The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-05-26
HOratiO B0ttOnlley
 Died in London
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1T cannot really believe" he said, "that MT H. B. is going to end like
 'I could have got anywhere and been anything if had not made a fool of myself"
 That was what millions of Brit ons thought, who admired the man though they marvelled at the na- ture that sent him off into crooked paths. There was no bitterness in him in his last days. Always a philosopher, he realized that his life, if obscured at the last, had been a full one.
 Bottomley was brought up in miserable poverty. He was an of flee boy at 10 in a lawyers office. His acqufsitive cockney mind ab- legal information. He became a for five years.
 At 23, he became financier. His companies flared like skyrockets across the London financial sky, and fizzled out, like them. He was prosecuted. His defense" made him. He was called the greatest lay. lawyer in England.
 He became wealthy. His million dollar mansion in Sussex had its private race track, and he went in for horses. He was elected to par liament. He was a war time ora tor, and a magazine publisher with 8 tremendous following. So great was his power to move the mob that he boasted he could have overthrown the war govern ment and made himself prime min ister, and there are many who be- lieve that he could have made good his boast.
 After the war, continuing his magazine, his prestige led to his ruin. He offered to help the gov ernment sell victory bonds. Through the magazine, John Bull, he appealed to the public to buy, through him. The response stag gered him. Millions of pounds flowed into his offices. He had to hire more clerks. He had not al- lowed for overhead, and he never knew how much money he had. He dipped into the victory bond funds. and finally his structure crashed. An obscure printer, who had a grudge against him, went about the streets in 1922 distributing cir
 culars entitled The Downfall of
 Horatio Bottomley." The circulars | denounced the great Bottomley. Bottomley sued for criminal libel.
 His legal Knowledge failed him
 He was maneuvered into offering | material upon which the defense was entitled to call for his books
 Examination of the books showed l the victory bond embezzlement and sent him to the Old Bailey and a term of seven years penal servi- | tude.
 | He never came back. He tried to start another John Bull, this l time called John Blunt. Its circu-
 lation the first week was almost 50O,000; after a few months. al-
 most nothing.
 q have been a great personal ity.". he said in his last interview.
 That's what people like-color. Something to stir the imagination.
 A great personality does not have | to be pure as the driven snow, for
 the public loves him.
 If were billed to speak at the
 Albert hall on the same platform
 with Lloyd George, Stanley Bald | win and Ramsay Macdonald, I
 promise I would get the most en- thusiastic reception and the great
 est applause.
 "I have been several kinds of a fool. But I might not have come
 off so badly had INnot been so loyal l to my friends. That is one of my very few principles and virtues loyalty to my friends" Bottomley at the end was an earthly ghost of a great figure. He was nourished in his prime by the finest food any man could buy. food which he washed down with the most expensive wines-he drank two. bottles of champagne before his noon breakfasts in the last days of his prosperity.
 He never minded ups and downs. or he would have died decades ago. As 8 financier, he was. always al- ternating between fortunes and d flight to keep out of jail. After his first election to parliament he had to resign in 1911 because he be- came bankrupt.
 After the war Lord Northcliffe paid him $1,250 a week for an ar- ticle on any subject he chose. It ran around 2.000 words and was billed as another powerful article by Roratio Bottomley." Then came the nightmare days that preceded his ruin, millions of pounds smoth- ering his career.
 Reuben Bigland. the embittered. cadaverovs printer who had him sent to prison, offered friendship recently-and-f1 8 week allow ance. Bottomley scornfully refused 1t.