Who was the Romanian billionaire who transported his carriage by train? He wanted gold flooring

Who was the Romanian billionaire who transported his carriage by train? He is unknown to the present generations, but at one time he was among the richest of his countrymen.

He was famous for his eccentricities, but also for the immense number of charitable deeds. In addition, he donated the gold from which Queen Maria’s crown could be made for the coronation on October 15, 1922 in Alba Iulia.

Who was the Romanian billionaire who transported his carriage by train? He wanted gold flooring

Alexe or Alexiu Pocol – spelled Pokol in Hungarian – was one of the richest Romanians of his time, even though he was born in Lozna Mare, Letca commune, Sălaj county, which belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time.

He was a gold tycoon who he said “is like a beautiful woman you love: you follow her until she wears you out and you fall.”

He was born in 1871 or, according to other sources, on August 24, 1872, he was orphaned since childhood, and after completing his studies, he dedicated himself to the teaching career for several years.

He was a teacher at the Greek-Catholic Primary School in Baia Mare (1891-1892), then at the Valea Borcutului Primary School. He knew Hungarian perfectly, and a little German.

There, in Valea Borcutului, he met his future wife, a widow with 6 children, Maria Mureșan, born Oncea (according to other sources Vancea, Oancea), but who already owned a gold mine, not very productive, near Baia Big.

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In 1894, Pocol quit his job at the chair and, for about 8 years, tried to strike gold, but without much success.

In fact, it reached the brink of financial disaster, as the mine was close to being seized, and Pocol was in a position to lose the small fortune he had accumulated until then, according to dosaresecrete.ro.

Moreover, in March 1902, he called his workers and told them: “My dears, go where God will direct you, because I can no longer pay you.”

As Pocol was valued by his employees, they did not want to abandon him. “We, the workers, out of the love we have for you, we will work for you for a few more months and if you don’t pay us anything”, they said.

The legend says that one night Pocol’s wife dreamed that she had to dig the ground at this point in a mine and that she would find pure gold there, which happened. Be that as it may, it is certain that he managed to strike.

“And, wonder, Pocol later testified, that very month, around Easter 1902, I had over 70 kg of gold on my table.”

Alexiu Pocol had an open, agreeable personality, he was very sociable. On the other hand, becoming a millionaire, then a billionaire, he lived every moment to the fullest and loved to impress, flaunting his wealth at every opportunity.

Queen Maria’s crown was made from the gold donated by Alexe Pocol – Photo: Archive

For example, after discovering the gold vein, Alexe Pocol triumphantly returned to the city of Baia Mare to pay the debt of 1,000 crowns to the banker Stoll, who had lent it to him so that he could continue his mining explorations.

What impressed everyone was not the gesture, normal and natural, but the way Pocol chose to do it. A real visual spectacle!

He entered the city in a shiny carriage drawn by six horses. The visit was adorned in thread, and Pokol had gold buttons on his coat as well as a heavy golden staff in his hand.

Last but not least, probably through substantial donations, he acquired the noble title of Pokol de Lozna Mare, and his wife, Maria, became Vancea de Buteasa.

That carriage was, more precisely, an imperial carriage with six wagons and, when going to Budapest, Pocol loaded it on a special train, because he arrived in the capital of Hungary to go from the station to the hotel with his carriage.

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“From time to time he went to Budapest with a wagon for animals that was attached to the train in which the 4 horses and the respective carriage were boarded and when he got off the train the carriage with the horses was at his disposal.

He used to go to Andrassy ut, where only counts and counts walked daily with beautiful horses on Andrassy alley”, a contemporary, a friend of his son, described Pocol’s heyday, according to proezia.ro.

He also built a castle on Valea Borcutului, where he bought an estate of several hundred hectares, but also a large house in Baia Mare, he had an apartment building with several tenants in Budapest.

Legend has it that he had the audacity to write to Emperor Franz Josef to ask for permission to floor one of his castle rooms with gold coins.

Because the emperor refused, fearing that his image and the imperial emblem would be trampled, Pocol would have had the audacity to floor his room with gold coins, placed on the edge.

According to his own statements from 1933, in his moments of glory, he also took out 30-40 peasant carts of gold with quartz, which he then processed in American stamps (an old working machine for crushing ores), brought from California.

He was automatically propelled into the ranks of the local elite but also of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In a short time, almost all the men from Valea Borcutului ended up working for Pocol.

Alexiu Pocol was also involved in politics, being a prominent member of the Romanian National Party. At one point, he seems to have been a deputy from the PNR in the Budapest Parliament. through 1906-1907 and actively collaborated with national leaders Gheorghe Pop de Băsești and Vasile Lucaciu.

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Alexe Pocol in front of his castle on Valea Borcutului – Photo: proezia.ro

As a member of the Astra Society, he financially supported the organization of its annual general meetings, in the years 1919-1922 he was twice elected senator on the PNR lists, and in the following period he held the position of mayor of the city of Baia Mare on several occasions .

But one of the gestures with which he would impress the Romanians took place in 1921. Then, a year before the coronation of Queen Maria and King Ferdinand in Alba Iulia, on October 15, 1922, Alexe Pocol offered pure gold extracted from the mines his so that, from the processing of the precious metal, the crown of Queen Mary was made.

More precisely, 3.6 kilograms. This was cast in Paris and set with precious stones.

At that time, the Romanian government did not have the funds to buy the gold needed for the crown, so Pocol’s gesture was greatly appreciated. Including Queen Mary who welcomed him personally in the audience.

In 1933, in an article written by Alexandru Bogdan, the editor of the “Illustrated Magazine” from Cluj, Alexiu Pocol (Pokol) from Lozna Mare was presented as follows:

“A man of medium height, well preserved, always very elegant. His clothes were of English cloth. He wore English-style plaid trousers, smoked only Havana leaf cigarettes, the most expensive.

His mustache was twisted into a fork, by the way, his visitor also had a fork mustache like his master. He had a black cane made of ebony wood with a handle of solid gold, which could weigh ½ kg.”

But fate was not kind to Pocol in the second part of his life. His wife died in 1926, the same thing happened to the tycoon’s only natural son, Innochentie, who died in January 1934, aged only 37, of tuberculosis.

Also, business went from bad to worse, the newspapers of the time wrote that he owed the banks many millions of lei.

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He remained a widower for 63 years, diabetic and with kidney disease. Pocol was hospitalized in a sanatorium in Budapest to receive appropriate treatment for the nephritis that was grinding him.

Unfortunately, there he met his end on March 23, 1935.

The lifeless body of Alexe Pocol was transported to Valea Borcutului commune and deposited in the family vault in the church cemetery, the foundation of the deceased.

Thousands of people from the area, whom he had helped during his life, led him on the last road, leaving behind him a lot of churches built with his money, but, above all, the crown of Queen Maria.