The Osceola times., 1883-03-17
THE ORIGINAL COL. SELLERS.
Tho Operations Of Old Biii Muidrow ia
the WiIds Of Missouri.

Tho Operations OF Old BiIi Muldrow In
the WiIds Of Missouri.
wiiher Mills cor. n. y. sun.
The writer has seen several sketches
purporting TO be of the original Col. Sell
lers Having been reared near the birth
place OF Mark Twain and the home of
the celebrated Col. Mulberry, he takes
the liberty of saying that, although some
of the peculiarities ascribed to that indi-
vidual may have been obtained from the
aforesaid originals, yet the original Col.
Sellers has never been written up.
lie was William Muldrow, commonly
known as Bill Muldrow. He was far
mer and Spectator near Philadelphia,
Mo. Philadelphia was then village of
few inhabitants, and is still a mere
postofiicc.
Bill Muldrow was the first man who
conceived the idea Of railroad connect
ing the valley of the Mississippi with the
Pacific slope.
BY some course cf reasoning known
only to himself, he reached the conclu-
sion that Philadelphia could be made the
future great city of the West. if not of
the world, and with this end in view he
perfected his plans for the building OF a
railway that was to have San Francisco
for its western terminus, and for its east
crn terminus Marion City, a boat land
ing on the Mississippi, about fifteen miles
east of Philadelphia.
Fully persuaded that there were "mil-
lions in it," he went East and conGded
to few capitalists his plans for buying
up corner lots by the acre, and selling at
at $1,000 per front foot in connection with
his railroad scheme.
What sort of a talker he was, and how
well he succeeded in imbuing these cap
italists with his own enthusiasm, may be
imagined when we state that the sound
of the hammer and saw, and the steady
tramp of the hod carrier in the lanes of
Philadelphia, soon succeeded the musical
tinkle of the sheep bell.
A fine brick hotel climbed story by
story toward the clouds. Blocks of
buildings rose faster than men could or
would come to occupy them. A wharf
was erected at Marion City, and the en-
bankment that was to reach from the
Mississippi west to the great city of Phil
adelphia, and still west to the golden
gate of the Pacific, was begun.
Things were booming, but it was sur
face boom. Deeper down there was a
heavy undertow.
Iar.e sums of money were required.
Muldrow's hackers, beginning to mis-
trust the financial success of the scheme,
became more niggardly in their advan-
ees. As the expenses became heavier
the money with which to meet them
grew less and less, and as, little by little,
ihey fell behind the array of bricklayers,
the horde of laborers on the embank-
ment, and the pile-drivers and bridge
builders of Marion City, for, like Venice,
it was on the water, became more clam
orous for their pay.
The crash came, as in such cases it in
eyitably must come. Bill Muldrow was
ruined financially, but, as he soon had
occasion to demonstrate, not intollectu-
ally.
The Sheriff, preparatory to making a
lew, callei on him for an inventory of
his real estate. Bill was equal to the oo-
casion. He gave in not only his own
| land, but interspersed between tracts
much that was not his own, Now, Null
drow, like many other unfortunate men,
was blessed with sons-in-law, and to
these he confded his scheme and asked
their assistance. He described his own
land minutely, and instructed them when
to bid
The sale came Off The first tract Of
fered did not belong to Bill, and this
soon became whispered about. The re-
suit was that the bidding was slow, and
the sale was a5sut paralyzed. The sons
in-law scooped in the bona-fide tract for
a paltry sum.
Having saved his farm, Bill went to
California, where he engaged in some
kind of land speculation, and where
his fondness for lawsuits became proven
bial A ten-minutes' conversation with
him invariably resulted in suit at law.
| Failing to retrieve his fortunes in the
west. he returned in his old age to the
scene of his former triumphs, and his
ashes now rest in the church yard near
his old home.
Philadelphia still stands, a relic, not of
what it was, but of what ID might have
been. The hotel looms up, gray and
grand in its utter dcsolation. The win
dow glass is broken, the walls are crack
ed, the ceilings are mildewed, and the
very bricks seem crumbling back to the
dust from whence they came.
Marion City found a grave mid the
swirling waters of the Mississippi in the
great flood of 'Sl, but the embMkment
and the old rock bridge still fight their
share of the battle that ALWAYS ends in