Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-10-01
NEW YoRx.s ARisrocRAcY.

Origin OF the Wealth OF the Astors,
the vanderbIlts. and the Lorili-
ards.
An old inhabitant writes 10 the New
York Times: John Jacob Astor had
his st ore in Vesey street In the build
ing in which DIR. Halleck lived Fitz
Green Halleck, the doctors son, was
one OF Astor's clerks Old Astor got
his start in life by hiring out to a
furrier to beat furs-keeping the moths
out OF them-at 81 a day. He was
economical and saving. and presently
began to buy cat furs and muskrst
furs, and when he had accumulated .
lot of them he took them 10 England
and sold them at a large profit Thea
he established his own business here.
and extended his connections west
ward and northward until he became
the largest dealer in the country.
Commodore Vanderbilt was at this
time running a perry -auger" (peri-
Rgua-a small ferry-boat carrying two
masts and a leeboard) between quaran-
tine station and the city. and was be-
coming very popular with boatmen and
others who were thrown in his way.
Fulton & Livingston owned an exclu-
sive charter to run steamboats, between
New York and Albany, and the monop-
oily was paying immensely. Two old
Jerseymes hen started an opposition
line, bus as they could not run direct
between New York and Albany they got
around the difficulty by going from
New York to Jersey City and making
that the starting point for Albany.
They encountered all sorts OF diff
culties, however, the monopolists GO
ing so far as to willfully run their
boats down and otherwise Gripping
them, and they were threatened with
bankruptcy.
One of the proprietors was at New
Dorp one day, when he asked old Mr..
Guion IL he knew of n man who was
competent to take hold of their line
and make a success of it Yes said
Guion. i know such a man. His name
Is Cornell Vanderbilt He'll take
your boats TO the mouth Of hell II you
want him to- That's just the man I
want was the response, and in little
while the bargain was concluded and
Cornelius Vanderbilt took charge OF
the line The monopOlists tried every
pO-s4O4c ulcduS 10 prevent Tic line lTOtD
doing business in New York, and at
last put a sheriff on board with in
structions to arrest Vanderbilt IL he
should attempt TO move the steamer
from the wharf Vanderbilt got all
ready to go, and then stood by with an
ax. and when the wheels had begun { o
revOlve and there was good strain on
the hawssr he up with his ak and cut
the hawser and steamed away to Al
bany with the sheriff on board. A
continuation OF his vigorous policy
finally broke up the Fulton * Living
ston monopoly and established the OPP
position line on a profitable basis.
Vanderbilt's daughters were a wild
kind of girls They were perfectly at
home everywhere on Staten island
and were very popular. ! used 10 see
them in n grocery over there. sitting
on the counter and swinging their feet.
and talking 10 the young fellows who
were chatting them
The Lorillards had n snuff and to
bacco business and they made a good
deal OF money out of it There were
three brothers of them-Jacob. and
Peter, and George. Jacob had a
butcher-shop up near the BOwery the
ater. Peter-that was the Dutch of it;
it came to be Pierre after it had been
transplanted into. French soil few
mouths-Peter and George were the
snuff and tobacco dealers. After they
got wealthy nothing would do but old
Lorillard must have a carriage and a
coat-Of-arms upon. He chose for his
coat-of-arms who'd thought it-snuff
bought it" This made the people
laugh, and SO he changed it after a
while, putting on in place, "Quid
rides" which means AT what do you
laugh?" His tobacco store was in
Chatham street