Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-07-18
NEW YORK LETTER.
TIE DULL SEASON IN TIE GREAT
METROPOLIS.
A Notable rigure-wiman and His Great
work-A Deserted city-sp
ing Gossip.
-,...sr,s or,be Richmond Dispatch,

work-A Deserted City Sport
ing Gossip
,oorrespopoeuce Oft Richmond Dispatch.l
NEW YORK, July IL, 1886.
Ono of the notable figures that | see
hurrying through that human sea,
BROADWAY, is a man slightly under the
medium height, in q gray business suit
With a Jscaueminot rose in his button
hole and an intent, earnest. yet good
nalured expression on his English-look-
inc features. Tn bis mutton.chop whis-
kers ne looks like Londoner, but his
activity ia that Of a born American. Ii
ia Erastus Wiman. He IS one of the
numerous foreigners who have won
wealth and distinction in this coun-
try. Alexander Hamilton 10 states
uauship, Albert Gallatin in fiuance,
A. T. Stewart in trade, Farfa-
gut in war. and now comes man from
Canada whose name is already well
known in the United States as hnau-
cier and the organizer of various basi-
ness projects. He was born in 1884 in
a little village near Toronto. Ia the
summer months he worked in the fields
for fifty cents a week in the winter be
picked up scanty school education.
His best education was in printing
Office in Toronto, where ne obtained
employ ment as a boy Of fifteen. lie
remained there until he was nineteen,
acting first as o roller-boy for an old
style Adams press and finally as
type-setter. His wages ranged IRON
s1.25 10 IS week.
THE pIoudest day Of Erastus Wi
mans life," said one who knows hun
well, "was the day that he threw into
his widowed mothers lap the sum OF
sI.25, his first weeks wages. Through
out his whole apprenticeship the same
disposition was made Of every dollar
he earned, for they were very poor.
lie had a younger sister, but no bro
Their to share the burden with him. He
has told me with glistening eyes how,
when he had achieved the grea. earn
ing power of IS week, he
ard his sister walked the streets of
Toronto looking into all the milliners'
windows to select bonnet for the dear
mother that she might go to church on
the following Sunday, and with what
pride the adornment was selected and
presented. Long before he himself
owned house the good mother and
sister were comfortably settled in a
home Of their own, and years before he
himself could afford a carriage, one
had been provided for his mother, who,
in her advanced years, had become
lame and unable to walk. With such
principle Of self-sacrihce and such in
dustry as he early manifested, success
was only O question OF time"
ASIAN EDITOR.
Leaving the printing Office, he joined
the staff of the Toronto Globe as q COM
me1cial writer and compiler Of statistics.
These duties brought him IN contact
with large number of business men.
In time his acquaintance extended to all
the leading merchants and bankers Of
Canada. When Il. G.. Dun Il Co. ex-
tended the operations Of their mercan-
tile agency to Canada, young Wiman
was employed IS one Of their trusted as
sistants. In few years he became the
Canadian head Of the business. In 1865
he came to New York as ole Of the
leading members of the firE. now
known as Dun, Barlow & Go. in
New York and Dun, Wimar Il Go.
in Canada. His experience in the me-
tropolis has been as interesting as his
success has been marked. He is al
ways ready to help the needy, and his
sympa,hies are especially warm towards
Canadians. He is president Of the
Canadian Club of this city; in his fine
home, at New Brighton, Staten Island,
are numerous specimens Of Canadian
art; be has spent considerable sums in
encouraging Canada's national game Of
lacrosse lie has used all his influence
and adroitness in promoting the success
of the winter carnivals in Montreal,
whittier some Is 600 or 10000 Ameri-
cans have been induced to 60 and spend,
as the Canadians compute, not
less than half a million of dol
lars in a season. lie has done
much TO establish O Canadian colony
in the United States by giving employ
ment to Canadians in his agency bust
ness all over the country. lie has, |
am told, LOG branch Offices, and fifty Of
these have Canadian managers who in
turn have looked after their fellow
countrymen. Erastus Wiman is the
head and front Of the firm known as
Dun, Barlow & Co. Under his admin
istration its revenues have increased to
two millions Of dollars annually. He
prints a book four times year con-
tanning, / believe, a million names and
requiring forty tons of type to print 1t.
He is director of the Western Union
Telegraph Company and pays nothing
for his kilograms.
HIS GREAT WORK.
All his fortune Of two or three mil
lions, all his financial achievements
pale before one single act Of his bust
ling and eventual life. Fifty years
hence nobody Will care how much nc
was worth, but history may well re-
cord, with an electric spark playing
round the words, that the repeal Of the
ancient and barbarous statute in regard
to imprisonment for debt was largely
due to the efforts Of one man-Erastus
Wiman. An emperor might have been
proud to listen to the words Of heart
felt, fearful gratitude that were poured
ont upon this business man of New
York by the unfortunate men suddenly
and Unexpectedly released from hope
less imprisonment who assembled in
front Of Ludlow-Street Jail to thank
their benefactor, who, out Of pure
kindness of heart, had spared neither
time nor money in their behalf. 1t
was sn act that may well have caused
the miserable place and the faces of by
ISLANDERS to shine.
Like most men of large enterprises,
Mr.. Wiman is careful in his personal