The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-05-14
THE LATE AMAsA STONE.
His IndomitabIe gTir and Enerey-The
Origin of His Great Wealth.
Cleveland Herald,

SleNeland Herald,
The history of his life is another one added
10 the long list of examples of the indomita-
BILE energy and sterling worth of the old
Puritan stock. Emphatcally blood will tell.
ana the handiwork of him who has departed
mas proven it. The founder of the Ameri-
can branch CT his family landed at Boston in
1862 from the ship Increase. which brought
! colony of Puritians from England. Amasa
stone was born in the town of Charlton, Wor-
cester county, Massachusetts,, April 27, 1918,
and was consequently few days over sixty
hive years of age. When he was seventeen
years OF age he was apprentced to his elder
brother to learn the trade of builder After
Iollowlng this business for some years he be-
and in 1912 entered into the firm of
Boody Stone & Co., formed for
the construction of railways and rail-
way bridges the mechanical branch
OF the work to be under his care.
In l845 he was appointed superintendent Of
the New Haven. Hartford & Springfield rail-
road, still continuing his relations with the
hrm, The business of the latter became SO
heaVy that he was obliged to resign the
Office of superintendent. Mr.. Stone, in con- 4
Junction with A. Body, had purchased the
Howe truss-bridge patent at an expense of
$4,000, and after few years test it was
FOUND to be defective in its construction, but
alter many sleepless nights during which his
busy mind pondered upon the subject, inn
proyements were perfected by him by which
the bridge became pronounced success. A
number OF, at that time, remarkable bridges
were constructed, one a quarter of a mile in
length, for the New Haven, Hartford &c
Springfield Railroad Company, being com
pieted so that train of cars passed
over it within forty days from the day
xua cyix fOr fkc AZ
Stone regarded this as one of the most i'm
portant events of his life, and he was re-
warded by complimentary resolutions and
check for $1,000 given by the company. In
1913 he formed a partnership with Messrs.
Sullman Witt and Frederick Harbach, and
the chains were forged which drew him to
| Cleveland, the theater of his life work
1t might be interesting to note briefly
the succession of circumstances by which
Mr. Stone attained such financial promi-
nence.
He made the foundation for his colossal for
tune out of the Howe truss bridges, with
which all railroad men are familiar but
made the first great stride forward in that di-
rection in building the Cleveland, Columbus
Cincinnati railroad, in 1848-50. He added
to the accumulations of this enterprise by
building the Cleveland, gainesville & Ash
tabula, in lS50-53, and then greatly aug
mented it i'll constructing the Chicago &c
Milwaukee road. Later he was prom
inently identified with the building of
the st. Louis, keokuk & Northwestern road,
with which he sometime since severed his
connection. 1t 1860, when the Keep admin
istration took hold of the Michigan Central
road, among its assets was quite block of
Western Union telegraph stock, which at
that time was generally regarded as nearly
valueless, and was so looked upon by the
the management Ell the road. Mr. Stone and
Mr. Stillman Witt,who was generally closely
identified with him in his Investments,
bought it, and afterward accumulated much
more, as a speculation. The war developed
the Western Union, and the investment of
course proved to be an ideal bonanza, and
eliminated in making Mr.. Stone a many
millionaire, and by far the most wealthy
man in Cleveland, and probably in Ohio.
Mr. Stones relations with the Western
Union Telegraph Company were not closer
1884, when Jay Gould took him into the di-
rectory. He was a director at the time Of
his death. 1t seems to have been
Mr. Stones object of late years
to free himself so far as possible
of all cares attendant upon railroad and other
drawal from the management, and later from
the directory, of the Lake Shore & Michigan
Southern railway. At the time of his death
=, he held seats only in the directories of the
Western Union Telegraph Company, the
Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling, and the Pitts
burg Fort Wayne & Chicago railroads. In
the former road he was principal owner.
and in the latter holder of considerable
stock and bonds. His corporate investments
consist chiefly of government bonds, Lake
Shore e Michigan Southern stock and bonds,
New York Central and Hudson River bonds
and stocks, Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul
stock and bonds, and stock of the Chicago
Northwestern railway, and West
ern Union stock. His iron inter-
ests consisted only of the rolling
mills at Chicago and Kansas City, both OF
which he virtually owned He was, how
ever, largely interested in the Joel Hayden
brass foundry, at Lorain, o. His possessions
of lands and real estate were large and scat
tered but are chiefly in Cleveland and vicin-
ity and Ohio.
Since 1875 Mr.. Stones attention was de-
voted to the care of his own estate and to
works of public and private charity Much
of his beneficence will forever remain I'M
known thus obeying the mandate of his
Master in not.letting his right know what his
left hand did. The monuments to his large
publc-spirited generosity are the Industrial
School. on the West Side, to which he gave
over $40, 000 the Home for Aged and INDECENT
Women, to which he gave about $40, 900, and
Adelbert College to which he gave the
princely sum of 100000. This institution
of learning was named after his only son,
Adelbert B. Stone, youth of remarkable
promise, who was drowned in the Connecti-
cut river when a student at Yale.