The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-03-15
About the Belknaps ana Marsh.

uhVr WIlbinS mum SAAOAuuabl uuU6I duU
OF March 10, gives spicy ana minute
account Of the Belknaps and Marsh,
from which we clip as follows.
Mrs. Bower-Belknap, Caleb P. Marsh
and the Tomlinsons are well known
here, and there is no end of apocryphal
stories told on questionable authority
and with high Imaginative embellish-
ment about them iill. Downtown men
mere remember Marsh about the out
break OF the war as a confidential clerk
in the great hardware house of Tyler
Davidson q Co., which Tor a number OF
yaars did heavier business than any
other house in any line in this city.
The firm in those days was composed Of
Tyler Davidson, who had gone to Bu-
rope in nope Of improving his health,
which was much broken, anu his brother
in-law, Henry Pfobasco.
Early in the war, having made more
money than they knew what to do with,
! ana anxious to be relieved OF tue cares
! OF active business, the firm took Marsh
in as partner, and he soon became the
managing man OF the house. Under his
management the firm Supplied to the
armies of the Southwest axes, picks,
shoveis, hame-chaius, and saudiery hard
| ware TO the amount oil millions-nIuch OF
which was furnished not on contract,
| but sold outright to meet the exigencies
or supposed exlgencies of the service.
THE PROFITS WERE ENORMOUS,
and as l. ain told by well-known Pearl
street business man then in employ OF
the firm, Marsh's share of the profits for
one year was 100000, Some time after
| the war he withdrew from the firm, draw
| ing out for his interest 100000 cash, and
removed to New York. where he entered
the furniture firm of Herter & Co. as
lpartner, and subsequently became men,
Der OF a contracting firm. Here he was
known as keen, cold-blooded man of
business, sharp at money making, unso-
cial, but ambitious of social prominence,
and iiian VINO, as those In the tirm mere
now tell OF him, had not an intimate
| friend in the world. His wife is remem-
| bered as the bright, pretty, petite daugh-
Ter Oh Esquire Baldridge, one of the old
time merchants, who failed more than
iquarter,of q century ago, and ended his
career as a Justice of the Peace.
| Marsh's reputation in business circles
here was that Of a 'sharp dealer, but a
square one.' His firm, however, was
altogether too strong to profit by breach
of mercantile faith, but it is remembered
that about the time the Grain court-mar-
tial led to inquiry into the enormous
purchases made by the Quartermaster
without advertisement for bids, Marsh
discovered that it was an inviting sea-
son for a trip to Europe, which he made.
And there was that about him which
made his old acquaintances among the
Ijobbing houses here wonder how IT could
have happened that Caleb Marsh, close,
cool, and calculating as he was, ever
could have told about the Fort Sill busi-
ness.
The Tomliusons,
THE FAMILY OF MRS. BowER-BELKNAP,
are also we'll known here, and there
seems nothing noteworthy in it all
either. They were Kentuckians, not OF
the Blue-Grass aristocracy, but OF hum
BILE station and poor, living at Harrods-
burg. In early days the father satisfied
Il the Blue-Gfass aristocracy that he
!, wasn't in Kentucky phrase Of ''scrub
stoeR'-that by pincking one of them in
duel. DR.. Tomlinson. who figures in
the Belknap affair, from what l gather
here, was an obscure country physician,
who never would have been heard OF
! outside his own village but Tor his en-
, tanglement in the scandal. John Tom.
, linsOn, just after the war, was clerk al
: the spencer House here, then faverltt
resort of Southerners, and afterwards
was clerk at one of the summer hotels a
: Put-in-Bay. He was given to drink ant
fast life, and generally was of the roys
:, tering Kentucky type, which is all tha
is remembered of him here.
ssThe brains and brightness of th
whole Tomlinson family" as leadin
e Pearl street man here said, who knew
them and her especially, "belongs t
II Mrs. Bower" now Belknap. "She wa
a superb beauty OF the finest Kentuck
Itype when she came here" continue
Inv informant. "TafI and of queenl
presence, with voluptuous figure, sparh
It ling eyes, rich color in her cheeks, an
n full OF charming vivacity. She woul
lhave been called loud, but that she ha
the Kentucky spirit, and no man woul
10 have dared take liberties with her. Th
=. story of her being an educated woman
IL all nonsense-her schooling mas been
the meagerest kind, and in no sense wa
she an educated woman; she had see
nothing really of society, and, as Il
m dress, had been accustomed to the mot
Id est toilets in vogue among the middl
A. classes at Harrodsburg." But she wa
le conscious of her beauty and proud Of
g. and burned with an ambition to reign Q
IS the top round OF the social ladder. Ha'
ID ing been poor and pinched, she Wa
ve greedy for riches wherewith to gratii
,u her regal taste. Her marriage vii
Bower
b. GOLD JOHN BOWER"
as they knew him on Pearl street-gay
L her command of reasonable means, an
es lber first experiences in mOderately-fas
Id lionable circles. He was a junior par
ner in the wholesale hardware house
Z. g. Leonard & Co., of this city.
I'd At the time OF his marriage John W;
10 not less than twenty years the senior
q his dashing beauty of a wife. He enjoy
IT a good income, and, like elderly Ben
it dicks generally with dashing yoni
rt wives, generously spent about his enti
income, then several thousands annual
on the wife aforesaid, of whom, after Il
e. fashion OF elderly Beuedicks,
ne HE WAS INSANELT JEALOUS,
or though in justice TO the lady it should
ls. added that whatever they may say
a. Washington, her reputation here
VS. wholly unblemished. Bower introduc
| his young wife into society here, la
Ill ished his money upon her, took han
some apartments for them at the Burn
:" House, and to the full extent OF b
means, which, though not ample, we
I'D not crampet ,gratifled her desire TO shil
be in society.
20 While the firm was at the food-tide
p' it's prosperity, John, with his handsoI
wife, who had been quite reigni