Tower Sale

In the balmy summer of 1929, President Hoover's Secretary of War James William Good went to Minneapolis to help dedicate a great building. On hand for the same purpose were Congressmen, foreign delegates, seven Governors, Sousa's Band. Built with the profits from countless utility promotions and designed to resemble the Washington Monument, the 32-story structure was equipped with sumptuous living quarters for its owner, whose name was displayed in great black letters on all four sides--FOSHAY. Even more remarkable than his tower was Wilbur Burton Foshay, over whose desk used to hang the motto: "Why worry? It won't last. Nothing does."

Within two months after the last skyrocket boomed at the 1929 dedication, the whole inflated Foshay superstructure of utility, finance and real estate companies collapsed with a $20,000,000 thud. Last week Wilbur Burton Foshay was in Leavenworth Penitentiary, serving a 15-year sentence for mail fraud. In liquidating the confusion which they soon discovered, receivers tried to sell the 447-ft. Foshay Tower not once, not twice, not thrice but 26 times. Only once was there a bidder for the tallest building in Minneapolis--a jobless man who offered $1 spot cash. Last week on the 27th attempt, the Foshay Tower was finally sold to a group of bondholders for an unrevealed price.

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