“The Rascal King” is the biography of James Michael Curley-long time Massachusetts politician and mayor of Boston. I found the book fascinating, but I had a question about some of the facts reported. Beatty claims that Curley lost his entire fortune in a failed Nevada silver mining venture.
The story goes like this:
Curley was a master of graft-he took about 3-5% off every city contract, and diverted these funds to himself. In order to conceal his activities, he never had a bank account-the stolen funds were kept in cash (in a safe in the basement of his house). In the mid 1930’s, Curley was in his 60’s-and wanted to retire. So, he bought a abandoned Nevada silver mine (the “Curley Luck” mine), and attempted to work it. Despite all the money invested, the mine yielded nothing-Curley had been swindled. I checked the Nevada state department of mines, and the “Curley Luck” mine is still listed-I don’t know who owns it or if it is being worked. Does anyone know more about this?
Strange that such a canny, sharp politician was himself scammed…but the story does explain Curley’s subsequent desperate attempts to stay in politics-he needed the money, now that he was broke.