Post by Gay Titan on Jul 11, 2008 11:59:59 GMT
I work for Chase Banks and this is on our company homepage.
*****
Exactly 204 years ago today, one of the company's founders fought the most notorious duel in U.S. history.
In 1799, U.S. statesmen Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton helped establish the Manhattan Water Company in New York City. Burr was one of the utility's original directors.
Within months, the company used some of its excess capital to form the Bank of the Manhattan Company—the earliest predecessor of JPMorgan Chase.
Dual rivalry
Hamilton had already founded the Bank of New York in 1784. As the oldest bank in the U.S., it had enjoyed a virtual monopoly. (He also founded the newspaper known today as the New York Post.)
The two men were political as well as financial rivals. Hamilton opposed Burr's bid for the presidency in 1800, and publicly urged people not to support him four years later when he ran for governor of New York State.
Claiming defamation of character, Burr—then Thomas Jefferson's Vice President—challenged Hamilton to a duel.
Borrowed guns
Hamilton borrowed a pair of pistols from his brother-in-law, Colonel John B. Church.
On the morning of July 11, 1804, the rivals and their seconds sailed across the Hudson from Manhattan to the dueling grounds in Weehawken, New Jersey.
The men fired and Burr was unharmed. Hamilton was mortally wounded and died the next day.
Burr was accused of murder, but the charges were either dismissed or resulted in acquittal. His political career destroyed, Burr quietly finished his term as vice president.
Deeply in debt, he ultimately wound up practicing law in New York—reportedly under his mother's maiden name, Edwards—and died of natural causes in 1836.
Historic artifacts
In 1930, Church's great-granddaughter sold the pistols to the Bank of the Manhattan Company. Nearly 50 years later, firearms experts discovered a hair-trigger mechanism in the guns that may have caused Hamilton to fire prematurely.
The concealed trigger was one of several characteristics that technically should have disqualified them for use in duels. »Learn more
JPMorgan Chase still owns the guns, along with several replicas. The originals are on display on an executive floor at the company's New York headquarters.
*****
*****
Exactly 204 years ago today, one of the company's founders fought the most notorious duel in U.S. history.
In 1799, U.S. statesmen Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton helped establish the Manhattan Water Company in New York City. Burr was one of the utility's original directors.
Within months, the company used some of its excess capital to form the Bank of the Manhattan Company—the earliest predecessor of JPMorgan Chase.
Dual rivalry
Hamilton had already founded the Bank of New York in 1784. As the oldest bank in the U.S., it had enjoyed a virtual monopoly. (He also founded the newspaper known today as the New York Post.)
The two men were political as well as financial rivals. Hamilton opposed Burr's bid for the presidency in 1800, and publicly urged people not to support him four years later when he ran for governor of New York State.
Claiming defamation of character, Burr—then Thomas Jefferson's Vice President—challenged Hamilton to a duel.
Borrowed guns
Hamilton borrowed a pair of pistols from his brother-in-law, Colonel John B. Church.
On the morning of July 11, 1804, the rivals and their seconds sailed across the Hudson from Manhattan to the dueling grounds in Weehawken, New Jersey.
The men fired and Burr was unharmed. Hamilton was mortally wounded and died the next day.
Burr was accused of murder, but the charges were either dismissed or resulted in acquittal. His political career destroyed, Burr quietly finished his term as vice president.
Deeply in debt, he ultimately wound up practicing law in New York—reportedly under his mother's maiden name, Edwards—and died of natural causes in 1836.
Historic artifacts
In 1930, Church's great-granddaughter sold the pistols to the Bank of the Manhattan Company. Nearly 50 years later, firearms experts discovered a hair-trigger mechanism in the guns that may have caused Hamilton to fire prematurely.
The concealed trigger was one of several characteristics that technically should have disqualified them for use in duels. »Learn more
JPMorgan Chase still owns the guns, along with several replicas. The originals are on display on an executive floor at the company's New York headquarters.
*****
;D