BURNT OUT WHITELEY.
Whiteley, the Universal Provider, who was burnt out the other day, was really only the manager for a syndicate, but — and the but is all important—he received a screw of £ 12,000 a year, which for a comparison is just “a little” more than the average newspaper editor earns. He employed about 1400 or 1500 hands, or rather pairs of hands, and about £ 1,000,000 of capital was invested in the buildings and stock destroyed. From Whiteley’s you could get pretty nearly everything from a “ needle to an anchor,” from an elephant to a steam yacht, from a thimble to a wife. Tradition said that a wouldbe joker once went tp the “Universal provider” and asked for a “ second hand coffin.” Judge his astonishment when the required article was produced and the joker asked whether he “ wanted a first or a second hand shroud.” In all probability the Universal one, like the fabled Phoenix, will soon rise from his ashes and carry on business on a yet increased scale of magnificence. A man like Whiteley is hard to wipe out.
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 30, 20 August 1887, Page 2
Word Count
181BURNT OUT WHITELEY. Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 30, 20 August 1887, Page 2
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