Ponzi's Scheme by Mitchell Zuckoff Read Free Book Online Page A

lightning, illuminating the dark places.”
    For six exhausting years, Edwin Grozier routinely worked eighteen- and twenty-hour days learning the newspaper business top to bottom. Pulitzer recognized and rewarded Grozier’s brains and drive with some of the most difficult jobs in New York newspapers. By twenty-eight, Grozier was city editor of the
World,
and six months later he was editor in chief and business manager of the
Evening World
and the
Sunday World.
He did so well boosting circulation that Pulitzer once handed him a bonus of one thousand dollars in gold coins. But Grozier wanted to captain his own ship. His fondest wish was to buy a newspaper in New York, but he did not want to break his bond with Pulitzer by competing against the
World.
    While vacationing in Boston in 1891, Grozier heard from friends that the
Post
was on the verge of collapse. It was everything he wanted, in a city he knew and loved, and just right for his meager price range. First, he sought out the
Globe
’s Taylor, who was second only to Pulitzer as a newspaper mentor. Grozier came to Taylor’s office seeking absolution.
    â€œIf you have even the slightest objection, General,” Grozier told him, “I won’t consider purchasing the paper.”
    Taylor placed a hand on Grozier’s shoulder. “Go ahead, Mr. Grozier. I don’t mind in the least.” Smiling, Taylor added, “If you can gather up any of the crumbs that fall from the
Globe
’s table, you’re welcome to them.”
    â€œThank you, General,” Grozier replied. “But I want to warn you that I shan’t be satisfied with crumbs. If I can, I shall go after the cake, too!”
    At first, even crumbs would have seemed a feast. Boston was crowded with newspapers. In addition to the
Post
and
Globe,
there were the
Daily Advertiser,
the
Evening Record,
the
Herald,
the
Journal,
the
Telegraph,
the
Transcript,
and the
Traveler.
Soon the
Boston American
would join the scene. While the
Post
had hemorrhaged money and readers, its competitors had grown entrenched with various constituencies—the Brahmins who ruled the city relied on the
Transcript,
for instance.
    Grozier was in danger of folding almost from the first edition. To purchase the paper, he had exhausted his life savings and plunged deep into debt. When he took the keys to the
Post
’s tired offices he was left with only one hundred dollars in cash. In the meantime, the thirty-two-year-old newspaper owner had a growing family to feed. In 1885, while working for Pulitzer, he had married Alice Goodell, the daughter of a prominent Salem, Massachusetts couple. When they returned from New York to Boston they had a four-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter.
    I n the days of larger-than-life newspapermen, Edwin Grozier seemed physically unfit for the job. One day, a young leather worker walked upstairs to the publisher’s second-floor office overlooking Washington Street. The leather worker stepped inside, hoping to be hired as a reporter despite his complete lack of qualifications for the job. He immediately thought he had entered the wrong office. He found the editor and publisher of the
Post
to be “a small, brownish man who sat at a large desk . . . just another undersized party, rather delicate and plaintive-looking, perhaps because he wore a straggly moustache, had a rug over his knees, and peered benevolently at me over the tops of his glasses.” The job applicant also might have noted that Grozier had close-set eyes, curtained by heavy lids.
    Yet Grozier would not have minded the unflattering description; he was modest by nature and had no interest in provoking awe, particularly among the reporters he sent scouring the city for scoops. Something about the young man appealed to Grozier, and he offered him a job at eighteen dollars a week. It was the start of a remarkable writing career for Kenneth Roberts, who became a star at the
Post
and the