SAM LEWIS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 52, 2 March 1901, Page 3 (Supplement)

SAM LEWIS.

INCIDENTS IN THE CAREER OF THE GREAT MONEY LENDER.

A twinge ol' something wvwr than concern must have flustered many manly and military bosoms when the owners thereof read last Monday morning that Sam Lewis was no more Owing Sam a "few thou" didn't matter. So long as you paid when you were able and didn't try any dirty shirking "Good old Sam" never went to extremes. But owing Sam's "heirs, executors and assigns" money-may be a very different thing. Who can say what they may think it right to do to recover the hundreds ot thousands of pounds in Mr Lewis' books? Sam Lewis began life as a jeweller in Birmingham, but soon success in usury brought him up to London, and once established in his famous offices in Cork-street he never looked back-

- nything less like the money lender of fiction it would be difficult to imagine. Dapper and neat as his archenemy and namesake, Sir George Lewis, he conversed most amusingly knew all about everybody, and smoked priceless cigars. Many of his clients Acre latterly only too glad if Sam on closing a transaction asked them to dinner. The guests (men only) at his table were invariably as select as the wines and the menu. Actors, singers, in fact, theatrical folk abounded, but 1 fancy they made, more out of the money lender than he ever made out of them. Nevertheless, with Mr Sam Lewis business was business, and he liked it on a large scale. The young man with extravagant tastes and solid expectations was dear to him. Many passed through his hands, and few complained of his treatment. Ernest Itenzon. the Jubilee Plunger, in his book "How 1 Lost £250,000 in Two Years" says: l 'hi round figures I had a quarter of a. million at my disposal. Not all in ready money, but all io negotiable securities. There was about £5000 lying loose, and one of my guardians drew a cheque for that. Then I went off straight to Coutts', where the securities were lying, and, with these as security. borrowed <Jr. 0,000 from them. Of this sum I paid £33.600 to Mr Sam Lewis for money obtained for me before 1 came of age. I have no desire to complain of the treatment I received from the lender. Upon the contrary, I think lie used me exceediugly well, and always been a great friend to me." The late lamented .Marquis of Aylesbury, better known as Lord Savernakc (or' to intimates Lord Stomachache, and Lord Haveasnack), mortgaged, whilst heir only, every prospect and every acre he had in the world to Sam. Lewis, who, 'tis said, made a huge stun out of him. However that may be, the money lender did not allow the noblu marquis to starve: in fact, during his latter years made him a good allowance. An obituarist •in the "Daily' Telegraph" says:—"To those whose guarantees were unexceptionable Mr Lewis was a most pleasant business man, never stopping to stipulate terms or discussing periods of reimbursement. Nay, very frequently refusing to debate either, but leaving them entirely to the discretion of the borrower. Mr Lewis "was exceedingly charitable, not only to his own community, but to every other, and no case of genuine distress ever went unrelieved, provided the applicant could get to him, which now and again was exceedingly difficult, inasmuch as he was very much hemmed in by his clerks, but" for whose vigilance he would not have been able to conduct his business. Once asked what motto he should choose if it became necessary,,for him to select one, he suggested a sentence in modified P.iblical language: " _ lend to the lord, and give to the poor." To a man who went to him for £100 he said, with the frankest of laughs, "I don't deal in hundreds" and sent him his cheque for the amount next day without a hint as to repayment, When Lord William Nevill was tried at the Old Bailey three years ago for forging Mr Spender-Clay's endorsement to prom'.issotry notes to 1 'the amount of £70,000, the money lender gave evidence regarding the transaction. It was then stated by counsel that Lord William Nevill's friends had paid this huge sum to Mr Lewis, but the latter denied having received it. This was the affair to which Sir Geo. Lewis, giving evidence before the House of Commons Committee on money lending, referred in such scathing terms as to make a lasting enemy of"the money lender. Last year Sit George Lewis corresponded in the "Times" long and regularly with his namesake on the subject of money lending. Mr. Lewis was sixty-three years old. The end came with comparative suddenness. He is said to have caught a chill when waiting to see Lord Roberts enter London. Pneumonia followed, and not even Sir William Broadbent could prevent heart failure. A correspondent of the " Telegraph " writes: " A- good many people have borrowed money from Mr. Samuel Lewis. How many can say that they lent cash to that famous financier? I was among the few so favoured. Not that I took bank-notes and sovereigns to Cork-street, which would have been carrying coals to Newcastle indeed, ft was at Ostend a year and a-half that I had the privilege of ' accommodating ' Mr. Lewis. We met one evening in the Club Prive of the Kursaal. Roulette had been kinder to me than trente et quarante had to him, and Sam Lewis craved a loau of me to try his luck again. I chared him no fee for ' inquiries,' nor did, I go through the formality of accepting his 1.0.C., out, pulling out Belgian notes for 2,500 francs, I handed them over with my benediction. Then we wandered round the rooms together, for I was curious to see-what fortune my £100 would bring to the man of money. A thousand francs went on the red at trente et quarante; then another thousand on the black. With the last 500 francs Sam Lewns turned

to another table, and. his colour won

• Now." lie said. ' i' going to hit 'em." But. alas! there was no luck hanging lo I he money I bad ieiil him. and the next coup saw his borrowed capital swept away by i lie croupier. Sam Lewis laughed. lighted a cigar, and went cheerily off: to bed. Hi' squared accounts with me next day before lunch, and paid me interest into the bargain. 1 had lent him Belgian notes; he paid me back in English notes, thus charging himself for the loau ut the rate of nearly L*>o per cent."

The •'Jewish Chronicle" of to-day publishes full details of the charitable bequests of Mr. Samuel Lewis. The will disposes of between three and four millions of money, either by immediate legacies or in the form of reversions on the death of Mrs. Lewis. The following details have ben taken direct from the will, through the courtesy of Mr. Algernon E. Sydney, the solicitor to the late Mr. Lewis, who, with Mr. Harry Davies and Mr. August us Jacobs ((brothers-in-law of Mt Lew's), are the" executors of the will. which was made in September last. Air. *■ vdnev has been left £ L:\000, and each of the brothers-in-law £5.000. Mr. Coventry Davies, now on service in South Africa, receives £10,000. The -10-o-retmle amount bequeathed to chariiWiH £1,00-1.750, £5.500 of which is left as immediate bequests to specific, charities, the bulk beins; reversions on the death of Mrs. Lewis.