The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-01-22
THE yANDERBILTS.
the Manner In which the Rich Old Com
mOdOre Treated His Family.

| Jennie Junes New York Letter to Baltimore
Americana
| While the great will case draws its slow
length along,' we have the deceased Commo
dore Vanderbilt and the whole Vanderbilt
family to point the moral expressed by piOus
Agar. The opinion is very general that, Il
this now celebrated case could be brought
before a jury on any collateral issue. the will
would be broken. Juries care but little for the
declarations OF dead men, and are much more
apt to be led by their own sense OF justice and
the chivalry innate with the majority OF meI
where other women than those OF their own
family are concerned.
Old Commodore Vanderbilt's coarseness and
looseness Of life gave him contempt for wo1
men in general, which was shown in hid
treatment OF his daughters The case OF hill
oldest daughter, Phoebe Mrs. Cross. was pa
ticularly hard. She was the first one to cone
to New York, with her husband and two child
rem, twenty years ago. Her father gave her
| house, which she always lived In, and had q
right to consider her own. The deed, how
ever, was never put in her possession, but,
supposing 1t would be made all right In bis
will she did not trouble herself much about
It, the old mans violent temper and the diff
Guilty of approaching him on any personal
matter rendering his own children extremely
wary OF raising his Ire. At her fathers death
1t had been her home for twenty years, but,
as the will made no mention OF it, she ap-
pealed to her brother William, who told
her it would be all right Shortly af-
forwards, however, unable to resist the
temptation OF putting more money In his
own pocket, he sent q demand, through his
lawyer for the property as part of the estate
She was pOwerless, and so had to YIELD but,
believing she could make q better bargain by
negotiating through stranger than by ofrer1
ing to purchase the house Oh her own account
she negotiated through real-estate agent
for the purchase OF her home for $50, 00O-an
offer which was accepted, and Mr.. William
III. Vanderbilt was astonished to receive the
check for that amount signed by his sister
1t was evident that her father had intended hi(
gift to be bona fide, for no deed could be founI
and undoubtedly no had forgotten to hay
it prepared and handed over The deed who
Mr.. W. II. Vanderbilt gave to Mrs. Cross n
had to have made up from city records.
The harshness with which the old Commo-
dore treated his own family was well exem-
plified in the case of his eldest grandson, the
son OF Mrs. Cross. In reply to an applica1
ton for position OF some sort he gave HIM
that OF conductor on the Harlem Road, d
place which he held for six years, working
every respect on precisely the same footing
as the other conductors of the road.
The young man was fine, healthy young
fellow; well liked, faithful, and popular with
its patrons. Finally, Mr.. Vanderbilt's lawyerl
who was Cognzant of the circumstances
became Interested. and appealed to the old
man to do something more for his grandson!
He was then promoted to his great SURPRISE
to $1,000 per annum clerkship in the freight
ing department, where he remained until a
brother in-law offered him superior opportu'
mites In the West. His management was des
potic. An order once issued must bd
Obeyed, no matter what the conseuuences'
One Of the sons of Mr.. William I'll. Vander1
blt was reported to the Commodore as get1
ting "a little wild" The Commodore ordered
him to get married, but he protested that his
income was insufficient, and that he was not
In love with any lady, did not know any one
whom he cared to marry. The next day he
received lawyers letter, assigning him a
house and $4,000 per annum. ON condition
that he was married within the month, which
he was!
George Vanderbilt, younger son of the
Com modore, is said to have been the pluck
lest, brightest and most promising of thsm
all. He was sent to West Point with q
promise from his father that II he graduated
with high honors he would give him 500 600.
and If he graduated at all, $4,000. He did
graduate with credit, though not with high
honor, and then his father, thro oh some
caprice, refused to give him The money
When the war broke out this son wished to
raise regiment and go to the front as its
colonel, position he was fully capable of
sustaining with credit to himself and honor
to his family, for he was brave, capable and
energetic. But his father refused him the
money for this, also, and In fl of despera-
tion he enlisted as o private, and was sent TO
the front; his father afterwards using per-
sonal influence to get him placed upon tho
ustaif [ general. Subsequently ill-health
compelled him to resign, and he went to Bos-
ton, where he fell into dissipated habits. to
break up which his father sent him on q sail
ing vessel to China. Thence he ran away to
Paris, where he soon after died Ills whole
ife seemed to be a series OF efforts on his own
part and rebuffs. humilations and disnp-
pOlntmentS on his fathers. He finally sue
ceeded in destroying all the manhood there
was in him.