Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-04-17
JAKE sHABP's lazy luck.
The Railroad Man Grows Rich In Idle-
ness While His Early Friends Coil 10

From TIE Ne1c York. Jouraal.
Philip Myers claims to have know
Jacob Sharp Who captured the franchis
OF the Broadway Surface railway fror
boyhood. Myers is now a driver on one O
she ugly, uncomfortable little ears in use
on the Brooklyn Bridge and West Twenty
third street road.
yes he said to a reporter who board
ed the car at the bridge Yesterday. 81
did know Jake once, and then / used %
look down on aim. That was over thirty
years ago. when we bOth lived ln old
C~anai0harie county. | first saw him 40
school a short, raWboned little CHAP. lie
didn't seem to have any friends then or to
want. any"
s'Jake's father according TO Myers,
sswas not liked in the neigh Dorhood III
was said that he had been a lanke rover,
and that be was better at a bargain nan
a DAVIS work. / remember, sald the
driver. "the little tunble-down house
which he leased. l also remember how
careful the ~neighboring farmers were to
lock no their barus and their grain bins.
People never trusted the Sharps, Hl-yi!
there!'
The exclamation was meant for a reck-
less truck driver who dashed across the
tracks so as to intercept two cars bearing
down from opposite directions.
t'1he Sharp farm" he went on, twas
lust over the line from Our place in Bar
tonville. 1t was in Florida, n. Y. 1t was
there that Jake, his brother and three
sisters were brought up"
Ibid the little Jacob succeed as a
BchOlarY'
oHe was very INDECENT. | remember
that he was bright at arithmetic, though.
The curious part Of it was that he al
ways got the right answer to any pro-
blem, but he never could remember how
he got it.'
''Was he an active boy at his sports? ~
s'N0. He was feared by the youngsters
and disliked by the older boys. His one
game was marbles. He loved to see them
roll. He always played for keeps and ne
always won."
The driver then said that when Jake
was old enough to work he was sent to
live with a thrifty farmer named Day.
He was to feed the poultry and the pigs,
drive the live stock to pasture and now
and then help the men at haylng. In con-
sideratiOn Of these services he was to re-
ceive his board and clothing.
s'The only thing he did regularly" said
the street car man, twas 10 water the
stock" Myers laughed at his little joke.
ANYHOW he was soon sent home again.
Farmer Day said he was indOlent; Mis-
tTess Day said he was misehieY0us. The
only one who seemed to like him was the
farmers only daughter, May. After that
Jake went with his father to help the
farmers during haying or harvest
time or into the woods TO fell trees in
winteT.H
AS the boy grew up he was known as a
shiftless, indolent youth, a little shadOwy
as to the sources OF his income and rather
a dangerous fellow TO trade jack knives
with. He never would work until he was
driven to do so by hunger, n he was
iabOOed from the busy society of Cana
jOharie county. Everybody predicted
that MS life would be spent in jail or in
the county poor house down at the four
Orners.
Sharp's marriage seems to nave been
the sensation Of the day, the first fore
BhadOwing Of his future genius. About
this time Farmer Days daughter began
60 be recognized as the belle of Cana
jOharie. She was the sunshine of his
home and The prospective heiress of his
fertile acres and his fat kline. All the
spruce young farmers in the county
were beginning to make sleeps eyes at
her when she passed them on the steps
of the meeting house or met them at rural
hops.
Two brawny young farmers in pratic-
ular, whose lands adjoined the farmers
and who could cradle a field of "a more
dexterously and rapidly han any
body else, were deemed by all the gos-
sips to have the best chances of winning
Der favor.
AS young Sharp had lived for a time at
she Day homestead both sweetsharts FREE
guently employed him to carry sundry
messages and votive Offering of tender
chickens or baskets Of fruit to the young
beauty.
How it came about no one ever knew,
but one fine day Jake himself drove up to
the parsons front gate in a rickety wagon.
In the wagon was a load of potatoes and
the pretty Miss Day, blushing like a
morning glory at sunrise. They were
married and Sharp paid the fee with the
load Of potatoes.
Farmer Day was furious when he learn
ed what had happened. AS for the dis
appointed sweetsharts, they vowed to
thrash Jake like a sheaf of oats. They
never did. This love affair seemed to fire
a little ambition in the young mans ma
ture. He would not work, bat he would
get money. AS a gang OF lumbermen
were going down the river and on to New
York with a raft Of logs, Jake took pass
age with them in the capacity of cook.
There be was sure OF plenty to eat,Of good
pay and there vas little danger OF his tir-
Ing himself out.
"His young wife, continued the driver
bOuchlng up the horses a bit, went back
10 her fathers house. she was the OBJ
lect of pttying curiosity on all hands for
awhile, but the indOlent Jacob was as
much forgotten as though he mad been an
other Rip Van Wrinkle. But one daY a
young fellow in BartonYiile who had been
down TO the city told a wondering crowd
that Jake was making money. He had
seen him in New York. He was the boss
Of a gang OF labOrers on the docks, and
BAT around all day watching them at their
work. Then somebody a little later SAID
that Jake was getting rich employing
men at low pay, to build docks for which
ne had the contracts.
"One day the tongue OF gossip was let
loose, for Jake Sharp had come back after
his wife. He had a house and lot in New
York, and was making money hand over
hst. 1t was astonishing to see the affec-
ton Of Farmer Day FOR his son-in-law and
the servility OF the %neighhors.
well" went on the driver, "they made
a great spread for a couple Of weeks and
then Mr.. and Mrs. Sharp went OF 10 New
York. Said j to myself, 'If that lazy
Jake Sharp can get rich in New York l
can,'and so / soon after bid them all good
by and came down TO the city.V
EVERYBODY knows how Mr.. Sharp has
managed TO roll up his two or three mil.
lions since then. His first street car Ven-
ture was the old cross-town Forty-second
street line. Then be got a downtown
cross line through Grand street. Soon