New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-27
WRIGHTS CAREER.
Mines Source of His Fortune and
Basis of Financial Bubbles.


Among the great promoters OF financial bubbles
the name of J. Whitaker Wright will rank with
thoSe OF John Law. Ernest Terah Hcoley and Nine
Iherese Humbert His career was enc OF sudden
anu surprising experiences, but nothing was more
uIdhatlc than his death at the moment of sentence
Au'horlties differ as 20 whether ne was an English
'A''H OF an American by birth but he was reported
as saying of himself that he was bor, I'm Cheshire
England in lsi6. His parents gave him A good
education especially In chemistry and mining
ensiheerlng When he was twenty-one his IA
'her oled leaving his mother only an annuity
ana the young man decided to seek his fortune in
inns country. He TO Colorado. securing work
aS an assayer, and soon began make and save
money He said after he had amassed a fortune
'hat II was easy work for any one TO do so after
se'Ohs the hrSt $1,000 As the way h secured
MS start he said at the time he was in the Ludlow
St Jail, in this city:
as now n aid get that start? Why. went West and
few shares in I.'I r money saved it and bought
- Ib e1oIe IT was only few dollars frst but all
claim oGPh 54 foy sS amd sold bought SS
in IN II Tor enough TO pay me back original
eStinent and provide a working capital The
M 1ne proved profitable and little later sold ouI
did the same thing with other properties and kept
, M Ions ~ until was dealing in amounts that
- Some Of the hardshiDs endured Whine prospect
was free an Is - e.tt Is az present, only then
am now In the early days OF Leadvihe lived one
boards backed up with logs and lined on the inside
down 30 degrees below zero and cot STUCK there
- III gong 10 tell you a story ABOUT that which l
that shanty was one OF the oldtime square sheet
anon 81 IVES WHICH we stocked up with wood night
turned on The atmosphere so dry we always
was not at all unusual md the water in this tin
frozen n the morning though the fire in the stove
tett any water In pitcher in the room it
was one of the pioneers in the Leadvillc boom.
ana spent the winter of 70 there, but can't say
! fact lost a lot. and when you talk about the
money money | have made don't forget that have lost
At Leadviile lost two fortunes. the one I in
by paving SOME othe2 prsons 9 song foT a an
adjoining property don't believe in uck-it is all
ing g, how TO take advantage of opportunities.
erty in which my friends and had invested a
million dollars and more. We had sunk shafts
in all directions but we dio not come upon any
G or riSh enough to pay for tie mining Of it, Ad
three hundred foot shafts had likewise been sunk
spent several hundred thousand d6a TerS r R
mo'eG me 20 2uy III and offered II to me for al
had been sunk close to their boundary and
Gentlemen" I told them II wouldn't give YOU
Is cents for your fifteen acres" Then they had to
within three feet of where they had already gone
0oe failed 10 take advantage Of that opportunity
and yet never heard any Of my co-workers there
threaten to throw me into Jail because l failed.
MlNING SPECI LATIONS.
With the fortune he had acquired In the mining
region re came East and began to speculate In
stocks in this city After increasing his fortune
here, he went Ia Philadelphia in 1885 and rented
an Office In the old Merchants Exchange Building
where the Stock Exchange Of that city now
stands. He broker in cotton. grain and pc
troleum, but connected with the Stock
Exchange. lie lived in fine style IN the suburb
OF Haverford from 1887 TO 1881. While living In
Philadelphia he was naturalized and married lie
estimated his fortune at 81 5000 IN 1851 After IN
creasing this largely. he decided to go 10 London
with the purpose OF retiring from business with
competency. But the depression OF values in some
Of his investments led him TO speculate the
London Stock Exchange. His knowledge of min
Ing induced him To embark in the development OF
mines in West Australia in 1893. OF his expert
erces with the mining ventures there in which he
was interested he once gave this account:
The experts decided it was likely to prove a bet
Ter gold Held than was supposed Discoveries were
rection and Iag bs Tsd Nm ~ In ~ icS anas
do r. III a. $500, -, IN IiIis
would develop into a satisfactory gold mining
agents To buy up all the richest discoveries that
SoGd be had f9T reasonable price. and IN thS
helds-proPerties some OF which might well he de-
ySir9 on t5'e surface OF the ground HkS 1eWelIer
window. In some OF Them huge powders OF pure
su1seG g these PToRsrss were merged b into
promised enormous returns owning one mine at
least that babe tair to rival the famous London
a tcn-foOt hole Then came a setback. After going
down n few feet the rich deposit vanished. and
though we spent more than half a million dollars
In subsequent development. we were never able TO
recover the reef vein OF course II this rich
on the surface had held out as We went down
the mine would have paid millions. But that
was the natural condition in most OF West Aus
tralia. following the memorable law. Yet am duly
blamed for the failure OF the ore To hold out
This was the history OF several Of the richest
appearing properties, but; In spite OF everything;
this exploration company brought more money Into
me colony and DID more 70 uevelop rs reeSouFces
IMAM all the Other companies coihblneu. ne IaCt
that these properties, though SO rich at the sur
tace ala not 90 deep gave me Een soPd IOF
the physician had advised me not to retire sat
all through the night Illuminating on the conditions
Lake View mine owned by a few practicaI miners.
who. with their modest development and paItry ap-
thought to myself that it might be wiser TO buy
this property than TO keep ON acquiring unde-
to whom I paying the modest salary of $4,000
a year under three years contract. TO examine
depth. His report was favorable. As those
OF other experts 1 employed bought the mine
COnsos Company to take II over. When put into
share the purchase money amounted 10 only TeW
the mine the stock eventually rose to $50 share
and the West Australia Exploration Company
made a first profit Of S5OnOo.
On the same financial basis Wright exploited IN
1897 the London and Globe Finance Corporation.
with a capital OF f2.OO0OOo: the h-American
Corporation. with f1500O0O capital; two more com
panies in 1898 with 70 100000 capital two more the
following year with n.500.OOO capital and in 1900
five additional ones. the combined capital of which
was f4635OO0 He had meanwhile purchased great
estate in Surrey on which large sums OF money
were spent and had interested many men OF social
and financial prominence IN his ventures, II being
said that royalty was not averse TO subscriptions