"The Witch of Wall Street by Hetty Green
Among the famous traders there are truly unique personalities who became famous for their extraordinary actions both in the currency markets and in everyday life. Someone became a multimillionaire in the blink of an eye through currency speculation, someone published millions of copies of bestselling books about currency, and someone collapsed the economy of an entire country in a day... Meanwhile, there are women among the "strongmen" in the field of finance. They are also extraordinary, surprising, and strong. One of these is Hettie Greene, "the most avaricious person in history," according to the Guinness Book of World Records. And some are inclined to regard this extraordinary lady as the most enigmatic person in American history.
Becoming a financial "monster
At one time the name of the "Wall Street Witch" was known to all from small to large. At the beginning of the last century, even the most distant from finance knew who Miss Green was. Moreover, her personality interested Hollywood movie makers, who made a movie about her. The events of World War II put Hetty aside for a while, but not for long. In the 70's of XX century, it again started to talk about it. And not in the most positive aspects. America was shocked to learn, for example, that the unimaginably rich "witch" had been sitting on oatmeal all her life, and that her son's leg had been amputated only because Mrs. Green had taken too long to find a treatment facility willing to provide the necessary treatment for free.
How did a lady who would have been the envy of Margaret Thatcher become a financial "monster" in the United States? In this context, the term "monster" refers to the woman's personal ambitions and behavior, rather than to her monetary transactions.
The story of Hetty Greene's rise relates to one of the most significant events in the history of the United States, once described by Theodore Dreiser. Namely, the Great Stock Market Panic of 1907. As a result of the enormous drop in the value of the shares of major companies, nine of the most powerful American banks declared bankruptcy. The collapse was evident. Wall Street, the world's main financial street, was threatened with complete "extinction. And yet here was a man with free capital. And his, or rather her, name was Hetty Green. Taking advantage of the situation, she drove almost all the most powerful traders into debt, making them directly dependent on her. Next, more. The woman began to buy mortgages on real estate around the country, the number of which numbered in the thousands. As a result, she became the rightful mistress of the vast tracts of land, as well as the owner of ... entire neighborhoods in many U.S. cities, particularly in Chicago. According to researchers, with this "imperial" scope Hetty led a Spartan lifestyle: lived in squalid cheap apartments, ate one oatmeal, dressed only in one single black dress and so on... Add here the story with an amputated leg son - and you get quite a reasonable nickname: "the witch of Wall Street.
The nickname was given to her by "mere mortals. But bankers were afraid to even think of calling her that. After all, Mrs. Green possessed the idol of every banker - a huge financial capital. And it was free. And constantly increasing.
Dreams of financial independence and prosperity
If anyone is interested in the childhood and adolescence of this person, we have to disappoint. Unlike Dreiser's bright characters (who lived at about the same time as Hetty), Henrietta Green did not shine, painting her childhood in the gloomy and gloomy colors of loneliness.
Born "Wall Street Witch" November 21, 1835 (some sources make her a year older, attributing the date of birth to 1834). Her parents were quite well-to-do people. Her father was a successful shipowner, and her mother came from a noble and wealthy family. Naturally, they wished to provide the girl with a brilliant future. Many wealthy families of the time preferred their children to be educated at the prestigious Boston or Harvard colleges. In fact, that was where Henrietta was "assigned. But she did not stay at either institution for long. The reason was that Hettie Greene had constant fights and scandals, which were "happily" combined with unsatisfactory studies. As a result, she had to finish a one-year accounting course at one of the schools, and then the road led the girl home.
But maybe it was better that way. She already showed phenomenal abilities in math and all kinds of calculations at the age of ten. The girl's favorite book was her father's ledger. Together with her father, she did all kinds of work, from counting profits to unloading goods. But secretly, Henrietta dreamed of moving to the "big city." Because, according to her own calculations, even if she slaughtered all the whales in the ocean, it would not be enough to become a financially independent and wealthy lady.
The thorny road to riches
The path to riches for the girl was difficult and rather long. Initially she sold her own fish, participated in the construction of shipyards, and organized whaling expeditions. She had no money of her own - her earnings went to her father's bank account.
After her father's death in 1864, the "witch character" that had hitherto manifested itself sporadically in Henrietta resurfaced. And it shocked even her closest relatives indescribably. And it all began because of the will. Her father left just over seven million dollars to his daughter. At the same time, he gave the entire whaling business to his brothers. The relatives were surprised, because according to family traditions money or property could not be left to only one person, since the business and the income from it belonged to the family as a whole. The brothers of the deceased expressed frank doubts about the authenticity of the will. The reaction of the future "most avaricious man in history" was unexpected. The girl declared that she would kill anyone who tried to challenge her right to her father's will. And almost at once she committed the act, which she thought would prove the seriousness of her intentions. She burned one of the docks belonging to her own family. For the whaling industry, which had been inherited by her uncles, it was a tangible blow: three fishing boats and more than a dozen boats were burned.
But that was not all. Soon Henrietta's beloved aunt dies. In her will, she leaves her fortune to all her relatives, dividing it into equal shares. The girl makes a copy of the will, which states that it is to her aunt that the entire fortune goes to her. With this paper she goes to court, which did not recognize the authenticity of this document. But that was not the aim of the "witch". The main thing the woman achieved was to get her relatives off her back, and now she could independently dispose of her father's fortune.
Thus the dream of living in a big city became a reality. Henrietta went on to become a successful Wall Street financier, a stockbroker and earning a reputation as a "mentally unstable" woman. If only because one of the "witch"'s favorite habits was going to eating places in order to plant a stone in the soup. Bolts were expensive, and they cost money. So the woman collected ordinary stones on the roads...
The "kind" aunt
We have already talked about "eternal oatmeal" in Mrs. Green's diet. As for drinks, the woman drank her food... with plain tap water. When there were occasional receptions, she "nobly" allowed herself to have a glass of raffinate...
Her "hospitality" was also reflected in her nephews. One day a cousin of the "mistress of the exchanges" brought her children to her: a ten-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy. Cousin asked to look after them during her absence: she and her husband were going to Europe for two months. Hetty Greene agreed. But when her sister returned from her trip, she was shocked: The once healthy children had stopped talking, could barely stand, and were constantly fainting in hunger. The "kind aunt," as it turned out, had not only restricted the children's nutrition, but had also put them to work in a laundromat on a 14-hour workday.
Even her husband and children did not consider Henrietta a spiritually intimate person. And the entrepreneur married only out of necessity. In the century before last, women did not have as many rights and freedoms as they do now. Even in the democratic States. To have an independent business, to influence economic processes, to control financial transactions, she had to have the support of her husband. Henrietta chose the rich, but totally "unintelligent" and gutless Edward Greene. And so she became Mrs. Green, formalizing a sham marriage. However, the children were also a kind of "fictitious". The "witch" considered them merely "plans for the future"...
Thus one of the richest (if not the richest) women in the United States at the time lived in complete seclusion from the world, with enormous resources, vast tracts of land, and even blocks of large cities at her disposal. No one wanted to know her-not her relatives, not her husband, not her children. It was only after her death in 1916 that her "popularity" would return, conditioned by her unattended inheritance...
Not only immediate relatives, but namesakes and acquaintances of those very namesakes lined up in front of the house of the deceased "Wall Street Witch" in the hope of seizing her fortune. But no one knew exactly how much was left after the woman's death. They found out when the name of Miss Green's only heir, Ned's son, was revealed. One hundred and twenty million dollars had been transferred to his account.
The son of the deceased subsequently squandered quite a large part of this sum. His sister, Henrietta's daughter, transferred the rest to a U.S. charity.