FELL FROM PLANE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 399, 6 July 1928, Page 9

FELL FROM PLANE

MILLIONAIRE’S DEATH mystery man of business CAPTAIN LOEWENSTEIN I OEWENSTEIN, mystery millionaire, came to a tragic death Lv, eil 'n 6 I® 1 } froin his three-engined Fokker in flying over the English Channel. + , S ° iT P l CtureSque figure has gone from the stage of the world s biggest business. He was one of the powerful IT of P° st -war millionaires—Herr Hugo Stinnes, Sir Basil Zahaioft, and Captain Alfred Loenvenstein.

(United P.A.—By Telegraph Copyright) (Australian P.A.—United Service)

Reed. 9.5 a.m. LONDON, Thursday. = he „^ ell '? £nowD Be lEian financier and millionaire, Captain Alfred Loewenstein, was killed as the result of a most remarkable accident in the air. He left Croydon for Brussels by a J r 2f a ? e * . accom Panied by his personal ..* besides a pilot and a mechanic. While the plane was over the sea between Dunkirk and Ostend, Captain Loewenstein apparently opened a wrong door and fell out, and was drowned. B ls recalled that he offered to lend to the Belgian Government £10,000,000 without interest, to stabilise the franc. Captain Loewenstein’s secretary, who was on board the plane, says Captain Loewenstein left his companions to visit the toilet room. Owing to his prolonged absence a search was made and the room was found to be empty. Apparently Captain Loewenstein, by a tragic mistake, opened an adjoining door in the side of the hull. It is stated that Captain Loewenstein had for sSme months showed signs of ill-health. This - was attributed to his unceasing activities. It is believed

that he had been considerably disappointed when the Belgian and French Governments rejected his offers of loans.

The Stock Exchange instantly reflected Captain Loewenstein’s death. Dealers refused to quote the International Holding hnd Investment Company, Ltd., or Hydro-Electric Securities Corporation, in which he was heavily interested. The former dropped 60 points, and the latter 26 points, regaining 12. The machine from which he fell was his own three-engined Fokker. He was crossing the Channel I,oooft up at the time of the tragedy. His body was not recovered. It must have been reduced to pulp. A Paris message says the police at Calais, after investigation of the Loewenstein tragedy, drew attention to other possibilities than accident. The London Financial Association declared that Lowenstein merely had ordinary worries. He was the most absent-minded man in the world when he was planning schemes, and never looked what he was doing or where he was going. MARKETS REACT STOCKS FALL IN LONDON PARTIAL RECOVERY British Official Wireless Reed. 11.35 a.m. RUGBY, Thursday. Captain Loewenstein’s death had a considerable effect on the stock markets to-day. \ He was largely concerned in elec-tric-power and artificial silk undertakings. Hia death affected particularly the Hydro-Electric and International Holdings Companies on the London exchange. The shares of the former at one time touched 20, but near the close they recovered to 25£, and International Holdings were quoted at 145, having earlier dropped to 100. The advisory committee of these concerns issued a statement this afternoon, declaring that the financial position of both is' sound, and that so far as they know Captain Loawenstein’s large holdings were unencumbered. Captain Loewenstein was credited with an immense, although a fluctuating, fortune, and his huge financial deals, his numerous estates in different countries, his racing establishments, and his fleet of private airplanes helped to make him a spectacular figure. It is difficult to understand how he opened the wrong door, since the wind pressure on it is very great. His fi'iends, however, state that he *vas very absent-minded except where business was concerned. The machine was 4,000 feet up at the time but the pilot alighted at Dunkirk Sands, when he notified the coastguards. Shipping was warned, but it is unlikely that the body will be recovered. The deceased leaves a widow and a son. POTENT, ' PICTURESQUE LOEWENSTEIN DESCRIBED RECENT AMERICAN VISIT His Majesty beloved Albert I. is King of the Belgians, but the most potent and picturesque Belgian is Captain Alfred Loewenstein, wrote an American journalist recently. Last week the stocky, swarthy captain stepped down upon. Manhattan from the liner lie de France with modish but retiring Mme. Loewenstein. As a matter of course, they had occupied the liner’s premiere suite de

luxe and had brought along as guests four titled friends, le Comte et la Comtesse de Grunnes and le Comte et la Comtesse de Montalembert. Equally as usual to the Loewensteins was their staff of 15 secretaries and personal servants. Necessarily eight suites and cabins aboard the lie de France had been occupied at a cost of £4,000. From the pier Captain Loewenstein and party motored to the Hotel Ambassador, where they settled down in the comfortable third floor once occupied by Queen Marie of Rumania. Soon fastidious Captain Loewenstein read with pain certain ignorant, flapdoodling headlines. The “Times”: “Loewenstein . . . ‘Mystery Man’ . . . Potentate . . . Here With Private Aviator (and) Two Cars.” The “Herald Tribune”: “World’s Third Wealthiest Man Here Like King.” The “World”: “Loewenstein, Free Lender of £10,000,000 to Belgium, Here.” Well-posted observers spotted instantly the non-truth of. this last headline. They recalled that during the slump of the Belgian franc, the Government of Belgium flatly rejected a proposal by Captain Loewenstein that he should lend £10,000,000 “without interest” to save the franc, but only upon certain shrewd conditions. THE MAN ON HIMSELF When Captain Loewenstein had been in Manhattan for two days, last week, he could stand the headings no longer. Calling in the gaping newshawks, he addressed them in slightly broken English as follows: “You gentlemen have been altogether too kind. ... I am reminded of a French story which portrays a well-meaning gentleman using a' stone in killing a fly which had perched on the head of a friend. . . . “The Press calls me ‘Potentate’ and ‘Mystery Man’ . . . titles to which, I hasten to tell you, I have no right. , . . “They have also very kindly and resolutely named me the second or third richest man in the world, and on this account have surrounded me with a display of luxury, with a ‘carousel’ of automobiles brought by me, and airplanes piloted by the captain of my air fleet. “There are many Americans richer than I. Believe me! Believe me! And need I tell you that I have brought neither automobiles, which would have been a real aberration, your automobiles being of public notoriety, holding first place in the world’s production, nor airplanes, yours, as well as your aviators, showing incessant proof of their exceptional value? “They must have gone so far as to flatter me as being the man to have made the Belgian stabilisation! Need I say that I have had nothing whatever to do with Belgian stabilisation, which Is the work of that great statesman and great financier, Monsieur Emile Francqui ? “THE REAL TRUTH” “We will now come down to the real truth: “I am here in America, as many Americans richer and undoubtedly more prominent than I am, go to Europe, notably to see your electric industries and rayon (synthetic silk) industries, in which you know that I am interested. It is as a traveller wishing to see and to learn that I am here, with very good friends who are also here to see and to learn. “I am travelling with my family, which will not be a surprise to Americans who appreciate family life so highly and so justly. Being a worker, I have also with me a few indispensable collaborators, so as to enable me to continue to manage my business, even at a distance. “I am chairman of the International Holding and Investment Company, Ltd., and also chairman of the Hydroj Electric Securities Corporation, a public utility investment trust. These two companies hold investments I amounting to about £30,000,000. Their | holdings are in various public utilities, | mainly in this country as well as in a ! number of artificial silk enterprises in ! Europe. I expect the securities of the International Holding and Investment . Company to be introduced (i.e., i ‘listed’) in this market in the near , future.” SECRET OF SUCCESS Asked to reveal the “secret of his success,” Captain Loewenstein amiably replied: “While I was still a. very young man. I was enthusiastic over electricity and was a constant student of the wonderful inventions and developments. I was connected with the building of the first power station in Belgium, in 1897, and have never lost my interest in electrical things since then. In 19G& I established the first artificial silk plant in Belgium. Now you know how to make as much money as I have.” Captain Loewenstein, while in Canada, spoke vaguely of the biggest single company in the world shortly being started there. His age was 51. It is said that his father was a moderately well-to-do Jewisli banker in Brussels. The son took over the business, but it was only after the outbreak of the war, when, with many other Belgians, he fled to England, that he began to branch out and build up the big fortune he controlled.