Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-18
ADOLPH SEGAL
REPORTED INSANE
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part. I believe his financial hwnfall
was due to his mental condition. | be-
lieve he has been of unbalanced mind
for the last six years.
| The indications or signs OF insanity
pay have been so slight as not to be
| noticed by his friends or family, but /
have no doubt that for the last six or
seven years he has been insane"
Even yesterday the decision to move
Mr. Segal to Norrstown was kept secret
| Berl Segal, In answer to point blank
| questions, admitted that his father would
| be taken to a sanatorium.
MY fathers mind may be clouded at
times" he seid, but no one ca n tell
| when he will recover He was said to be
at deaths door six weeks ago, and he is
| still alive today. He will be moved to
| a sanatorum as soon Is he is strong
| enough"
CALLED HUMAN STEAM ENGINE.
! Mr.. Segal has been referred to as
human steam engine" and "thc prince
applied to him last July when he .swore
| in bankruptcy court that his assets
were 10 cents, although he was facing liza
bilities of nearly 100000.
His worst enemy would admit that he
| financing on "shoestring." Time after
time his opponents breathed sigh of re-
| lief when Segal met with some reverse
that seemed sure to CRUSH him, only to
find him in an incredibly short space OF
time promoting some new project of even
greater magnitude than that on which he
Lost.
Adolph segal thought in millions in his
pamy days. This was shown in his two
deals with the Sugar Trust, the first of
which netted him a sum said to have
been more than 81, 900, 900. It was In his
second deal that he overreached himself
and was trapped by agents of the trust.
This trap caught also Frank K. Nipple,
president of the Real Estate Trust Com
pany, and Hipple shot himself when his
company collapsed.
NIPPLES DYING REPROACH
In his dead hand was found note
that read as follows:
81 am alone to blame. segal got the
money. was fooled"
Had segal succeeded in his second at
tempt to make money out Of the Sugar
Trust his profits would have been FAR
greater than the first. In the first he got
Nipple to finance sugar factory in
Camden. The trust was sitting conpe-
tition in those days by buying up all rival
factories and closing them. segal figured
the trust would buy his factory, and
1t did.
He tried it again. this time building
the Pennsylvania sugar refinery at
Shackamaxon street wharf. But the
trust. bitten once, had been watching
him. 1t learned of his deals with Hip
pie; it learned that the s8OOO.OO0 of funds
in the vaults of the trust company had
tnttP had rH Int h.
had put too many irons in the fire
While the magnificent sugar plant was
building he had conceived the idea of a
great hotel on the site of the old Elkins
mansion at the northeast corner OF
Broad street and Girard avenue The
Majestic Hotel was being completed
Segal had been spending money right
and left in a social campaign that he
planned to insure the success of the
hotel. The campaign is said to have
cost him s3,OOO,OOO.
TRAPPED BY SUGAR TRUST
Segal needed money, and the trust be-
came aware of it. Its agent reached
Segal and advanced him more than
$l,0O.o00. but in return it secured con-
troll Of the Pennsylvania Sugar Refinery.
The only hope Segal had of paying the
loan was to operate the factory and
realize on shares of stock or make the
trust company come to terms and buy |
him out, But when the trust obtained |
control its Board of Directors voted to |
close the factory, and all Segals efforts |
TO operate the place were futile
Then came the crash. The Real Estate
trust Company went under and Nipple
shot himself. George II. Earle, Jr, was
made receiver He learned of the part
the trust had played and laid his infor-
nation before the Government authorities
at Washington Segal compromised and |
punishment. Indictments were
foud against several trust officials by
the Government, although no stone was
left unturned in the fight to prevent IT,
Civil action was taken by Mr.. Earle /,
against the trust and it also compro-
missed.
HIS MARVELLOUS CAREER.
Mr.. segal came to this country from
Austria. Fortune smiled on him at the
start. His first venture, it is said, was
to throw dice with his landlord to see
whether he should pay two years rent
down or nothing for year. and he won.
Then he began work over a soap caldron
In the cellar of a West Philadelphia
house.
Ills iIlsI plB SUCCESS was tHe peITecI- !
ng OF a process to wax paper. lie sold
the patent for $4,000 After that he made
money in various ways. He has built
soap factories. apartment houses and
great operations OF dwelling houses. The
Bartram Apartments, in West Philadel-
lha, were built by Mr.. Segal, and, al
hough he was laughed at as a dreamer,
he place paid from the start.
In Altoona he built $50 houses and lost
IN the deal. The Majestic was to be his
browning achievement, but the place
never came up to his expectations and
his year he lost control of it. Then he
vas thrown into bankruptcy. His family
md physician said it was fear of the
rdeal of testifying that sent him sick
nan TO st. Joseph's Hospital. but i'm
eality 1t was the final collapse of his