The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-02-16
SOCIETY MONEY LEM,ER
stsA1I' LEWIS, THE MOST NOTED
Man In HIS BUSINESS IN
ENGLAND
DID NOT PREY UPON NEEDY
Not Entirely Rapacious Nor Heart
less, but Usually Maintained Any :;
business Intimacy That Had
Once Keen Established.

business Intimacy That Had
| Once Reen Established.
Samuel Lewis might have been called
| the prince Of usurers.s' He belonged
to profession deservedly unpopular.
says the London NAH, but he, was at the
head Of It,, and was not to be confused
with practitioners of the Gordon type.
he did not prey upon the poor and needy
but lived upon the foliies OF his time.
He said once that he had million Of
money on paper, and every name on it
In "Debrett." and there Is little reason
to doubt the statement. He was the
society money lender, and few Of tho
young spendthrifts who have dragged
f"~ored 70 na'lvs names. into the bank
ruptcy and other courts got there "..Al-
out a little friendly assistance from
| Sam" Lewis. = .......s -.. 81. ~
He stuck to his own line Of business.
Time and again he was offered trading
| illustrating bills of the most unim-
peachabie characterize discount. He
| absolutely refused to have anything to
do with them. That class of business
was not in his way. .-.f
He was not entirely rapacious, nor al
together heartless, but when once he
| had established a monetary connection
| with a man 1t was not his fault II the
| intimacy usually so satisfactory in its
| results to Sam Lewis, was broken
off, When once he had made an aglee-
| ment with a man he kept him to 1t
| to the very letter. .-5
| An excellent instance Of this is to be
| found in letter which Sir George Lewis
| addressed to."The Times In April, 1888,
| on the subject Of West End Usurers.'
In the year 1884" wrote Sir George.
| "a rich Australian sent his son to Eng
| land to be educated at Cambridge. lie
| had an allowance Of $500 a year. He
was twenty years old. In December 1884,
! he made the. acquaintance OF Samuel
| lewis OF Cork street, to whom he gave
Three promissory notes at three months,
| one for s75O, dated Dec. 4, 1884: one for
| a6OO dated Jan. II, 1885. and one ioE
a25O dated Jan. q, 1SS5-together, 91,oeo.
| Samuel Lewis gave him I55o.
"Directly the father heard that lbs son
| was in the hands of money ienoef h9
| teleeraphed to the manager OF one OF the
| Australian banks in London to seni MS
| son back by the next beat This Was
| dome. but the young mans university
! career was ruined. The bank manage:
! then came to me, and saw Samuel
Lewis and offered to repay him TT
| amount he had advanced, with 5 per cent
| interest He refused the offer, and 1
! then told him that as the undergraduate
( was under age the aina acoaid not b.
legally enforced against Samuel LEWIS
/ replied: 7 have mis- letter. In which rs
states that he is OF age, and I can pros
ecute him Tor obtaining money by false
pretenses' / said that was not possible,
because he was not now i'll the country.
On Jan. j. 1856, I forwarded TO Samuel
Lewis ESQ., together With G1Uo for inter
est. and he returned to me- the under
gradua ties pronissory notes for El.aoD.
together with the discriminating letter.
Such were Samuel Lewis methods, YET
no less authority on money lending snes-
lions than the late lord chief justice-and
Lord Russell. Of Killowen, was a severe
critic Of the business Of usury-once gave
him no mean testimonial. 1t was at the
close of the famous Spender-Clay case.
The action, it Will be remembered, was
brought by Mr.. Lewis to recover from
II. Spender-Clayj at that time wealthy
subaltern in the Life GUARDS. the gum
3 Of Ell Cos odd on two pror1issory note.
which he had signed at the request of
Lord William NGvil, the son OF the Mar
quis of Abergavenny. The defense put
forward by Mr.. Clay was. that he was
NOT liable, because he was induced "a
Big the bills without Knowing their ma
ture by means Of fraudulent trick pra-c-
ticed by Lord William Nevil, who, as in
deed it was afterward proved, had COW
cred the main portion Of the bills vita
plotting paper. Fs=3 sE.e.s4.z.- ~
f Commenting during the summing up
on the part that Sam" Lewis had Played
in the matter, he said: "fiis (Mr. LeWis)
business of bill discourting and money
lending was not very popular one, bus.
let them at. least be just to those who
carried IL on. The plaintiff had been for
thirty years at the same address In Cork
street, and there had been no attempt
to show that he deserved other than the
Earne OF a man who was honerabfy en-
gagged"
It is typical Of the scale upon which
Sam" Lewis conducted his business that
IN q period OF two or three years The,
monetary transactions between himself
and Lord William Nevill embraced an
amount OF something like EsD.660.
In character Sam" was What is bast
described as bluff. He could, II ne
what rough and ready way, but, on.-the
other hand, II he had no desire to- make
himself agreeable he took no pains to-
disguise the fact. FIe had g. Keen sense
Of huu1or. and his ready wit often Stood
him In good stead.
He lived In beautiful house in Gross
vennr square, and OF late years there
popular bostesses than Mrs. SAM
Lewis. who Is noted for her dinners and
driving "a liabilities.
Sam Lewis horses were finer than
most peoples In town. he stables. ~:
the house in GrosveIor square are built
In a somewhat curious fashion, the h.orses
being lodged on the first floor.
SAM Lewis often laughingly confess
ed that he had SO much money that he
had no idea what TO do with 1t. To st
| rid OF some Of this snperfiuoils veal u
he made O habit OF gos1ig to Monte Carlo.
He often complained, however, that hs
, was SO uniucky in HI, object that he
do fl,a~ tf,sf IN