The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-15
DEATH OF A SHYLOCK
SAMUEL LEWIS, WHO LOANED
MONEY TO MOBILES AND PRINCES.
lions i'm His Dealings with Ex-
travagant A~ristOcrats.

LONDON, jan. 4.-Samuel Lewis, known
the world over as 1.-The greatest and mean
est of modern Shylocks," is dead. Half the
peerage of England, and certainly every
one of the spendthrift aristocrats are left
to mourn him, for hardly can they find his
like as a lender of millions.
There was only one Samuel Lewis among
the many money lenders who thrive by
high interest and find easy victims in high
places. Lewis was the real aris1ocrat of
his class. He could lord it over the great
men of his country, even over princes of
the royal blood, who had fallen into his
hands, and could live more lux~uriously that
the best of them. 1t is said of him that he
rarely had less than three or four million
pounds lent on the security of young noble
mems expectations, while his brain held
the knowledge of a choicer assortment
of aristocratic family skeletons than that
of any other man in England.
Only a few months ago the newspapers
contained stories of how Lady Tatton
Sykes had dealings with Lewis to her sor-
row. The name of Lord William Nevill
is one that echoes almost with a threat
in the homes of the London smart set
whenever 1t is spoken, and 1t was from
Lewis that his lordship got the money with
which he FASTENED his ruin. And the son Of
the Marquis of Queensberry also had ex-
periences of which the public has heard in
detail. These are only three among a
thousand.
There is a saying on the race track when
a young peer is playing high and losing
all that he sis going to No. IL Cork street,
1t tells the whole story. No. IL Cork
street, a modest three-story building in a
short street off a much frequented prom
enade, was the headquarters of the money
king. There ii was that his business or
ganization centered. Past many clerks.
and sometimes only after hours of wait
ing, his titled customers, with lands, dia-
their requests for cash, would make their
way. Quick and short they would get
their answer: 1t might be ready acquies-
cence or it might be a curt, Sorry 1 can
not oblige you It might be a proposal
of 10 per cent. interest or ii might be so.
70 or 100 per cent. that would be de-
1t is said indeed III Lewis had a great
card catalogue of the members of the no.
bility, their fortunes. their habits. their
relatives and their honesty. On each card
was marked the amount the man could
borrow and the rate he must pay, so that
even In Lewis's absence his clerks could
lend his money after his own ideas.
A high liver was Lewis; a frequenter OF
Monte carlo and the race tracks. certain
10 have the best box in the theater on
every opening night; certain to be sur
rounded with ladies wearing the finest dia-
monds the eye could find on any occasion.
he was We'll over fifty, but did not look his
age. His jet black, waxed mustache, curly
hair and little beads of eyes did not give
him a really unpleasant appearance,
though he had always something of the air
of a sporting man.
Along with the stories of his unfiinching
demand of his pound of flesh, there are
stories too of kindheartedness shown by
him now and then An American actor, one
of the best-known or the stage, often tells
the story OF how, when he had gone bank
rupt az the games of Monte Carlo, Lewis
came to him. gave him a handful OF bank
notes and said: Go away from here and
stay away. This game Is too fast for you.
Pay me when you can and never mind the
interest.
There are other anecdotesstoo of Lewis's
tearing uo the notes of young men who
could not pay him. but they are few and
far between. A Shylock he certainly was,
but his friends retort for him that at least
| his customers might spare the name, be-
cause OF the reputation borne by some OF
the latter.