Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-08-07


He could Q tale unfold,
He had no teeth to eat hoe-cake,
And his spec,acies were gold.
Lay on, lay on, MacduA.
VI Man wants but little here below;
4, And I'm to be Queen Of the May,
So kiss me quick and 20.
i MEN OF THE TIMES.
Why Mr.. AbsaIom Hay Considers
Mr.. Matthew Thompson an Ene-
my Of humanity.
From the Toledo Blade.
Some thirty odd years ago young
man named Thompson (Matthew) left
his ancestral home in Vermont, and
settled in the wilderness on the Wa
bash river, where now stands the
pleasant village of Poolesville. Young
Thompson was of good New England
stock, and would have made his way
anywhere. Had he stayed in Yer
mont, he would have covered the bare
rocks of that state with soil and would
have grown, not bananas, for there
are limits to even Vermonter, but
corn and rye and potatoes, and what
ever may be grown in the Vermont
climate. But he preferred home in
the west, and he came with his for
tune carefully done up in . bapdapa
handkerchief,
Young Thompson commenced as q
school teacher, studying law the while
with great assiduity and relish
Then he bought some land, clearing
part Of 1t, and in due time opened
an Office, took TO himself q wife and
settled down. Now be it known that
Mr.. Thompson was an exceedingly
close attender to business. He did
not risk his money vainly upon the
speed of . wicked horse, nor did he
toss cards in the backend of a sinful
grocery, as was the custom of many
Poolesvillians who passed for respect
able. He was ignorant of the mvste-
ries of poker-brag, we understand
they played then-and whisky had
never defiled his throat. The haunts
of the ungodly were not his, but his
days were spent in labor and his
nights ip rest; and SO he lived and
waxed rich, a. any man will who does
as he did.
In 1859 Poolesville wanted . bank.
Mr.. Thompson, being one of the
wealthiest men In the place, took
stock in 1t, - he had in the Pooles-
vile u Jericho Railroad, ana the
Poolesville & Joppa Pike, the wooden
mill, the foundry, and all the other
enterprises that had made Poolesville
what it was. For Mr.. Thompson was
rather enterprising than otherwise,
and very liberal man. His only
faults in the eyes of his neighbors
were he wouldn't drink, wouldn't bet
on quarter races, and his face was set
like flint against card-playiug for
money. He was Puritan. But de.
spite these blemishes ON an otherwise
excellent character, he was consider
ed the best man for President of the
bank, and as the position suited him,
he bought up all the stock for him
self and his son Charles, whom he
made Cashier, and run it all himself.
II was very useful institution, that
bank. Mr.. Thompson put into 1t all
his money and loaned it to his neigh
bors, and bought and sold gold and
broken bank money, and sold ex.
change on New York, and did every
thing belonging to legitimate bank
Ing business, and but for . concate-
nation OF circumstances would have
gone down to his grave honored and
respected.
| In 1863 Poolesville was struck, as
we'll as all other towns, with the IA
nous rise in all kinds of property
Men in Poolesvllle got rich suddenly.
Gold ran up to 800. Farmer Jones.
some years before had borrowed
$l,OO0of Mr.. Thompson to pay of
mortgage on his farm. When Jones
borrowed this money it took q mighty
good horse to bring $50, but now the
government wanted all the horses
and was printing money by the ton
to pay for them, and the $50 dollar
horse Of four years before was now
worth $500. Farmer Jones simply
sold three horses and . third, and
came in and rendered $1,000 to Mr.
Thompson, and he took it. He wasn't
entirely certain that he ought not to
have had gold, for that was what he
lent, but he couldn't help himself, and
he took greenbacks. The trouble
with Thompson was that the $1,000
he received was only worth one-third
of the $1,000 he lent. It was the cred
itor class that was walking the floor
then.
OF course, under the stimulating
influence of this flood of money, real
estate was mounting up, as was hor-
ses. In lS7O-it was in February-a
Mr.. Absalom Hay, who represented
half dozen insurance companies in
Pooleville, got bitten with the pre-
vailing mania. He had never accu-
mulated any money himself, but his
wife had inherited from her mother,
the Widow Cleary, a house, worth in
the old time something like $1,000,
but now cheap At $4,000. Mr.. Hay
felt it necessary to buy Q field adjoin-
ing the village, of Seth Hindleman,
who wanted to 20 to California,
which he could get for $4,000 one
fourth down and tho balance in two
equal annual annual payments. As
property was at the time it was Q
decided bargain. There were twelve
acres in the field aud they would cut
up seven lots to the acre. These lots
would 60 like hot cakes ct 81 900 each.
Twelve sevens, eighty y-four-$84, 600
for $4,000. OF course he would do
1t. (We are particular to give the
formula, for it will be quite new to
our Toledo readers.) And he walk
ed in to Mr.. Thompson's bank and
wanted $4,000, the security being his
wife's home.
Mr.. Thompson sent out and exam
ined tho title, found 1t all right, the
papers were made out, and he paid
over $4,000 in good money, put the
mortgage in his safe and went home
to his frugal dinner. He didn't ask
Mr.. Hay what he wanted to do with
the money-it was none of his bust
ness.
Mr.. Hay surveyed the property,
cut it up into lots, and they did cell
IS he anticipated. Finding himself
growing very rich, he bought car
riage, for he felt that Mrs. H. should
enjoy - he did, and he enlarged and
refurnished the house, and commence
ed . rather free sort of life. He used
up in his free style Of living, all the
money he received 10 down pay
ments ON his lots. instead Of paying
off the mortgage on his wife's house,
which hard, grasping, and calculat-
ing man would have done.
| There came crash in 1873, IS will
be remembered. The parties to
whom Mr.. Hay had sold his lots sud.
denly stopped paying interest, and,
when he asked them for principal,
they laughed him to scorn. And ai
\ they hadn't built any houses on them
(they were all bought ON speculation
they permitted them to 60 back on his
hands. And, - by this time the land
that he had paid $1,000 an acre for
was dear at 500, he was in pitiful
Iplight.
| And right here is where Mr.
, Thompson, the grinding, exactine
! Thompson, appears in the Appalling
! Role Of . Merciless Fiend. When
Mr.. Hay ceased to pay interest on hi
, loan Mr.. Thomrson foreclosed and
, sold the house on which Il was SO.
cured? Mr.. Hay was outraged
Here WAS . Merciless ExtortioneI
IaoI1in n him n,NN - . h~v~n ~,