Evening star., 1906-06-15
or STRONG CHARACTER
Marked individuality of Cecil
Rhodes and Barney Barnato.
ROSE FROM OBscURITY
Both Became Immensely Rich and
Powerful in South Africa.
DIFFERED IN TEMPERAMENT
Development Of the Great Diamond
Fields-Political Schemes
and Ambitions.
DIFFERED IN TEMPERAMENT
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
THE two great men of South Africa.
said Mr.. Gardner F. Williams the other
day, were Cecil Rhodes and Barney Bar
nato Both were strong characters and had
marked individuality. Both became I'M
mensely rich and both exercised powerful
influence upon the development OF that sec
ton of the world.
I'm July, 1873, a young Hebrew, Barnett
Isaacs, took passage from England to Cape
Town at the call of his brother from the
new diamond fields. His grandfather was
a learned and honored rabbi. and the good
standing of his family was marked by the
marriage of his father, Isaac Isaacs. to a
relative of Sir George Jesels. master Of the
rolls But the son of the rabbi was only
small plodding, frugal shopkeeper in Lon
don. His sons, Henry and Barnett, were
trained in the excellent Hebrew free school
in SpitaIfields, but both boys left school
at the age of fourteen to help their father
in his shop. Henry was drawn away In the
current of the early rush to the diamond
fields in 1871, and had such success as
kopje walloper that he wrote home to urge
his brother to join him. To the restless
spirit and purely speculative mind of Bar
nett Isaacs there was magnetic attrac-
ton in such field with its cleaning and
novel opportunities. With instant decision
he took the steamer for Cape Town and
made the tiresome trip over weld and karro
to Kimberley with unfailing pluck and good
temper
He was only twenty years old, and out
wardy no more than light-hearted boy,
bubbling over with high spirits and comical
conceits. One could scarcely cast him in
any society any place on earth where
his nimble wits would not gain him a living.
But his incessant activity was fatally wear
ing. He could not dawdle. For many years
his extraordinary vitality and endurance
kept him running. He had the precious
faculty of dropping off to sleep at any mo-
ment of relaxation and awakening after
slumbering few minutes. Nevertheless no
creature of flesh and blood could endure
the strain which he bore and recklessly
courted. Some day such bundle of quiv-
ering nerves must snap; either life or brain
must CO. said one of his closest friends,
and ultimat tely the brain did CO. He COM
mtted suicide by leaping overheard from
a steamer while en- route from London to
Cape Town.
Rise of Barney Barnato.
His brother Henry had fancied and taken
the name of Barnato professional shift
from his own family name when he first
came to the diamond fields and tried his
luck as a conjured and vaudeville performer.
Henry soon after turned his hand to the
more profitable business of a diamond
trader, but his stage name stuck to MIN,
and passed naturally to his younger brother,
who accepted it with easy Indifference. SO
young Barnett Isaacs became Familiarity
known as 'Barnato Barnato, and for the first
year or two of his life on the diamond fields
fioated along the current as Harry Bar
nato's brother. He had money enough to
buy sixty boxes of cigars after paying his
way to Kimberley. With this working
capital he went into partnership with Louis
Cohen, another newcomer. The young part
Rarnatn and Cohen worked hard
early and late.
'Barnato's keen eye gained a valuable
business connection In a way that suggests
Sherlock Holmes. One of the most success
full kopje WALLPAPERS Ga name given to men
who visited the various miners huts for
the purpose of buying diamonds) made
regular rounds through the diamond fields
on an old, lame yellow pony, calling on men
who had the best bargains In diamonds to
offer. Barnato and Cohen tried repeatedly
to follow him, but his track was soon lost
in the labyrinth Of tents huts and sand
heaps. However, Barnato able to see
that the traders pony had habit of stop
ping at places where the choice bargains
were made, and when the broken-down
beast was offered for sale one day by its
owner Barnato snapped at the chance to
buy him for f27 1Os., an enormous price
for the old pony as a steed, but a great
bargain for the keen diamond broker. for
the walloper's business went with his pony,
as he afterward saw to his chagrin
Soon Barnato became known as q wal
Looping walloper,' and in the third year of
his push into the fields he was able to
crown a new ambition by the purchase of
a block of four claims In one of the best
paying sections of the Kimberley mine.
His savings were then about a30 900 and he
put nearly every pound he was worth into
those purchases. With the help of this
great investment he came swiftly .nto
prominence. Entering into partnership with
his brother, he established the firm of Bar
nato Brothers In 1880. as London and Kim
berley diamond dealers and brokers in min
ing properties, and crowned further am
bition by combining his own claims with
adjoining holdings In his first mining stock
organization The Barnato Diamond Mining
Company 1t was at this stage of his for
tunes that he came into keen rivalry with
the only competitor that could make sue
cessful headway against him, Cecil John
Rhodes.
Career Of Cecil Rhodes.
There was singular likeness in some
respects in the careers. conceptions and
calculations Of these extraordinary men,
although they were so markedly dissim-
liar in personal aunearance apd tar,na.a