Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-11-14
NEW YORK LETTER.
TEE ms AND Ours OF LIFE As SEEN
IN GOTHAM.
Henry villard's Reappearance In Wall
Greet HE Career Club and
Stage Notes.
correspondence Of the Richmond plspstchl

NEW YORK, November -, 1886.
When the certain In the drama Of
Wall street was rung down on the psnic
Of 1884 Henry Willard stood In the
arena of finance q monetary gladiator,
ruined IL fortune and broken IN body.
His power had been sensibly lessened
in the preceding year. He is no longer
1T the head ~ great corporations HI
name Is no logger q tower oil financial
strength Two years have passed, and
now The scene is On office far up in one
Of the great business-pslaces which
are the wonder Of New York, the mo-
dem Nine,eh Of more than AssyIian
wealth and splendor. 1t is In one oil
the upper stories Of the great Mills
building that Henry Willard sits wait
ing for the curtain to rise on another
act in the business play which shall
not end in disaster. He is already
busy with his ambitious plans. lie Is
understood 10 have the support OF a
powerful syndicate Of Berlin bankers,
and there are not . few who predict
that be will regain oil his former pres
tige. In 1854 he was farmland IN
1880 be was worth $1,000, 900. He has
had an interesting career. lie is now
about fifty.two years Of age. lie was
graduated in 1853 from the University OF
Munich, Bavaria, after passing through
the elementary school Of Iweibrucksn,
the small German town where no was
born be bad previous to taking bis
university course spent . year IN q
French school at Pfslsbourg, in Lor-
raine. lie suddenly left Munich, in
duced his father to give him certain
sum of money, and then hurried to
America, designing to settle with his
uncle on farm in Illinois, whittier his
relatives bad gone the previous year.
lie landed in New York in 1850, and,
d.zzled by the financial opportunities
of the metropolis, he attempted that
shortcut to wealth which lures so
many thousands to ruin, which seems
a primrose. path to happiness. but is as
full Of pitfalls and manning traps as
those which protected Louis XII. from
sinister approach. Young Willard met
with misfortune, and, dispirited by his
reyerses, set out for Belleyille, st.
Clair county, Illinois, where he re-
manned several years assisting his uncle
in the care Of . farm. In winter eve.
nipgs be wrote articles for the German
newspapers Of the old country and also
of st. Louis. lie was soon able to
command remuneration for his contri-
buttons to the St. Louis paper, and this
was really the turning.point in bis Ca
resr. The press made him the power
that be subsequently became. lie soon
settled in St. Louis and increased bis
knowledge of English. He wrote putfs
of the western cities for the eastern
newspapers. In 1858 he reported the
Lincoln Douglas campaign for the New
York Tribune and the Herald. In
1861 he became . war correspondent
for the New York Herald. At the
first attack on Charleston he was on
board Of Commodore Dupont's flag
ship, and as the only northern journal
list present won some reputation by his
account Of the engagement. lie came
North on leave of absence, and made
the acquaintance of that old Roman of
the abolition movement, William Lloyd
Garrison, Tho invited him to his home,
in Boston. There young Willard, whose
synpathies were all with the North,
met the daughter Of the great agitator,
Fanny Garrison, a beautiful and &C
complished girl, for whom be conceived
q warm attachment, and whom few
wears later he married. Amid all his
reverses Of fortune Mr.. Willard has
had the consultations of charming
family-a devoted wife and interesting
children.
HIS REAL NAME.
Henry Wizards real name, i hear. is
Heinrich Hilgard, and he is said to have
changed it for several reasons, one OF
which is that, like Carl Schurz and so
many other Germans who have come to
this country, he had been compromised
by political intrigues in Germany, and
wished to conceal his identity in case
he should at any time return to Ger
many. He is tall, well proportioned,
but of somewhat portly build, and dark
Commissioned save q Stern gray eye
His manners show that he has the Ger
man phlegm in strange union witt
American nervousness. He is OTTER
abrupt to rudeness and is particularly
upgrateiul to the press, to which N
owes his prominence. Yet he is con
sidered in the main q man OF kind!
impulses, and in Wall street his man
ners are agreeable. lie looks like
general. Force of character is plsinl.
stamped on his broad face, and his hes'
is that of man of exceptional intell'
gence. He is born leader, a natura
organizer. AS correspondent Il
Washington after the war he was not
success in the journalistic sense; b
bad no particular bent as . newspaper
man aud be was not good writer
But be was a natural tinsncier, an
while in Washington he made the &C
ausintance Of men Of wealth, who aide
him in his campaign for fortune. u
secured for syndicate the possessio
Of the Oregon Railway and Navigstio
Company. lie in time acquired COZ
troll Of the Northern Pacific. Then b
organized q corporation which was
do nothing but build railroads and leAs
them to the Northern Pacific roat
This was called the Oregon Transcont
mental Company. II was also 70 doth
banking for the Northern Pacific an
negotiate the sale Of its bonds, whereof
il made large sums in commissions. a
the height Of his power Willard WI
president Of the Northern Pacific, Or
gon Transcontinental, Oregon Rsilwi
and Navigation, and Oregon lmproy
ment Companies. lie aud his frien
some years ago we're heavily load
with Northorn Pacific securities.
was their plan TO drive the golden spi
on that road at so.rtain date, boom {
stock and bonds, aud unload on t
public. But Wall street became su
picious. There was too much farl
two much janketing, champagne, g.
bubbub. Moreover, the drift OF g