The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-10-03
STORIES OF A MILLIONAIRE.
DANIEL DREW. SUBSTITUTE, CATTLE
DRIVER. STOCK sPECU LATOR, METH
IST AND BANKRUPT.

Isl AND BANhkl BI.
The following extracts are from New
y ork papers
For forty years Daniel Drew was the most
CrOteSque figure in Wall street He was in
middle life when he gave the sboyS" his
first 'pintS' on ''sheers.' When a raw
country lad he began to drive cattle from his
native village to the New York market, and
subsequently opened a st0ck-vard, kept
tavern and made a fortune in the steamboat
business Shrewd and illiterate. reckless
and timid, goOd-natmed and unscrupulous.
sometimes generous and ALWAYS treacherous.
he made from i've to fifteen millions out of
friend ane foe, only to lose them all and die
a bankrupt. If HOgarth could have lived in
Wall st, during the past forty years, ''Uucle
Danl with scanned face and twinkliug
eyes, with the stealthy tread of a cat and
the bland air OF country deacon, would
have been the centre figure in his cartoons.
lie was in his seventeenth year-the same
age at which Cornelius Vanderbilt borrowed
500 Of his mother, bought a boat and began
to ferry marketmen from Staten Island TO
the Battery. Daniel Drew did not borrow
his small capital, he earned It by enliStins
as a substitute i'm the State militia, which had
been called into service. The regiment was
called TO Fort GanSeyOOTt. on the Hudson
river opposite New York. About three
months after his enlistment hOstlites ceased
between the United States and Great Britain
and thS regiment was mustered out.
i want my substitute money, mother
said he, one morning after his return TO the
farm. u am going to buy cattle and sell
them in New York"
Are you sure YOU viii not lose money by
lt?' Mrs. Drew was as sagacious and
cautious as the mother whom Commodore
Vanderbilt delighted to honor all his life
long.
q am sure I shall make money"
lie did make money from the start bat he
had TO work terribly hard for it. He was In
the saddle day and night, purchasing cattle
in Putnam and DUtchess counties and driv-
ing them to the city after nightfall. He was
an excellent judge Of cattle and slrewd
buyer. When his competitors began to
multiply and cut down his profits ne cularg-
ca bis field of operations by making Ohio a
base OF supply. lie needed capital, and be
had no securities to offer for loans. lie went
to Henry AstOr John Jacob Astor's brother,
the Fulton Market butcher, who had recent
~ retired rom business. IN take the
rlSk. SAID tie capitalist. after the plan had
been uufOided. L seemed TO be fDOIhardy.
Crack-hTaIuoG scheme. It took nearly sixty
days to drive cattle from Ohio across the
Allegheny mountains 20 New York Out of
q drove of SEQ head. poo OF 500 would fire.
quentlv he lost on the way in the forests and
mountain Businesses. Cattle, however. were
exceedingly cheap I'm the Ohio valley. and
Drew 8 profits were S1iGrEe thai he was able
in q few years 20 repay the borrowed none Y
and % extend bis operations to Kentucky
and Illinois. lie Is said to have been the
first man to drive cattle over the Allegheny
mountains.
A newspaper correspondent who visited
him soon after the bankruptcy proceedings
were announced. found him eEracdinulv
communicative. 81 had been wonderfully
blessed in monay-uakug. he remarked.
81 got 70 be a millionaire afore / luow'd Il.
hardly I was always pretty lucky till late
y and 7 didn't think could ever lose very
extensively. / was ambitious 20 make a
great fortune like Vanderbilt and Z tried
every way knew but GOT caught ut last Be
.r- rrra arrrs
money and giving it away L have given d
good deal of money away and am glad Of It.
50 much has been saved anyhow. Wal
street WAS great place Tor money making
ana couidn Z give Up the business when
ought 70 have done so. Now ] see plainly
= what ought To have been done. 1 ought u
have iett TINS street eight or ten years aEl
and paid MP what 7 owed. When 1 gave
100000 % this Institution and That I ought
10 nave laId the money. And ] ought L,
have provided for uv children hv giving them
enough TO have made 'Fw rich for life. In
stead of that ! gave my notes and only paid
tie interest on en- thinking could do bet
ter with the pTIIclda. mySn.I. One uH t1t
hardest things I've had 60 bear has been tht
fact that ! couldn't continue g. pay the iG
teTeSJ on the notes ! gave tg the schools and
chuUheS.
During the last year or two Mr.. Drew
spent considerable part Of lis time in th,
city. MI Drew was, perhaps, the CljcS
looking luaH on Wall street. His eve
never lost their fire, but his face was seam
ed and scTG1Cy. Some of the veterans SE1
that he used TO drive down 10 his Office in
One-horse chaise, looking for all the wo-lS
ike a country minister. He dressed plainly
. if not shabbiiy. His wardrone is valued il
the bankruptcy schedule at 500, exclusive
Of a great seal-Ein overcoat, worth $3.50
Even as millionaire he had the tastes an,
} habits Of dT0ver. His Urv, scdatc mauue
seldom varied. stock spectators were eth
boys and the victim who came 10 him fo
''pinfS on some sGpCTs' was my SON II
talked with nasal tvauC, ike d country
/ man. "Stop SpecEcTiatiu don't tech Fri
, with no margin, wa, the couSa.iuL THmarE
, which, if rumor may he trusted he made G
some Methodist brethren who had takcl
''pntS and lost their margins. While hi
D wife was living, his house at Union SquaT
e. and East Seventeenth street was alway
= open 10 Methodist C,crEEmen and laymcn.-
In the schedule Of his personal property
r the entry. Bible. hymn books. etc, $50.
: His temperament made him 'oeaT.' b.
was as shoTt-siCited rs Commodore Van
derbi!t was faU-sightcd: Ire aimed at imme
diatS rather than ultimate results. ''t aas
I 1 skinned the boys, he used to say. In Ga
e end he was skinned himself.