e
WEITAKEK "WRIGHT
I the; eeiqht or hu cartur ;
BT CORA RICBT.
TUB spectacular rise of Whltaker
Wright, the sudden cataclysm
which swept away the tottering:
edifice of inflated corporations which
had been built on remote and meager
gold deposits and shored by false bal
ance sheets, his flight from London to
New York and enforced return, the
dramatic trial and the suicide within
an hour of his conviction and sentence
make one of the most amazing chapters
In the history of English swindles.
The effect was the more tremendous
because of the financial and psycho
logical conditions of the time. The
English people had been through the
stress of the Boer war, burdens had
been heavy and depression great. That
was one of the reasons why the daring
projects of Wright.-supported by some
of the most distinguished men in the
kingdom, failed so utterly.
December 29, 1900, was one of the
blackest days known in Capel Court
for years. Thirteen firms, involving 30
members of the Stock Exchange, failed
through the collapse of what were
known as the Globe group. Whitaker
Wright's companies. The, London and
Globe Finance Corporation, one of the
subsidiaries of which was the lake
View Company, was a highly specula
tive company. It had ' had much ad
verse criticism, but only a month be
fore the Marquis of Dufferin, one of
the most honored members of the
British nobility, had presided at the
annual meeting, at which everything
was reported to be in a flourishing con
dition. The scene in the "house" when the
Wright companies began to crumble
was described as painfully dramatic.
While the Westralians, as the shares
were called from the location ol the
mining properties in West Australia,
were being sold amid the greatest ex
citement, the fateful hammer came
down sharply, "Crack! Crack! Crack!"
There was silence while the name of the
firm whose checks had been returned
was announced. Business had hardly
been resumed when "Crack! Crack!
Crack!" went the hammer again, and
another firm that had failed to comply
with its requirements was read out.
And so it went on, firm after firm
meeting the doom of the three fatal "
cracks.
At the London and Globe office it
was stated that the difficulty In ob
taining financial accommodation had
become severe. Those who had ad
vanced money had called in their
loans, which rendered it Impossible for
the corporation to take up its shares
purchased, hence the collapse. Most
of the stockholders had bought shares
because of the sponsorship of such men
as the Marquis of Dufferin (who held
6000 shares in the London and Globe
and 20,000 in the British-American
Corporation), Lord Loch and Sir Wil
liam Robinson.
This concern was founded during the
London mining craze in 1895 for the
purpose of financing the West Aus
tralian raining ventures. On the board
of directors were two noblemen, a gen
eral of the army and a prominent court
official, but Whitaker Wright was the
guiding spirit. In addition to owning
mines, the London and Globe made
Tcans to jobbers and brokers on shares
of their corporations and other dubious
ecurities.
So large had Wright loomed in the
financial world that he figured in
Harold Frederic's novel "The Market
Place" under the name of Storment
Thorpe. "He had started in life as
Joel S. Thorpe, but had dropped Joel
and spelled out his middle name in
tall." Lord Dufferin appeared as the
Marquis of Chaldan. Another noble
man m tae novel was Lorn riowden,
wuose social connections Thorpe
wished to utilize. He explained to him
that he was sure of being a multi
millionaire and offered to take him in
on the ground floor. "You need money,
and here it is for you," he said. "I
need what shall I say a kind of
friendly lead in the matter .of estab
lishing myself on the right footing
among the right people, and that is
what you .can do for me. Mind, I'd
prefer to put it all in quite another
way. I'd like to say it was all nlceness
on your part, all gratitude on mine.
But if you want to consider it on a
business basis why, there you have
it also, perfectly plain and clear." That
was the method of Whitaker Wright.
This literal pen picture of the finan
cier was drawn by T. P. O'Connor:
The managing 'director of the Globe
Financing Corporation is a big man,
nearly six feet high, weighing from
17 to IS stone, and of an unmistakably
Semitic type of face. He has an enor
mous head, small eyes, black hair
and mustache, a receding forehead and
chin and a fleshy neck. He has an
American accent, always dresses in
black and has never been known to
wear any article of jewelry.
"When not deep in figures he is very
entertaining, for in addition to a keen
sense of humor he has, as one might
well Imagine, an extensive knowledge
of the world and its inhabitants."
But how came Lord Dufferin to g'o
Into a. cchem of cuch doubtful hon
esty? Ha waa a man of the highest
ilelcridUs Hundred
-t - i. r"i fTI FS ' ' r-L! '
standing, having had an honorable pub
lic career and a reputation of unblem
ished integrity. The answer seems to
have been that he was dazzled, like
lesser men, by the prospect of so much
easy money and that his experience and
nature were not such as to cause him
to suspect the crookedness upon which
the fair structure of apparent prosper
ity and financial success waa built.
One of the grim conundrums of the
Stock Exchange at this time was,
"When was AVhitaker right?" the an
swer being, "When he took a Duffer-in."
When Wright's affairs had seemed to
be in a perilous position a year before
It had been rumored that he would have
to sell his steam yacht, the Sybarite;
but instead he came up smiling and re
plied to the gossip by building a new
and more expensive yacht, also the
Sybarite. On his yacht he had enter
tained royalty, and in one of the regat
tas had had the temerity to defeat the
Kaiser's yacht, the Meteor. ,
In the heydey of his success he had
purchased from Mr. Gladstone his man
sion at No. 18 Park lane, in the heart
of the fashionable district of London,
and an estate at Surrey worth $2,500,
000, one of the finest in England.
So greatly had this man of gigantic
enterprises and enormous expenditures
impressed the imagination of the Brit
ish public that even In the midst of
crashing companiesand exhausted treas
uries it seemed impossible that he
should not rise triumphant, and the
question waa put, "Would not Whitaker
Wright make good his word and pro
duce 500.000? Would he not, like Horatio-
Bottomely, rise more successful
than before from the ashes of apparent
ruin?"
However, Whitaker Wright, who had
been courted by alL was deserted In his
hour of need and none came forward to
nr-ake good the appalling deficit, and he
could not do it himself. On the con
trary, at a meeting of the creditors of
one of the bankrupt companies revela
tions were made which led to a demand
that the persons responsible be lynched
It was shown that the estimated assets
were fardical. Instead of taking an In
terest in the company's mines the di
rectors had devoted themselves to Stock
Exchange speculations. The profits of
these speculations were 38,00O and the
losses (2,680,000.
"Are the directors till at large?",
some one inquired.
"They are," was the reply.
"Lynch them!" came the cry from
many quarters. .It was an exciting mo
ment for Lord Edward Felham-Clinton,
General Cough-Calthorpe and other di
rectors who attended the meeting.
Lord Dufferin, who was seriously 111
from the effects of the exposures of
the . Wright companies' methods, re
turned to the directorate after he had
resigned and bravely faced a stormy
meeting of the shareholders. Through
it all he played a manly part and paid
for his credulity and weakness In lend
ing his name to such a cause with his
life, for it was generally conceded that
this disgrace was the real cause of his
death, which occurred a short time aft
erward. Parts of the London press also suf
fered from the uncovering of a per
nicious system of "press calls," which
evoked a burst of indignation. While
is was generally known that there was
a practice of giving calls in shares of
speculative enterprises to those in a
position to create a demand for them
and thus advance the market quota
tations, the Whitaker Wright revela
tions brought the city to a new realiza
tion of the danger of a method by
which the public could be misled
through the press. Owing to the dis
closures the writer of the weekly fin
ancial articles in Truth was compelled
to present his resignation to Mr. La
bouchere, the owner of the paper, and
the managing editor followed his ex
ample. Certain other papers also were
implicated.
When the caee was up in the Bank
rupty Court one of the witnesses, Gen
eral the Honorable Somerset J. Gough
Calthorpe, testified that he had pur
chased shares In the Wright companies
in a perfectly proper manner; that he
knew nothing of city finances, but had
perfect faith in Whitaker Wright and
followed him blindly. When 250,000
had been given to the British-Amerl-,
can Corporation he had thought that
the London and Globe Corporation was
so wealthy ' that it could afford such a
gift. His occupation had been prin
cipally the signing of thousands of
certificates.
Lord Edward Pelham-Clinton, anoth
TTTE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTjL AND; JUNE
tfjm-Uni- ':Yr"i WIGKH' $2,500,000
(c&k5. THEi BILLTARD-KOOM: BLHL.T BY, NXHTTAKHR: WB3Llfi"Bni vr--sW,
er director, came directly from his
duties as groom in waiting to the King
to testify that he, too, had purchased
shares with his own money and hadn't
done much of anything in return for
the not inconsiderable fees that he re
ceived. He thought everything was
all right and was surprised to hear of a
loss of $3,500,000 after liquidation.
The public and especially that part
of it in what is known as "the city,"
busied itself with estimating the loss
to the public through the Whitaker
Wright failures, and finally set it down
at about $100,000,000. ,
At the head of the supporters of the
movement to prosecute Whitaker
Wright was Arnold White, who presided
over a meeting to decide upon the steps
to be taken. He announced that $10,
000 already had been raised, and that
unless the honor of the administration
of Engysh law was to remain under a
cloud immediate steps should be taken
to sift the scandal. He asserted that
the reason the prosecution was not
undertaken by the Government was be.
cause the directors were sheltering
themselves behind the royal family.
The case was brought up in Parlia
ment, but it was decided in the House
of Commons that there was no law suf
ficiently covering the case to warrant
prosecution.
Soon after this Wright fled to France,
and thence to the United States, al
though a warrant had been issued for
his arrest by the Justice of the Chan
cery Division of the High Court.
In compliance with cablegrams from
England he was arrested upon his ar
rival in New York and committed to
Ludlow-Street Jail without bail. Then
began a long struggle, Wright fighting
against extradition and the English au
thorities making every effort to have
him brought back. In a 'statement
Wright asserted that he was innocent
of any intent to defraud and that he
had supposed that all attempts to
prosecute him had. been dropped when
he left England.
From the possession of enormous
wealth Wright had descended to poverty
so abject that he spent his last' penny
for two tallow candles that he might
write a message to friends in London.
Only a few weeks before he had been
living on an estate to which there was
hardly anything in America compar
able; now he was confined in a narrow,
dark cell. One day he possessed the
fastest yacht In English waters; the
next he was thrown into prison, where
he must remain for months.
Looking about him. he said: "Con
trast this with my home in Surrey, 30
miles from London, with its suite of
reception-rooms, its palm gardens fit
for an Oriental prince; its rooms under
water, through the glass roof of which
the gold fish may be seen; its great
ballroom, with one of the finest dancing
floors in England and capable of ac
commodating hundreds of persons at
the same time; its walls frescoed by
famous artists and its dark wood
brightened by gold and purple. At one
end of the ballroom is a stage for
amateur, theatricals and at the other
a large organ. Picture this mansion
surrounded by rose gardens and foun
Million Dollar Swindlcand Hisjfeiiesi
tains, choice trees, running streams and
little lakes. That is my home."
Whitaker Wright, telling the story of
his life, said he never had a real start.
When he was 21 years old he had come
to the United. States, and. got a job as
an assayer in Philadelphia and from
there had drifted West and got into
the mining business. He had no diffi
culty in making money after his first
$10,000. He bought raining stock and
financed mining claims and sold out at
a profit and "kept on doing this. He
went East and went on the Stock Ex
change and was a millionaire when he
was 30 years old.. He was one of the
Leadville pioneers, but he lost more
money there than he made.
While Whitaker Wright lay In Ludlow-Street
Jail giving -out interviews
about his past, Arnold White was busy
in England raising money and keeping
alive the resentment of the defrauded
creditors and. shareholders. He was a
man who held no public office, but by
his trenchant pen and bold attacks on
corruption and Inefficiency in the pub
lic service, egardless of rank or sta
tion of the persons criticised, had long
wielded great influence. Breaking his
rule not to give interviews, he made a
complete statement, in which he said:
"When the lawyers of the Crown
stated in the House of Commons that
under the law Whitaker Wright could
not be prosecuted for falsifying his bal
ance sheets and other documents in
connection with the London and Globe
frauds they made statements that they
knew to be false with the deliberate in
tention of misleading the House of
Commons and the public.
"I am leading the assault on Whit
aker Wright, after the public prose
cutor had declined to prosecute him.
because I wish to prevent members of
Parliament, lawyers, lords, governors
and right honorables from aiding and
abetting in swindling the public in the
future by exposing them. The names
of Lord Dufferin and Lord Loch among
his directors caused me to invest 609
or 700 in Whitaker Wright's London
and Globe concern. Fortunately, I have
not had to endure privations in conse
quence. But thousands have been
ruined by the gigantic swindle. When
I was asked to take a hand in seeking
to punish tie promoter and looked into
the matter I found that the corruption
which made it possible for him to in
duce the public to Invest millions of
pounds sterling extended wider and
higher than any one had any idea of.
Punishment became of mere secondary
importance and the duty laid upon me
seemed obvious.
"It is to serve public ends and not
to gratify private vengeance that the
London and Globe prosecutors' commit-.
tee solicit funds to enable it to prose
cute Whitaker Wright. We shall soon
have more than 5000 to meet the
heavy expenses such a prosecution
would entail. But it reveals an ex
traordinary and shameful state of af
fairs that such private action should
become necessary because of the failure
of the law officers of the Crown to do
the duty for which they are paid.
"Yet I can well understand why no
government would wish to prosecute
Whitaker Wright, because, if he is
prosecuted many lifelong friendships
6, 1915.
will be destroyed and many of the
stately homes of England will be
stained by revelations that will be
made of persons in high places who
have taken money which they ought
not to have taken, and of others who
have acquired wealth easily without
working for it.
"The names of His Majesty the King
and H. R. H. the Duke of Connaught
are being used in cowardly fashion by
the financial and social ring of which
Whitaker Wright is the leader to pro
tect them from attack. The King and.
the royal family are the most defence
less persons in the Kingdom. Rumor
mongers and scandal mongers are con
stantly coupling their names with vile
charges, founded on infamous lies, to
which, because of their position, they
cannot reply. This is done in the
present instance.
"The Duke of Connaught is a man of
the most irreproachable honor and in
tegrity. The name of the King is being
wrongfully used in the hope of pre
venting injury, not because he has any
thing to lose but because certain hangers-on
of the courf will suffer heavily
in reputation if honest inquiry is made.
"I am not prepared to mention names
in connection with any specific charges.
That is a matter for the lawyers. But
take the case of Lord Edward. Pelham
Clinton. He had a position in Queen
Victoria's court. His name naturallly
attracted, people. He did not go on the
board for philanthropic reasons. He
must have been paid, yet the company
Is a swindle.
"Whitaker Wright's scheme was car
ried on by a very simple method. First,
there must be a villain, then a decoy.
All the latter has to do is to shut his
eyes and be well paid for it. The third
party must be a stupid or incompetent
official. The one element essential to
success is the high character of one or
both of the two last named parties.
"The Solicitor-General knows " that
thousands of middle-class cases have
been convicted on the very charge made
against the London and Globe the
publication of fraudulent balance
sheets. The law of the land needs no
amendment to punish Whitaker Wright.
"The middle and working classes of
England have no protection for invest
ments if the names of the late Governor-General
of India and the Gov
ernor of the Cape and of court officials
are permitted to cover a fraud which
is a misdemeanor under the existing
laws of England."
Month followed month and still Whit
aker Wright languished in Ludlow
street jail. Sometimes he was very ill.
He was anxious about his wife, a beau
tiful American woman, whom he had
left in England, and about his chil
dren. His son had recently graduated
from Eton and hie daughter was to
have been presented at court the fol
lowing season. He was eager, too. he
said, tq return to England, and show
up Arnold White and John Flower, a
broker who had accused him of dis
honesty. Finally giving up his fight
against extradition, he sent this mes
sage to the official receiver: "After
four months of vain effort to have my
own way, I have finally succeeded in
my insistence on returning to meet
charges. Eminent counsel here are of
the opinion that offense charged is
not extraditable, but it would take a
year's time to decide that question.
As J am innocent I shall hasten home
to prove my innocence."
A warrant was issued for Whitaker
Wright's surrender, and he left for
England in charge of officers of the
law and was lodged in jail, but re
leased on bail two days later.
By an ironical turn in affairs Arnold
White was committed to the Jail just
as Wright left it. White had offended
many persons of influence by his plain
speaking and writing and was fined
$500 by the High Court for contempt of
court for writing an article for a Sun
day newspaper Just before the arrival
of Wright in England. White refused
to pay the fine and was thereupon sent
to jail.
Doubtless he served his sentence
gladly, since his work had borne fruit,
and the grand Jury brought in a true
bill against Wright, placing his bail
at $50,000. The case was called two
months later in Court VIII. King's
Bench Division of the High Court. It
was an unusual circumstance for a case
of this kind to be brought into the law
courts instead of Old Bailey.
A mass of humanity, made up of men
and. women of all ranks, surged into the
courtroom. Robed counsel were fol
lowed by heavily laden clerks, ana
there was a host of witnesses. Whit
aker Wright was so plainly dressed
that he looked shabby in contrast with
the immaculate city men who were
present in great numbers. He had
grown a beard since the days of the
great Cannon street meeting, and there
ITALY WARS
Contlnued From Page 4.)
other, in case of attacks that might
be made on them by France or Rus
sia. But the existence of such conven
tion has never been proved.
The attempt on the life of Franz Jo
sef by a young Trientine, Guglielmo
Oberdank, shortly after the triple al
liance was signed, showed that the
agreement on the document had not
cemented the friendly feeling between
Italy and Austria. Oberdank was a
deserter from the Austrian Army and
a student in an Italian university. He
was executed, and there was a great
wave of anti-Austrian feeling through
out all Italy. A bust of Oberdank was
set up in the Democratic University
Club at Rome, and its seizure by the
police provoked a riot. Men went to
the Austrian Embassy and discharged
revolvers at the Austrian escutcheon.
The triple alliance was for five
years. Between times. Germany and
Austria signed a treaty with Russia
one of "benevolent neutrality" with
out saying anything to Italy about it.
This did not add to the good feeling
necessary for the proper carrying out
of the ideals and intents, of the docu
ment, and Italy bided her time to snub
any proposition to renew it after the
term of Its expiration. In 1885 the
diplomatic smellers began sniffing
around to get her to offer to renew,
but - the Italian Foreign Minister,
Count Robilant, was not made of milk
and water stuff. He insisted that as a
first necessity Bismarck himself should
make overtures for renewal. And Bis
marck had to do it.
Pending the renewal of the treaty,
Robilant resigned because he did not
get sufficient support to warrant his
continuing the negotiations. The na
tion was with him, and he resumed his
duties in the Foreign Office and car
ried the negotiations through with an
amended stipulation that Italy's Medi
terranean interests should be guaran
teed, with the aid of Great Britain. At
least so those who say they know about
it have made known from time to time.
It is a fact, though, that just as in
the case of the first treaty, so in the
case of the second there is no one ex
cept a government official who has had
access to the document who can say
positively what it contains.
The second treaty was signed March
17, 1887. Prominent politicians have
slid that Italy promised Great Britain,
in retvrn for Mediterranean ai3, that
she would co-operate with her in the
different Balkan difficulties that might
have to be surmounted. The adherenoe
of Great Britain to Italy's Mediter
ranean po.icy and purposes was deemed
was more than a sprinkling of gray in
it and in his hair. His manner was as)
composed as if he believed what he
steadfastly maintained, that he had
nothing to fear. His counsel made a
great point of the statement that had
Lord Loch and the Marquis of Dufferin
been alive Whitaker Wright would not
have been prosecuted except In con
junction with them and he demanded.
"Why were not Pelham-Clinton and
others equally guilty by Wright's side
in this trial V
In spite of the ably conducted. de
dense. Justice Bighara was very severe
in his charge and in his comments on
the verdict of guilty which the Jury
rendered after an hour's deliberation.
The prisoner accepted the blow coolly,
and again affirmed his innocence of
any intention to deceive or defraud.
He was removed in custody to an ad
joining room, where he was taken sud
denly ill and died soon afterward.
At 3 o'clock the discredited financier
had been sentenced to seven years of
penal servitude, and at 4 o'clock he lay
dead upon the floor of a small room in
the law courts. It was thought at
first that he had died from heart dis
ease, but the post-mortem revealed the
fact that he had sought the Judgment
of the highest court of the universe,
and its mercy, too, by taking cyanide
of potassium to end his earthly dis
grace. Until 8 o'clock in the evening the
body of the man who had once been
6uch an important figure in high cir
cles lay upon the floor of the little
room where it had fallen, since accord
ing to English law, the person of Whit
aker Wright as a convicted felon had
become the property of the Crown and
could not be removed until permission
was given by the home office. When
this was done the body was taken to
the Westminster mortuary, where com
most of the bodies of those who in
desperation throw themselves into the
Thames.
The public was stunned by the doubla
news of "Guilty Dead," which ap
peared in the newspapers the morning
after the close of the trial. Many be
lieved that Wright was a scapegoat
and martyr, and the chief tribute paid
to the fallen financier was that he had
shown great fidelity and restraint in
refraining from making revelations
which would have involved men in high
positions. As one put It. "He who was
not a gentleman died like a gentleman
that gentlemen might go free."
ON AUSTRIA
at the tjme a decide I diplomatic vic
tory. Another and third triple al
liance was signed this time for 13
years, in June 1891. In 1902. the triple
alliance was again renewed, this time
to extend to 1914.
Feeling against Austria sufficient to
cause a great part of Italy to wish for
war was aroused a few years ago by
the attempt to destroy the Italian char
acter of the population of Trieste and
Istria and Dalmatia that for centuries,
since the old Venetian occupation, had
remained active. The Italian subjects
of Austria in these places insisted that
they had a right to an Italian univer
sity, instead ' of having to attend a
German university or repair to Italy.
Austria refuged to consent to the es
tablishment of an Italian university.
This led to a storm of protest and in
cipient uprisings. Austria tried ta
compromise by creating an Italian fac
ulty of law at the University of Inns
bruck. But this did not effect a cure
and there was constant trouble.
In Vienna attacks were made against
Italian students and in Italy anti
Austrian demonstrations were the re
talitory order of the day for a time.
Along ihe Ardiatic there was contin
ual manifestations of the anti-Austrian
feeling. It was plain that nothing short
of absolute independence of Austria
would bring anything like content to
her Italian si'biects.
So, cut loose from her 32 years' al
liance with her ancient enemy, Italy
stands facing the House of Hapsburg
and tho House ot Hohenzoilers bjth
of which have taken a hand in carv
ing her up in the past. On paper it
looks as if the desire to figfit was
just a passing condition, having for
its animus a desire to take advantage
of an opportune time for' territorial
aggrandizement. But along lines that
paper ultimatums do not reach the old
Austrian grudge roust be reckoned with
when you seek real reasons.
For Italy has not been attacked. She
has been promised more territory than
she now possesses if she will "keep
out of it." She has not been threat
ened. She is in no immediate danger.
But she stands facing Austria with a
legacy of hate to satisfy. Look for. the
reason in the Hapsburg partitions of
tho past and the cry of the Italian from
across the Adriatic.
Watchful Waiting.
(Kansas City Journal.)
"Mother was rather angry with you
last night"
"Why? I didn't kiss you."
"Just so. And so she waited all the
evening at the keyhole for nothing."