Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1879-10-01
STORIES or A MILLIONAIRE.
DANIEL DREW, SUBSTITUTE, CATTLE
DRIVER, STOCK SPECULATOR, METHo-
DIST AND BANKRUPT.

DANIEL DREW, SUBSTITUTE, CATTLE
DRIVER, STOCK sPECULATOI, METHo-
DIST AND BANKRUPT.
For forty years Daniel Drew was
the most grotesque figure in Wall
street He was in middle life when he
gave 'the boys" his first "pints" on
'sheers" When raw country lad he
began to drive cattle from his native
village to the New York market, and
subsequently opened stockyard, kept
tavern and made a fortune in the
steamboat business. Shrewd and illit-
crate, reckless and timid, good-natured
and unscrupulous, sometimes generous
and always treacherous, he made from
five to fifteen millions out of friend and
foe, only to lose them all and die a
bankrupt. If Hogarth could have lived
in Wall street during the past forty
years "Uncle Dan1," with scanned face
and twinkling eyes, with the stealthy
tread of cat and the bland air of a
country deacon, would have been the
central figure in his cartoons.
He was in his seventeenth year
the same age at which Cornelius Van
derbilt borrowed 500 of his mother,
bought boat and began to ferry mar
ketmen from Staten Island to the Bat
terry. Daniel Drew did not borrow his
small capital, he earned it by enlisting
as substitute in the State militia,
which had been called into service.
The regiment was called to Fort Ganse-
wort, on the Hudson river, opposite
New York. About three months after
his enlistment hostilities ceased be-
| tween the United States and Great
Britain, and the regiment was mus
tered 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" f"
care you sure you will not lose
money by it ?" Mrs. Drew was as
sagacious and cautious as the mother
whom Commodore Vanderbilt de-
lighted to honor all 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,
purchasing cattle in Putnam and Dutch
ess counties and driving them to the
city after nightfall He was an excel
lent judge of cattle and a shrewd
buyer. When his competitors began
TO multiply and cut down his profits
he enlarged his field of operations by
making Ohio base of supply lie
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 re-
Gently retired from business. '1'll take
the risk" said the capitalist, after the
plan had been unfolded. 1t seemed to
be q foolhardy, crack-brained scheme.
1t took nearly sixty days to drive cat
tie from Ohio across the Allegheny
Mountains to New York Out of a
drove of 800 head 200 or 800 would
frequently be lost on the way in the
forests and mountain Businesses. Cat
tie, however, were exceedingly cheap
in the Ohio Valley, and Drew's profits
were so large that he was able in q
few years to repay the borrowed money
and to extend his operations to Ken.
tucky and Illinois. He is said to have
been the first man to drive cattle over
the Allegheny Mountains.
During the last year or two Mr.
Drew spent considerable part Of his
time in the city. Mr. Drew was, per
haps, the oldest looking man in Wal
street His eyes never lost their fire
but his face was scanned and scraggy
Some of the veterans say that he used
to drive down to his Office in one
horse chaise, looking for all the world
like country minister He dressed
plainly, if not shabbily. His ward
robe is valued in the bankruptcy sched
ule at 500, exclusive of great seal
skin overcoat worth $3.50 Even as 6
millionaire he had the tastes and habits
of drover. His dry sedate manner
seldom varied Stock spectators were
"the boys,n and the victim who came
to him for "pints on some sheers" was
"my SON" He talked with nasa
twang, like countryman. "StoT
speckerlatin don't tech Erie with nc
margin" was the consoling remark
which, if rumor may be trusted, he
made to some Methodist brethren who
had taken "pints' and lost their mar.
gins. While his wife was living, his
house, at Union Square and East Sew.
enteenth street, was always open tc
Methodist clergymen and laymen. In
the schedule of his personal property
is the entry, "Bible, hymn books, etc,
$3.50" His temperament made him
"bear;" he was as short-sighted as
Commodore Vanderbilt was far-sighted
he aimed at immediate rather than uti
mate results. "'Yaas, | skinned the
boys" he used to say. In the end he
| go, ID, hitneaIf