual editors Having the nature of
brlbe-giver, he saw a certain portion OF
the financial and aristocratic world of
England open to corruption. He corrupted
Then told OF 1t.
One can hardly think other than that
Hooley and his noble and ignoble associ-
ates must be men of the same stamp,
and regret neither the exposure nor the
downfall.
The capitalization Of the various Hooley
enterprises during the thirty-six months
he was a. figure in London was $50. 900 600.
In value they firSt fell off 40 per cent
after their flotation. To the present writ
ing their value decrease has been 60 per
cent. Something valuable will be found
in the wreckage. but not much.
And this was all done by man VINO in
1895 was a Nottingham lace-maker, an
obscure fellow with an income of $4,000
~ $50 600 a year and tremendous dreams.
sEottingham has a population of 100 600.
Lace and hosiery manufacturing have
made the place famous. Formerly the
workingmen took their labor to their
homes. Then came great buildings in
which they were lodged during working
hours Hooley at q owned one of these
building devoted to lace work. That was
seventeen years ago.
He was not conspicuous in the CONNER
cial life Of the town. He paid his debts
made a reasonable profit on his lace, ming
led little in the political or social life of
the place but dreamed.
In ordinary conversation your Ameri-
can will class the French or the Spanish
hs the great gambling nations of Europe
This is absolutely wrong. The greatest
gambling nation of Europe, and for that
matter the world. is Mother England. The
disease in England largely takes the form
Of stock speculation. The greater the
irdesccnt stock rainbow that can be pro-
Jected in England the more certain the
rich reward for the protector. Hooley
himself knew this when in 1895 he made
the first move which brought aim TO where
he is today
He said 70 Julian Ralph:
IL have always gone in fer big things
il YOU so half way up the ladder YOU viii
find it crowded with competitors. II You
so 10 the top You practically have the
field 70 yourself. There are plenty Of men
ready to deal in thousands, but they get
frightened when YOU talk of millions"
He went 10 the top. and from MS dizzy
eminence beckoned 20 the mad <hrong
bookkeepers. half crazy women and work
3ng people to follow him. They saw him
perched in the sunligh, Of sold and tried
10 climb, throwing their wealth ahead Of
them at MS feet. But thte foundation was
bad: the fatal overbalance came, and then
the tnmble
Hooley's name was aided to that OF
Jabez Balfour. Baron Grant. Colonel
North and the late Davenport Dunn. sent
aemen.
Fifty million dollars Is the interest for
one year at per cent on 100000 600. In
the three years Of 1895. 1895. and 1897. Hoo
ley. in one form or another. and with a
capital Of less than Se5o.o00 10 begin with
made $4,000 coo. That sober. staid Eng
land should not have appreciated that
this sort OF thing Is human impossible
sty. save that one is a born scoundrel.
of the south sea bubble OF Law. OF IsoUisi-
ana and the Mississippi ventures Of Ar
gentina and the nitrate beds were value
less
The lacemaker first tried his speculative
hand az nome. He had been working a
his factory sixteen hours a day. He was
50 close business man that he would not
drink nor smoke during working hours,
which after all IS a big loss Of decent