Henry I. Kowalsky

His early attempt at business was short lived, selling his paper delivery route after only a few days of operation while still in school.

It was discontinued, and he moved to Tomales, a small town in Marin County, California, and began working as a store clerk for his brother, Edward H. Kowalsky in 1872.

After several months, Kowalsky gave them the ammunition they needed in order to work to remove him: getting into a fist fight with a creditor in open court.

[4] The payoff backfired, and for a week after December 10, 1906, newspapers across the country detailed the correspondence between Kowalsky, King Leopold II, and the Congo state.

This was a dreadful turn of events for the King, leading directly to joint efforts between the United States and Great Britain to end his one-man rule in the Congo.