The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 27, 1972 Page: 3 of 8
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84 years of capitalism: the story of William M. Rice
(Editor's Note: In 1955 Mr. J. T.
McCants, the first employee of Rice
Institute and for many years its bursar
and business manager, wrote a brief
history of the early days of the Insti-
tute. We reprint below its first chapter,
a short biography of William Marsh
Rice.)
by J. T. McCANTS
William) Marsh Rice was born in
Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1816.
His parents were David and Patty
Hall Rfce. - (Patty Hall's grandfather
fought in the battle of Lexington where
he was wounded, but he lived to be
one Ihiundred years of, age.) Mr. Rice is
said to have been the third of ten chil-
dren.
Mr. Rice had completed only a part
of his school course when it became
necessary for him to go to work. His
first job, at the age of about fifteen,
was as a clerk in a grocery store in
Springfield. After working there seven
years he purchased the store from the
owner. Shortly thereafter, in the au-
tumn of 1838, he decided to go to Texas
where opportunities seemed greater than
in his home town. The stock of goods
from his store was shipped by sea, and
he left for Houston by a different route.
He arrived in Houston from Galves-
ton on a little packet, the Bayou City,
to learn that his merchandise had been
lost at sea, and to realize that it would
be necessary to start aniew his business
career in this frontier town. With the
experience he had as a merchant he soon
found employment as a clerk, and be-
fore very long was prosperous. With
Ebenezar S. Nichols he formed the firm
of Rice and Nichols, a store of general
merchandise, which became well and fa-
vorably known in, Houston and in all
the surrounding territory. Later the
business became the William M. Rice
and Company.
Capitalist
Mir. Rice was a shrewd business man
as well as a good merchant. He invested
funds in land, real estate, lumber, rail-
roads, and other prospective develop-
cents in Texas and Louisiana, with the
result that the early directories of the
City of Houston listed him as "Capital-
ist".
He had investments in business firms
of Houston, to some of which he seems
merely to have contributed funds, in
others he took an active part. One of
the latter (he was accustomed to list
in city directories with his name was the
Mcllhenny Company, a large whole-
sale merchandise establishment,
"T!he Mcllhenny company have the
honor of representing . solely the
wholesale dry goods and boot and
shoe trade of Houston. This strong
and reliable firm now occupy their
own new builing on Franklin Street,
and not only compete for the trade
of the State but do business in West-
ern Louisiana and the border towns
of Mexico."
For years this was the only firm that
Mr. Rice listed in the directories as his
employment. In 1895 he was listed:
"Capitalist. Owner of Capitol Hotel and
Capitol Hotel Annex Building, President
of Houston Brick Works Company". The
Capitol Hotel is the forerunner of the
Rice Hotel of Houston. The Annex,
on the comer of Texas Avenue and
Travis Street, was sometimes called the
"Rice Building" . . .
Private Life
Not very much is known of Mr. Rice's
private life. He lived in Houston from
1838 until about 1865. From that date
until 187C he lived in New York but he
did not own a home there. He built a ^
handsome home in Dunellen, New Jer-
sey, and in 1872 moved to this residence
on an estate of one hundred sixty acres.
There he lived until 1882 when he be-
came a resident of 'New York again.
Mr. Rice married Mrs. Julia E. Brown
(nee Elizabeth Baldwin) on 26 June
1867. She was a sister of Mrs. Frederick
Rice, the wife of his brother. Of this
marriage Muir writels: "I don't know
what the tenor of the second marriage
was during the first years, but during
the' 1890's it was stormy, for sometime
after 1892 Mrs. Rice consulted an at-
torney, A. G. Allen, about a divorce.
She died in Waukesha, Wisconsin on
24 July 1896 hopelelsisly insane.""
The William M. Rice Orphans Institute
Mr. Rice had in mind quite early the
use of his fortune in the establishment
of some sort of educational institution.
On 28 January 1882 he made a will
. . . under the terms of which bequests
were made to his wife and other re-
latives . . .
The executors were directed to pay
over to the trustees, the Governor and
-the Judge, funds from the estate for the
establishment of "The William M. Rice
Orphans Institute." Plans for the or-
ganization and maintenance of this in-
stitution were given in detail.
But by 1891 Mr. Rice had changed
his mind and instead of establishing
the William M. Rice Orphans Institute
on his estate in Dunellen, New Jersey,
he decided to found in Houston, Texas,
the William M. Rice Institute for the
Advancement of Literature, Science and
Art. The chanter was signed by all of
the original trustees, except Mr. Rice
on 18 May 1891. The Secretary of State
of the State of Texas certified the
charter and attached his official signa-
ture and the Seal of State on 19 May
1891.
A place in the sun for the boys and girls
After 1883 Mr. Rice began to spend
more time in Houston with friends of
his earlier days, and he decided that the
benefits of his wealth should be enjoyed
by the children of Houston where he
had made his fortune. It is said that on
one occasion he told a friend: "Texas
received me when I was penniless, with-
out friends or even acquaintances, and
now in the evening of my life I recog-
nize my obligation to her and her chil-
dren. I wish now to leave to the boys
and girls, straggling- for a place in the
sun, the for-tune that I have been able
to accumulate."
One of his old friends, Mrr- C. Lom-
bardi, who later became one of the
members of the original Board of Trus-
tees of the Rice Institute, tells of a visit
which Mr. Rice made to his office in
1886 or 1887. "I am not sure whether
it was that year (1886) or the following
that I interested William M. Rice in a
philanthropic project which resulted in
his devoting the bulk of his fortune to
the foundation of the William M. Rice
Institute, which is now in active op-
eration in Houston."
At that time Mr. Lombardi was presi-
dent of the Houston School Board. He
had been trying1 to persuade the Hous-
ton City Council to build a high school
but had met with little success. One of
the councilmen, a leading politician,
remarked that "a high school was high-
faluting nonsense." So Mr. Lombardi
tried to induce Mr. Rice to finance the
construction of a building to be called
Rice High School. To this idea Mr. Rice
gave due consideration even to, the ex-
tent of having plans and specifications
for such a building sent to him in New
York by Mr. Lombardi.
Several years later Mr. Rice, while
on one of his frequent trips to Houston,
sent word to Mr. Lombardi by Captain
James A. Baker to come to see him at
hils room in his hotel. ^Captain Baker
intimated to Mr. Lombardi that he
knew what Mr. Rice wanted to see him
about. This fact is mentioned because
it gives evidence that Captain Baker
was a party to Mr. Rice's plans in this
as in many of Mr. Rice's business trans-
actions. (Captain Baker was then the
junior member of the law firm Baker,
Botts and Baker.)
Mr. Rice then told Mr. Lombardi some-
thing of his plans "to endow an institu-
tion separate and distinct from the pub-
lic school system." He had visited
Cooper's Institute in New York fre-
quently and had come to$the conclusion
that he would undertake the establish-
ment of an' educational institution of
the same independence. It was his plan
to execute a note then in favor of the
institution with two ideas in mind:
that the William M. Rice Institute
should not be put in operation until
after his death, and that he would be
making plans for further contributions
for tihe development of the institution.
A New Will
In 1893 Mr. Rice made another will
in which he named as executors, James
A. Baker, Jr. and William M. Rice, Jr.
of Houston, and John D. Bartine, of
Somerville, New Jersey. The value of
tihe estate at this time was estimated
at about four million dollars.
Under the terms of this will Mr. Rice
instructed his executors to divide into
two equal parts all of his property, both
real and personal. One of these equal
parts he bequeathed to the Rice Insti-
tute; the other half was to be divided
into fifty equal shares . . . The income
from twenty-five shares was to be paid
to his wife, Elizabeth Baldwin Rice.
The remaining four shares were to be
divided among the legatees, not including
his wife.
Mrs. Rice had been interested in the
plans for the Rice Institute, but when
she died her will filed for probate was
designed to distribute what she consid-
ered her half interest in Mr. Rice's
estate. Under tlhe terms of this will
liberal gifts were arranged for her rela-
tiveis and friends and for various
churches and civic enterprises, includ-
ing a legacy of some $200,000 for a
public park to be established in the
City of Houston. Thus she planned for
the use of about a million and a quarter
dollars, with a provision that the be-
quests should be doubled if the estate
would permit. This will was based on
the assumption that she had a right to
one half of the estate under the com-
munity property law of Texas.
Estate preserved
Considerable litigation followed the
probating of this will. The residence of
Mr. Rice was established as in New
York and New Jersey "where the com-
mon law of England prevailed, under
which the wife took only a dower in-
terest in her husband's estate and suc-
ceeded to no interest therein upon her
death." The courts of Texas sustained
Mr. Rice's claim of residence, "thereby
enabling the executors of the estate of
Mr. Rice to settle all of the claims of
the legatees under the will of his wife
for a comparatively nominal considera-
tion, thus preserving intact substanti-
ally all of his great estate bequeathed
by him for the endowment of the In-
stitute."
When Mrs. Rice died in 1896 her will
was probated but, as stated before, the
will was broken and the estate of Mr.
Rice was saved for the Rice Institute.
Very soon after her death Mr. Rice
made a new will naming as executors
his nephew, William M. Rice, Jr., John
D. Bartine, of New Jersey, and James
A. Baker, Jr., of Houston. Under the
terms of this will bequests were ar-
ranged for several relatives and then
the residue of the estate was given to
the Rice Institute . . .
The making of a fraud
This will was made on 26 September
1896. During the following four years
came the litigation brought about by
the will of Mrs. Rice. Mr. O. T. Holt,
an attorney and the executor under
Mrs. Rice's will, had an assistant, Al-
bert T. Patrick. Patrick, formerly an
attorney in Houston, was then in New
York but he knew that Mr. Rice would
not have any dealings with him. He de-
ceived Mr. Rice by having interviews
with him under the name of J. B. Cur-
tis. In 1900 he made his identity known
to Mr. Rice who was insulted and en-
raged. Under Patrick's intriguing in-
fluence and through his deceptions fin-
ally Mr. Rice began to have dealings
with him.
In plotting to control Mr. Rice's es-
tate and to become the chief beneficiary
of this fortune, Patrick prepared a will
to which the signature of Mr. Rice was
forged. This was the last will affecting
the estate. It was a monumental fraud.
To make the will seem plausible, Pat-
rick named as executors two of the
same that Mr. Rice had selected under
his c^ill of 1896, Mr. William M. Rice,
Jr. and Captain James A.' 'Baker, Jr.,
but he substituted his name for that of
Mr. John D. Bartine. He took care of
Mr. Bartine by a bequeath in the will.
He made bequests also to Mr. Rice's
hews, to fifteen friends of Mr. Rice and
of himself, and to each "director" of
the Rice Institute. Thus he hoped to
involve a considerable number of in-
terested parties.
In a description of this will Captain
Baker has pointed out, in veiled sar-
casm, the wiles of the devil. "He called
particular attention to the fact that Mr.
William M. Rice, Jr., the nephew of
William Marsh Rice, and one of the at-
torneys of Mr. Rice (Captain Baker)
were named as executors not only of
the first, or genuine will of Mr. Rice,
but in the second or so-called Patrick
will; that each of them received greater
benefits under the second will then un-
der the first; and while he, Patrick, was
named as residuary legatee under the
second will, yet he was in fact a trus-
tee, to take over the property of the
estate and administer it in carrying out
a number of secret trusts verbally de-
clared by Mr. Rice."
To the Rice Institute he arranged to
give $250,000 . . .
Under the terms of this will Patrick
would have been established and not the
Rice Institute.
Enter the Butler
During the taking of testimony in
the case of Mrs. Rice's will "Mr. Rice
was living in his apartment at 500 Mad-
ison Avenue, New York, quite alone,
with no one but his valet, one Charles
F. Jones, a young man about thirty
years of age, who had been in his em-
ploy for a number of years. Albert T.
Patrick, a lawyer formerly practicing
in Houston, was then residing and prac-
ticing his profession in New York City,
and became associated with the attorney
for Mrs. Rice (Mr. O. T. Holt) in trying
to establish, as a fact, that Mr. Rice's
domicile was really in Texas and not
in New York.
"While this litigation was going pn.
and when the taking of the testimony
was completed and the case practically
ready for trial, on the 24th day of
September 1900, a telegram v.a- re-
ceived (by Captain James A. Baker)
from the valet, Chas. F. Jones, reading
substantially as follows:
'Mr. Rice died last night under the
care of a physician. Certificate of
death old age, extreme nervousness.
Funeral tomorrow morning at nine
o'clock. Interment at Waukesha be-
side his wife. Wire when you are com-
ing'."
A telegram from Mr. Rice's bankers
warned that Mr. Rice had died under
peculiar circumstances and thar, his
body was to be cremated, although the
first telegram had stated that inter-
ment would be in Wisconsin.
Court action later proved that Jones
and Patrick had murdered Mr. Rice on
23 September 1900. The will which Pat-
rick had prepared, revoking Mr. Rice's
earlier will in favor of the Institute,
was proved a forgery, and the estate
finally came to the Trustees of the In-
stitute named by Mr. Rice in 1891.
Patrick was sentenced to death and
spent four years in Sing Sing Prison s
death row before his sentence was com-
muted by Governor Frank Higgins in
1906. Six years later Governor John A.
Dix gave Patrick a full pardon. He went
to Oklahoma \vhere he died at Tulsa
oii\ 11 February 1940 at the age of
seventy-four.
Jones, whp had turned State's evi-
dence, was given his freedom ami was
in seclusion until 16 November 1954.
On that date, at the age of seventy-nine
he died a suicide in Baytown, Texas,
where lie had lived with his secret
known to few of his friends if to any.
He had lived quietly and fairly success-
fully in business.
Mr. Rice's body was cremated, after
the investigation into the cause of his
dea&i was completed, and the urn of
his ashes was kept in the vault of the
business office of the Trustees of the
Institute until it was deposited beneath
the monument erected in his memory
brothers and sisters, nieces and nep- %,on the campus of the Institute.
the rice thresher, april 27, 1972—page 3
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Freed, DeBow. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 27, 1972, newspaper, April 27, 1972; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245134/m1/3/: accessed June 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.