Paul J. Rainey (September 18, 1877 β September 18, 1923) was a playboy with fortune, land, ability to travel, and fame. He was a big game hunter and a wildlife filmmaker who broke records and helped to finance the beginning of Universal Studios. Rejected by the military for health reasons, Rainey purchased an ambulance and drove it on the Western Front during World War I. Later he became a spy and Captain in the British army. Rainey was originally from Ohio, but in 1901 he bought land in Union County, Mississippi. Here, Rainey established his headquarters at his Tippah Lodge. His time in history was well documented in The New York Times. A literary figure as well as a legend, Rainey shows up in famous works of the Mississippi author, William Faulkner, and in Canadian poet WIlliam Serviceβs poetry. Rainey was active with the American Geographical Society, American Museum of Natural History, the New York Zoological Society, and the Smithsonian Institution. He died on his 46th birthday in 1923 of a cerebral hemorrhage. The death occurred while Rainey was en route from England to South Africa, where he had planned to hunt. He was buried at sea. While on an expedition to the Artic, he single-handedly lassoed the great white Polar Bear called the "Silver King" and brought it back to New York where he donated it to the Bronx Zoo. The Paul J. Rainey Memorial Gate was unveiled at the Bronx Zoo in New York, in 1934, given to them by his sister, Grace.
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