“You can hear the girls declare, he must be a millionaire. You can hear them sigh and wish to die. You can see them wink the other eye at the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.”
- A popular British music hall tune of the early 20th century
It is January 1902 and Charles Michael Schwab is king of the world. Eschewing the exclusive Blue Train that carried most of the titled and wealthy between Paris and the South of France, the newly named president of the United States Steel Corporation, the world’s first billion-dollar industrial combination, had purchased a powerful automobile in the French capital and was driving at a breakneck pace to Monte Carlo, a distance it would cover in the incredible time of 18 hours. Sources do not say what make the car was, or if Schwab did the driving or a French chauffer was at the wheel. It may have been a Panhard-Levassor that by 1902 had won some significant long distance auto races in France, particularly one between Paris and Marseille. Panhard-Levassor was one of the largest and most profitable car makers before World War I. The artist Claude Monet purchased a Panhard in 1901. His chauffer was a young man named Sylvain. With Schwab in his party were his wife, Emma Eurana Dinky Schwab, and several friends. Their reactions have not been recorded. Perhaps they took the train and met him there.
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29 сен 2024
