Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-12-20

,a'uiu VI the Whole business NJ sncca,a
w vlee-presidcnts have a way az do,nc
Mnlle secretary Of the Navy Iienshaw ros
a very STRONG man. Indeed. h, ,yas -
strong lhat to him alone, SO far ~ ~
plesluent aud cabinet affected A wa A.,
sny admission OF Texas as a state 81
I wen was he known as the chief instrn.
nlent 10 letting Texas In, that New Engjsna
ana the entire Wing North oponed their
wrath upon him, and whom
congress assembled In December Ms
nomination was rejected NV ,he
senate, so shat bis cabinet lifc lasted onlS
from July until February. lie WAS rc.
garaed as presidential possibility m
1888 when Polk was nominated.
unlike the late William II. Vanderbilt
lhe old commodore, his father, cared
nothing at all for dress. one day he came
INTO Buffalo on special train accom-.
panied by several general freight
agents, superintendent or two
anu some lesser officials. As thry
ahghted, the poorcst.dreSsed man
IN the crowd was Vanderbilt; the best
Tue train brakeman. And they graded mn
IRON the snuff colored suit of the mill
lOnalre to the broadcloth and due linen of
the wheel-twiSter IN about inverse ratio
70 the size OF their monthly stipend.
with all his millions, MIR. William IL.
Nandorbilt-hls middle name was Henry
was, IN one respect at least, a tlmid
man. lie was afraid Of competition. This
popularity of his was known to, and
counted upon, by the man who planned
ana built the Nickel Plate railroad
Ihere were already moro lines leading
east out OF Chicago than business, and
I George |. Scney aud his iollow-SpeculA.
tors knew IL, but they counted on beating
the late head of the Vanderbilt system
Just as Could, through his unscrupulons
agent Jim Fisk, used 20 beat the old
commodore, and they succeeded. The
Lake Shore had no need for tho additional
track Afforded by Mr.. Nandcrhilt's pur-
chase of the Nickel Plate, neither had
~ much TO fear from thc
lalters competition. These facts were
laid before Vanderbilt by president, then
general manager, Newell of the Lake
shore and others. They several times
tried to dlssuadc Vanderbilt from buying
the Nickel Plate, telling him that that was
the very thing Sency built the parallel
line for, TO sell II out to him at hand
some profit, but Ii was all of no avail |
had 1t from the very highest source at the
Time that Mr.. Vanderbilt was scared INTO
buying the road, and did 1t against very
strong advice TO the contrary. The same
weakness was displayed In the case OF the
West Shore, though the stockholders of
the latter were not so fortunate as those
OF the Nickel Plate. IL cost Vanderbilt
quite as much, but the property had not
been so well managed.
-
Col j, Condit Smith, who died some
two years ago, was long one OF Mr. Van
derbilps trusted lieutcntants. lie held
no official position, but ne effected trans
actions the SIZE OF which would appall
the ordinary fnanclcr, Col. Smith served
In the army Of the Southwest under Gen.
Grant and after he returned from the
war conceived the idea of q grand spccu-
lation in Western land His conception
was good enough but the working OF IL
out proved somewhat family. Al the age
OF fifty he found himself land poor. Ills
expenses were heavy, for he was uccus.
toned to spend weeks In New York and
Boston, aud was often invited TO MIR. Van
dcrbitslhousc for whist-playmg, OF which
the latter was passionotely fond,
besides maintaining an extensive cstab-
lishmont on Delaware avenue, the Fifth
avenue of Buffalo. What 30 do seemed a
poser Col. Smith told me u
year or two before he died
that that was the darkest time
he ever saw. Wcll,by the mereSt chance,
he heard of railroad project in West
crn New York. There was no law then,
as now, against bonding the town through
which a proposed road was to pass, so,
by this aud other means, Col, Smith tlnal-
ly succeeded, with some local assistance,
In getting trains to running. But, In the
nature OF things 1t could never be much
Of Il railroad, for 1t began In n small town
and didn't run anywhere in particular.
-
one evening Col. Smith was playing
whist with Mr.. Vanderbilt and party Of
congcnial spirits, when he undertook to
tell a story about the very eccentric su-
peI intendent OF his Western New York
shccp-path. Vanderbilt seemed more In
terestcd In the road than IN the story, and,
while the cards were being dealt, asked
! Col. Smith several questions about IL,
/ The upshot of 1t was that Smith sold Van
! derbilt the road outright and II Is to-day
run as a sort OF tender to the New YORK
/ Central BY the sale Smith realized u
clean profit OF $50 900, some weeks later
he received word from Vanderbilt that he
wanted TO see him. Smith smollcd a
mice. lie thought the millionaire had
found out the true character OF
his purchase, and that II
wasn't much of n road lie
hung about New York n whole week, put
/ ting off from day TO day the disngreeGble
task OF facing the money king flnhlly
he took his courage In his teeth and
called. Vanderbilt was as smiling AZ
over. 81 want you to negotiate some
Western matters for me-" he salu "a
/ Smith, The details were arranged, ana
1 lust ms the colonel was retiring Mt van
/ derbilt remarked, with merry l"lhkl' III
his eve, "Dnye as shrewd bargain a.
Won did IN the ChaulauQua county hleep.
path YOU sold me.n Col Smllh got oNl
of hls Western land scrape and remained
n trusted lieutenant Of vanderbilt 10 Inc
day Of his death
-.
The fuoi of the iuture Is TO be naluia
gas. Already IL ~ aupplmtng coal 10
wonderful extent throughout MealeIi
pennsylyanla and Eastern OHIO, The an
thracite which used to be sent down Tn
ohio by the millions Of tons on Immense
RATS from plttsbmg, Is, while not nov
an unknown thing still greatly reduce
In quantity Test wells are being pu
down In many localities, and, now j
only they 90 deep enough, gus " Amos
ccrtnn To he found along the entire rouu
49,. 20 ,Ep Erlp frDm Toledo TO Iul