The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-26
ALL ABOUT CYRUS w. FIELD.
A Glance at the Man Who Projected
and Laid the First Atlantic Cable.
His Country Place and City Residence The
Extent of His Fortune-Social Life
and Personal Characteristic
written for the Indianapolis journal

| Written for the Indianapolis Journal.
After fifty years of business life Cyrus w.
| Field is about to withdraw as completely as pos
| sible from commercial pursuits In the latter
part of next month he will sail for an extensive
trip in Europe. He is one of the most celebrated
! figures in the business world. He is the most
Travelled, the most polished. the most urbane of
| the financial leaders Mr.. Gould is taciturn,
| Mr.. Vanderbilt is sometimes little ponpous
| Mr.. Sage is apt to be Grabbed, Mr.. Dillon is
| chilling, Mr.. Huntington is rather undignifed,
and is an interviewer of newspaper men to an
extent that makes him formidable. Mr.. Field
is never actually abrupt, except with chronic
bores and cranks. His manners are courtly
He is che Chesterfield of Wall street
| He is six feet in height, but hardly seems So
as he has a rather pronounced stoop He is in
his sixtys year. but his step is elastic, his
manner has all the old fire and energy. He has
rather furtive blush gray eyes, with which he
peers keenly into those of his interlocutor the
nose is more prominent than shapely; the brows
are knit with years of anxious thought he has
struggling full gray beard; his hair is of course
gray, and he is becoming quite bald. The mouth
| is firm, and the whole air of the man is one of
mingled courtliness, good humor and indomita-
BILE resolution. He makes up his mind on the
instant in most cases, and dispatches business
at race horse speed He dresses well, generally
wears a silk-faced Prince Albert coat, but wears
no ornaments except a large enameled pn which
was presented to him in South America many
years ago.
He is honest but as shrewd as fox.
He has splendid mansion and farm of 500
acres at Irvington on the Hudson. It cost him
nearly or quite half million dollars. 1t is mid
way between Irvington and Dobb's Ferry and
fronts on Broadway, but extends back to the
Sawmil valley road. On Broadway there land
is held at 81, 900 an acre. further back it is con-
sidered worth $500. From the entrance on
+ Broadway there is drive to the mansion of
more than quarter of mile, along we'll kept
roads abundanty shaded in summer by over
arching trees, some of which are of choice
| foreign varieties He has five miles of beautiful
| roadways on his almost Arcadian farm, some of
which extend to the breezy top of the Wildwood
| ed ridge overlooking the Sawmill valley 1 say
almost Arcadian farm" because Mr.. Field is no
more of farmer than Horace Greeley or Henry
| Ward Beecher. 1t is simply sort of hobby,
such as nearly every capitalist has, and it is
rather expensive one.
mr Greedy is said to have answered an in
| quirer who wished to know the best means of
raising beets: "Take hold of the tops and pulp
He is also said to have advised farmer who
| was about to raise broom-corn to cultivate the
panhandle kind" SIN rocky SOIL" he is also
supposed to have said plant your corn by fir
| ing it from shotgun Mr.. Beechers potatoes
| raised Oh his Peekskill farm, 1t is hinted have
| sometimes cost him dollar apiece And there
| are INSCRIPTIONS wags who stoutly maintain
| that while Cyrus w. Field is at home in Wall
| street, on the ocean laying cables, be knows
no more about farming than some other dis
/ tinguishcd men.
| Mr. Fialds c;tv rasidanca 10 IN Crararoy parlr
| on the north side, at the corner of Lexington
avenue Just opposite, across the park is the
| prlncely residence OF Samuel j. Tiiden. The
| two have not been friendly since Mr.. Tilden sold
| cons iderable elevated railroad stock some years
| ago, just after Mr. Field had sailed for Europe
| contrary, 1t is said, to previous agreement
MIR. Tilden, it appears, had about two million
dollars worth of elevated railroad stock and
| agreed with Mr. Field not to sell while the latter
/ was away on trip to Europe. But Mr.. Tilden
| did sell his stock. it is claimed soon as Mr..
| Fields back was turned and caused a fall in the
| price of % per cent.
| Mr.. Field attends the Madison avenue Presby-
| terian Church, the denomination in which he was
| reared. His domestic relations are very happy.
| He has two sons and four daughters one of
whom is now widow while one is unmarried
His wife is Southern lady. He is fond of the
theater but enjoys the opera even more and has
a box at the Metropolitan Opera house, in which
he is a stakeholder. He likes to give dinner
| parties.
-
| one who is intimately associated with him.
He has as strong an adherence of tobacco as
| his brother, David Dudley Field but he is a
| judge of wine and drinks it in moderation. I'm
like Mr.. Vanderbilt he cares little for horses. He
has dozen at Irvington. but only two or three
in the city, and seldom drives them himself
Neither is he strictly speaking, club man, as
might from his cosmopolitan experience be sup
posed. He was Jealous supporter of the Union
cause during the war, and joined the Union
League, but about ten years ago he severed his
connection with it, and now the only club of
| any prominence of which he is q member is
| believe the Century.
| MIR. Field has wide acquaintance among dis
| tinguished foreigners, especially in England.
He has crossed the ocean in his lifetime over a
| hundred times, and has met MANY famous fig
ures in various walks of life. He is very friendly
| with John Bright and Sir Stafford Northcote
and has stopped with Mr.. Gladstone at his seat
| at Hawarden number Of times
The Washington Building in which this mod
| ern fnancier has his eyrie overlooks historical
| ground. There is the Bowling Green, with its
revolutionary memories, the old dormer- win
lowed houses of fifty or sixty years ago, when
| this part of the city was the center of fashion
There is the Battery, with its hundred sugges.
| tions of quaint and almost forgotten past; and
| there is Castle Garden, where Jenny Lind
| strange as it may sound-frst took New York
| by storm with voice which, old New Workers
think, has never since been equaled. The Wash.
ington Building, though owned by Mr.. Field, is
| divided up into shares, as though it were rail-
road and is at least nomnally in the hands of a
company. 1t is understood that Mr.. Field pre-
ferred to have it arranged in this way partly for
| the reason that it could be moro readily left by
bequest There is said to be q mortgage on it
| for a considerable amount.
The buildingitself is on the site of the old
Washington Hotel This hotel by the way, was
built on the ground once occupied by the man
| siou of Nathaniel Prime the Jay Gould of fifty
years ago. 1t may be added, parenthetically,
that this same banker Prime once when poor
young man, went to a Southern planter on
visit at the time to New York, and asked for
/ loan of S., 000
What security can you giveT asked the
! planter.
''The word of an honest man. answered
/ Prime