The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-01-04
WILLIAM II. VANDERBILT.
,.r About the Richest Sian in the
IChhP' World.

lsd
lIrw YORK, December William
Va Vanderbilt, the richest man in the
"a NAV be seen driving his mare
C',I' nI s which, rumor says, he is spoil
sIu hy iniulicious handling. almost any
= HsheIuoon on Fifth avenue. Look
y @ Iarre. heavy man, with dark eyes,
,',%y Nv skin and black side whiskers, an
'nsciv earnest but not over intelligent.
}'.ua .Sa weather is cold the owner Of un.
n III iI millions will be wrapped up in u
eus.6,,ing - coat of seal skin and have
rsr his knees another robe of the same
81, r. The superb horse or horses that he
G n,sns TO be driving DO not seem to be
KID yery fast as they dance along, but
VII viii be noticed that he goes faster than
sbsr people, and the groups Of sight.
ssr. who stop for moment to gaze at
= vell.known figure wrapped up in
x. .eal.skins as he fits by get but q
,;sf glimpse of him. Perhaps Jay
Soud, looking out of his library in the
sond story Of his big house at Forty
!srsnth street and Fifth avenue, wonders
,.t man with such magnificent oppor.
& B%nties for making more money does not
5ssyote his days and his nights to it in.
lsad of trifing away his time driving
III, horses. Jay Gould never drives fast
zGor.es. or INDUCES in any kind of sport
gIeept money making. From 2:3G 10
5<al eyery s;telnooi. Vanderbilt d.iyes his
gones. Then lis horses go to their
Hlslls Of mahogany trimmed with silver,
Ind Vanderbilt goes to his palace, He
sSlgays passes his evenings at home, not
Asyiog been to the theatre or opera this
sTesr, since Wallack's WAS opened last
a January.
WHERE THE MILLIONS CAME FROM.
9 When the Baron James de Rothschild
in 1868 near Paris, his wealth was
3l;,imated at seven hundred million
francs, and he was accounted the richest
man in the world at thnt time. At the
Dresen,, the distinction Of being the rich
y, man in the world certainly belongs to
William II. Vanderbilt. With the
eyenty millions of dollars which his
father left him in 1876 he has made
lRice that sum, and moreover, put his
railroad property in such shape that it
PRODUCES an income of at least eight per
cent. At present he has an income of
live million dollars year or 1892 a Sec
on6. Thirty years ago he did not know
I where to turn for $4,000. Old Commo.
ssdore Vanderbilt first married in 1913
lAliss Sophia Johnson, the daughter of
sneighborhg farmer Oh Staten Island.
She bare him thirteen children, of whom
William Ii. is the third, but The eldest of
lfho.a tphf, tn manhood
born at New Brunswick, New Jersey, on
;the Slh OF May, 1921, and is, therefore,
Iat present in his sixty y.second year. His
father was already doing good business,
having made enough money ferrying pco-
'ple across from New York to Staten
Island at eighteen cents apiece to build
bis first steamboat, the Caroline, which
6nally went over Niagara Falls. So
William was sent to school to the Colum-
bia ColIega Grammar School, and in 1899
he enteredAhe Office Of Dean & Robin
son, brokers in Wall street. and began to
study the art of making millions out of
nothing. He worked hard, SO hard that
at the end of his first year, when he was
twenty years old, he had salary Of SID
week upon the strength Of which he
ventured to marry Miss kissam whose
relatives have since been identified with
the Vanderbilt fortunes. He worked so
bard, however, that his health broke
down and he retired to Staten Island to
MAKE a living, if possible, out of q farm
Of seventy-five acres Of barren land near
New Dorf which his father presented to
hlm. Here at the age of twenty-three
yonng Vanderbilt began the hard un-
grateful life which for twenty years he
was to lead in getting living out of
'ome ot the most barren acres on Staten
Island.
YOUNG FARMER VANDERBILT.
The farm needed more than thrift aud
lntlrlng labor; it needed capital, and
he young man had none. Feeling that
10 had already given proofs OF 6oih iii.
lustry and earnestuess of purpose, he de-
ermlned to ask the old man for some
le!p IN the shape OF loan of So 900.
As he dared not do SO himself, he re-
luested friend to do it for him. The
answer was refusal. and the young far
ner had nothing left To do but to mort
age the farm. He obtained $4,000 and
rent on with his Improvements. Ayear
'assed away without the father apparent
} having any knowledge of the step his
on had taken. The old commodore was,
lo~eVer, at all times surrounded by vol
mary spies, toadies who tried to make
" Iemselves agreeable to him by reporting
III they knew of the members Of the
ammily. One Of these spies found out
III about the young mans mortgage
,ahsactIon and reported the facts to the
One afternoon when the
% called upon him he took him out rid
ng ana made to him little speech Of
ne following kind: "You don't amount
row of pins. anyhow. You won't
ever De able to do anything but bring
ssrace upon yourself, your family and
,eiyoody connected with you" The
uung man Was stunned. He could not
,nagIne the cause of his fathers dis
.easlre. did you not mortgage your
''m tor $4,000 to 80 and.so? ?" inquired
10 old man angrily. II did," answered
&c son with submission, "and l had to
.. u; Tor the farm required improvements
~ ~. had no money. I can assure you
.as not one cent of this money has been
'ea ior my personal comfort. under.
'oa ~, 70 Ply the mortgage of at certain
ase y ana | SHALL be able to do so." The
y man did not utter another word nll
. .lme they were driving. But on the
. y: morning the son received check
Aooe with pcremptory order to
y OF the mortgage fright away" II
= aoout this TIME that the attitude OF
. Commodore toward his eldest snn
gan to show kindness. The prosperity
'ne iarm and the popularity "f the
'uns man among his neighbors pleased
~; De began to think that there
's"t oe something in the boy, after all"
HIS FIRST RAILROAD.
The neiohho- -. I,, D., ,,r