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Archiver > WHITNEY > 1999-11 > 0943370484


From: Lorne & Joan Reznowski <>
Subject: [WHITNEY-L] Re: WHITNEY-D Digest V99 #286
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 09:21:24 -0600


If you haven't read enough of Richard Whitney and his line, read "The House of
Morgan" by Ron Chernow. Dorothy Whitney's first husband, Willard Straight, is
also mentioned in the book A number of Whitney's are mentioned. I see Richard
married a Sheldon and I am wondering if she is related to my gg grandfather, Dr.
Sheldon, whose daughter married Henry Worden Babcock who is Fanny Whitney's son.
Joan

wrote:

> Subject:
>
> WHITNEY-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 286
>
> Today's Topics:
> #1 [WHITNEY-L] Leon Rouleau Whitney [Richard W Whitney Sr <richardwhitn]
> #2 [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Whitney's [Ronald Whitney <]
> #3 Re: [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Whitney's ["Henry M. Whitney" <]
> #4 Re: [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Whitney's []
> #5 Re: Re: [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Whitn []
> #6 Re: [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Whitney's ["Robert L. Ward" <]
> #7 [WHITNEY-L] Small part of Phoenix ["Robert L. Ward" <]
> #8 [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Richard Whitn ["Martie Wilson" <]
>
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> Subject: [WHITNEY-L] Leon Rouleau Whitney
> Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 10:05:07 -0500
> From: Richard W Whitney Sr <>
> To:
>
> I trying to trace Leon Rouleau Whitney, my father. b 20 June 1892,
> Buffalo, NY d 24 Jan 1951 at the Phila. Naval Hospital. m Viola Reis in
> Phila. PA Father was Harry Whitney, mother was Louise Rouleau. Served in
> the US Army 1917 to 1919, Sergeant, Co E, 19th Engineers, 17th Bn, 153rd
> DB. Honorable discharge states LRW was born in Buffalo NY, was 26 years
> old when he enlisted. Served as president of the Phila. Marine Travel
> Club, Philadelphia, and was General Passenger Agent for American Export
> Lines in Philadelphia. He also worked for F. Schumacher, Raymond-Whitcomb
> and Royal Mail.in Trenton, NJ I have been trying to trace him on and off
> for four years with no success. Any information will be appreciated. I
> have some further information I would share with anyone who is also
> researching LRW. Thank you.
> Richard W. Whitney Sr.
>
> ______________________________
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Whitney's
> Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 09:38:49 -0600
> From: Ronald Whitney <>
> To:
>
> Hello WRG,
>
> The December issue of Money magazine has a review of highlights and
> lowlights from the century. The award for the biggest crook of the century
> went to Ponzi of course, but they made the following comment while
> discussing those they considered for the award: "Did you ever read about
> Richard Whitney, the head of the New York Stock Exchange in the 1930's, who
> turned out to be a big-time embezzler?"
>
> If anyone knows the story I would like to hear it.
>
> Ron
>
> ______________________________
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Whitney's
> Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 16:36:11 -0500
> From: "Henry M. Whitney" <>
> To:
>
> I may be one of the few old enough to remember the name and something of the
> circumstances.
>
> The following article was found using Copernic with search argument "Richard
> Whitney"
> "New York Stock Exhange"
>
> Cape Cod Confidential
>
> Wall Street's Hero and Goat Retires to Cape Cod
> By Evan J. Albright
>
> Hey, Richard Whitney! You saved Wall Street after the Crash of '29, and now
> you've just been released from Sing Sing Prison after serving three years
> for
> embezzlement. Where are you going to do now?"
> Whitney, if he'd been talking, would certainly not have said "Disneyland,"
> which
> wasn't even on the drawing boards in 1941 when he walked out of Sing Sing.
> No,
> his plans were much more modest. The man who was both the Jesus and Judas of
> Wall Street was headed for Cape Cod.
> Richard Whitney and his brother George were born in Boston with silver stock
> certificates in their mouths. Their father was a Boston bank president, as
> befits someone who comes from an old, old Boston family. Richard and George
> grew
> up no differently than others from their class: Groton for prep school,
> Harvard
> for college. Both were invited to join the prestigious Porcellian Club while
> at
> Cambridge.
> After Harvard, George had the good fortune to marry into the Bacon family.
> His
> wife was the daughter of a partner of the creme de la creme of Wall Street,
> the
> House of Morgan, which was headed by the legendary J.P. Morgan. Richard,
> much
> more an independent sort, busted out on his own. He spent a year at a Boston
> brokerage firm before using his familial wealth to purchase a seat on the
> New
> York Stock Exchange in 1912. A few years later, formed his own firm, Richard
> Whitney & Company. Thanks to his brother, he maintained close ties to the
> House
> of Morgan.
> During the 1920s, Americans made a fortune on the stock market. Everybody,
> it
> seemed, was investing and everybody was a genius because everybody was
> making a
> killing. Until 1929, that is. The popular notion is that the market was on a
> hot
> streak until Oct. 24, better known as Black Thursday. The truth is the
> market
> had been sliding downhill for most of the year; Oct. 24 was merely the day
> it
> looked to go over the cliff.
> On Black Thursday the New York Stock Exchange faced collapse. Investors went
> into a panic. "Sell! Sell! Sell!" was the cry, and the bottom fell out of
> most
> of the stocks -- until just after lunch, that is. For at that hour appeared
> a
> cadre of bankers and stockbrokers, all affiliated with J.P. Morgan. They
> were
> led by Richard Whitney, who at the time was the acting president of the
> stock
> exchange. Whitney broke from the group, walked up to one of the posts and,
> in a
> loud and commanding voice, offered to buy 10,000 shares of U.S. Steel -- at
> $205
> per share!
> U.S. Steel by that time was selling for considerably less. But Whitney's
> purchase sent shockwaves across the exchange, for it meant that the House of
> Morgan was not going to let the market collapse. Whitney then went around
> other
> posts in the exchange and made similar purchases of blue chip stocks.
> The newspapers proclaimed him a hero. Whitney was credited with
> single-handedly
> staunching the blood and saving the New York Stock Exchange from ruin. Soon
> after that, Whitney was sought out by pundits and politicians for his
> opinion;
> he spoke before business groups throughout the country. And three years
> later,
> when Franklin Roosevelt won election to the U.S. Presidency, Whitney was the
> one
> Wall Street counted upon to protect the stock exchange from the ravages of
> the
> New Deal.
> Roosevelt formed the Securities Exchange Commission and named Cape Cod's own
> Joseph Kennedy to set it up and run it. Kennedy did an excellent job, but he
> was
> no match for Whitney. The stock exchange avoided serious regulation
> throughout
> the 1930s, thanks to Whitney's tactics.
> As a leader, everyone on Wall Street looked up to Whitney. But what no one
> knew
> was that as a stockbroker, Whitney was a sucker.
> He had invested heavily in several speculative ventures in Florida, and had
> lost
> everything. He had to borrow a million dollars from his brother just to
> cover
> his debts. In the early 1930s, he invested in a hard cider business in New
> Jersey, certain the demand for "apple jack" would go through the roof once
> Prohibition ended. He was wrong again. As the decade neared its end, Whitney
> was
> more than $4 million in hock with no way to repay his creditors, the largest
> of
> whom was his brother George.
> Fortunately, Richard Whitney happened to serve as treasurer to the New York
> Yacht Club. In his safe were $150,000 in bonds owned by the club. Whitney
> "borrowed" them by using them as collateral for a $200,000 loan. He borrowed
> again, this time by hocking bonds that belonged to the estate of his
> father-in-law, which were eventually destined to go to his alma mater,
> Harvard
> University.
> When the liquor business collapsed, Whitney's embezzlement was discovered.
> Whitney tried to broker a deal, in which he would resign quietly from the
> stock
> exchange. "After all, I'm Richard Whitney," he said. "I mean the Stock
> Exchange
> to millions of people." But keep it quiet they could not. In 1938 Whitney
> pleaded guilty to embezzlement and was sentenced to 10 years in Sing Sing.
> The
> SEC was finally able to rein in the stock exchange.
> Whitney's estate was liquidated. It turned out he had only one possession
> that
> was not mortgaged to the hilt -- his livestock which he kept at his
> gentleman's
> farm in New Jersey. Soon his 700 chickens, a large herd of cattle and 20
> fine
> horses all went up for sale. The sale raised far less than the amount needed
> to
> pay his debts. Once again his brother George stepped in, and although it
> took
> many years, he repaid every penny borrowed or stolen by his brother.
> Richard Whitney served three years in Sing Sing where he was a model
> prisoner.
> To earn parole, he needed a job. He was banned from anything even smelling
> of
> securities. Fortunately, his brother's wife stepped in. Her family owned the
> Bacon Farm in the Cape Cod town Barnstable, which had two horses and two
> milking
> cows. Richard was offered the job of manager of the farm, which he accepted.
> On
> Aug. 12, 1941, his brother George picked him up at the prison gates and
> delivered him to Cape Cod. Richard Whitney, his worldly possessions fitting
> entirely into a gunny sack, walked up the steps of the Bacon Farm and from
> there, into oblivion.
>
> © 1999 Mystery Lane Press.
>
> Henry M. Whitney ()
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ronald Whitney" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Monday, November 22, 1999 10:38 AM
> Subject: [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Whitney's
>
> > Hello WRG,
> >
> > The December issue of Money magazine has a review of highlights and
> > lowlights from the century. The award for the biggest crook of the
> century
> > went to Ponzi of course, but they made the following comment while
> > discussing those they considered for the award: "Did you ever read about
> > Richard Whitney, the head of the New York Stock Exchange in the 1930's,
> who
> > turned out to be a big-time embezzler?"
> >
> > If anyone knows the story I would like to hear it.
> >
> > Ron
> >
> >
>
> ______________________________
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Whitney's
> Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 17:40:38 EST
> From:
> To:
>
> Dear Henry:
>
> What a marvelous story! As a relative babe in arms of 66, I'm far too young
> to remember this, and my grandmother Whitney was the only one I knew well.
> She lost everything that her husband had left to her in the market collapse,
> and came to live with my parents. So, she wasn't one to talk about that
> time, and probably wouldn't have known much about it, anyway.
>
> I really believe that these kinds of stories are important to those of us who
> value and seek out our heritage, and you are to be heartily commended for
> having sought it out and shared it with the rest of us.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Allan E. Green
>
> ______________________________
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: Re: [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Whitney's
> Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 18:27:13 EST
> From:
> To:
>
> Henry, That is a great story. I am old enough but do not remember it. I
> know that the Banks in Iowa were closed before 1929 (ours several years
> earlier) My father and family were enroute to the southwest to find a climate
> for my mother with severe asthma. We (so I am told) could not get any of our
> money. My grandmother, (whose maiden name was Whitney) sent money in her
> letters. Much of it was stolen before it reached us. Years later the
> Postmaster was arrested for taking money from the letters over a long period
> of time.
> By 1939 I was entering my senior year in High School with no thought of
> finances other than what my father supplied. A naive world.
> Thanks for doing the research
>
> ______________________________
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Whitney's
> Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 18:30:11 -0500
> From: "Robert L. Ward" <>
> To:
>
> At 09:38 AM 11/22/99 -0600, Ronald Whitney wrote:
> >Hello WRG,
> >
> >The December issue of Money magazine has a review of highlights and
> >lowlights from the century. The award for the biggest crook of the century
> >went to Ponzi of course, but they made the following comment while
> >discussing those they considered for the award: "Did you ever read about
> >Richard Whitney, the head of the New York Stock Exchange in the 1930's, who
> >turned out to be a big-time embezzler?"
> >
> >If anyone knows the story I would like to hear it.
> >
> >Ron
>
> There is a piece on this at the WRG website, at
> <http://www.whitneygen.org/archives/biography/richard.html>;
>
> Regards,
>
> Robert
>
> Robert L. Ward
> WHITNEY Research Group
> <http://www.whitneygen.org/>;
>
> ______________________________
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: [WHITNEY-L] Small part of Phoenix Transcribed and Posted
> Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 19:06:31 -0500
> From: "Robert L. Ward" <>
> To:
>
> Dear WRG,
>
> Mary Ann Lindsay (MALINCAL) sent to me a set of photocopies of a
> few of the pages of Phoenix's book on the WHITNEY family of
> Connecticut, descendants of Henry-1 WHITNEY. Now I have finished
> transcribing and posting them. You can start at this URL:
> <http://www.whitneygen.org/archives/extracts/phoenix/index.html>;
> Please send any corrections to me by e-mail.
>
> Does anyone else have copies of pages from that book? If so, we
> can transcribe and post them, too. Just send them to me by snail
> mail, or transcribe them yourself and send me the results by
> e-mail. I'll deal with editing them and converting them to HTML
> web pages.
>
> I have actually considered buying a set of the books (they come in
> three volumes, each rather thick!). I found them for sale for
> $150 per volume, which I deem a bit steep! (Especially since my
> own descent is from John-1, not Henry-1). Does anyone know of a
> better deal on this work?
>
> Regards,
>
> Robert
>
> Robert L. Ward
>
> <http://www.erols.com/rlward1/>;
> 12236 Shadetree Lane, Laurel, MD 20708-2832
> 301-776-1659
>
> ______________________________
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: [WHITNEY-L] Infamous Richard Whitney
> Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 19:51:29 -0600
> From: "Martie Wilson" <>
> To:
>
> Hello Group,
>
> Does anyone know how this infamous Richard Whitney is related to the
> Whitney line - through John & Elinor or through Henry? And how?
> Just curious,
> Martie Wilson

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