archives.nypl.org -- John W. De Kay papers (original) (raw)

John Wesley De Kay, author and financier, wrote ca. twenty books and several plays, amassed and lost a number of fortunes, and pursued by charges of fraud for various financial deals, spent many years dodging extradition proceedings across Europe. Born in Iowa, he began his career in ranching and newspaper publishing in South Dakota, but by 1910 had achieved international business prominence as president of the Mexican National Packing Company which he had founded in 1902. In 1914 his play, Judas, starring Sarah Bernhardt, was produced at the London Coliseum. Collection consists of an unannotated typescript of De Kay's play, Judas, outlines and partial scripts with some handwritten changes for a few unproduced works, and an author's preface.