St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-08-01
Relates Some "reminiscences Of Early
Minneapolis and its Inhab-
itants.
Incidents Related About the Bueket-Shops
Taking Fly in Wheat.
Old Timers who Made and Lost
Good-Sized Fortunes in
Day.
How Sudden Wealth Has Ruined
Men who Couldn't Stand
the Pace.
An Old Settler Talks.

remember when Unere were not a nall
dozen houses on the west side of the river,
have not yet passed the meridian of life.
Consequently such thing as an old
settler, who is old in sense of
the word. old in years, old in ideas, old in
clothes and old in manners is rarity. Such
a specimen as this, a man who used to play
with the Indians when he was boy, who
remembers Minnehaha falls when it didn't
have any ''biind pig" and recollects when
Col. John III. Stevens took out the building
permit for the first house in Minneapolis in
1S49, wandered into the GLOBE office
yesterday, with the remark that he hoped
he wasn't intruding, as he only wanted to
gaze at an editor. ''The last one seed"
he explained, was back in '52-lemme see,
no, '53. l remember [ took him in bag
of corn to pay my subscription with, and
he was out in corntield working at the
time. The times hev sorter changed.
Now you've got lot of young fell
lers running around askin' people wher
putting it in the paper hind end to. In
those days we weren't so darned .sensa-
tional,' as you call it. but be behaved better
and didn't put on so much style. Now
days you editors don't seem to do emmy
thing but write about wimmin's under
clothes and stuff you call 'sassiety gossip
and you go poking around into
everybody's business. You don't
get anythin' right as far as can make out
don't know much about the goins-on of
to-day, but | do claim to know little
somethin' about the history of this town.
[ was down here in hotel little while
ago. and happened to pick up some paper
in which l read a piece | 'spose was meant
to go for history. The editor was talkn'
about some young fellow here losin'
the money somebody had left him in a
bucket shop. 1 don't suppose the editor
ever had any money to lose, but he goes on
and moraliZeS about the terrible results
from wheat gamblin' and tells about old
Dan Howard and lot more of 'em who
got stuck on speculation and went broke
1 don't object 10 his maxim a Sunday
to, but l do kick on his per-
vertin' the facts of history. This editor
some young chap probably about 16 years
| old, says Dan Howard is living on the
bounty of brother. faint no such a
thing Dan Howard s dead and buried i'm
a pauper's grave. Ell you don't mind I'll
tell you about him jes to let you see know
what Pm talkip' about. Dan Howard used
| to be railroad engineer. When the ST.
| Paul & Pacific road started off they
sent off somewhere East and bought
Job lot on engines. Dan came into Mime
sofa on the first of these engines that
crossed the state line. Eff l amt mistaken,
it was the first engine that ever came into
the state. too. Afterwards he got to be a
conductor on the Milwaukee road. Every
body was kinder dabbln' in wheat in those
days, and Dan got his finger in the pie. He
used to spekelate through medium who
used to go into trance and tell him how
to buy an sell. Kind of spiritual business,
don't you see. Finally he thought he'd go
into the commission business for himself.
The road didn't want to lose him, and Of
fered to give him a years leave of absence.
He'd had about S25, O60 though, an
wouldn't listen. He got ahold Of Cap New
son, who was good hand for bizness, and
give him a partnership to go in
with him. Inside of year
Dan was broke and cleaned out.
He made things hum when he was agoin',
and was popular. so clothin' store hired
him to jes stand in front of the store and
kind of pull his friends in to trade. After
wards he got Oh to the Minneapolis & st.
Louis road. 1t was a kind OF cow-path
road in them days, and the job didn't
amount to much, so he quit an went down
to Chicago. Whisky had used him up, and
he died there. The Milwaukee road
brought his body back here and buried 1t.
Roger Pease, L reckon, opened up the
first of these bucket shops the town ever
had. He had more nerve than any of 'em
an nothin' phazed him. Why, remember
one day he was worth S24, 600 In tn mornn'
and when night came he was SIC, 600 in debt
That night kinder follered him, thinkin'
he might suicide or do somethin' reckless.
He went up the street as eff nothin' had
| happened. went into store an bought
| some California SalmOn-SalmOn was rs
cents pound in those days, too had to
laugh when | saw him takin' fish home to
supper. w. S. Judd, with his son-in-laW
| Dibble. used to keep a commission place
| over what is now Harris grocery store on
| Washington avenue south. Here's somethin'
that happened at that place. There was a
little cock-eyed teller they called Keene, w.
| W. Keene. who was cashier of the North
western bank. He used to he what you
call dude now, an 1 remember wore the
| first Newmarket coat we ever seen. He
was quiet hammered. an never had much
to say. Every mornin' he was at his desk
at two minutes before the bank opened for
bizness, an two minutes after it closed in the
afternoon he was out on the street. Well.
|
losn'. Finally the bank examiner came
came around one day. Keene says, How
de do and puts on his coat and goes up to
old H. G. Wells house wells was presi-
dent of the bank, and says: The bank
examiner is here and there is little def
cheney, as the books will show. Per-
haps you had better go down to
the bank. You can bet Wells
got down to the bank mighty quick. After
they had looked at the books Wells sent for
Keene and says, L thought you said there
was only little discrepancy. Why, there's
$50, 600 we cannot account forp When
| you get OH little further you'll find $780,
600 more, says Keene, cool as cucumber
| What had he done with it? Why, he'd
been speculatin' over at Judd & Co.'s. The
bank people raised big fuss and said it
was Judd's duty to have notified 'em that
their employe was gamblin' away their
money Judd said he didn't think he
ought to do anything of the sort. You see
| he didn't suppose Keene was Speculatin'
with his own money, but thought some of
the bank folks want to take fly at wheat
aud were dom it through Keene Judd is
out in Dakota somewhere Keene
was sentenced to five years in
| the penitentiary and was pardoned out
after he had served three years. He's a
bookkeeper now for Seymour, Sabin & Co.,
of Saltwater. He had the right idea about
speckilatin' too. If he had been let alone
for sixty days he would have been million
aire.
Tommy Doyle was another broker in
those days. He used to be a baggageman
on the River division of the Milwaukee
road. and made about S25, 900 speck-
elatin. He married mighty nice
girl and took her to Chicago on her we'd
dim trip. He went out and got clean
broke the first day he was there. He never
come near her for two weeks after. The
girl had lots of pluck and never let her
folks know how her marriage had turned
out, but took in sewing and earned her own
livin Finally her father went down an
| got her. Tommy got to be a regular old