The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1865-02-09


when the Disadvantages under which h,
commenced operations arc considered. H,
had. however, wonderful genius, and now
as through his whole life, was singularly fru
fgskk His Injuries were pipe, glass o.
beer. game Of draushts, ride on horse
back, and the theater. He held in uttel
contempt the dashing mode of life of.many
New York merchants, and abhorred not.
. shaving and stock jobbing. Nevertheless
he was no ploider when pIodding had, ,ceas
ed to be necessary. 1g q
4 He was very mean. He once lost the SER
vices Of one of his best Captains and e70,-
000 into the bargain, by refusing to pay 70,
is chrouometer which the Captain said Ills
ship needed. Tho Captain left his service
and entered that Of another house. He ran
cargo Of teas into New York just seven
days After one belonging to Mr.. Astor had
arrived. Astor not expecting another ship
to arrive for months. had made no hurry to
sell his cargo, and before he had got ready to
dispose of 1t. q second ship load coming ia
Iglutted the market, and As'or lost all the
profits Of the voyage. which he had estim,-
ted at $4,000. Meeting the Captain short.
" after in Broadway, he said (: -'4I had bet
ter have paid for that chronometer Of yours"
He was afterwards glad to get the Captain
back into bis service. That same Captain
afterward saved Mr.. Astor go, 600. Astor's
agent in China had died With that amount Of
bis pnncipars property in his hands. The
Captain, who was in Canton ut the time, well
knew that If this immense property fell into
the possession Of the Celestial officials, not
one dollar Of it would ever resch America.
By series Of bold measures he secured the
money, and made it yield profit to the
owner. Mr.. Astor acknowledged the service.
he said many times: you had not done
just IS you did, I should never have seen one
dollar of my money; no, not one dollar of
it" but he never paid him for his services,
though the Captain had to support his wife
and children on salary Of 800 month,
and his employ er was worth ten millions.
Once, also, he gave one of lis Captains
immense trouble to get two pipes of Maderia
wine from under . cargo of teas which he
was sending to Amsterdam for market. 1t
took two days to disinter the casks. He
promised the Captain dcmijohn Of the wine
for his labor. hut be never got it. Once af.
terward, the Captain reminded him of ais
promise. "Ah." said Astor, "don't you
know the REASON. It ISN'T fine yet wait
tilt Is ane, and you'll ssy you never tassed
such Aaderia.'7 The Captain waited and
never heard Of the wine again. ,,s.saa
1t was neither furs nor teas that gave h i'm
$40, 100000. When he arrived in New York
it aontained only $4,000 inhabitants. In
1900, when he began to have money to IN.
vest the city had begun to double IN populs.
ton. and had advanced nearly mile up
the island. tfsg taHt 7.1 atRf-
Astor fopesaw its future growth and
bought all the lands and lots just beyond the
verge Of the city that he could get. One lit.
tie anecdota will show the wisdom Of this
proceeding. He sold a lot in the vicinity of
Wall street in 1910, for $4,000. which was
supposed to be somewhat under its value ;.
The purchaser, after the papers were signed,
seemed disposed to chuckle oyer his bargain:
"Whv Mr.. Astor." said he, "this lot will be
worth $4,000" .a4sas g d,
very true" replied Astor; abut now you
shall see what will do with this money.
With eight thousand dollars buy eighty
lots above Canal street. By the time your
lot is worth $4,000, my eighty lots will be
worth so,OoO." which proved to be the
fact. In the course of time the island was
dotted al over with Astor lands to such an
extent, that the whole income Of his estate
for ffty years could be invested in new
houses. without buying any more land.
In 1909 more than seven hundred iami.
lies were residing iq one third of Putnam /
county, New York, on farms, the titles Of
which were given BY the State. The la nd
originally belonged to family named Nor.
RS, who were tories, and their estate was
accordingly cortiscated. Astor discovered
that Mr.. snd Mrs. Norris had only life es-
tate in the land, and accordingly purchased
the rights Of tho heirs for EGO 900. Mr..
Morris was then dead, and his widow was
nearly eighty, and very infirrp. In fey
yesrs be commenced urging his claims.-
There was, ofcourse. great consternaticn in
Putnam county. Commissioners were ap
pointed BY the Legislature to invest igate the
subject. They asked him forwhat he would
compromise. He replied $500, 900. This
was refused. The affair fingered on until
1927, when test case was brought to trial.
Daniel Webster and Martin Van Buren were
retained for the State. Emmett Ogden and
Aaron Burr, the latter privately, were Mr..
Astor's counsel. He vop the quit, and on
receiving about half million dollars, the
titles were secured to the occupants. We
pass over his magnificent Astorian scheme
which, however grand in design, was not
pecuniary success.
Mr.. Astor was 6rm believer in the des
tiny Of the United States. Tp other words,
he bel its public stock in profound respect.
He had little to say Of politics. but was
supporter Of the Wh;g party. and was new
er better pleased than to have Henry Clay
at his house. The lest considerable sum
4 q = L i 4