Hannah Elias

Hannah Elias
In The Sketch, March 29, 1905
Bornc. 1865
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationBusinesswoman
Known forOne of the richest Black women in the world at the time

Hannah Elias (born c. 1865) was an American sex worker and landlord who became one of the richest Black women in the world during her lifetime.[1]

Early life

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Hannah Elias was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at 1820 Addison Street, one of nine children.[1] Her father Charles Elias was a "negro with Indian blood in him" who ran a large, well-regarded catering operation, her mother Mary Elias was "almost white", and they sent her to public school.[1][2] In 1884, to attend her sister Hattie's wedding in style, Hannah borrowed a ball gown without permission from her employer, leading to a sentence at Moyamensing Prison and her banishment from home.[2]: 157-158 

On her own

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Supporting herself as a sex worker at a "resort" owned by Emelyn Truitt in Manhattan's Tenderloin neighborhood, she met wealthy glass-factory owner John R. Platt, forty-five years her senior. She left the brothel when her twin brother David and suitor Frank P. Satterfield asked her to live with the latter in a boardinghouse in east Philadelphia.[2]: 161-162  She became pregnant and gave birth at the Blockley Almshouse in December 1885, giving the child up for adoption.[1]

Affair with John R. Platt

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After Elias reunited with Platt, he gave her large sums of money, "volunteerd [sic] to start her in the boarding-house business", at 128 W 53rd Street, where as proprietress she rented a room to Cornelius Williams.[1][3] She then moved into a mansion at 236 Central Park West, passing as Sicilian or Cuban.[3] Williams later fatally shot city planner Andrew H. Green in front of Green's Park Avenue home, confusing him with Platt.[4]

Blackmail case

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When Platt, prodded by his family, accused her of blackmailing him out of $685,385, the affair merited The World's lead story on 1 June 1904, describing her as his "ebony enslaver".[1][3] Asked about allegations that she had been blackmailed as well, she responded "I have read in the newspapers that I have been, and I am frank to say that there must be some truth in a story which is given so much in detail."[5] The novelty of a Black woman with the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars, living in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in New York, caused the Seeing New York electric bus tours to make Elias's house a stop.[6] Platt initially refused to swear a criminal complaint, but relented, allowing police serving a criminal warrant to break down her door, where they were escorted to Elias by her Japanese butler, Kato.[7] At the time she said: "I have no fear. I have done no wrong, and every one of the poor people I have helped is praying for me in the time of my affliction."[7] She was arraigned in Tombs Court on June 10, 1904.[5] Held on $30,000 bail, meetings at the house of R. C. Cooper at 318 W. 58th St. and 149 W. 43rd St. raised money for her release.[5] When Platt was "asked directly about Hannah Elias he aimed blows at the reporter with his umbrella and shouted: 'Don't talk to me about Hannah Elias.'"[3] The story spread, leading to detailed court coverage in the Baltimore Sun as she took the stand and described how her money was kept in "15 savings banks" as well as "houses and lands worth $150,000, furniture and plate, worth $100,000, and jewels valued at as much more."[8] After losing his initial court case, the court of appeals eventually ruled against Platt, allowing her to keep his gifts.[9]

Later life

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In 1906, newspapers reported that Elias evicted white tenants from several apartment buildings on West 135th Street with a note reading, "in the future none but respectable colored families were to occupy the flats".[2]: 255  [10] She was rumored to have continued in this vein, named in a 1912 article titled "Negroes Crowding Whites" as the purchaser of a $250,000 apartment building at 546–552 Lenox Avenue;[11] however, she disputed these claims through her lawyer, Andrew F. Murray, in 1906.[12] By 1915 she was living in a penthouse in one of her "numerous properties" at 501 W. 113th St.[13] She joined forces with noted Harlem developer John Nail but later left for Europe with her butler, Kato, never to return.[2]: 264 

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Rich Hannah Elias Once in the Poorhouse" (PDF). The World: Evening Edition. November 21, 1903. p. 2. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Chronicling America.
  2. ^ a b c d e Wills, Shomari (January 29, 2019). Black fortunes : the story of the first six African Americans who survived slavery and became millionaires. Amistad. ISBN 978-0062437600.
  3. ^ a b c d "Sheriffs Wait to Arrest Mrs. Hannah Elias" (PDF). The World: Evening Edition. June 1, 1904. pp. 1–2. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Chronicling America.
  4. ^ "Andrew H. Green's Memory Is Cleared" (PDF). The New York Times. June 2, 1904. pp. 1–2. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c "Former Counsel Would Tell of Hannah Elias" (PDF). The New York Times. June 10, 1904. p. 3. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  6. ^ "Lawyers Unable to Reach Hannah Elias: Platt's Attorneys and Jerome's Assistants Confer on the Case". The New York Times. June 6, 1904. p. 14. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Police Break In And Seize Hannah Elias" (PDF). The New York Times. June 8, 1904. p. 1. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  8. ^ "Story of Hannah Elias". The Baltimore Sun. January 19, 1905. p. 2. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Hannah Elias Keeps Money" (PDF). The New York Times. Albany (published November 21, 1906). November 20, 1906. p. 1. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  10. ^ "White Tenants Are Evicted By Hannah Elias" (PDF). The World: Evening Edition. July 9, 1906. p. 5. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Chronicling America.
  11. ^ "Negroes Crowding Whites" (PDF). New-York Tribune. June 24, 1912. p. 6. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Chronicling America.
  12. ^ "Hannah Elias By Lawyer Denies It". The Evening World. New York, New York. July 14, 1906. p. 2. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Hannah Elias Dodges Sheriff" (PDF). New York Tribune. October 25, 1915. p. 6. Retrieved August 23, 2023 – via Chronicling America.
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