Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-10-31
scMORLEY'S" NEW YORK
LETTER.
Regular correspondence.
THREE MILLIONAIREs.

am gossipy ts-night, and the peculiar
way of some merchant princes are my
theme. One is an iron merchant, whose
name may be seen cast into architectural
iron structures on almost every business
block IN Gotham. He looks back upon q
life of earnest, exacting, often seIf-denyiDg
work, and now, as he has hewn out a
princely fortune for himself, and the frosts
Of many winters have left their silvery i'm
print on his head, he takes life easy, even
as he works. All summer he has lived in
Orange, New Jersey, where he paid the
neat little rent of $500 month for pref
ty house embowered in lovely trees, and
surrounded with luscious fruit and fragrant
flowers. Every day an early train took the
old merchant to the bustling city; and
every forenoon saw one of his daughters
marching over the grounds, picking with
her own loving hands the huge, rare ber-
ries, fruit, or vegetables, preparing her
fathers dinner with scrupulous care, and
AWAY THIRTEEN MILES
it came to New York, by special messen-
ger. to gladden. the heart, while it refreshed
the frame, of the busy man Of iron in his
Centre street Office.
Another is a dry goods prince living at
IrYington on the Hudson. Every morn
ing, at precisely the same hour, the echoes
of the hills made famous by the pen of
Washington Irving are walked by the shrill
whistle of steam yacht lying at the wharf.
One, two, sometimes three carriages have
deposited their loads of living freight upon
the little dock. and the beautiful yacht
bears them swiftly down towards the Pali-
sades and the city beyond. They are the
numerous family of Broadway importer,
who rise early, drive to their yacht, and
while she is speeding away over the crisp
waters of the Tappan Zee, sit down to |
breakfast on board, enjoying the morning |
air, the lovely scenery and the superb re- |
past all at once. Several gentlemen mem |
bers of the family go to business this way |
every day, and usually they are accom-
panied by a number of the ladies of the /
household. The yacht is fitted up in the
most complete and luxurious style; the /
steward furnishes table that Delmonieo /
could not surpass; she makes time equal /
to an ordinary railroad train, and the bust
ness men on board not only get to their Of
fee at an early hour, but have an abund-
ance of time for breakfast besides-some-
thing which any out-of-tOwn business man
will not fail to appreciate. l call both of
these instances Of getting good deal of
solid comfort Of money-don't you?
But gossip isn't gossip unless it has
touch Of malice, and with number three
the picture changes color sadly. Number
three is better known to the general world
than either of the others. He is million
aire, but
ALAsl A PAUPER-MMLIoNAIRE!
He waited till the Gilbert Elevated Rail-
road became an assured success, and then
began to build another road in even a more
lucrative route, for our pauper-millionaire
is shrewd as Shylock. He paid 1925 cash
into the treasury Of his new corporation,
and for every $125 helped himself to q
81 900 bond. This he did till he held hun
dreds of thousands in bonds, and his par
ticular friends had as much more. To be
sure, they gave their notes of hand for the
1875, upon condition that the
notes should never be paid if the road
turned out well-as it did. They got rich
at this rate with q speed far SURPRISING
that OF their trains. They built the road
when, as this pauper piously put it-'It
really seems as if there had been a special
Providence experimenting the enterprise.
The price of iron went down to a marvel
ously low figure. Labor was drug in the
market, and we could hire four men for the
price of one. Then the Almighty gave us
an open winter the entire season. We were
not called upon to pay our notes, and so,
as l say, the Almighty favored us IN every
condition-iron, labor and weather." No
less than $13, 900, 900 of stocks and $16,-
600, 0OO Of bonds represent our elevated
railroads. Everybody knows, even with
put such brazen confessions as the forego-
ing, that not the half of this enormous
sum was expended. In other words, this
and his friends have
to use plain English-stolen about fifteen
million dollars at one swOop, and eclipsed
all the swindles Of the old Tweed regime
by half, while thanking Providence for
special opportunities kindly Youchsafed.
In the face of these revelations, openly
ayowed IN the press of this city without
correction or protest, il the
next Legislature permits the elevated roads
10 still charge ten cent fares, the people
will fully understand why. Do YOU ask
why call him a pauper-millionaire? His
personal property has been assessed at
s100, 900, but he came before the Tax Com
nlssioners and swore that he was not pos
5essed of one cents worth Of personal prop
srty in this State which was not fully COW
cred by his debts, and on the strength of
his oath he has been exempted from the
burden Of supporting the government un-
Ter which he lives, and from which he and
lis millions receive protection.
From all Of which gossip it plainly ap-
pears that it takes Hll kinds OF millionaires
o make a world. MORLEY.
New York, Oct. %, 1879.