Joseph H. Hoadley (July 1863 – ?) was an American financier charged with fraud on several occasions. He was president of International Power Co.[1]
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Biography
editHe was born in San Francisco, California in July 1863[citation needed], to a family of New England descent with connections to mechanical engineering inventions[2] He began his career in 15 as an apprentice in Union Brass & Iron Works machine shop, but before completing his apprenticeship he moved on to Pacific steam liner SS City of Tokio and worked his way over to one of her engineers.[2]
After returning to complete his apprenticeship, Hoadley worked briefly as a locomotive engineer on the Southern Pacific.[2] By age 21, he had become superintendent of the Calico mines in Southern California.[2] He then established himself as a contractor for mining machinery, installing plants across several western states including California, Idaho, Washington, Montana, Oregon, and Alaska.[2] Hoadley expanded his business to include contracts for power-house plants, street railroads, electric-lighting plants, and various industrial facilities, and by 1894 he had moved his headquarters to Chicago, linking his western operations with new ventures in the Midwest.[2]
In 1902 he headed American Ordnance Company based in Bridgeport which manufactured Driggs-Schroeder and Hotchkiss naval guns[3] and negotiated the acquisition of competing Driggs-Seabury.[4] By 1906 he was a defendant before the New York Supreme Court in a trial with Elizabeth C. Prall.[5]
In 1916 he was sentenced to Ludlow Street Jail, when the police came to detain him at his house, and suspect that he escaped through a secret tunnel.[6]
In 1918 he lost a lawsuit and was ordered to pay $999,389 to the American & British Mfg. Co.[1]
His wife died by suicide in 1919 by inhaling illuminating gas. The police investigated her death as a possible murder. He was then ordered out of his house for non payment of his mortgage. The house was sold, and he claimed to the court that he had an arrangement with the new owner where he was not required to pay rent.[7]
In 1932 he was arrested and convicted of check fraud for $1,037, and sentenced to three months in a workhouse.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b "Joseph H. Hoadley". The Iron Age. 1918.
- ^ a b c d e f Armes, Ethel (1910). The story of coal and iron in Alabama. The Library of Congress. Birmingham, Ala., Pub. under auspices of the Chamber of commerce.
- ^ "Moody's manual of corporation securities 1902". HathiTrust. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
- ^ "Image 1 of Evening star (Washington, D.C.), February 28, 1902". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
- ^ Complaint. New York Supreme Court. 1906.
- ^ "Hoadleys Vanish, Maybe By Tunnel. Sheriffs Doubt if Dignified Matron Would Climb a Fence Even to Escape Ludlow Jail. Probably Safe On Yacht. Deputy Tells of Secret Elevator In Their Mansion and Effort to Imprison Him In It" (PDF). New York Times. November 12, 1916. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
- ^ "Court Denies Injunction Application by Joseph H. Hoadley" (PDF). New York Times. June 5, 1919. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
- ^ "J.H. Hoadley, 68, Sentenced to Three Months for Issuing $1,037 Worthless Paper". New York Times. March 1, 1932. Retrieved 2015-01-13.