The Sunday Oregonian., February 13, 1916, SECTION SIX, Image 71

SECTION SIX
Pages 1 to 8
MAGAZINE
SECTION
MI
M
Squabble over $60,000,000 or $70,000,000
Profits Brings Breach That Even
Time May Not Heal.
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BATTLKS r fousht with powder.
H'r f woo or hwt by powd-r.
Naval (uprmwrj. a trained and
rral ritlxxnrT. 7.rpplln. aero
pUhm. subniarln. are all ef
frl tbronc (uapowdrr. In soma form
f t nlhr
Nr.. tS rl'i fret bite bn making
povlc lor tinrt UAaffiijrI Jiy.
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rret. ami receiving trade secrets and pat
ents thereon. And they have 'worked hand
In glove with tbe Berlin government,
which, a everyone must admit. I the
highest organized military government of
the ace. selling powder and receiving fa
vors In the way of guaranties that the
rreat German powder manufacturing con
cern should not Invade American territory.
It ha also been Raid and never conclusl vo
ir denied that the du Ponts furnished the
Wilhclmstras-i offie with records of cv
rry pound of ponder sold to the United
Stales tovrrnmrnl.
-So. when the great war broke out and
raged with ever-Increasing fury, tha du
Prints naturally tot Into the game. Not
with their old friend, the German govern
mrnl. but with tbo allien. Not because the
dti Ponts had deserted tho Prussian regime
wiCi which It had a harmonious "working
agreement." hut because the mighty sea
power of Great Britain had ihut off the
seaports of Germany. Not for a day since
the fateful August 1. when Germany dc
rlared war on rapidly mobilizing Russia,
has the work of building additions to the
du I'ont powder works read.
Millions of dollars' profits have been
fflLJ
or-
'fli
o e
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bae furnili.d hxhI.t for I'mlo Sam In
all bis r."e.t wars ulnre the Keohition.
The- worked hand in hand with the
v" .ulnntou government, giving trade so
banked by tha many members of the du
Pont family. Hut have these ml'.liot
brought happiness md contentment? Tha
answer lU-s in tha suit and numerous In
terventions Bled to get possession of tha
$14,000,000 worth of r-tock sold last spring
by General T. Coleman du Pont, retiring
president of the company. It will be re
membered that General du Pont withdrew
from the powder corporal Ion to assume
control of the Knultable IJfe Assurance
Society. lie sold bis poVder holdings for
some IH.Ooo.imk) to members of his family,
who organlied. thcmsHves into the du
I'ont Securities Company. That slock Is
pow worth nearly $ 70.ooa.Ooo. thanks to
the unparalleled flight financially heaven
ward of the "war briiles." of which the du
Pont company stock was one of the
flightiest.
It Is true that the many descendants of
the original IMerre Samuel du Pont da
Nemours, Krench economist, eht-mist and
revolutionist, have never been without
their family rows. Hut now the entire
family Is divided Into two hostile camps,
as seems only fitting for manufacturers of
war munitions. Tha breath of scandal has
breathed heavily and venomously on the
du I'ont family. There have been elopw
ments. divorces and suicides, est ran ce
ments and court rows, but never before
have millions on millions been lined trp
against hundreds of millions.
When-General T. Coleman du Tont with
drew to take charge of the Kqultable last
spring, he bought out the Morgan Inter
ests. More than H.ooo.ooo was Involved in
the tranS-r of stock. Just how much is a
Will street mystery. But he sold his slock
In the powder works for a few trifling hun
dred thousand dollars over $14,000,000.
Of the purchase price, more than half was
supplied by the Morgan Interests. Tha
rest was paid for by the personal notes of
tha purchasing members of tbe du Pont
family and by notes secured by stock.
Then tha "war brides- began to aar.
Wall street, reopened and now fully awake,
reallied that the war was a matter of
years, not months, and that America had
hein converted Into a vat munitions pTant
lof pa allies, pulVaJL pus dor aUjc
2K
ft-
doubled, trebled, quadrupled in value. Tho
fortunate member of tbe syndicate who
bad bought out tbe general's holdings were
some $50,000,000 ahead.
"Let's get in on this, cried other mem
bers of tha family, and forthwith Philip
du Pont filed suit against the du Pont Se
curities Company to set aside the sale of
the general's stock. Tbe suit named as
defendants, the holding company, the K. I.
du Pont de Nemours Company, a
Ielaware corporation, and the E. I.
du Pont de Nemours Powder Com
pany, a New Jersey corporation.
Then things happened fast and
thick; In a few days a chasm had been
driven into the old and aristocratic du
Pont family that perhaps all the years to
rome will never solidify. Pierre S. du
Pont, president of the company since tiie
retirement of General T. Coleman du Pont
and formerly treasurer, was the principal
target aimed at in the suit. With him in
the Securities company were Irenea du
Pont. I-ammot du Pont. Alexis Felix du
Pont, Henry F. du Pont. Kugene V. du
Pont and It. R. Morgan Carpenter, whose
wife was Miss Marparetta Lam mot du
I'ont.
Then other members of tho family Joined"
with the Insurgent Philip until six of tha
most Influential not Included in the Se
curities company deal were lined up
igainst Pierre.' Mrs. Robeson Perot and
her brother, K. Paul du Pont, filed suits to
intervene, although they are brother and
sister of A. Felix du Pont, one of the de
fendants. And thus the family row grew
and spread. Alfred I. du Pont, vice presi
dent and general manager, legally called
for cards by intervening. He only owns
75.234 shares of stock, and when it is re-
embered these shares are valued tip in
tha hundreds of dollars apiece. It Is seen
Alfred can hardly be considered a poor
relative, nut Alfred was promptly chas
tised for his attitude. A special meeting
of the directors removed him as vice presi
dent, showing that the entrance into the
fight of this Immensely wealthy and influ
ential member of the family only added
fuel to the flames of discord. Others, but
less Important members of the family, one
by one added their Interventions to tha
Jc4 iMl4JfclAcU Iv duPoat. Pel- '
MPS ALFRED
I. DUPONT
OOQQ
ware's pioneer single tax advocate, finally
got Into line.
So now Delaware and New Jersey, the
homes of the principal activities of the du
Pont family, are each split up financially
and socially, for, besides wielding mone
tary influence second only to one family
in the world, the du Ponts are recognised
as the premier social arbiters of these two
small but Important states.
Colonel Henry Algernon du Pont, de
ceased senator from New Jersey, wielded
a power in politics equal to that of any of
he "old line" senators. General T. Cole
man du Pont la still one of the country's
mot liberal philanthropists. The du Pont
family, for a hundred years, has been one
of the foremost In the country.
The various companies are now capital
ized at $240,000,000. Plants and factories
are maintained In twenty-two states, and
the holdings are spread over the world, the
nitrate fields in Chile, rich beyond the
dreams of a Cortex or a Hernandez, being
but one of the foreign acquisitions.
Put for a hundred years this rich and
powerful family has been involved in
trouble and scandal, which has slowly
brewed until a quarter of a century ago it
broke into a series of mis-happenings that
has shaken the social foundations of this
country's monied and familied aristocracy.
Here are a few of the painful and tragic
occurrences:
On December 3, 1S92, Louis C. du Pont,
son of the late Irenee du Pont, walked Into
the Wilmington Club, asked the steward
for paper, and while the latter went for It
blew out his brains. The suicide was a
brother of Alfred I. du Pont, then vice
president of the powder company.
A few years later Maurice du Pont, a
brother, was ostracized by many members
of his family for marrying "Cottle" Fitz
gerald, an Irish barmaid of Queenstown.
About the same time William du Pont,
an official of the powder company and a
brother of Senator du Pont, went to North
Dakota and procured a divorce from his
wife, who w-as the daughter of Victor du
Pont and now the wife of Willard Sauls
bury, tha Democratic leader of Delaware
and &-promlnea( allorn, Jji order to max
1
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21
Paul THOMPiOf)
PEQPF
V
T.COLEMAtY
DU PON 7
ry a Mrs. Zinn, of Wilmington, who was a
stranger to the exclusive, set of that city.
In 1906 Alfred I. du Pont w ent, to Dakota
and procured a divorce from his wife, Mrs.
' Bessie Gardner du Pont.
The same year Mrs. G. A. Maddox, the
wife of Alfred I. du Pont's private secre
tary, the daughter of Federal Judge Ed
ward G. Bradford of Delaware, and on her
mother's side of du Pont blood, procured
a divorce from her husband in Cumberland
county. Pa.
On October 15, 1907, du Pont and Mrs.
Maddox were married at the Plaza hotel.
New York city.
In November of the same year Madeline
du Pont, daughter of Alfred I. du Pont,
eloped from the home of her father, after
a quarrel -with her mother, with John Ban
croft, Jr., son of the millionaire treasurer
of the Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company,
textile manufacturers, of Wilmington.
In November, 1909, Alfred I. du Pont
brought suit In the courts of Delaware for
slander against his aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth
Bradford du Pont, widow of Dr. Alexis du
Pont, and Mrs. E. J. Bush, one of the so
ciety matrons of Wilmington. The suit,
which -was later dropped, was brought
bxcause Mrs. du Eont JN'o. - 2 - .was -talked
! K
SAMUEL
. .. -1
about and denied invitation to the Wil
mington assembly dances.
In June. 1911, Henry liancrofl, Jr.,
brought action for divorce against his wife.
.Madeline Bancroft du Pont, alleging adul
tery and naming her son of a few months,
whom he referred to in his bill as Max
Heibler,' Jr.. as a co-defendant.
The same month James Gardner, a
brother of the first wife of the powder
company's millionaire vice president,
committed suicide in Michigan by shoot
ing himself in the head.
One month later Mrs. Bancroft brought
a counter suit for divorce against her hus
band, naming two women of Munich, Ger
many, as co-respondents, and at the same
time denying the allegations of his bill.
And on top of all this the squabble for a
paltry $60,000,000 or $70,000,000 worth of
"war brides"! Is it any wonder social
Delaware and social New Jersey are in
turmoil? Is it any wonder the minor
vicissitudes of powder making, such as the
explosion of the Upper, Hagley yard, with
the atomizing of some twoscore workmen,
or the burning of Hopewell, with its $3,
000,000 loss, failed to shake the nerve of
the du Ponts? Other and more important
gaiters engaged their attenUon. . . .