James Gordon Bennett was the proprietor of “The New York Herald” newspaper in the late nineteenth century and one of the richest men of the day.
Whilst he was widely admired for his philanthropy-he provided soup kitchens for New York's poor, donated $100,000 to an Irish relief charity and financed Stanley's expedition to find David Livingston-he was also known to be wildly eccentric, and often scandalised (and secretly delighted) polite society with his erratic and outrageous behaviour.
In 1877, he was forced to leave New York for France after an incident at a party at the home of his fiancée, wealthy socialite Caroline May. Being somewhat under the influence, he quite naturally confused the fireplace with the urinal and relieved himself into the fire in full view of the horrified guests! It was, of course the end of the engagement and the last straw for the May family, as this piece from The Perry Chief, January 1877, indicates:
"James Gordon Bennett was publicly horse-whipped this morning, by Frederick May, brother of the girl to whom Bennett was engaged to be married”
More Money than Sense?
Though he could be notoriously stingy, Bennett could be an outrageous tipper. One night he tipped the porter on the Paris / Monte Carlo train $14,000. The astonished porter, unable to believe his luck, promptly resigned from his post and opened a hotel.
One of Bennett's favourite pastimes was to run into a restaurant, whooping like a Red Indian, and pull the tablecloths off the tables, sending hot dinners, drinks, cutlery and crockery cascading over the startled guests. Having caused mayhem and had his fun, Bennett would then stuff a wad of cash into the manager's pocket and leave as if nothing had happened.
Then there was the time when, irritated by the large bundle of money that he habitually kept in his back pocket, he suddenly leapt out of his chair and threw the lot into the fire!
Perhaps the pinnacle of his extravagant eccentricity was reached one evening in Paris, (or according to some accounts Monte Carlo) when, wishing to dine at a particular favourite restaurant, he found that his preferred table was occupied by a group of drinkers. Not used to being thwarted, and getting hungrier by the minute, Bennett summoned the owner and, on the spot, bought the restaurant for the then enormous sum of one million francs.
He then ejected all the other diners, and settled down in the now empty restaurant to enjoy his favourite meal of mutton-chops. When he had finished, he handed the deeds to the waiter, explaining that he could have the restaurant if he wanted it on condition that there would always be a table for Gordon Bennett and mutton-chops would always be on the menu, prepared by the same chef. (Incidentally, the lucky waiter was one Ciro, who went on to become a world famous restaurateur in his own right.)
Gone, but Not Forgotten!
By the time of his death in 1918 Bennett was estimated to have spent over $40 million on his profligate gestures, but his extravagance wasn't totally wasted. Although there were many whose lives were changed by his unpredictable generosity, perhaps his most lasting legacy is the most surprising-his name has become part of the English language!
“Gordon Bennett!” is a common mild expletive in the UK, denoting exasperation or surprise (as in “Gordon Bennett! It's raining again!). Why and how the name of a rich New York eccentric became an English oath is open to conjecture, but one thing is certain.
The man himself would have been delighted!
