Omaha daily bee., 1885-02-17

in the United States senate from Mississ
Iicp,, caused by the u~nexpirsd term of JET
DAVIS. The legislature was to elect
s,nstor for this short term and also fer
long oae. Aunong the leaders Of tbs
color,d people was Methodist preacher
named Revsls, whom Alcorn wanted t,
get out Of the way He ssid to Bruce
"Rsvels is n good man and we had bet
ter send him u the senate. Bruce
nodded, aud Revel5 went TO Washington.
Alcotn then took the long term to him
self. But lat Washington Gov. Alcorr
grew tired OF Revcls, aud finally told
Bruce that he had better let Rsve's &c
hack to Mississippi, and thgy would es.
tablish n university and make him prcsi-
dent. They did, and Revels, who was a
Nj houist preacher, was deliehtad witt
the chance. BY this time Braces eyes
had quite looked through the science Of
politics, and q few years lst9r, a senator.
Al election occurring, he decided u be a
candidate bimsclf, The ttlts credit wa
very low, and the legislators were recsiv.
ing their pay in state celt Iiic5t 10 not
worth over so cents ON the dollar. Bruce
offered to cash them at par provided he
should be elected fcn&t)r. A man named
Piles, now in Washington, acted as
Rruce's agent in csshing the certificates.
And 40 he came to the senate. Here he
depolted himself so we'll that when he
was nominated for his present position
Senator Lamar moved his confirmation.
Senator Bruce must be worth over 500,
600. He still owns, | am told, HIS Mis-.
sisaippi plant ton, and has money in
government bonds
GLOW about John Lynch, of Missis.
sippif
Lynch is also wealthy. He presided,
you know, at The opening of the last ma
tlopa' convention. He has q plantation
near Natchez, on which he live, in sum.
mer, snd comes north In the winter, He
Is a thin young man of dark complexion,
| with not much magnetism or ability rs
an organizer. He was originally o slave,
is well educated and has served ak years
In c ngress. Captain Smalls, the South
Carolina congressman, has saved soms
money and has n fine estate at Beaufort.
His daughter is one of the most beautiful
colored girls in the land. She is of ght
brown hue, has regular features, long
SlSldslets bnu DedulIut DTOWu eyes,
She waseducated at West Newton, Mass ,
and is as accomplished as any white girl
in the country. Senator Pinchbsck lives
in n of the finest houses in New Orleans.
He has also educated his children In the
hest of the New England colleges, and
has been state senator and lieutenant
governor of louisiana. About thai
time he got himself elected both TO CON
greas and the senate, and cam TO Wash
ipgton with both sets of credentials, on
the principle that he was bound to catch
the coon either s-goln' or a comm. He
failed In both instances, and did not get
into either end of the capitol. Pinchback
atarted life as some kind of a hand on o
river steamboat, / think as a bartender.
He Is worth several hundred thousand
dollars"
"Bus are there DO wealthy men out
side of the politicians2" l asked.
"Ges, indeed; the richest colored men
OF the United States have nothing to do
with politics DR.. Gloster was worth
81, 000, 900 when he died not long ago
He Inherited much from his father, who
made it IL catering, One of Glos.er's
sons-in-law is worth $780, 900. He has
q four-stcry drug store in New York
City, and half of his Clerks are color6d
aud the other half white. John FL.
Lewis, of Boston, has one of the largest
tailor establishments In New England,
and he makes the clothes fer the n1bbiest
of the Beacon hui dudes. He did q bus
mess Last year Of 81, 600, 600, and his
clerks are also half aud half. Lewis was
a slave, and hs ,llowed Sherman, a bare.
headed and a barefooted boy, in his
march to the sea. After the war he went
to Boston and found work as a poItsr in
a tailor shop. He learned the trade of
cutter, and he now has two of the finest
tailor ahops In Boston. He goes abroad
every year to select his goods, and pay
to hi, cutter the highest salary Of anyone
10 that profession. There IS another
colored tailor In Boston who Is rich.
He has been fifteen years in one place
and does some of the best work In the
city"
Cincinnati has some very rich colored
men. There was a colored furniture
dealer there, a few years ago, who could
get his check csshed for 500, 600 any day
Of the week. He was a Kentucky slave,
who began his fortune at 81 a day in
caring about furniture. He made a pat.
emit bed, and the first bed Judge Taft,
our present minister to Rulsia, slept In
after he was married, he oncs told me,
was enc of this man patent bEds. Rob.
ert Gordon, the very wealthy colored man
who died in Cincinnati lately, was also a
slave. He begsn as a cosl-carter. He
saved his money and started alittle cor
ner coal market. This incre asCd, and he
soon had his carts goirg all over Cia-
cinnati. One cold winter he
got up a corner on coal and made a
big tn ng out of it. He bought q fine
residence on Walnut hill ard at the time
of his death be owned thirty good houses.
Some Of the finest pc pie in Cincinnati
are living in thsm to-day. This man
Gordon was very black. One day, Just
before the big rise in government bonds,
he came into the Cincinnati bank and
asked the cashier, WHO did lot know him,
If hs had any bonds to sell, The cashier
replied, 'Yss," Gordon th'n asked if he
had many, as he wanted to make a big
purchase. The c-shier replied,
PLENTY" "Well." responded Mr. Cor
don, II will teke $50, 900 WORTH and
With that, to the mas surpr'se, he be-
gan to wr.te out a check. The ca'hier
looked At the negro as If he thought he
was crazy, and slipping into the pres
idfnts room told him the story. The
prasident of the bank looked ont and