The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-22
TDOR WORMSER is DEAD
BANKER AND LEADER IN WALL
STREETS ACTIVITIES.

ness Career In the SCuta-Had n IOnl
right With the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. SyGdl
cate. whose Agent He Once Was
Isidor Wormser. the banker. head Of thu
firm Of |. 4 8. Wormser. died last night al
general debility due to old age, He was Il
years old.
Mr. Wormser had been dangerously IL
for two weeks. He vas thought to be
dying OF Wednesday night and his daugh'
ter. Mrs. Jefferson Seligman, who was Oh
the incoming steamer Teutonic. was com.
municated with by wireless and asked IA
be ready TO leave the ship when it got to
Quarantine Mrs. Seligman vent over the
ships side at 4 A. NJ. and was rushed TO the
city on a tug. Following her arrival at his
bedside her father improved.
DR.. Edwin ~Sternburger Of Long Branch
and DR.. Eugene Eising Of IS East Sixtieth
street, his physicians. noticed late yesterday
afternoon that Mr.. Wormser was sinking.
They notified Mr.. and Mrs. Seligman and
MIR. Wormser's three nephews, Maurice.
Louis and Isidor. Jr. When they reached
his bedside he was unconscious. He died
at 7:45 o'clock. When word OF his death
got around many Of his friends and asso-
ciates in Wall Street called at the residence.
Many cable dispatches anne uncing his
death we're sent to Europe.
Isidor Wormser ca me to this country
from Europe in 1855, before he was of age,
and settled first in Louisiana. He was Joined
there two years later by his brother Simon,
and the two went to California TO conduct
a general marca ntile business. They
quickly decided that the East offered more
opportunities for business and went to
Chicago. They prospered in Chicago, and
in 1872 came to New York, opening a banking
house in the Drexel Building. They later
moved to the Mills Building.
The firm then became +. d s.. Wormser,
as IL is to-day, and the two brothers con-
Quoted an aggressive business. They did
not hesitate to look horns with other pow
erful 1nanciers. and even fought Jay Gould
when he was in his prime. They later be-
came his allies. The firm always dealt in
high class securities. bills OF exchange on
London and the Continent, circular letters
OF credit, DC. They had a leading part
in the vast business OF the Stock Exohange
and had heavy holdings OF the whiskey,
sugar and other trust stocks. Their fellow
brokers laughed at their e~ocentricities
but respected them for their business
aoumen. They were at the height of their
power in 1880.
Up. to December, 1899, they were the
pTluClpdl representative b III NGW 10TH OF
the Philadelphia banking and brokerage
house OF George A. HUM d Sons, the recog-
nized brokers FOR p. A. B. Widener, William
L.. Elkins and Thomas Dolan, known a. the
philadelphia syndicate For eighteen
years they had the HUM wire, and the ac-
important q firm could have.
The etory is told that some time prior to
December, 1899, Isidor Wormser told Mr..
HUM that he was the holder Of 10, 1000 shares
suggested that Mr.. Widener ought to put
him on the directorate Of the street railway
company in view OF the fact that he was
the largest holder Of Metropolitan stock
outside Of the then existing management.
When Mr.. Widener heard Of the request
I'll resign and iet him have my place.
This remark was carried verbatim to Mr..
Wormser and he said:
Il know what Widener means by that.
He means that he won't cit at the same
directors table with me- Very well we'll
see about it,"
.FSom that time m the firm became more
active dealers in and holders of Metropolitan
stock than before. In 1901 Isidor Wormser.
Jr.. son OF Simon, who had become a MEM
Der of the firm, took up the firms quarrel
against the Widener-Elkins syndicate and
sued to have the lease OF the Metropolitan
to the marlborough Street Railway Com
pany set aside. The suit was dismissed.
Simon Wormser died suddenly OF apop-
lexy in 1895 and his death greatly affected
his brother. They had been inseparable
companions and were always TO be seen
together except when they were travelling
10 and from their office. At such times
neither would ride In the same cab or rail-
road car with the other. At the Rector
street elevated station one would take one
train and the other would wait for the next.
In this way only one Wormser could meet
with an accident at the same time. Tie
brothers looked much alike. both beii q
big. heavy men more than six feet TIA.
and OF swarthy complexion.
Mr.. Wormser gained considerable noto-
riety in 1898 by getting into a fight on the
floor Of the Stock Exchange with G. f.
Chapman. Chapman was suspended for
thirty days and Wormser for ten Several
times Mr.. Wormser attracted attention in
Broad street by standing in the window of
his office in the Mills Building and shaving
himself with his mirror balanced or the top
OF a ticker tape basket. Crowds Of brokers
frequently gathered to watch Mr.. Wormser
shave, but he paid no attention to them.
Iii. WoTmseT had been a Democrat from
he time he went to Louisiana, but when the
free silver plank was adopted at the Chicago
he was one Of the first men TO
leave the party. He was a member OF the
Manhattan and Criterion clubs and the
Ccney Island Jockey Club.
The firm OF /. s Wormser at the present
time consists OF Is;dor and his nephew,
Isidor, Jr. Two other nephews, Louis W.
and Maurice s., were associated in the bust
ness.