Ponzi's Scheme_ The True Story of a Financial Legend - Mitchell Zuckoff [30]
“While the young man has not shown it in his studies,” Edwin Grozier answered, “I still cling to a father’s fond confidence that he possesses rather unusual natural abilities, and I trust that he may have a final chance to demonstrate that in connection with his college work. . . . I will urge him to put his best foot forward this summer, and trust he may yet make a creditable record.”
Halfway through the summer, when Richard had earned a B in his first course, Edwin Grozier grew cautiously optimistic. He began seeking Richard’s readmission from Hurlbut: “The young man has put in a lot of hard, earnest work this summer, evincing some of his natural capacity, and I trust that he may yet graduate and in after years prove to be a credit to his University.”
Hurlbut answered in kind, though with a hint of sarcasm: “I hope that he will keep up his good work in college. He certainly has allowed things to slide right along so far.”
After passing his second summer course, Richard was rewarded with a trip to Denver with his father. But with reinstatement still pending, Edwin Grozier was not ready to rest. Fearing they would miss an important deadline, he sent a Western Union telegram to Hurlbut: “Please wire me collect [at] Hotel Metropole just what date it is necessary for him to be in Cambridge.”
Two days later, September 29, 1908, Hurlbut told Richard he had been readmitted as a junior on probation, a condition that would remain in force at least through the middle of the term. “This is to insure that you do not again, as you have done in the past, work hard at first, and then slump.”
Despite the warnings, the cajoling, and the outrage caused by the three separations and reinstatements, Richard soon returned to form. He ignored his studies and seemed to be daring Harvard to ignore his father’s campaign and finally be rid of him. Then fate and friendship intervened.
Richard’s roommate, Joseph W. Ross, a baby-faced engineering student from Ipswich, Massachusetts, saw his friend heading for a fall. Privately, Ross approached Dean Hurlbut at a college event on November 10, 1908, and then followed up with a letter: “I am writing to the effect that I should like to have the case of Richard Grozier handed over to me in case that his hour exam marks do not warrant a continuance of his probation,” Ross wrote. “I want to make plain that I am doing this absolutely without his knowledge. . . . I am very sure that I can bring around the required attention to his duties.” He asked the Administrative Board to formally approve his standing as Richard’s anonymous taskmaster.
With Ross’s guarantee, the board voted a week later to give Richard yet another chance. Dean Hurlbut wrote to Ross explaining that this was done only after “accepting your offer that if he were put in your charge you promised to have him keep up his work.” Hurlbut added one more condition: The deal could not be kept secret; both Richard and his father would be informed of Ross’s new role.
Ross answered with a “promise that my part of the agreement, meaning Richard’s part, will be faithfully lived up to.” He tacitly accepted that Richard would be informed, but begged Hurlbut not to tell Richard’s father. Ross must have known from Richard how angry Edwin Grozier had become about the situation. Learning that another student had been made caretaker for his son would only have enraged him further, making life harder on his friend Richard. Hurlbut briefly protested, but there was no indication that Edwin Grozier ever learned of the guardian angel on his son’s shoulder.
Hurlbut kept tabs on Richard the rest of the year. With Ross’s help, Richard fulfilled all his requirements and passed all his classes, including English