St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-10

ioONHlS dUOuJ lOI SOilcollo w dccOSb oll blio
subject.
1.-The first gold-corded cap encountered
stopped f8 M G
emo the man said In answer to my ques-
ton, Mr.. Vanderbilt has no Office here;
you can see him best at his house, | guess;
there goes his servant now,' he broke off
suddenly, pointing to colored man pass
ing, he'll tell you all about it,
L ran to hail the darkey. He was
short, stout, common looking fellow, soiled
yellow in color, and not at all carefully or
neatly dressed, in fact, in appearance any,
thing but the personal servant of a hundred
millionaire. Nevertheless, L approached
him with timidity, feeling that he
must be something of a great man to be
even the servant of so great man.
''Oh, yes sab! See Mr.. Vanderbilt mos
any time at de house, sah,' was the fellows
dictum.
'''And where is his house?' asked.
''The darkey's eyes glistened and he
showed his teeth. He evidently thought it
a good joke that anyone should be in such
dense ignorance, but he said nothing be-
yOnd giving me the location.
sit was several hours later that found
myself at the corner of Fifty-third street
and Fifth avenue and it was with quick
ened pulses that l halted moment before
touching the electric button in the outer
door, over which were the words, Press
this knob and enter the vestibule.' | re-
minded myself, as l had done on the
threshold of Mr.. Rutters office, that [
had come to do the worlds rich man
a favor, but somehow the favor had
grown small since morning, and l
began to wonder even if col
umn article in my paper was sufficient
excuse for intruding upon the privacy of
this great man.
''All this of course meant only brief
hesitation touching the button l opened
the door and stepped into the handsome
tiled vestibule, and at the same moment a
red-headed, bow-legged Turnkey in swallow
tail, white tie, low vest, ETC., appeared and
deferentially awaited my commands.
''To my request to see Mr.. Vanderbilt he
replied that that gentleman was not at
home, had gone out for drive and it was
most uncertain just at what hour he
would be back. I asked then when
l could most probably see him
and was told that at 9 o'clock the
following morning he was quite sure to
be in and visible, and with this information
I left, first committing my card, on the back
of which l had written my errand, to the
servant with careful injunction that MI.
Vanderbilt should certainly have it.
sit was not much beyond the stroke Of
nine the next day when again pressed the
open sesame of the Vanderbilt mansion.
He of the claw-hammered coat did not APP
pear in the cold light of the morning, but
another functionary somewhat less elabOr-
ately got up, was on hand.
eyes, MI. Vanderbilt was in, and would
please step this way" was the satisfac-
ton got at last, and entered large recep-
ton room OH the left, whose style and furnish
ing impressed me most glOOmily, although
presume the little light which filtered
through the heavily draped windows was
the real cause of its sombre and llncheerful
aspect. In this room about dozens per-
sons, gentlemen all of them, were gathered,
awaiting like myself audience with the heir
of hundred millions. had duplicated my
card of the previous day and now produced
the pastebOard for the servants transmission.
AS he turned to leave the room there was
sound of voices and Mr.. Vanderbilt himself
appeared with party Of friends to whom
he was evidently showing The house. The
man stepped up, my card still in his hand,
and presented it. He glanced at it and
said something to the servant, who then re-
turned with the information that Mr.. Van
derbilt would speak with me.
ST went forward in a very complacent
state of mind Business is business 1
thought to myself, and, although a man
may be worth several hundred millions of
dollars, if he is shrewd and farsighted he
will always keep an eye open to the main
chance.
'''In this matter, said Mr.. Vanderbilt
without any preamble, and his manner
chilled me, you will have to see Mr.. Cor
nelius Vanderbilt, first vice president OF the
road l can do nothing for you' [
thanked him, but 1 bitterly resented this
downfall to my hopes and efforts, and as
left the place threw a disparaging look
over the magniicence about, feeling a GER
tain satisfaction in thus belittling to myself
the splendor I had approached with a de-
gree of awe. I had not time to discover
that anybody was particularly impressed
with my not being suited with my sur
roundings before they had ceased
to be such, the door closed behind me and |
was walking down the avenue, saying some
uncomplimentary things against people in
general and railroad magnates in particular.
The next thing was to find Mr.. Cornelius
Vanderbilt, for now, more than ever, l was
determined to get that pass fixed if it could
be done. My zeal in the papers behalf had
subsidized, my design to Oblge the Central
road by clever descriptive article was no
where, it was personal issue now purely,
and was contest between myself and that
double-headed smile of Rutter.
II went over to the Grand Central station
and asked to be shown into the presence of
the first vice president of the New York
Central & Hudson River railroad. was
informed that he was not in. then jour-
neyed down town and sought district tele-
graph office where enclosed my pass with
note in an envelope, explaining matters
at length, addressed the same to MI. Cor
nelius Vanderbilt and consigned it to the
company to deliver.
''Several hours later 1 sought the Office
again.
"'Was there a message for me?'
eyes, and there it was. 1 opened the
envelope, out fell my pass unaltered. A
note was also there from-whom do you
think?-General Manager Rutter. He
stated politely that Mr.. Vanderbilt had re-
ferred the matter to him, and that as he
had said yesterday he had no power to
change the pass.
$50 travelled around the circle and came
out just where I had gone in. Rutters
smile was justified and 1 took the night
train out, and tore my remarks of an intro
ductory character into thousand pieces"
PHILIP II. WEIGH.
AN INTERESTING COLL ECTION
Gathered by the Globe Artist During
His Trip Through the Sewers.