Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1877-11-15
DEATH OF HERR Y
t MEIGGS.
STORY OF AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE.
lFrom the New York World.


STORY OF AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE.
From the New York World.
Henry Meiggs is reported by
cable message from London, as
having died at Lima, in Peru, OIL
the 29th ultimo. /
We shall not attempt now to tell
the tale in full of a lite which must
be ranked, in the singularity Of its
adventures and in the testimony /
which 1t bears to the marked and
daring energy OF the man who lived
it, with such careers as that of Cor. /
don in China or RaJah Brooke in
Sarawak. 1t was not the life, in
deed, of soldier or OF great dis.
covcrcr. But in his way this bold
American, who found Peru without
rivers and resolved to supply their
place with railways, was sort of
modern Nance Capac, to be e:lassed
forever among the few men who
have changed the face of great
country and given new direction
to the fortunes of a whole people.
Mr.. Mel igys was native of Catskill,
in this State, where he was born in
1911 of respectable and wei! to do
parents. He began life at Boston
as contractor, but soon removed
thence to Brooklyn, where at the
age. Of twenty-five lie had already
made, fortune III the lumber busi-
ness, only To lose it in the great
crash Of 1887. Within two short
years lie had recovered his position
aud much Of his fortune, and tor
some years thereafter he continued
to prosecute the same business with
success. The outbreak of the gold
excitement in California, however,
exerted an Irresistible fascination
upon hn-thc fascination not of
greed and necessity, but of unk known
opportunities and new world
"yearning at the birth" He was
one of the earliest ''merchant ad
ventnrers'' to set out for the, new
FL dorado; in a vessel WHICH Ire
freigh,ed with lumber At San
Francisco he sold this oprecious
cargo at the fabulous profit OF
1900 per cent, and with his uaaaf
proihptRess and petception' escizing
Upon the central facts Of tile sitna
tion in that wonderful time and
place, left others to dig for. gold,
and building a wharf and sawhiill
on the bay, sent some hundreds of
choppers into the woods. He thus
rapidly acquired, in a business
familiar to him, q very large prop
erty, and engaging actively in Cali
fornian affairs, beeame one of the
most lproninent, residents 4pt San
Franclsco, and made himself a
power.in local imatters.sI In 1854,
during the reaction which in thai
year swept over the, young eomnu
nifty, Ibis business was sprostrated,
and, infected with the spirit of the
place, he resorted to the most irl
regular practices to keep his credit
COED. So well did he manage his
affairs, however, that the first lnti
nation the people of San francisco
had that anything WAS wrong was
his sudden departure one night
) after grand enteEtaiHment given
by him in his own schooner. He
chose his own moment, carrying
off, like defeated general, all his
scamp and stores," down to tn,
} very ornaments upon the mantcl
pieces, the pictures from the walls
and tire rngs from flle floors of his
house. Over a lnil!ien OF dollars
was the estimated volue of the -sm
: pedine,,ta, laden with which he
; dropped down the American coast
in search Of a new field Of opera
, tions. II was a long time ere his
friends and those, who bad ceasec
Ito be his friends "tor cause" hearf
> of him, and then he had found the
t new aud desirable field of. opera
ftions ID Lima. Whatever ho under
: took prospeted. He found the cit,
: of the Rimac, ''Li,na OF the Kings,
: tdilapidated and dirty beyond imagi
nation, hemmed IN and made Tap
wholesome By ,crnmbling walls
without which rose vast mounds o
e garbage and rubbish, the net resnl
tjf generations of nntid1ness. Mr.
D Mciggs undertook to clear Swa,