Evening star., 1919-12-02
Life Story Fascinating.


The career of Henry Clay Frick
has formed one of the most fasci-
mating chapters in the romance of
industry in the United States. At
ten boy on a farm in family
of only ordinary means. he was at
sixty a man of so many millions
| that his fortune. like those of Car
negie and Rockefeller, was largely a
| matter of guesswork, even to him
self 1t has been said he was worth
| more than s1O0,0o0.O00, perhaps as
much as $20O,0O0.000.
MIR. Frick built up the greatest
coke business in the world. and ac-
quired such vast interests in steel
! that he was also one of the princi-
| pal magnateS in that industry, and
in rounding out his career he be-
came known as one of the worlds
| greatest collectors of master paint
| ings.
Mr.. Frick was born December 49,
| 1919. at West Overton, Pa. This vii
! lage was named after the maternal
grandfather of Mr.. Frick. Abram
overholt. whose original family name
in western Pennsylvania when that
| region was regarded as the frontier
| of civilization. AS the settlements
along the Allegheny and Mononga--
| hela grew, and Pittsburgh emerged
from its swaddling clothes Mr.. Over
|
| distiller of western Pennsylvania. His
| daughter, Elizabeth, married John w
| Frick. young man of Swiss ancestry
| who at thaAtime was workine-as an
engineer in the Overholt distillery
| 1t was from this union that the fu-
! ture capitalist was born.
/ The father attempted farming, but
did not make a remarkable success OF
| it and as result young Henry Clay
| Frick was practically adopted into
| the Overholt family when he was
about twelve years old. He received
| good basic schooling. but there was
nothing in his boyhood to indicate
| the remarkable ability which char
acterized his later life. except his
eagerness to get into business.
Interest in Coke Business.
| For a time he was bookkeeper ir
| his grandfathers distillery. and from
| this position he went to Morgan
| & Co.. coke dealers. and at about
twenty-one years of age he appeared
| in Pittsburgh as their agent. The
coke industry was in it's infancy. The
| iron masters of Pittsburgh were just
| beginning to appreciate the value o1
coke for their furnaces. Young FricE
| had an opportunity to acquire linn
| tied interest in plant near Broad
ford. and out of the profits of this he
acquired other holdings. He Later
| joined a company to build railroad
to penetrate the Connelsville coke
region, and in 1871. the year this road
| was opened. Mr.. Frick organized the
corporation of Frick & Co.. which
bought coal land and coke ovens in
the Connelsville region. That was
the basis of the Frick fortune. The
undivided attention of the rising
| financier was given to coke until 1882
| In the midst of this period there
came the panic of '73 and the. financial
crash of many ambitious operators
At a sheriff's sale Mr.. Frick purchased
additional tracts of coal land and
ovens, and a. few years later the Mel
Ions. powerful Pittsburgh bankers
becameAintsrested in the expanding
enterprise of the young operator.
Alliance With Carnegies.
The Carnegies, then developing
| their. great steel business in Pitts
burgh, had taken large holdings in
the Frick Coke Company. and in 1882
Mr. F'rick found the Carnegie brothers
willing to admit him as a ember-of
their firm in consideration of his CIV
ing them further interests in his coke
business. 1t was thus Mr.. Frick be-
came also a great manufacturer OF
steel.
Through the Homestead strike of
1892 Mr.. Frick came into national
prominence when Alexander Berkman,
New York anarchist, tried to assas-
sinate him.
When he entered the Carnegie Steel
CoInpan he decided to make it the
most powerful concern in the steel
world. Two of his immediate ven
lures netted the Carnegie concern
many millions of dollars with scarce
ly no investment. He built the Union
railroad to weld the scattered Carne-
gle plants closer together. This elm
mated the switching charges and
| saved enormous sums for the Carnegie
company. 1t was Mr.. Frick who later
took over large portion of the Mes
| aba ore fields. on Lake Superior, in a
big deal that guaranteed the Carnegie
| company for fifty years a minimum
annual supply of 100000 tons of ore,
Rockefellers, who owned these ore
lands.
Increase i'm His Wealth.
The reorganizatio ton of the Carnegie
company. which made several Pitts
burgherS millionaires overnight,
| made Mr.. Frick one of the wealthiest
men in the country. BY the financing
of the United States Steel Corpora
ton in 1901. his fortune was doubled.
His $31, 100000 investment in the Car
negie company was turned into S61,-
100000 in the Steel Corporation.
In 1903 times became hard and
United States Steel dropped to a low
level MIR. Frick then bought every
thing he could in the way of steel
stock. and when the excitement was
over it was found he had acquired
enough to be a power in that con-
cern. He also became one of the
largest holders of real estate in Pitts