Henry S. Ives
Encyclopedia
Henry S. Ives was an American financier, speculator and stock manipulator, the "Napoleon of Finance," who caused a brief but spectacular Wall Street scandal in the 1880s.
Ives was born in Connecticut and arrived penniless in New York City as a young man. "Baby-faced, slight of build, and short", he rose from a salary of $10 per week, to controlling millions of dollars of property, within five years.
With partners George H. Stayner and Thomas C. Doremus, he founded the firm of Henry S. Ives and Company in 1886, while still in his 20s. The firm immediately began acquiring the stocks of railroad companies, inflating their stock prices, which provided additional borrowing leverage for more acquisitions, then raiding their corporate treasuries once they'd assumed control. He controlled the Mineral Range Railroad in Michigan, the Terre Haute and Indianapolis, and his largest conquest was the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway in 1886.
In May 1887 the expulsion and later unexplained re-admission of Doremus as a member of the New York Stock Exchange
caused a disruption in the NYSE's Board of Governors, including resignations within the governing committee.
When Ives attempted a takeover of the venerable but troubled Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
he provoked a legal and financial battle with its chief, Robert Garrett (son and successor of John W. Garrett
). This triggered a collapse of the entire scheme on August 11, 1887. That announcement, at ten minutes before the close, caused unrestrained cheering on the NYSE trading floor. Ives's total liabilities amounted to $25,000,000. Creditors eventually settled for five cents on the dollar. Ives and Stayner were tried for grand larceny in September 1889 but acquitted on a hung jury.
Ives died of tuberculosis in Asheville, North Carolina, five years after the trial.
Ives was born in Connecticut and arrived penniless in New York City as a young man. "Baby-faced, slight of build, and short", he rose from a salary of $10 per week, to controlling millions of dollars of property, within five years.
With partners George H. Stayner and Thomas C. Doremus, he founded the firm of Henry S. Ives and Company in 1886, while still in his 20s. The firm immediately began acquiring the stocks of railroad companies, inflating their stock prices, which provided additional borrowing leverage for more acquisitions, then raiding their corporate treasuries once they'd assumed control. He controlled the Mineral Range Railroad in Michigan, the Terre Haute and Indianapolis, and his largest conquest was the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway in 1886.
In May 1887 the expulsion and later unexplained re-admission of Doremus as a member of the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
caused a disruption in the NYSE's Board of Governors, including resignations within the governing committee.
When Ives attempted a takeover of the venerable but troubled Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
he provoked a legal and financial battle with its chief, Robert Garrett (son and successor of John W. Garrett
John W. Garrett
John Work Garrett was an American banker, philanthropist, and president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ....
). This triggered a collapse of the entire scheme on August 11, 1887. That announcement, at ten minutes before the close, caused unrestrained cheering on the NYSE trading floor. Ives's total liabilities amounted to $25,000,000. Creditors eventually settled for five cents on the dollar. Ives and Stayner were tried for grand larceny in September 1889 but acquitted on a hung jury.
Ives died of tuberculosis in Asheville, North Carolina, five years after the trial.