MAN WHO MADE FIVE MILLIONS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1398, 26 March 1912, Page 6

MAN WHO MADE FIVE MILLIONS.

SENTENCE ON MR. HOOLEY. P.LSK AND PALL OF THE FINANCIER. The jury at the Old liailey ou Saturday (says the London "Daily Mail" of February 1-J) found Ernest Te'rah Jfooley, who is now lifiy-two years of age, guilty 0:1 (he indictment which charged him with obtaining six cheques i'nr the jwy-n\--nt of .tM)\) from iJcurge Leech Twc'e-daie-a young mechanical engineer of lincli-rlale, who had inherited a fortune of .Ws.fillo-by means ~r false pm and with intent to dciiaud. 'lhv lal-i' presence, was in statin" that a particular 0.-ta e which ho was selling was not .11cumbered. Ji r . .Justice Phillimoru ordwe<l .Mr. Jlooley to be imprisoned for twelve months in (he second division. Mr. Itooley turned sharply round and, murmuring. "A line finish,"'Wt the dock. Jle was removed in a horscd-cab to Wormwood Scrubs Prison.

Hooley's career hr.s been unique in (he annals of finance. Ho is a man who Healed •Jβ companies with a capital of over IS! millions sterling between them, made a gross profit for himself of over nvo lnillions sterling in the process, and within a year or two of the achievement was bankrupt. . -Ho bsp-an life's responsibilities by walking eight miles to and from school everv day. nml he loft school when he was thirteen. Between then and the time be hc™'"c ' !,e financial rage of London in JROR h<. had hereditary hankor:n.~s alter the Nottingham lace trade, prelerence on the wliole for farmng, IJirt finally became a Nottingham stockbroker, in which profession ho was ox--11?1)', successful with a. few big deals that laid the foundations of his fortune, nr rather his misfortune, and he became a financier.

Throughout financial London his name brgan 1o be .mysteriously whispered in tho middle 'ninetiesj and many a d<-il was linked with the name of" IToolov, until people began ( 0 ask, "Who is this Hooley.-" They soon knew. In quie'-r succession came the daring flotation of several huge companies like Dunl-p, number, Bovril, Schweppes, and Tivi , - ford Park Estate?, and Hooley was the company promoter of the age. Hero ; s a list of the principal flotations fir v.-Jueh he was responsible or with which he was connected, with the amounts of capital involved:—

Clement Gladiator 000 0(10 Components' Tube 1.10,0110 Cycle Manufacturers' Tube... -J. r )O.CC"I Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre i."j.">o OHO Ihinlop (France) '(WO.fiOO Juiinbor and Co fllKI.flOO Humber (America) 7.i,(!!!l) HumlxT O'crfiigal) snioofl Hiinibrr (Russia) T.'i.OPO Huniber (Intension) 17.i!(Hi(t Singer (.'vole S'lfl il!V| Hwill Cycle :\VtM) liovril 2.W!l.!!;li) Rivril (Fnreicn) l.Or;!)!onn Simps™ Lever Chain Kliiisii'ell Pencils IM.CT KriUsh Hydraulic Jointing... EOfl.fllin British Embroidery Machine li'iO O.V) Leo-Metfcrd Small Anus .fio.nni Nehweppes 1 ,L'o0.f!,)l) .Trafi'ord Park Estates 1.0C0.000 United Ordnance and Engineering 800.000 ■£10,530,000 Many of thpse companies are no longer known, others have been reconstructed becaiifj tlit-y wore, overburdened with capital, while a few remain with us much in their original form, their names being household words. In his big flotations llcoloy's method was to arrange lor (he purchase of tho business ami resell it to the public at a price which represented, ray, a couple of millions profit to himself. Tho transaction was perfectly open. The public knew of the profit: and was induced to subscribe (y the buying company •by promises cf enorm.ius expansion of the. business ami by (he attraction of that "front sheet" of his prospectus wh'ch Hooley know so well how to arrange and ornament, with titled names. The Man Himself. He never had.an office in (he city. Ho holt! his court in a priucelv suite of rooms on the first floor at the front oi'tho Midland Grand Hotel, for which he paid a rental at the rnto of JL'lil.oo9 a. year. Thither ho would invite his lordly directors, his brokers his clients, his critics to breakfast—and would frequently never fippsar. People in the city nsci'l to object to journey to transact their Business at St. Pancras; but they went. There tiu-y found him, a man of about forty—(iris was in tho heyday of his career fifteen years ago—with a tall, wellknit frame, ;i strong swarthy face, with a glint of something in it that was repellent, a bearing that was marvellously alert, speech which, in spite of its broad provincial accent, was clear and to tho point, v

He used to say that he could not drink, work, and smoke at tho same time. He began work with three secretaries at eight o'clock in tho morning, and was generally in fcjd by ten at night. His week-ends he would spend invariably «t 0110 of his country seats, engaged in the farming which ho obviously loved. Ho always seemed intensely devoted to home life, ami used lo boast that ho was the biggest bresder of sliesp in Iho country.

At this time, when everything tho archpromoter undertook was apparently suffused with success, he always declared that he would give up finance and seek political distinction. He presented tho famous service ov gold plalo to St. Paul's Cathedral, worth some ,€2OOO or .€3OOO. lie set aside .£IOO,OOO for the benefit of widows and orphans of tho Derbyshire district in which hn lived, to be dispersed in a. well-formulated scheme. He offered .£lO,OOll lo the Nottingham Hospital if the working men would first subscribe 200,000 shillings. Reason of the Ciash. Sonn lh;< i-ra-Oi came. Us reason can l:;«.t be given in tho official words of the ii>. lian'jraptcv. He described tiiu failure in 189S as the most noteworthy in recent history. The liabilities were' v.-hillled down from about ,01,000,000 to JS-CJl.flOO. The apparent profit made by the promoter in three years, .L'."!,O2S,!N)O > was changed by his "reckless nml exiiMveiganl methods of nromotion" iiit? a net loss of . ES!),:!00. There wero "large gift.* nml fees to obtain the names of titled and other persons as directors." and tho "selling of shares of profits to various co-nil venturers."

fften in this strange career there followed dark days and apparently dark doings. The name of Hcolc;, , has been constantly cropping up in the law courts ever since.

lint for most of tho time he has been occupying Ttisley Hall in Dorbyshiro nml I'apworth Hall 'in Cambridgeshire—"the stalely home-; of a bankrupt" as they were tune ill's'ribed by a cross-examining coun--el. Hooli'v has explained in court that after his bankruptcy some good friends made Mrs. lluolcy a. present of estates worth .21:10,000. and in WO3 she purchased an estate in Nortlnmptonshiro for .iliVOOil. while Hooley was then living at Pap-nirth Hull. Toward Hi? end of 1903 Mvs. llooley received also 4:03,500 as a result of holding ■'. policv on tho life of Mr. Adolpbiis DiMcker, w!>n was with Hn«!r-y in many business affairs: ho hini-ielf became bankrupt am! died in New York. Tli. ()i>lol)"r last this man, who had mini , .' a. profit vf more than f:vr> millions in i.hrre years, was rumiiionnd fur .C2O odd for rate-- in connection with Risley Hall. "Ssccnd Division." An oftaidf-,- pUicei! in the second divirion is as far as p(v-ib!e kept anart from the nf prisoners. fti> has to cniiJ'nvin (.-, (he -,'iioi-:-l nilc= as lo risinu and rdirinir. oc.-unyiu..; a .■.■epar.'.lc cell. 'krop. in» >t cle-.iu. ami niahi'i:,' his o-vn 1-eil. Tho special niiiHiorntiims provided for this prison class <:o r.'>l nermit Mr. Tfooley In wear liis nv:n cletliiug, but ;;ive him a prison dre.-q rf a eolmir did'erent from that imposed on (lie liniil-hibonring prisoners, and his hair i" cut no closer thnn health an' , . el?.inlir.e;s require, lie is allowed a piaitre«s on bis bed. He must havo employnipiit af- industrial or lnnnnfiiCuriii!: worir, ami t!i:V. enables him to earn gratuity aiul ?.'iiio remit'ion of senl.-iii-e.