Episode 78: Most Elusive Man
An ex-millionaire’s financial crime catches up to him, and many more millionaires will soon be under investigation.
February 1932, Princess Louise Van Alen Mdivani loses a pair of earrings and offers a substantial reward. Ex-millionaire Joseph Hoadley appears in court for passing a bad check. In March 1932, the U.S. Senate launches an investigation into Wall Street over the 1929 Crash and tax evasion.
Other people and subjects include: E.T. “Ned” Stotesbury, Boss Tweed, Fannie Curtis Hoadley, Mrs. Grace Hoadley Wade, Ferdinand Pecora, Joseph Leiter, JP Morgan Jr., Richard Whitney, Charles Mitchell, Otto Kahn, Jesse Livermore, workhouse, Blackwell Island, Ludlow Street Jail, Pecora Commission, Tony Curtis, Estelle Getty, Luis Guzman, Jerry Stiller, Julius Rosenberg, Edwin Almonte, Julius Axelrod, bad check, suicide, foreclosure, gaslighting, lies, tax evasion, 1929 Wall Street Crash, 1893 Chicago’s World Fair – World’s Columbian Exposition
Archival Music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.
Extra Notes / Call to Action:
HISTORY DETECTIVE podcast by Kelly Chase
https://historydetectivepodcast.com/
My recurring Waldorf-Astoria hotels webinar – Part 1 on Thursday, December 1st, 2022 and Part 2 Thursday, December 8th at 8pm EST / 5pm PST. New York Adventure Club www.nyadventureclub.com or the events section at https://asthemoneyburns.com.
Monday, March 13th, 8pm EST / 5pm PST – Waldorf Astoria Hotel Part 1: A New Standard of Luxury (pre-1929), Come learn more about the Astor family dispute behind the famous hotel and its construction as well as the hotel’s influence on luxury travel and fine dining. Connections to the Titanic as well as other events and famous people will also be explored. But all good things come to an end.
Monday, March 20th, 8pm EST / 5pm PST – Waldorf Astoria Hotel New York Part 2: Manhattan’s Grandest Hotel (1931-present), The second version of this fine luxury hotel comes during the dawn of new era which will bring new challenges and excitement. A lingering Astor family connection adds to the saga until a new family the Hilton dynasty rises and takes over. More celebrities and events will add to allure of this hotel. Finally, updates reveal the recent renovations, an auction, and the future for the third incarnation.
Share, like, subscribe
Publish Date: February 17, 2023
Length: 24:30
Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 1 Music: I Double Dare You by Jack Harris & His Orchestra, Albums More Sophistication & Hits of the 30s
Section 2 Music: The Younger Generation by Ray Noble, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s
Section 3 Music: Turkish Towel by The Savoy Havana Band, Album Fascinating Rhythm
End Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
AS THE MONEY BURNS
Podcast by Nicki Woodard
Episode 078 – Most Elusive Man
00:00
[Music – My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
AS THE MONEY BURNS is an original podcast by Nicki Woodard. Based on historical research, this is a deep exploration into what happened to a set of actual heirs and heiresses to some of America’s most famous fortunes when the Great Depression hits.
Each episode has three primary sections. Section 1 is a narrative story. Section 2 goes deeper into the historical facts. Section 3 focuses on contemporary, emotional, and personal connections.
00:30
Story Recap
Heiresses Doris Duke and Barbara Hutton wonder if they will ever be brides, while tennis star Frank Shields marries despite his father’s objection.
Now back to AS THE MONEY BURNS
Title
00:46
Most Elusive Man
[Music Fade Out]
Episode Tag
An ex-millionaire’s financial crime catches up to him, and many more millionaires will soon be under investigation.
01:00
[Music – I Double Dare You by Jack Harris & His Orchestra, Albums More Sophistication & Hits of the 30s]
Section 1 – Story
[Music Fade Out]
01:20
Money always has a way of making itself known.
Over in Europe, It Girl socialite Princess Louise Van Alen Mdivani loses her rosy pearl and platinum earrings during a West End shopping trip in London. They likely fell out of her bag on the street or in a taxicab. The earrings are valued at $50k with a $5k reward for the return (that’s a $1 million dollar pair with a $109k reward in 2023).
Such a reward could be useful and solve several people’s financial binds.
01:54
February 18th, 1932, New York court
Former millionaire Joseph Hoadley appears in front of 3 special judges for sentencing. His crime? Passing a bad check to a restaurant owner Angelo Pizzi. The check was repayment for expenses along with room and board. And it was no small sum – $1,037 (or the equivalent of $22,152.06 in 2023). In court, Hoadley offers to still repay if given more time.
Hmmm, an oh so magnanimous offer about as worthless as his checks.
Ironically, before sentencing, Hoadley had been released on a $1,000 bail. More surprisingly, Hoadley actually appears in court to receive his sentence, 3 months in a workhouse.
02:46
Written 2 years earlier, the check was to cover a $700 bill plus other expenses, but Hoadley asked Pizzi to hold onto it for a little bit. Hoadley was on his way to Montreal to collect a $100k that would then make the check good. Highly unlikely, as the check was written from a bank in which Hoadley held no account.
Maybe Pizzi should have been more aware of Hoadley’s past.
03:10
The tall and bulky 67 year old Hoadley was once referred alternatively as the Railroad King, Cotton King, and Transit Czar. Other projects include International Power Company, Manhattan Transit Company, the Bridgeport Projectile Company, American Locomotive Company, American and British Manufacturing Company, and still several more…
So many titles across varying fields might hint towards some trouble. Other references include stock manipulator. New York process servers refer to Hoadley as the most elusive man as he evades the law on several occasions.
03:46
Born in 1863 San Francisco, Hoadley starts out as a mechanic’s apprentice then finds he has other skills leading to him build a multi-million dollar fortune more than once. Before age 25, he is the president of the Wheelock Engine Company.
In 1893, Hoadley gets notice for building cable roads in Los Angeles and planning the machinery at the famous Chicago’s World Fair’s Columbian Exposition.
His business acumen gains him prestige on Wall Street and considered in the leagues of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and John Jacob Astor.
04:20
A legend in his own time, on November 21, 1905, Hoadley had one of those rare mythical moments when he makes within 5 minutes nearly $8 million dollars (or $269.8 million in 2023) yielding a personal profit of $1 million (or $33.7 million in 2023), and by the day’s end made nearly 4 times that value on the New York Cotton Exchange Trade. The trick? When it was learned that the cotton supply would be far shy of the 10 million bales projected, speculations went wild as cotton values soared from 5 cents to 12 cents. Hoadley flipped from buying to selling and made headlines around the world.
Hoadley grabs control of the cotton pool then goes on to assure farmers he would maintain a 7.5 or 12 cent rate per pound depending on the location of the report and would control the trade for the next few months. Alas the numbers are best reported from the United Kingdom as 200,000 GBP in 5 minutes with 800,000 GBP by the end of the day (in essence for 2023 124.45 billion GBP or $150.4 billion USD).
05:36
In another noted exchange, in a single day Hoadley reportedly loses 600k pounds (or 93.3 billion GBP or $112.8 billion USD in 2023).
Before the cotton explosion, 1905 had not been a stellar year. In October 1905, Hoadley appears in court claiming his philanthropy was flim flammed by a fellow experimenter out of $1 million. The court case involves money loaned to his business partner Cyrus Judson in relation to $65k loaned by brokers in 1902. Another associate Joseph Leiter is also sued in the case. Only weeks later in early November 1905, Hoadley testifies in court that he lost another $3 million dollars when stock prices tumbled at International Power. That deal almost involved Cornelius Vanderbilt III and John Jacob Astor IV buying stock for $124 a share, but those deals fell through shortly before the plummet.
06:36
These would not be the only incidents in Mr. Joseph Hoadley’s fairly colorful life. They are long and twisted, so lets make them a little fun.
December 1888 – he marries Fannie Curtis.
July 1889 – he gives a little razzle dazzle praise to a dozen workmen in Los Angeles then skips out to the East before paying their last week’s wages.
May 1909 – in New York’s Supreme Court, Hoadley undergoes more legal action over several patents in a claim by Elizabeth Prall, the widow of an inventor of an air compressor motor used in horseless carriages and liquid steam used in powering railroads. That lawsuit dates as far back as 1899, when there are allegations that Hoadley illegally claimed the patents for William E. Prall, Jr.’s inventions. Joseph Leiter is another associate named in these dealings.
07:27
By the 1910s, Hoadley adds the head of Hoadley-Knight Coal Mining Machinery Company to his list of titles.
June 1912 – Baltimore Trust Company sues to recoup money form inflated stock gauging from Hoadley, then President of Alabama Consolidated Coal and Iron Company. Hoadley comments, “When I get through this proposition, I’ll know enough to join the top-notchers.” Hoadley commends the Baltimore financial community’s acumen as superior to the relative New York Wall Street babies. It seems Hoadley will prefer the easier New York market afterwards for business.
08:03
In 1916, after another case Hoadley is sentenced to Ludlow Street Jail, but he escapes. Police stake out his home for several days until one detective forces his way in against the servants barring the door. Hoadley and his Mrs. are then located at the nearby Netherlands hotel still living a fairly good life as Mrs. Fannie Hoadley is decked in jewels and heading for the opera when apprehended. Amazingly, they will return to their longstanding address for a few more years.
February 1918, Hoadley loses a lawsuit and ordered to pay nearly $1 million to American and British Manufacturing Company, $500k in wrong payments eh-hem today we might say embezzlement?? and an additional $500k in damages (for inflation perspective that’s overall $19.8 million and partial $9.9 million respectively in 2023).
08:57
Between 1908 – 1919, Hoadley and his wife Fannie Hoadley delay paying the mortgage, fall into foreclosure 8 times, always managing to repurchase the home at a percentage of its value to default again, until final eviction in June 1919 after Fannie’s death, a potential suicide.
September 1920 – Hoadley and his brother Alfred Hoadley sue former business partner Joseph Leiter, a one time stock plunger (meaning speculator) for loans of $669k made back in 1902 (by 2023 that would be $10 million based on a 1920 amount or $23 million if 1902).
09:40
August 1925 – Hoadley is accused of playing British financiers as suckers through his defunct New York and Brooklyn Railroad Company, which had been closed for the Manhattan Transit Company. He intended to use the former as a funnel to hide profits for the latter.
July 1927 – he is brought again to court for defaulting on payment over 14 years later against a judgement won against him by John Drexel in a suit that began as far back as 1911.
It sounds like Hoadley’s sentence of 3 months in a workhouse is quite a savvy move.
After which he then mysteriously disappears once again into a real unknown.
Only Hoadley won’t be the only millionaire undergoing investigation.
10:23
The ongoing plight of the Great Depression causes great anxiety and eyes are focusing on those that seemed to profit off of it and if not had the most control and influence over the economy. Starting on March 4th, 1932, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking and Currency begins investigating shady Wall Street dealings and tax evasion. Former New York district attorney and prosecutor Ferdinand Pecora will leave private practice and lead some of the more famous hearings. Targets will include JP Morgan, Jr., New York Stock Exchange President Richard Whitney, investment bankers Otto Kahn, Charles Mitchell, speculator Jesse Livermore, and even E.T. Stotesbury.
Storm clouds gather on the horizon, but there are other dangers that might be even closer than they appear.
11:15
[Music – The Younger Generation by Ray Noble, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s]
Section 2 – History & Historiography
[Music Fade Out]
11:30
Scams and problems abound wherever abundant wealth comes into play. But don’t be fooled by illusions, darker elements lie below bright and shiny surfaces.
On April 14, 1919, Fannie Hoadley is found dead in the maid’s room. Her death is caused by asphyxiation from illuminating gas, meaning the lighting fixtures without a light but still blowing gas sort of like a blown out pilot light.
Fannie’s body is quickly embalmed before an examination thwarting further investigation. Defending his wife, Hoadley claims it *is an accidental death. At first, her death is considered a suicide but later changed since there is no evidence showing intent. Still most references say suicide. A few whispers hint murder.
12:19
Either way Fannie must have been exhausted by their constant chaotic life. A seemingly opulent life almost cost free for nearly a decade, they live in a Beaux Arts style mansion built in 1900. Five stories tall, 26 feet wide, a four story bowed bay with a stone balustrade, two elevators, one hidden and leading to a secret exit…
They barely pay for the residence in a constant shell game. How? The home at 18 East 82nd Street has had multiple litigations against it often situations with foreclosures. At least 8 times, Fannie would purchase the home back at 10% the sale price during the foreclosure. In at least 3 situations, she had another person purchase the property for her to buy back, then she defaults on the remaining payments. This time it will be the final eviction with a new independent buyer. Supposedly, Fannie kept the situation a secret from her husband and their live-in daughter Mrs. Grace Hoadley Wade.
13:24
Oh right, not sure about Grace, but Mr. Hoadley is definitely no innocent party. Several cases and process servers have gone after him, and he evades their reach from a secret elevator and possibly a tunnel. After Fannie’s death, Hoadley also claims there was an arrangement for zero *rental payment. By June 1919, the court upholds the eviction, and Hoadley is forced to move.
By the 1930s, he will once again be listed as living at 18 East 82nd Street. Seriously, not sure if that is a misprint or another lie but somehow that place seems to be his anchor point. After his sentence to the workhouse, Hoadley seemingly disappears into oblivion after 1932.
14:10
Now I must admit my own lack of knowledge that the United States had its own workhouses. Typically, I think of that situation with literary genius Charles Dickens scarred by his childhood working off his father’s debts. I thought such a system was left behind in the United Kingdom and didn’t cross the Atlantic Ocean. However several workhouses are also present in Massachusetts, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere from the 19th into the mid-20th Century.
14:38
The city of New York purchases Blackwell Island in 1828 to relieve the overcrowding at Bellevue in Manhattan. Throughout the 19th century, several complexes would serve for incarcerating individuals. Blackwell would host a lunatic asylum, 2 penal institutions, a half dozen hospitals, an almshouse for the poor, and a workhouse. It has a special nickname Damnation Island by its residents, and by the 1930s Welfare Island to the public at large. Today it is called Roosevelt Island.
Almshouses serve widows, the old and infirm, disabled, and children. In contrast, workhouses are for minor criminals and offenses, such as vagrancy, intoxication, disorderly conduct, and able bodied poor. It was believed work would cure many ills of the poor, yes poverty was considered a curable disease with work as medicine. A sentence to a workhouse is typically less than 10 days but could go as long as a 1 to 6 months and in rare circumstances 1 year. More well to do offenders would pay a fine, while the poor would go to the workhouse.
15:47
A female wing will be added to the workhouse within a year of construction. In the 19th Century, nearly 15 females arrive every day. One recurring female inmate Kate Blackwell named for her ongoing island residence returns again for a 133 day sentence for drunkenness in 1932.
By spring of 1936, Blackwell closes, and the last of its inmates are sent to the newly formed Rikers Island. Over time, Blackwell’s buildings collapse into ruin with overgrown vines and crumbling walls.
16:19
Inside Manhattan, Ludlow Street Jail serves as a federal jail mostly used to house inmates before extradition to other jurisdictions and debtors imprisoned by creditors. Ludlow closes in 1927, and in mid-1928 the location reopens as a school Seward Park Campus with famous alumni Tony Curtis, Estelle Getty, Walter Matthau, Jerry Stiller, Luis Guzman, Keenen Ivory Wayans, New York Mets pitcher Edwin Almonte, Nobel chemist Julius Axelrod, and executed spy Julius Rosenberg.
16:50
Blackwell and Ludlow would share one infamous prisoner – New York political powerhouse Tammany Hall’s Boss Tweed. Tweed is arrested for bilking millions from New York and sentenced to 12 years at Blackwell in 1874, then skips out to Spain for two years, and brought back in 1876. He would occupy as his prison cell the warden’s suite at Ludlow for two years until his death at age 55 in 1878.
17:17
However once again, dire economic conditions like the Great Depression cause pressure on politicians to reform financial practices. Hence on March 4th, 1932, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking and Currency delves into investigating Wall Street dealings and tax policies. Hearings begin on April 11, 1932. Fairly quickly, two chief counsels are removed for ineffectiveness, and a third quits balking at the lack of broad subpoena power.
17:45
By January 1933, former New York district attorney and prosecutor Ferdinand Pecora – formerly involved in the Broadway Butterfly Murder case with a Stotesbury in-law suspect (Episode 29: Taxman Always Collects) and later the James Donahue and Jessie Woolworth Donahue’s jewel theft case (Episode 57: Covered Losses), is brought out of private practice to investigate the Wall Street crimes and get to the bottom behind what caused the 1929 Crash.
No one is immune from scrutiny. The investigation will last for two years into 1934 and lead to several reforms.
Millions might delay consequences, but only for so long. Karma has a wicked sense of humor and justice.
18:29
[Music – Turkish Towel by The Savoy Havana Band, Album Fascinating Rhythm]
Section 3 – Contemporary & Personal Relevance
[Music Fade Out]
18:47
Have you ever been betrayed by a trusted person? How many times have you tried to catch someone in a lie, for which they just continue to lie even doubling and tripling down? Ever been in a situation where someone endlessly and perpetually lies to you?
In recent modern scenarios, the increasingly popular term gaslighting is used when someone misdirects, denies, or attempts to bend the truth as witnessed or experienced by the victim.
There are so many situations where someone might lie. I think the hardest part is when you think you have caught them, and they continue to be slippery. I dealt with this the most during the long demise of my marriage. My secret drug addicted ex husband continuously lied about so many things. It got to the point it just didn’t matter anymore.
19:35
Many times in his twisted logic, I think he felt that if I believed the lie then maybe it would be true or would become true. He was going to get better and make it up to me, but he never told me the truth of his problem – a drug addiction. I was left endlessly drowning as he pulled me further down into despair. Situations were never getting better nor changing. There was never an up, only more spiraling downwards.
Breaking free was the best thing that ever happened to me. Had I known the truth, I could have exited sooner. And now, whenever I hear anyone rambling on and insisting their trustworthy honest selves, my radar goes into overdrive.
20:18
Hoadley is one of those perpetual liars, but he basically is about pure unadulterated greed with his methods being different forms of theft and unscrupulous business tactics. What interests me more are the tales that play with the heart and soul with more convoluted and entangled psychologies.
Our heirs and heiresses not only battle greed, but the primary method is always through the heart. Scams, lies, and betrayals are in abundance more than the fortunes themselves.
20:48
Love hearing tales on historical topics and people? Then check out THE HISTORY DETECTIVE by Kelly Chase. This Australian educational history podcast has a fun time exploring topics and features special material supplements for teachers. Listen to its trailer –
Hi, This is Kelly Chase, and you are listening to History Detective, and today I’m giving you a sneak peek to what is coming up in Season 4. This season I have an incredibly strong female cast. We will start with Lydia Kompe the leader of the Black Sash movement during South African Apartheid. We will meet suffragette Rosa Billinghurst who had a physical disability. We will also meet the women who protested for peace during the Cold War and the mother of Australian archeology Isabel McBryde. I’ll also introduce you to some awesome Aussie women from the Frontier Wars, World War I, and World War II. That’s Tarenorerer the First Nation’s Warrior, Annie Wheeler mother of all Queenslanders, and Nora Heysen the first Australian war artist, and we will round off the season with none other than Joan of Arc. I hope you can join me to meet this incredible bunch of women. And guess what?… In case you were wondering, the songs are back, so every episode will have new original music. This Kelly Chase one the case… Music lyrics….
I recently listened to Case 35: Livia Drusilla, the last wife of Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus, mother of Emperor Tiberius, grandmother of Emperor Claudius, great grandmother of Emperor Caligula, and great great grandmother of Emperor Nero.
Links to HISTORY DETECTIVE in the notes and transcript sections.
https://historydetectivepodcast.com/
23:58
March 13th, 2023 is the 130th Anniversary of the original Waldorf Hotel opening, the beginning of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel empire. Come check out my two webinars on the Waldorf-Astoria hotels returning to New York Adventure Club – Part 1 on Monday, March 13th, 2023 and Part 2 on Monday, December 20th, 2023 at 8pm EST / 5pm PST. Weblinks are available at www.nyadventureclub.com and the News | Events section at asthemoneyburns.com. The fee is $10 each with one week access after.
Monday, March 13th, 8pm EST / 5pm PST – Waldorf Astoria Hotel Part 1: A New Standard of Luxury (pre-1929), Come learn more about the Astor family dispute behind the famous hotel and its construction as well as the hotel’s influence on luxury travel and fine dining. Connections to the Titanic as well as other events and famous people will also be explored. But all good things come to an end.
Monday, March 20th, 8pm EST / 5pm PST – Waldorf Astoria Hotel New York Part 2: Manhattan’s Grandest Hotel (1931-present), The second version of this fine luxury hotel comes during the dawn of new era which will bring new challenges and excitement. A lingering Astor family connection adds to the saga until a new family the Hilton dynasty rises and takes over. More celebrities and events will add to allure of this hotel. Finally, updates reveal the recent renovations, an auction, and the future for the third incarnation.
If you enjoy As The Money Burns, then please share, like, & subscribe.
Hook
23:41
[Music – My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Next when we return to AS THE MONEY BURNS…
The most famous kidnapping case of all time has a long reaching impact. Will the owner of a cursed jewel become another victim?
Until then…
Credits
23:59
AS THE MONEY BURNS is an original podcast written, produced, and voiced by Nicki Woodard, based on historical research. Archival music has been provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, check out their website at www.pastperfect.com.
Please come visit us at As The Money Burns via Goodpods, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Transcripts, timeline, episode guide, and character bios are available at asthemoneyburns.com.
24:30
THE END.