Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-12-03
HENRY c. FR!CK, STEEL MACNATEE,
 IS DEAD AT 69
Wealthy Man, Who Pioneered in Steel Industry, Also Was
 Art Collector.
ROSE FROM PLOWROY
 TO GREAT POSITION
Fought Famous Battle With Car negie-BrOke Great Steel Strike Shot by Berkman, He
 Overcame Assailant.

New York, Dec. 2.--Henry Clay Prick died here today.
 MT. Prick suffered an attack of ptomaine poisoning early in Novem- Der. He had nearly recovered from this when complications developed. He was 69 years old.
 The career of Henry Clay Prick has formed one of the most fascinat- ing chapters in the romance of indus, try in the United States. At 10, a boy on farm in a family of only or dinary means, he was, at 60, man of so many millions that his fortune, like those of Carnegie and RocKerer- Ter, was largely matter of guess work even to himself It has been said he was worth more than $100,- 000,000, perhaps as much as $20G,- OOO,OOO.
 MT. Prick built up the greatest coke business in the world, and ac- quired such vast interests in steel that he was also one of the principal mag mates in that industry, and in round ing out his career he became known as one of the worlds greatest collec- tors of master paintings.
 Began as Distiller.
 Mr. Prick was born December 19, 1849, at West Overton, Pa. This vii. lage was named after the maternal grandfather of MT. Prick, Abram Overholt. The father attempted farming but did not make a remark able success of it and as resu- young Henry Clay Prick was practi- cally adopted into the Overho't fam fly when he was about 12 years old. He received good basic schooling, but there was nothing in his boy hood to indicate the remarkable abil- ity which characterized his later life except his eagerness to get into busi- ness. For time he was bookkeeper in his grandfather's distillery, and from this position he went to Nor. gan and company, coke dealers, and at about 21 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 Of coke for their furnaces. Young Prick had an opportunity to acquire linn ited interest in plant near Brad ford, and out of the profits he ac- quired other. holdings. He later join ed company to build railroad to penetrate the Connelsville coke re- gicn, and in 1871. the year this road was opened, MT. Prick organized the corporation of Prick and company, which bought coal land and coke ov- ems in the Connelsville region. That was the basis of the Prick fortune The undivided attention of the rising firancier was given to coke until 1882.
 Profited by Panic of '73. In the midst of this period there came the panic of '73 and the finan- cial crash of many ambitious opera purchased additional tracts of coal land and ovens, and few years lat CT the Melons, powerful Pittsburgh bankers, became interested in the ex- banding enterprise of the young op- orator.
 The Carnegies, then developing their great steel business in Pitts burgh, had taken large holdings in the Prick Coke company, and in 1882 MT. Prick found the Carnegie broth CTS willing to admit him as a member of their firm in consideration of his giving them further interests in his coke business. It was thus MT. Prick became also great manufacturer of steel.
 Broke Great Strike. Thru the Homestead strike of 1892, MT. Prick came into national prominence. Differences had arisen between the Carnegie Steel company and it's employees over wage scale, eliminating in a strike involving { thousands of men; the calling out of the national guard and the procla- mation of martial law. It was at this period, July 22, 1892, that Alexander Berkman, New York anarchist, tried to assassinate Mr. Prick. Berkman walked into Tricks office, drew revolver and fired, the bullet lodging in MT. Tricks neck, MT. Prick was shot second time and then he grappled with Berk- man. During the encounter Mr. Prick was stabbed three times. but | he downed his assailant and held him until the police arrived. Berkman was tried and sent to the western penitentiary in Pittsburgh for 21 years.
 Thirteen days later Mir. Prick walked to his office unattended and resumed the direction of the great strike which continued until Novem- Der 21 of that year. MT. Prick was unmoved by the violence. the protests !. of the public or the distress of the