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Diamond Jim Brady

“The Gilded Age” was the name Mark Twain gave to the 1880s, ’90s and early 1900s. It described an America rich with resources and glittering with wealth and accomplishment. Yet, beneath this golden veneer, lay a society of poor, ill educated, hardworking people.

It was a time that gave rise to America’s early industrialists. Men like financier J.P. Morgan, railroad mogul Cornelius Vanderbilt, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, and oil baron John D. Rockefeller became the “Captains of Industry”.

It was an Era of Excess in which few had much and many had little. But it was also an era of unprecedented opportunity for those rugged individuals who, like novelist Horatio Alger’s heroes, managed through “luck and pluck” to lift themselves from poverty and anonymity to wealth, power and recognition.

James Buchanan Brady epitomized the self-made man of the Gilded Age. A rags-to-riches story, he reveled in his affluence and made it part of his personality and celebrity. He was a classic American success story, and no one ever enjoyed it more.

Jim Brady was born on New York’s Lower West Side in 1856. His parents were saloon keepers. He grew-up among hardworking, hard drinkin’, gamblin’, and grab-assin’ longshoremen and teamsters. Throughout life, Brady never drank alcohol and always conducted himself like a gentleman.

When he was 15, Jim got a job as a baggage handler at Grand Central Station. He soon worked his way up to Chief Clerk. It was here that he learned every aspect of railroad operation and management.

The railroad business was a major new American industry. When young Brady got an opportunity to get into sales and earn commissions, he jumped at the chance. He understood sales was a game where a sharp, knowledgeable young player could make a lot of money.

Eventually, dealing in capital railroad equipment and steel, Jim Brady became the foremost salesman of his era; the first Super Salesman of an emerging modern corporate America. At a time when Big Business was taking over the American Stage, he was among its most popular celebrities.

In the late 19th Century, diamonds were considered a more valuable asset than gold. Brady’s motto was, “If you’re going to make money - you’ve got to look like money”. Diamonds became his “calling card”, his identity; glittering proof of his success.

By the time he was 28, Brady was a diamondstudded salesman, among the best in the country. High-powered salesmen liked action, and poker was a favorite pastime. During one weekend poker marathon, someone asked, “Where’s Diamond Jim Brady?” Thereafter, it became his nickname, one that became synonymous with the kind of showy, ostentatious wealth that so characterized The Gilded Age.

Through commissions and stock tips, Brady amassed a fortune. He had hundreds of suits, more than fifty silk hats, a walking cane inlaid with gold and gems, and drove the first automobile on the streets of New York.

His personal jewelry collection included a different set of jewelry for every day of the month. Each set consisted of a diamond and gem covered watch ‘n chain, ring, scarf pin, necktie pin, cuff links, belt buckle, eye glass case, shirt studs, collar button, pen & pencil set. “Them that has ‘em, wears ‘em”, he boasted.

A large man, well over 300 pounds, Diamond Jim was famous for his prodigious capacity for fine food. One NY restaurateur declared, “He’s the best 25 customers I ever had.”

Brady’s taste for gambling was equal to his appetite for gems and gastronomy. He was a regular patron of the Waldorf- Astoria Men’s Cafe, the gathering place of business barons and Wall Street high-rollers. In an upstairs suite he played baccarat and poker. During one all-night baccarat game, more than a million dollars exchanged hands. Poker was customarily played with a $1,000 bet limit.

Like many wealthy Easterners, Brady toured the West in the 1880s. During a visit to the famous Bird Cage Opera House & Saloon, in Tombstone, Diamond Jim, businessmen Adolph Busch and William Randolph Hearst reportedly played in a poker game with Bat Masterson and “Doc” Holliday.

There’s a little hustle in every good salesman, or poker player. At an 1896 election eve party of the rich and powerful at a downtown NY hotel, Brady made a killing.

Throughout the evening he made over/under bets with members of both parties on state and congressional races. Occasionally, he excused himself to get more money to cover his wagers. Instead, he ran across the street to Republican Headquarters where a friend gave him the latest calculations of the returns as they came in. That evening Jim won $180,000.

Brady bought a brownstone in the City for $87,000 and spent almost a half-million fixing it up.

He was particularly proud of the Game Room. In its center stood an ornately carved, mahogany pool table made to order by Brunswick and illuminated by Tiffany lamps. In one corner was a handsome roulette table and there were several poker and faro tables. Chips were made of mother-of-pearl and onyx. One wall was reserved for darts and the other for a beautiful wet bar.

In 1917, at the age of 61, Brady was determined to be terminally ill. “I ain’t goin’ to die in no hospital. When I meet my maker I’m goin’ to be wearin’ a bright nightgown”, he declared. Days later, Diamond Jim Brady died at home in his sleep.

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