impressed with the initial geological data from what was a rich gold area. Drilling tests and surveys went on throughout the spring of 1905, with Selfridge paying all the costs.
That summer the Selfridge family left to spend a season on the French Riviera. There, letters arrived from America requesting more money for equipment and wages. Then came the news that Selfridge had longed to hear. They had found gold at 190 feet – enough to send for assay, and enough to convince Selfridge that he was about to become very rich. Late in August, he settled his family at the Ritz in Paris, while he went to London on business. He had a meeting to attend.
At the age of 71, Marshall Field suddenly had a spring in his step and a smile on his face. He’d put a smile on the face of Europe’s most important jeweller’s too as he shopped for a sumptuous collectionof diamonds and pearls – presents for his new bride, Delia Caton. Mr and Mrs Arthur Caton were friends of Marshall Field who, it was always said, had long held a
tendre
for his neighbour’s attractive, elegant wife. When Arthur died in 1904, Field seized the moment and proposed to Delia. They sailed to England in July 1905 and were married on 5 September at St Margaret’s, Westminster. Selfridge’s trip to London was timed precisely so he could visit Field – and not just to congratulate him on his new marriage.
Two earlier biographies of Selfridge have claimed that he went to see his old boss with an audacious offer to take over the Chicago store. Nancy Koehn flatly rejects the idea: ‘Selfridge could never have raised that amount of money, and even if he could, Field would never have sold.’ However, the talk at the time was that Harry Selfridge had the support of the mighty J. P. Morgan himself in his planned acquisition, and that Field was sufficiently intrigued to agree to ‘look at’ his proposals. Whether Selfridge was looking at London in his own right, as he later claimed, or whether he was proposing an outpost of Marshall Field there, we’ll never know. But one way or the other, any hopes of doing business with Mr Field were about to be destroyed.
The newly-wed Fields returned to Chicago early in October that year, taking with them Marshall’s son, his wife Albertine and their young family. Also en route back to America were the Selfridge family. By the time they got home on 10 October, news had arrived that the gold mine was barren. What little gold there was would be too expensive to excavate. By the time the company was wound up, Selfridge had lost $60,000 or, in today’s money, just under $1,200,000.
In November, tragedy of a far greater kind struck the Field household when Field’s troubled son died in hospital from a gunshot wound to the stomach. Not unnaturally, the family claimed one of his guns had been discharged accidentally. Others said he had committed suicide, while the talk of the town was that he had been shot by one of the girls at the city’s most notorious brothel, the Everleigh Club. Owned by two genteel Kentucky sisters, Minna and Ada Everleigh,the brothel was the ultimate in luxury. The sisters had been just 21 and 23 when they opened their ‘house’, dedicated to servicing the desires of Chicago’s wealthy men. Ada did the hiring. ‘I talk with each applicant myself,’ she said proudly in the promotional brochure she circulated. ‘Girls must have worked somewhere before coming here – we do not take amateurs.’ Indeed they didn’t. The Everleigh Club girls were not merely beauties in ball gowns. They were expertly trained in the art of flattery, good conversation and even better sex, and several of them married extremely well. The Club had Silver and Copper Rooms for the mining kings, and the Gold Room was refurbished each year with real gold leaf. An ensemble of violin, cello, piano and, occasionally, a harp provided soothing music. The kitchen was run by superb chefs, and the cellar stocked with the finest champagne
That summer the Selfridge family left to spend a season on the French Riviera. There, letters arrived from America requesting more money for equipment and wages. Then came the news that Selfridge had longed to hear. They had found gold at 190 feet – enough to send for assay, and enough to convince Selfridge that he was about to become very rich. Late in August, he settled his family at the Ritz in Paris, while he went to London on business. He had a meeting to attend.
At the age of 71, Marshall Field suddenly had a spring in his step and a smile on his face. He’d put a smile on the face of Europe’s most important jeweller’s too as he shopped for a sumptuous collectionof diamonds and pearls – presents for his new bride, Delia Caton. Mr and Mrs Arthur Caton were friends of Marshall Field who, it was always said, had long held a
tendre
for his neighbour’s attractive, elegant wife. When Arthur died in 1904, Field seized the moment and proposed to Delia. They sailed to England in July 1905 and were married on 5 September at St Margaret’s, Westminster. Selfridge’s trip to London was timed precisely so he could visit Field – and not just to congratulate him on his new marriage.
Two earlier biographies of Selfridge have claimed that he went to see his old boss with an audacious offer to take over the Chicago store. Nancy Koehn flatly rejects the idea: ‘Selfridge could never have raised that amount of money, and even if he could, Field would never have sold.’ However, the talk at the time was that Harry Selfridge had the support of the mighty J. P. Morgan himself in his planned acquisition, and that Field was sufficiently intrigued to agree to ‘look at’ his proposals. Whether Selfridge was looking at London in his own right, as he later claimed, or whether he was proposing an outpost of Marshall Field there, we’ll never know. But one way or the other, any hopes of doing business with Mr Field were about to be destroyed.
The newly-wed Fields returned to Chicago early in October that year, taking with them Marshall’s son, his wife Albertine and their young family. Also en route back to America were the Selfridge family. By the time they got home on 10 October, news had arrived that the gold mine was barren. What little gold there was would be too expensive to excavate. By the time the company was wound up, Selfridge had lost $60,000 or, in today’s money, just under $1,200,000.
In November, tragedy of a far greater kind struck the Field household when Field’s troubled son died in hospital from a gunshot wound to the stomach. Not unnaturally, the family claimed one of his guns had been discharged accidentally. Others said he had committed suicide, while the talk of the town was that he had been shot by one of the girls at the city’s most notorious brothel, the Everleigh Club. Owned by two genteel Kentucky sisters, Minna and Ada Everleigh,the brothel was the ultimate in luxury. The sisters had been just 21 and 23 when they opened their ‘house’, dedicated to servicing the desires of Chicago’s wealthy men. Ada did the hiring. ‘I talk with each applicant myself,’ she said proudly in the promotional brochure she circulated. ‘Girls must have worked somewhere before coming here – we do not take amateurs.’ Indeed they didn’t. The Everleigh Club girls were not merely beauties in ball gowns. They were expertly trained in the art of flattery, good conversation and even better sex, and several of them married extremely well. The Club had Silver and Copper Rooms for the mining kings, and the Gold Room was refurbished each year with real gold leaf. An ensemble of violin, cello, piano and, occasionally, a harp provided soothing music. The kitchen was run by superb chefs, and the cellar stocked with the finest champagne
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