Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1901-11-08
TRAGEDY IN TRIPLES
eMALL THINGS THAT HAVE CAUSED
GREAT DISASTERS.
A,PostaEe stamp Caused the Ruin OF
an English Iron King-Bspkruptcy
In the Mere Motion of = Hand-A,
Missing Key That Meant Ruin.

/
an English Iron King-Bspkruptcy
In the Mere Motion of = Hand-Ai
Missing Key That Meant Ruin.
II was a common penny postage
stamp that brought Hobart the great
British iron king" to his ruin. At
the time or the Whitworth period.
when there was a big crisis I'm the iron
trade. he had agents In all parts of the
world who kept him posted. Some
times they telegraphed news to him In
cipher, but those I'm England were
nearly always instructed to write. At
that period his principal agent, who
was also his chief partner, was in
Sheffield and wrote him from there
warning him to sell out all iron inter
ests for the time on account of the
Whitworth crisis.
Hobart had frequent fits OF irrItabilI-
ty, and he had been receiving a lot Of
unstamped letters OF no Importance on
which he had to pay double postage.
One morning In anger he gave orders
that such letters were to be returned
TO the postman. The very first un-
stamped letter received after this was
u
soon as It arrived.
Consequently, knowing nothing OF
the existence or the letter or the all
important private news II contained.
Hobart pledged himself next day for
more iron deals than even his mighty
credit was good for. The great drop
I'm prices came two days later, and
Hobart, once a millionaire, was in
volved In hopeless bankruptcy from
which he never recovered.
The mere motion OF n hand ruined
Goblet & Co, one OF the largest and
wealthiest engineering firms ever
known. They and an American firm
rendered bids for the building OF the
great Kaura bridge for the Russian
government. Jacob Goblet, who was
the brain and center OF the business,
spent six months I'm the designing and
contracting and had all his plans ready.
His bid was accepted. and material
was bought In enormous quantities. A
time limit had been set both for the
commencement and finish, and Goblet
was perfecting his plans and making
sure OF the smallest details, with all
the formula spread out on the table
before him. when he stretched out his
hand. overturned an inkpot and drown
ed the most important OF the papers In
n black sea.
CObbett had a poor memory. In fe-
yer OF anxiety he tried TO reconstruct
his plans from stray notes. h was i'm
possible. and he called on the Russian
government for more time. Time was
a, A..
tract on the ground OF delay, as the
agreement allowed. Goblet could not
get his work through I'm time, and the
Yankee firm, which now advanced n
cheaper tender, with cut and dried
plans. got the Job. The loss drove Cob
bett & Co. to bankruptcy, and the great
Kaura bridge I'm Russia is American
built.
Something similar, but still more ro-
mantle, was the moment OF forgetful-
ness that wrecked the career OF the
great railway contractor, Purbeck
Jones. A millionaire In property and
funds. he had undertaken the contract
TO build the Maiwar line. In central In
dia. and staked all he bad. Security
was necessary. however, and he was
bound to deliver by May o. 1891, a suffi-
Client quantity OF negotiable bonds, etc,
To cover loss by the railway syndicate.
This sum amounted 10 over 1900, 900,
and even Purbeck Jones found II hard
10 raise such n sum. but his credit OBJ
tained II for him. and he deposited his
securities In great safe at his offices
In Lombard street. preferring that 10 a
safe deposit
II was not till the morning that the
Indian mail went of that he arrived TO
dispatch the securities under special
| guard TO India. When he arrived, to his
! utter dismay. he found he had left the
keys OF the safe behind. They were In
his country place. Harwood, just out
side Carlisle. and TO get them in time TO
catch the mail was impossible. II he
missed the mail, his time limit for the
deposit would lapse. He sent TO the
safemakers for expert workmen and
offered them $500 each IL they could
break the safe open within two hours.
They could not do II, and Purheck
Jones was ruined, for the railway syn
Die ate refused him an extension CT
, time, and the loss OF the contract.
which was the biggest any single man
had ever undertaken. made him hope
lessly bankrupt. He died In a Iunatic
asylum not very long after.-London
Telegraph