Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-11-15
FATAL PRIDE
Financier Barney Feared 10 Face Friends Whom He Thought
 He Ruined
SUICIDE FOLLOWED

New York, Nov. 15.-That Charle!
 T. Barney, the financier and society
 man, who killed himself yesterday
 was by no means ruined financially
 appears to be proven by statements as
 to- his business affairs which were
 made public following his tragic
 death. The cause of his act of sell
 destruction, therefore, is believed tc
 have been something deeper than the
 omney loss which came with the fin.
 ancial crash in which Barney and SC
 many others were involved. Friends
 and business associates of the dead
 banker who had been working for
 weeks in attempting to settle his
 business affairs said that even at the
 present low level of prices, securities
 and titles to property held by MT
 Barney will exceed his obligations by more than $2,500,000. They express
 confidence, too, that all these hold
 ings can be protected, and that on the
 rising market which they expect to
 follow period of depression, the value of the estate will be greatly enhanced.
 It is largely to his inability to en- durethe blot upon his business repu- tation which he feared would result fromthe suspension of the Knicker- booker Trust company and grief over the knowledge that many of his friends had been carried down to ruin in the collapse of his enterprises that his closest friends attribute his rash act. He had been at the head of the Knickerbocker for many years and had seen it grow from a comparative ly obscure concern to one of the lead ing financial institutions of the city Then, almost without warning, came the crash. The resignation of MT Barney as president of the Knicker- booker was accepted by the directors of the institution, and then next day the great trust company, with obliga- tions to it's depositors amounting to about $70,000,000 was forced to sus. pend payment. The run lasted less than full day, but 1t was not an run. Deposits were not drawn by hundreds of dollars but by hundreds of thousands and before the day was half done the enormous total of $S,000,000 had been paid across its counters. Afternoon saw the big front doors closed and the is- suance of a notice that the company had found it necessary to temporarily payment. With his departure from the trust company after his re- signation as president, MT Barney was seen but seldom even by his in- inmates. For nearly two weeks, even while the financial storm was at the height of its intensity, he did not ap- pear at his down town office through which his extensive operations in real estate were conducted. A few lays ago, however, at the urgent of friends that he step nto the breach and do what he could 70 stem the tide which was sweeping lway his fortune, MT Barney resumed m active interest in his business af- airs.
 That his health, both physically md mentally, had suffered severely turing the two weeks which had in. ervened between the Knickerbocker rash and his return to business, was He was worn, haggard md troubled. The final struggle was hardly worth while, he told his friends. He had given his life to the lpbuilding of fortune and a reputa. ion of business integrity and he fear. d that both had been ruined. The angled ends of his many big business were quickly brough- to- ,ether. however, and there was every his friends say, that he would weather the storm with a big margin, maybe fourth of his origin I fortune to spare. But MT Barney would not be comforted by assurances hat financial ruin had been averted Ie brooded dad worried over the blow which had been dealt his business re- 'utation which stood for SO many ears. and of the losses which he be- ieyed some of his friends had sustain. d indirectly through him. It was in | moment of intense depression l Irought on by thoughts like these ifs friends believe. that he fired the hot which resulted in his death.