The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-06-26


ounurles ........... OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. oVOOO
As soon as the announcement was made
crowd of friends visited the Commodores
office, ut No. Bowling Green, where he
was found Frustrated from sickness and
old age which greatly aggravated his fnan-
cial embarTassments. He Said: After con-
sultation with my legal advisers, have
made up my mind to take this step, which /
believe is for the best interests of myself
and my creditors. A temporary pressure
was brought to bear on me, and / could see
no other way out of the difficulty than to
turn my property over to an assignee" The
Commodore's friends say that he is really
unable to attend to business.
The assignee said: Owing to i'll health,
the Commodore made an assignment as the
best course. No schedule of assets and la
bilities has yet been made. Until such
schedules are made, the only opinion to be
taken is that Of his friends, who speak con-
fidently of n large surplus after paying
every liability"
Mr.. Rockefeller, Of the Standard Oil
Company. said: 1T is undoubtedly true
that the Messrs. Andrews are involved in
Commodore Garrison's trouble, but no mat
ter what happens to them it can have no eff
feet on the Standard Oil Company. The
Messrs. Andrews are simply stockholders,
and can easily dispose of their holdings if
they think necessary. Reports that officers
of this company are in trouble are unqual-
fedly false"
Mr.. Melville G. Hay, counsel for Com,
modore Garrison, said The Commodore
has been forced to make this assignment
because of financial embarrassment, and
not for the purpose of evading any just
claims which might be made upon him."
Commodore Garrison is deeply involved in
- 81 -, L., Do,l
road. He and w. G. Andrews Endorsed the
notes of the company. One note which
was protested was for $50, 900 and another
for $3.50, 900, both representing part of
$500, 900 in paper which had been issued by
the railroad company. 1t Is supposed that
the total amount Of the Commodore liabil-
tiles is about Sc, 600, 900"
Scion Humphreys stated that the assign
ment was made solely on account of the ad-
vanced age of the Commodore, and that the
assets of the estate are millions more than
the liabilities.
Commodore Garrison has long been q
familiar figure to New Workers who in any
way were brought into connection with Wall
street OF late years he has suffered from
stroke of paralysis, and he is best remem-
bered as q tall man, with sallow face and
slow, unsteady step. He was born at
Fort Montgomery, n. Y, March 1, 1909,
and the ruggedness of his constitution is
attested by his defiance, at his age, of the
effec's of paralysis.
He laid the foundation of his fortune in st.
Louis, beginning his business life by steam
boating on the Mississippi River, at time
when the turbulent character of the people
living along its banks often called for the
display of courage on the part of captains
of river steamboats,. William G.. Ralston
was clerk on the Convoy, the first boat
that the Commodore commanded, and a
friendship existed between the two men up
TO the unhappy death of Mr. Ralston in
1875. Late in the '4Os Commodore Garri-
son established banking house in Pana-
ma, interested himself in the steamship
lines which were carrying the West India
trade and then went to San Francisco
as the representative of the Nicamguan
line of steamers. In this position he
received $50, 900 n year, and as agent of
several New York insurance companies he
drew an income of S25, 900. He was elected
Mayor of San Francisco six months after
his arrival there. The Commodore was the
first cash subscriber for the exploration of
q route for the Pacific Railroad, and he
became practically the sole owner of what
is now known as the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road. He sold his interest in this corpora
ton to Jay Gould in 1879 for about 81 ,000,-
900. He removed to New York before the
outbreak of the civil war, and in 1864 his
son, William r., came here to end his life
in the accident on the New Jersey Central
Road, near Long Branch, in 1882.
Among the steamship enterprises with
which Commodore Garrison was early as
sociated were the California line and lines
to New Orleans, Savannah, and Brazil, and
the United States and Mexico Mail Line.
He was one of the original projectors of
the Gilbert NOV known as the Metropoli-
tam Elevated Railway, and was heavily in
terested in the New York Loan and I'm
provement Company, which built that road.
Among other enterprises in which he en-
listed was the Wheeling and Lake Erie
Railroad