| Show I t 1 THO HO has left the greatest American Ameri- Ameri i can fortune Suppose the tho man manin manu in u m the the street were asked the question Nhat what hat nameS names would auld conjure up the thought thought of multi multi millions multi millions millions no no of millions in millions in in his mind Vanderbilt Van- Van Astor Morgan Gould Harriman Harrin Harri- Harri man nan n or Sage No none o of these The Theman's Theo o mans man's ans an's first name was Lamon and his riddle initial initial V Does that help my my toward the answer Well here t is tl'S HARKNESS HARK ESS Lamon n V. V Harkness who Iwho died on Ian lan 17 1915 at s San Benito nty California left the m mightiest that the courts of- of this country lave lave a W a ever been c called upon upon to ateI ate ate K te B. B Cl I I estimate the value a of the Harkess Hark Hark- ess es estate at says Willam Willam Wilm Wil- Wil m lam lam W. W Wingate Wing special specia counsel of lie he Comptroller of the State of New Nework n Pork ork rk William H. H Vanderbilt left I f t tr t r Ar Y x a QI 00 wf t 0 tw ill 1 t r o s s. s 1 1 e U Si 4 y Y 00 fl fl I 00 1 1 1 00 1 1 I i i f The Harkness country house at Walnut Hall Donerail near Lexington Ky I c 90 J J. J P. P Morgan Jay less than Sage and stor about the same as Gould and Harkness L L. L V. V It was ado ade In Standard Oil L. L V V. Harkness as the second largest holder in that iry 7 melon of melons second melons second only to toe e e super super super-Croesus Croesus John D D. D Rockefeller self greater than the other Rocke- Rocke ller or the late HH H H. Rogers Pagers or the alt att estate r a rr M dence deuce to prove that Mr Ir Harkness held his residence here lIt the estate has hasto hasto hasto to pay New York Its inheritance tax It will amount to 7 per cent of New NewYork's NewYork's Yorks York's entire income and will materially material material- ly reduce the a amount to be raised from taxpayers by other ether forms torms of taxation S. S V. V Harkness was one of the tile first oil men of Ohio Soon to join forces with John Rockefeller when he lie was branching out as a refiner of petroleum petrol petrol- eum was the same Mr Harkness They became associates then friends crt Qt was the time Limo eten hen Standard Oil on was In Its swaddling clothes The J t. t j- j Th TIr 0 ir t i 1 l j j L. L Great st Fortune Ever Left in America l. l great John D D. had little more than his The R Remarkable bl e r won well-won reputation for dor l or m meeting his obligations ti with th promptness and cert C Career a are r e er e o 0 of a w J f tude Some of the Standards Standard's plants M had bad ad burned down Sir Rockefeller was Super Million e rI n- n M A very much distressed and he sought a lire ire ire W Who ho Ben Be Be- tai out u h his is friend Harkness 44 ilie 1 H e took i in n the situation without gan an n as a Clerk r a any explaining on my part says Mr a Rockefeller In his memoirs me mein fi He in aL a Lillie rf Hard simply heard fueard what I d had to say He lie h v Y was a man of very few R words rods r Ware Store d an and arA All AU 11 right J. J D. D s Ill I'll 11 give you r all allIve t 0 t 4 I Ive I've got This w was as all aU 1 h he e said but I L La Later a f ler er L Loaned oane d i went ho home me that night relieved of z l f to ooh John T h 1 n 4 anxiety M Money ef r 0 JO n t 1 Right Bight then and there thero the elder Harkness Hark Hark- D D. R Rockefeller ocee ller n e ness got got in right L L. V. V Harkness and C. C W W. Harkness i who died the other day S S. V. V Harkness's Harkness's Hark- Hark S. S ness's Hesss SOns sons who were half brothers took his place In Standard Oil but there was little for ifor them to do do Stan Standard Y dard Oil runs itself rte For twenty five years past No 20 Broadway B By Y seldom saw L. L V V. Harkness Hark Hark- Reginald emald r ness not ness not even a director E. E or an officer All he had to do was to draw his Foster LAMON lON n. n V V. V HARKNESS HARKNE SS dividends and nut put the Yet the name of L L. V. V Harkness means nothing to the everyday world nowhere outside of the higher atmosphere atmosphere at at- of Inside finance would It be often spoken Horsemen know It and yachtsmen but for every time during his life that the late Mr Harkness Harkness Harkness Hark Hark- ness was mentioned the name of hisson his hisson son Bon Harry S. S Harkness has been blazoned twenty times Harry rac raced d automobiles and took his life in his hands when he me es essayed the aviators aviator's art I looked for the late multimillionaires multimillionaire's multi million aires aire's office at fourth Street and Fifth Avenue Never heard of him said aid the elevator starter In the build Ing on the northwest corner he he asked the dispenser of information information information tion in the these second ond sky scraper I visited his business At Fifth Avenue on the southeast corner I found the name not in the directory of the building but In small lettering far down in the lower corner of the thedoor thedoor thedoor i door Room 70 That haj little sign means much to New NewYork NewYork ow York State State possibly In transfer trans trans- fer ter taxes The I State tate is using it in evi- evi vi- vi millions he couldn't spend into other dividend corners and so s-o increasing his wealth in geometric ratio As for dor being being being be be- ing a power in the world of business or finance that was the last thing L. L V. V Harkness millionaire cared about ab s He He didn't care about anything buthis but buthis buthis his horses borses says Harry Harkness today today to to- day Mr Harkness died at sixty Willoughby Ohio was his birthplace but ut he moved at sixteen to Wauseon Ohio His d first job jab was was clerk in a hardware store Grown up he bought a ranch near Eureka I Ivan Ilan where his three children Harry lHarry Lela and Myrtle MyrtIe were born Then the family moved to Kansas City soon after 1880 1850 18 0 and he I became interested in banks In New NewYork NewYork York after 1890 they dw dwelt at the comparatively modest hotel Grenoble Mrs l Harkness died diM in 1905 and Mr Harkness shook the dust of If New York off his feet spending his winters in California and the the rest of the year an Kentucky Sometimes ho went abroad on his yacht i II IL for which he hd paid and visited strange places South places South America Labrador and such Once he ventured within miles mUes of the North Pole I wouldn't give this front yard remarked Mr 11 Harkness one ono day for forthe forthe the whole State of California He said this to one of his retainers at Walnut Hill Icy Ky his princely place near Lexington The manse was bunt built in 1807 by a Louisiana planter named who sold slaves on the shaded sycamore lawn but L L. V. V Harkness turned It into a ahome ahome ahome home for dor the finest horses in the the world world 1400 1400 o of them all blooded mostly of the famous Wilkes Hamble Ramble Ramble- tonian cross I He Elie began Improving the place about twenty five years ago One by Iby one he ho added eighteen farms until he held clear title to acres of the best I blue grass land In Kent Kentucky's fertile Stables of tho Harkness acre farm in m the grass co country in in forty miles of board fence rJ J Ya 1 I j I l L r ijo 1 t 1 J I 1 t. r W I I j I I heart together with more anore than 1300 I sheep and mules and work workhorses horses And his pride was San Franc Francisco the wondrous animal worth more than any horse in lin tho United States Mr Harkness used Bused to say proudly except Harvester and which ho he bred also for which tho the Russian Government offered only to tobe be ho refused To stock that farm was Mr Ir Harkness's Harkness's Hark Hark- ness's great greatest st joy He thought nothing nothing noth ing of buying a 13 hundred horses in a single day Once he bought worth of hor horses es in an hour at Madison Square Garden Now New York His pets roamed the splendid paddocks unI un un- housed even in midwinter with the brightest of eyes and the tile glossiest of y i A c j fl S 'S i t 1 coats Tho The st stables were superb and forty miles o of board oard fence enclosed it all But nut New York only know L L. V V. Harkness Harkness Harkness Hark Hark- ness by his occasional visits to the Astoria Waldorf-Astoria or the St. St Regis S. S V. V Harkness loft left nothing like ISo So a very natural question question ques ques- tion lion Is How did L L. V. V Harkness who who never speculated peculated and hardly ever did dida a days day's business roll loll up this tremendous does dous estate The like answer is is die He never rolled it up pup it rolled itself up There Is no guesswork about the estate es es- tate tate Mr Wingate was not merely lathering fathering a hope hape when he put but it at The attorneys for tor or the estate say it Is la not one quarter of that J re t t 4 f W J sum Every share share and and It is all in insecurities insecurities securities e except opt the New York house and the Easthampton summer villa and Walnut Halland Hall and a few dew parcels parcels- has been listed and In a weighty typewritten typewritten typewritten type type- written document is on file with the tha Surrogate x of f New York Nor was there any trouble In toting up the various arious items All his stocks and bonds all this his deeds everything with an entity was In one place in New York City Here the methodical Mr Harkness kept his millions and the document listing them List of contents in Vault A of Vault IV of the New York Produce Exchange Safe De Deposit and Storage Company Continued e on an Inside p Page Pape ge r r. i I |
