Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-15
"OLD HUTCH
A Sketch of ChicagO's WeaIthiest Mem
Der of the Board of Trade.
S., 100000 Said to Have Been Made by Him
in the Last Deal-His Circle of
Friends Not Large.

The Chicago supplement- of Once a
Week gives a very interesting sketch of
Mr.. Hutchinson whose -four deal lately
caused so much excitement throughout
this country.
Benjamin P. Hutchinson, better known
in Chicago as ''Old Hutch, - and also of
late throughout the United States, and
wherever the influence of the Chicago
board of trade extends, was born in
North Reading Mass. (, in 1928, where he
was raised on a farm, receiving only a
very limited education, and was forced
to ''hoe his rows'' during his early years
under unusual obstacles However, after
trying several other occupations, he ar
rived at the position of a shoe manu-
facturer in Lynn, Mass. that great
center of the shoe trade. where, after
acquiring little wealth, he left in 1855,
bringing his family west to Chicago, the
great Mecca of all enterprising men. He
stayed year only going TO Milwaukee,
where he found in one year more that he
had made mistake in his last move ,,and
promptly returned to Chicago, i'm
mediately afterward engaging in the
grain and provision trade.
A genuine specimen of New
Englander, both in looks and the
peculiarly sharp business ways with
which they are credited, of very pro-
nounced eccentric habits, he has not in
spired much love nor esteem omong his
large circle of business acquaintance.
Social, or rather society, friends, he has
but few, although having a family whom
all who know admire and respect. But
|,
great wealth, which is estimated
at $40 900 600, and his extremely
plain, blunt manners to describe them
in mild terms-make him feared by all
with whom he has dealings, and woe to
those who may incur his displeasure. 1t
is said that the principal sufferer in
his last great "corner, - of which more
hereafter, was his own partner, whom he
squeezed to the tune of a great many
thousand dollars. Although getting up
in years, and possessed of a large share
of this world wealth, but very few
hours of his life are spent away from the
board or its neighborhood, being mem
Der of the Century club, which has its
rooms in an adjacent building, and
whose members are somewhat kindred
spirits.
The hours not spent on the floor direct
ing his brokers are there whiled away
with cigars, cards, etc., and tits said
that some very high piles of coIored
"chips'' may be seen on the tables after
the board closes; and also when there is
nothing very exciting transpiring on the
floor You may safely ventureiin saying
that cold Hutch is over at the club,
sitting behind full hand - his usual
luck attending him even there, as some
Of faSl 70 Rhai,
striking illustration of the power for
good and evil to the country at large, by
any one possessed of the means and in
clinatiOn, is the latest corner known as
the Hutchinson deal. - The life and |
death almost of many poor
struggling farmer, who tolls ear
ly and late, in heat and |
cold, III the far-distant prairies, is de- |
pendent on the wild, even if successful, |
speculations of any man like ''Old |
Hutch, - at whose whim the grain he has |
labored so hard to raise may be enhanced |
III value sufficiently to leave large mar |
gin after expenses, or made so low as to /
ruin him; not he alone, but every one in |
the land, from the millionaire, to whom |
a dollar more or less on the price of a |
barrel of flour matters but little, down to |
the humble artisan, whose weekly pit |
lance is terribly strained by any addition |
to the cost of the staff of life, and one eff |
feet of "Old Hutch $50 deal was the |
raising of the price of flour So barrel in
as many weeks.
But to return. cold Hutoh'' closed
his deal making, it is said, So, 900 1000
by It, chiefly, if not entirely, out of
board of trade men, but which reacted
the length and breadth of the
land. 1t is not strange, therefore, that
he has the respect of but very few The
portrait on this page is said by one who
is very nearly related to him, to be the
best he ever saw. 1t was sketched by
young member of the board who has the
talent of making a perfect likeness al
most instantaneously. ''Old Hutch''
has never had a photo or any portrait
taken since his marriage, and is extreme
y averse TO being sketched, but, thanks
10 the artist, we are fortunate in being
able to give the best likeness of him ever
made.
There is talk of erecting monument