The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-02-02
From the New York Sun.
SKETCH OF THE LATE COL. FISK.
Fisk SIS n schOOI-bOy-EEis Nest Dar-
ing Financial AchievemeRt-Why
EngIishmen Hated Him How
Near EAe Came TO Capturing ESQ.,
100000 british Gold.

ing Financial Achievement-Wh Why
EngIislmen Hated Him How
Near EAe Came TO Capturing $780,
100000 british Gold.
Vermont claims this noted parsonage
as her favorite son. He made his first
appearance on the stage of life In the
| obscure hamlet of POwnal, and not in
the world-known Hamlet of Shake
speare. His original character was
that of Green Mountain baby, and he
took to his milk with such alacrity, and
played his part so unctuously, that he
Immediately became the pet of the es-
tablishment, and secured life engage
ment on favorable terms, with prom
ises of advance ment and increase of ra-
tions as his histrionic and gastrOnomic
genius should develop in strength and
ripen in perfection.
Fisk was happy babe-a chubby,
roly-poly little sucker. The phenome-
na of his existence didn't trouble him
bit, but simply titilated him as a con-
tinual joke. How he had come about,
or what was his significance in the uni
verse, or what his future destiny was
to be, or whether Jay Gould would be
born successfully, or Commodore Van
derbilt be saved by faith or compro-
mise, or who was to run the Erie Rail-
road or populate Long Branch, were
questions which had no power TO 1uffie
his infantile serenity of spirit. With
that sagacIty as to prOvender which has
always distinguished him, and which
seems to be inseparabIe from true mil
itary genius, the Colonel in embryo
stuck to the lacteal fount as his imrne-
date objective, and laid in copious
sustentatiOn for that robust physique
which so ably reinforced his mental
powers.
COL. FIsK's BoYHooD
was undistinguished, with the single
exception of his religious instruction.
His mother dying while he was yet an
infant, his father remarked, and his
stepmOther being a Ged-fearing wo-
man, and faithful to all her duties,
brought the motherless boy up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord.
She did this wisely and lovingly; and
the Wayward man, though he strayed
far from that straight and narrow
path IN which she taught him as boy
to walk, was ever ready to acknoEl-
edge, and with moistened eyes not un-
frequently did acknowledge, the faith
fulness of her teaching and the pusity
Of her example.
But our space is limited and our
theme IS large, and we must plunge at
once into that portion of Col Fisk's
career which Implnges on public af-
fairs. First, however, let us indicate
his character, by foreshadOwing it IN
an illustration which will be readily
understood by travellers on Western
steamboats, and members of Western
Legislatures, as well as by the Chris
tian public at large.
Col. Fisk's right bower was shrewd-
ness his left bower was pluck, and
his ace of trumps was good nature :;
and with the right and left bowers and
the ace IN his hand, or even in his boot
or up his sleeve, q man cannot be east
ly euchred.
His shrewdness enables hi1n to com
prehend what viii most readily appeal
to human nature as it is fundamentally
constituted on this continent, and not
only to penetrate tho probable combi-
nation of operators in commerce and
finance, but also to foresee what com
binatiOns the sweep of events would
force upon those operators.
lis PLUCK
enabled him to meet the exigencies Of
any situation, and to carry out plan
once determined upon with a nerve
that never quailed.
His good nature enabled him, with
out hurting any ones feelings or Incl
ting any ones animOsity, to do things
which, IN a nlorose or coId-hearted
man, would he intolerable.
fFb1Tc nth elrarr-7v,ooc +,
an advantage, with pluck to execute a
plan, and with good nature to conciIi-
ate opposing elements, he was able to
carry out schemes so audacious that to
more timid and narrow-minded men
they looked like downright reckless
ness, and their golden fruits the result
Of sheer luck rather than of consum-
mate ability.
In addition to these characteristics.
another element of success should be
mentioned which distinguished Col.
Fisk throughout his entire career.
That element was Hberality in expendi-
ture. There was not an iota of miser-
Iness or meanness in him.
If man wants to succeed in Amer
ica, " he once said to the writer of this
sketch, ''let him first get his base all
right-that Is, let MIN be sure he is
going to do something which the pub
lie want to have done, and which VIII
add to the general comfort and con
venience-and then let him put all the
men on 1t and all the money IN it he
can, and the public VIII pay him back
handsomely; but let him scrimp, and
play shabby, and try to make the pub
lie eat cold vlctuals, and they'll leave
him alone Just as sure as q hard-shell
Baptist viii shun a temperance hotel.
TIE READER NOW HAS KEY
to Col. FIsk's character and to his sue
cess. And when one contemplates his
success, 1t must be remembered that
James Fisk, Jr., was born IN Septem-
Der, 1885, and was therefore only thir-
ty-six years old VIXEN he was murdered
Jess than half the age of his streDu-
Gus rival, Commodore Vanderbilt.
Col. Fisk counted his wealth bv mil
lions, and was worth ten times more
than Commodore Vanderbilt was at the
age Of thirty-siz, and had ten times as
many friends as his rival ever had.
Before he came to New York Mr.
Fisk was q junior partner in the firm
Of Jordan, Marsh & Co. of Boston
Previous TO becoming a memberof that
firm, he was customer Of II. and
bought largely of the house to supply
small country merchants IN northern
Massachusetts,, New Hampshire and
Vermont, to whom he used to lob ont
his goods. His shrewdness. pluck.
good nature and hberalitv distin-
gI1ished him IN that vocation. as tbev
have IN all others. His fo41r-horse
turnout was the most gorgeous that
ever was seen in the New England val
Ieys, or that ever climbed the roads
over New England hills. He spared