Category: Businessmen

George Graham Rice, born Jacob Simon Herzig on June 18, 1870, in Manhattan, New York, to furrier Simon Herzig and his wife Anna, rose from a background of petty crime to become one of America’s most notorious stock promoters and swindlers of the early 20th century. Dubbed the “Jackal of Wall Street” by regulators and the press, Rice specialized in hyping worthless mining stocks—particularly in Nevada’s boom-and-bust camps—through aggressive advertising, celebrity endorsements, and mail-order schemes. He parlayed early gambling and forgery convictions into a career that defrauded investors of millions during the Goldfield, Bullfrog, and Rawhide mining rushes, while authoring a candid autobiography that detailed his exploits. His life exemplified the golden age of American con artistry, blending audacity, publicity stunts, and political maneuvering until repeated imprisonments and declining health ended his schemes. He died on October 24, 1943.

Early Life and Criminal Beginnings (1870–1903)

Rice grew up in a middle-class New York family but developed a gambling habit that led to his first conviction in 1890: stealing from his father’s business to fund betting. He served two years at Elmira Reformatory. Released, he reoffended; in 1895, he was convicted of forgery for further thefts from his father and sentenced to four years at Sing Sing Prison. While incarcerated, he adopted the name “George Graham Rice,” borrowing it from fellow inmate Willie Graham Rice (or a similar alias). After release, he briefly worked as a reporter for the New Orleans Times-Democrat before returning to New York. There, he founded the Maxim & Gay Company, a racetrack tip sheet and bet-by-mail operation that attracted thousands of subscribers. The U.S. Post Office Department shut it down for mail fraud, leaving Rice broke once again.

Nevada Mining Boom and Rise as Promoter (1904–1910)

In 1904, Rice relocated to the booming Goldfield, Nevada, gold camp, where he established the Nevada Mining News Bureau—an advertising service that promoted mining stocks in which he held personal stakes. He quickly immersed himself in the frenzy of Nevada’s mining excitement. In 1906, he co-sponsored (with promoter Tex Rickard) the legendary 42-round world lightweight boxing championship between Joe Gans and Battling Nelson in Goldfield, one of the most publicized fights of the era.

Partnering with saloon owner and politician Larry Sullivan, Rice launched the L.M. Sullivan Trust Company, a brokerage that sold shares in numerous Nevada and California mining ventures. He aggressively promoted properties in towns including Rhyolite, Bullfrog, Wonder, and Greenwater (California), many of which proved nearly worthless. The company collapsed in the Panic of 1907. Rice then moved to Reno, publishing the Nevada Mining News and forming Nat C. Goodwin & Company with vaudeville star Nathaniel Carl Goodwin. Together they promoted the Rawhide, Nevada, mining district. As a publicity stunt, Rice arranged for best-selling novelist Elinor Glyn to visit Rawhide, generating national headlines. Through B.H. Scheftels & Company, he also manipulated shares of the Ely Central Copper Company.

Legal Troubles, Autobiography, and Continued Schemes (1911–1920s)

In 1911, Rice pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges related to his stock promotions and served one year in prison. During his incarceration, he wrote his autobiography, My Adventures with Your Money (1913), which was serialized in Adventure magazine. The book offered a colorful, unapologetic account of his life as a promoter, candidly describing how he catered to the public’s speculative instincts during the great Nevada mining booms of 1905–1908. Upon release, he resumed operations through a series of newsletters—including Industrial and Mining Age, Mining Financial News, Wall Street Iconoclast, and Financial Watchtower—pushing mining and oil stocks to a national audience.

One of his later promotions involved Broken Hills, Nevada. In 1920, English prospectors Joseph Arthur and James Stratford sold their modest silver-lead claims (which had produced about $68,000 over six years) to Rice. Using his Reno-based Fidelity Finance & Funding Company, he formed the Broken Hills Silver Corporation (capitalized at 3 million shares) and stacked its board with prominent Nevadans, including State Treasurer Ed Malley and State Bank Examiner Gilbert C. Ross. Rice ran lavish newspaper advertisements claiming endorsements from Governor Emmet D. Boyle and mining experts, hyping rich ore discoveries and even floating bids to host a Jack Dempsey heavyweight title fight. He sold roughly $162,000 in stock and invested some funds in camp infrastructure, but the corporation owed $380,000 to Rice’s own finance company. It soon collapsed under debt, triggering investigations that contributed to further legal woes. By the mid-1920s, Broken Hills—once briefly bustling—faded back into the desert.

In 1920, Rice was convicted of grand larceny. His most infamous later scheme targeted the Idaho Copper Company; in 1928 he was sentenced to four years in the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta for using the mails to defraud investors (some accounts place final sentencing proceedings into 1929). While imprisoned, he reportedly shared a cell with Al Capone. In 1931, he was tried for tax evasion but acquitted.

Later Years and Legacy

Even after repeated convictions, Rice continued issuing promotional newsletters into the 1930s and early 1940s, though his influence waned. He occasionally capitalized on his notoriety by naming companies after himself (such as Rice Oil) and using front men in earlier years before operating more openly. Contemporary accounts and later historians portray him as a flamboyant yet ruthless figure who perfected high-pressure stock-tipping tactics that foreshadowed modern pump-and-dump schemes. A 2015 biography by T.D. Thornton, My Adventures with Your Money: George Graham Rice and the Golden Age of the Con Artist, revived interest in his life, comparing his scale and nerve to later fraudsters like Bernie Madoff.

Rice’s promotions contributed to the speculative frenzy that enriched a few but bankrupted thousands of small investors during Nevada’s early 20th-century mining booms. His story remains a cautionary tale of greed, gullibility, and the wildcat capitalism of the American West. No major monuments or museums commemorate him; his legacy survives primarily in ghost-town histories, court records, and the pages of his own unrepentant memoir.

Sources: This biography is drawn primarily from contemporary newspaper accounts, Rice’s autobiography My Adventures with Your Money (1913), and secondary sources including Wikipedia summaries cross-referenced with mining histories, the book by T.D. Thornton (2015), and specialized sites such as MiningSwindles.com and BackyardTraveler blog posts on Broken Hills. For further reading, consult Nevada’s Twentieth-Century Mining Boom by Russell R. Elliott or Thornton’s biography.

Locations Associated with George Graham Rice