The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-02-25

gave ner away, IL Is UlHcuit W soy
which of the two she most loved and
honored. Both lived in perfect accord
and friendship long enough to see the
happiness of their darling, and to nurse
her children upon their knees.
THE STORY OF FISK.
Successes and Reverses Of the Too Po-
etic Jiml-An Extraordinary Man.
Communicated to the st. Louis Times.l
You ask me to give you some points
i'm the life of the redOubtable Jim Fisk,
Jr. l know of no work of fiction that
is half so interesting as Fisk's life
would be written in detail but 1 have
not the time nor the facilities at my
command to comply with your request.
A brief sketch at the most is all that l
can give you. Its truthfulness l can
vOuch for.
It was no uncommon thing during
the years 1858 or 1859 for the inhabi-
tants of well-kept, lively New Eng
land manufacturing towns to have
their eyes dazzled with the vision of
the e,afre of a vehicle of the most gOr-
geous description, in general resemb-
ling what is known there as q whole
sale peddler's wagon. But here the
similarity ended. The panels of this
vehicle contained paintings Of beauti-
full women and landscapes, upon which
the painters art and the nomenclature
of cOlors seemed to have been entirely
exhausted. These were surrounded by
golden scrool work, the whole sunk
between gilded carvings of the most
elaborate description. Attached to
this gay specimen of ornamental art
were four horses, with glittering silver
trappings, plentiful supply of patent
leather, with white leather reins, held
in the hands of an individual cleanly
shaved and seemingly fresh from the
hands of the tailor. OF the horses
themselves it can only be said that
they were high-spirited, well fed and
glossy. There was no inhabitant, how
ever simple-minded, who would mis-
take this for the advance guard of a
circus or menagerie, for the faded out,
rusty tout ensemble of the latter end
could not Cor moment bear cOmpari-
son with the brilliant equipage de-
scribed. e-.f So
If the day happened to be Saturday,
thi dazzling display was sure to be fol-
lowed soon after by two other wagons
of a similar striking appearance, drawn
severally by two and three horses. Last
of all came dashing up to the country
village tavern what country dealers
knew as the treasurer's wagon" also
drawn by two horses, in which " as
seated two persons, male and female.
The male individual can quickly be
described as a stoutish young fellow,
with head round as an orange set
firmly upon q short neck, bright,
keen eye that seemed to take a wide
landscape in at glance, and dressed
in the hight of fashion. This was sure
to be James Fisk, Jr., and the lady at
his side his wife.
1t was generally understood that the
establishment was owned by Fisk, ST.,
who lived i'm Vermont. Teams made
extended trips of perhaps two months
i'm duration, carrying the finer kinds OF
fancy and dress goods, but a speciality
was made of sewing silk, of which the
Fisks had or pretended to have kind
of monopoly. They were veil patron
lied by country dealers, who, located
away from the lines of the railroad,
found it incOnvenient to make frequent
trips to large cities. Thus each Satur-
day night the three peddlers' wagons,
with the superintendent and treasurer,
would make rendezvous, and there
the weekly trip would be decided upon,
each diverging over the country for the
first three days of the week and then
cOnverging to an agreed center, where
they would bring up Saturday night.
Fisk, Jr., made such collections as were
due from the last trip, and transferred
to his pockets the proceeds of such cash
sales as might he made. 1t is not pos
sible to state how long this style of do
ing business continued, but certain it is
that, whether from lack of patronage to
support so magnificent cOrtege, or for
other reasons, Fisk pere wound up the
matter. But James, Jr., though tenn
porarily under a cloud, was not, 3s
Mark Twain says "a man to set down
and twaddle his thumbs"
There is q very enterprising firm in
Boston known as Jordan, Marsh Il Co.
importers I'd dealers in dry goods. 1t
is, and was at that time, the largest
and wealthiest i'm Boston. These gen.
tlemen were good deal puzzled for
couple of weeks by the daily and con-
stant appearance of well-to-dO looking
traders, hailing from Vermont, calling
at their establishment and making
anxious inquiries for "Fisk." The fol-
lowing is something like the converse
tion that would ensue:
"Fisk? Who's Fisk? We have no
such person i'm our employ"
"Wall, there must he a mistake
somewhere. Pm from Vermont my
self-keep store-calculated I'd like to
for ye." =. 49,, 49,. ,,,.,,.r ,,,o,.
me to. show you our stock. We have
a large one, and We'll do as well by you
as if Fisk was here.n
"Wall, NO. 1 guess not. You sec
we know Jim, all OIL us-up there, so
I'll try and hunt him up"
1t may well be imagined that, to our
enterprising merchant, such Occurren-
ces served to excite curiosity. He
wanted to know the person who SEEM
ed to command the whole dry goods
trade of Vermont, and made many
anxious inquiries as to his whereabouts
Not long, however, Gid the firm have
to wait, for one fine morning the re-
dOubtable James Fisk, Jr., appeared
upon the scene. He made himself
known; said he did not want any sala-
nv at first, not he, but would like to go
to work on trial; meant to get there
sooner, SO as to meet his friends.
"Go to work." was the lacopic reply
of Mr.. Jordan.
And he did go to work, but with no
practical results. 1t somehow or other
happened that either the Vermont ira
ders had got a large supply elsewhere,
or that they had not yet ascertained
that "Jim" was with the firm. At any
rate, none came near. After two or
three weeks had passed, and the mer-
chants bank account becoming no
larger from the exertiOns of Mr.. Fisk,
Mr.. Jordan said to him: Fisk, you
dent seem to make much headway;
YOU had better go back to your ped
ding; you will never do anything
here.n A f1
But Fisk replied, apOlogetically, 81
haven't begun to get hold yet"
At this time the war broke out, and,
there being an uncertain feeling in
commercial circles, business was dull.
Jordan, Marsh 4 Go. had large guam
tity of goods OIL hand, with large
amounts rapidly coming in, as they
had contracted previously for the pro-
Iucts of several mills. Things looking
rather blue, the firm endeavOred to get
an army contract, but not Laving the
right political influence, did not sue
ceed. This fact came to the ears of
Fisk, and seeking Jordan, he said:
"There now, is just my forte. Both the
Vermont Senators are friends of mine.