A . N . Hardy . Museum of the City of New York . F2012.58.83
August Belmont , Jr ., age 22 , in costume for a fancy dress ball .
a looser monetary policy . In a fiery speech at the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore in 1912 , Bryant , who remained a force in the party , accused Belmont and J . P . Morgan by name of conspiring with other moneyed interests to control elections . Belmont , a delegate , sat stewing in the audience . He was , in fact , wellconnected and influential in the businessfriendly side of the party , and his brothers , Perry and Oliver , each served in Congress as Democrats at different points .
Belmont ’ s temper and haughtiness could make him an unsympathetic figure . After one of his polo ponies escaped and injured a local boy on Long Island , the boy ’ s father confronted Belmont on a train platform demanding reimbursement for doctor ’ s bills . When the father wouldn ’ t take no for an answer , Belmont whacked him on the head with his cane .
He was also a control freak , scrutinizing minor subcontractors ’ bills for the subway and dictating the terms of employees ’ free subway passes . Even Belmont ’ s loving second wife complained about his “ overconcern with details ,” as well as his habit of interrupting her lunches with lady friends by sending messages asking if she ’ d read this or that article he deemed important .
But the “ little , dapper man … with a flower in his buttonhole ” had a sense of showmanship and a playful side . When told that the Italian immigrant operating a subway inspection train for dignitaries might not speak English , Belmont turned to the worker and said , “ All aboard-a !”
For a summer garden party at Newport , Rhode Island , Belmont hired Harry Houdini . Belmont the impresario insisted on accompanying the stunt performer out to one of the banker ’ s boats anchored just offshore . There , bound with ropes , handcuffed and placed in a box , Houdini was lowered into the Atlantic waters as the guests watched “ breathlessly ” from the lawn . Of course , Houdini escaped safely , as he always did .
Belmont relished his social life , throwing dinner parties for 48 in Newport , entertaining on his 85-foot , 20-knot steam yacht and dressing up for the over-the-top costume balls that were the rage among Manhattan ’ s elites in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . When he “ felt particularly expansive , he would drop in at Walter T . Smith ’ s turtle shop in Front Street near Fulton Market , pick out a few hundred terrapin from the tanks and send them to friends .”
From his father , a famous racehorse owner , Belmont inherited a passion for everything equine . The son bred horses at his stables in Kentucky and raced them successfully in America and England . At a dinner with King George V at Leopold de Rothschild ’ s estate near London in 1913 — on the eve of a big race where Belmont ’ s horse Tracery placed first — the monarch inquired how many horses Belmont owned . “ Sire , I never count them for fear my conscience would trouble me ,” Belmont replied .
The Belmont Stakes purse was established by the father . The son built the grand Belmont Park racetrack on Long Island and named it for his father . For years , August Jr . headed the Jockey Club , which controls Thoroughbred breeding and racing . His stables bred Man o ’ War , perhaps the most famous of all-American studs .
And then there was the real estate . Amid the financial crisis of 1893 – 95 , he shelled out an estimated $ 775,000 ( more than $ 20 million in today ’ s dollars ) for a large corner plot on Fifth Avenue at 81st Street and a new mansion . The scale of his holdings nearly overwhelmed his second wife , Eleanor Robson , a well-known actress who married the widower in 1910 :
I was transplanted from a little house which Mother and I owned and operated with one do‐all , care‐for‐all
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