The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-10-02
STORIES OF A MILLIONAIRE.

sAVhAES VE A MALllONAIAsE.
Daniel Drew. Substitute, cattie Driver
Stock speouiator, hIcthodist and Bank.
rupt.
Condensed from the New York Papers.
For forty years Daniel Drew was tho
most grotesque figure in Wall etreet. HI
was In middle life when h. rave "the
boys" his first "pints" on "sheers.'
When raw country lud he began tt
drive cattle from his native village to tho
New York market, and subsequently,
opened stock.ynTd, kept q tavern and
made o fortune in the steamboat business
Shrewd and illiterate, reckless and timid
| good-naturcd and unscrupuIous, come.
timesgenerors and always treacherous he
made from FIVE to fifteen millions out OF
friend end foe, only to lose them all and die
q bankrupt. If Hogarth could have
lived in Wall street during the past forty
years "Uncle Daniel" with scanned face
and twinkling eyes, with the stealthy
tread of q cat and the bland air of q
country deacon, would have been the
central figure in his cartoons.
lie was in bis seventh year-the same
age at which Cornelius Vanderbilt Dor.
rowed 800 of his mother, bought boat
and began TO ferry marketmen from
Staten Island 70 the Battery. Daniel
Drew did not borrow his small capital
he earned it by enlisting as substitute
in the State military, which had been
called into service. The regiment was
called to Fort Gansevoort, on the Hudson
River, opposite New York. About three
months after his enlistment hostilitiea
ceased between the United States and
Great Britain, and the regiment was
mustered out.
II want my substitute money, mother,'
said he, one morning after his return to
the farm. II am going to buy cattle and
sell them in New York."
care you sure you will not lose money
! by ~" Mrss. Drew was as saEaoio;is and
cautious as the mother whom Commodore
Vanderbilt delighted TO homer ell his life
long.
II am sure shall make money"
He did make money from the start, but
he had to work terribly hard for it. He
was in the saddle day and night, pur-
chasing cattle in Putnam and Duchess
Counties and driving them to the CITY
after nightfall. He was an excellent
judge of cattle and shrewd buyer.
When his competitors began to multiply
aud cut down his profits he enlarged his
field of operations by making Ohio a
base of supply. He needed capital and
he had no securities to offer for loans.
He went to Henry Astor, John Jacob
Astor's brother, the Fulton Market
butcher, who had recently retired from
business. "I'll take the risk" said the
capitalist, after the plan had been un-
folded. 1t seemed to be o foolhardy,
crackbre:ned scheme. It took nearly
sixty days to drive cattle from Ohio
across the Allegheny Mountains to New
iorK. Ont OF drove of 800 head 200 or
300 would frequently be lost on the way
10 the forests and mountain Businesses.
Cattle. however, were exceedingly cheap
in the Ohio valley, and DreW's profits
were SO large that he was able in o few
years to repay the borrowed money and
to extend his operations to Kentucky
and Illinois. He ia said to have ibeen
the first man to drive cattle over the Al
leghany Mountains.
a newspaper correspondent who visi.
ted him soon after the bankruptcy pro-
ceedings were announced, found him ex-
ceediDgly communicative. ~ had been
wonderfully. blessed in money-making,"
ne remarked. II got to be millionaire
"ASo ..hO" ~ AMuiy. Was always
pretty lucky till lately, and d. mt
think could ever lose very extensively.
! was ambitious to make a great fortune
like Vanderbilt, and tied every way I
Knew, but got caught at last. Besides
that, liked the excitement of MAKING
money and giving it away. I have civ.
en- good deal Of MONEY away and am
glad of it. So much has been saved any-
how. Wall street was a great place for
making money and / couldn't give up
the business when ought to have done
co.. Now see very clearly what 1 ought
to have done. ought to have left the
street eight or ten years ago and paid up
what owed. When gave $1O0, 900 to
this institution and that ought to have
paid the money. And / ought TO have
provided for my children by giving them
enough to make 'em rich for life. Ins
stead OF that gave. my notes and only
paid the interest on 'em, thinking T
could do better with tho principal nv
self. One of the hardest things I've had
to bear has been the fact that + couldn't
continue to pay the Interest on the notes
gave to the schools and churches.
During the last year or two Mr.. Drew
spent considerable part Of his time in the
city. Mr.. Drew was, perhaps, the eldest
looking man in Wall street. His ewes
never lost their fire, but his face was
scanned and scraggy. Some of the veter-
ans aay that he used to drive down to his
office in one.horse chaise, looking for
all the world like countr- minister.
He dressed plair!;y7, if not shabbily. His
wardrobe is vsiued in the bankruptcy
schedule at S100, exclusive of a great
sealakin overcoat, worth $3.50. Even as
millionaire he had the tastes and hab.
Its OF drover. His dry, sedate manner
seldom varied. Stock spectators were
"the boys" and the victim who came to
him for "pints on some sheers'' was "my
son." He talked with nasal twang.
like conntryman. Stop speckerlatinS;
don't tech Erie with no margin" was the
lconsoling remark which, if rumor NAV
be trusted, he made to some Methodist
hsethren who had taken "pints" aud los.
their margins. While his wife was liv-
Inc his house, at Union Square and East
Sevsn,eenth street, was always open to
Methodist clergymen and laymen. In
the aehedule of hia personal property &: Is !
the eatry, "Bihle, hymn bookc, &c,
Si6O.'t His temperament made him q /
bear Y he was as short-sighted as Com
modoro Vanderbilt was far sighted ne
Qirr1QH ii