St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-23
STORIES OF SOLONS.
Hearst, the Millionaire, Ae-
quires Coal Mines in West
Virginia.
How KEENAN, Made $4,000
Out of a Chain and a
Prison Suit.
ingalls, Mississippi Cartridge
Recalls a "Reminiscences
of Stanton.
HRS. Burnett to Return to
Ameriea--Joe MeDonald's
Health.

Special Correspondence of the Globe.
WASHINGTON, Feb. p. - George
Hearst. the millionaire senator from
California, is bringing his mining
knowledge to bear in the regions about
Washington. and during the past week
he has invested in some camel coal
veins in West Virginia. which. l am
told, make him another fortune.
Thomas jefferson Clunie, one of the
new representatives from San Fran
cisco,weut with Hearst TO make the pur-
chase, and he tells the story, Said he:
THE trip taught lie how Hearst made
his fortune. 1t showed me that he was
sharp business man. and this West
Virginia sale will give you a good in
sight into his character. We found the
coal veins all right. There were sew
eral of them, each of which had its
price, and each of which contained
different variety of coal. The OWNERS
began TO eXpatiate upon their virtues as
soon as we arrived. The vein they par
ticularly wanted to sell was 5000 feet up
the mountainside. They had samples
of it at the foot of the hill. and the vein
looked we'll from the distance. The
samples were fine, the price was low,
and | expected to see Hearst snap at
the offer. AS he did not. asked:
What's the matter, senator"
"'Well,' replied Hearst, I don't like
TO buy pig in poke, and we had bet
ter crawl up and see that coal for our
selves before we discuss the price,
With that we climbed up TO the vein,
and Senator Hearst took piece of the
~ wit mo- oln oil
coal will burn like turpentine. The
lump the senator lit did burn when the
match touched it, but moment later it
went out, and the senator said:
"'There, Clunie, that's no ood.g
There re other varieties of coal than
camel coal which will burn upon being
lit, but the best camel coal will con-
tinue to burn until it is reduced to
ashes. This piece is not camel at all,
and | would not give q blank for this
vein if we could get it for nothing
I'VE then sampled another vein, 60
ing through the same process. Senator
Hearst put big chunk of carbon on the
ground and lit 1t, and as it cracked
away he watched as mother does her
first-born. When it was half consumed
l said: well, senator, are you satisfied
now?'
NO, I'm not replied Senator
Hearst, and he kept his eyes on the
blazing lump for fully ten minutes
longer. At the end of that time the fire
had died out. and only heap of gray
ashes remained on the ground. Senator
Hearst then said:
IL hat settles it," and he thereupOn
went to the West Virginian and bought
the vein. 1t is valuable property and
it will probably make him great deal
of money. 1t was in this same way that
he made millions in the gold mines of
California. He looked at every mine
he bought for himself, and the most of
those he invested in he bought upon
option, working them for siy months,
and if they paid Out as represented, buy
right. The result was that he always
made and never lost. Some call his
good fortune luck. | call it brains"
"Where did Hearst come from?"
saidI.
He was born in Missouri" replied
Congressman Clunie. Ills folks lived
near st. Louis and were well to do.
Hearst began life by keeping store. but
his health was poor, and his business
did not pay. He concluded to go West.
He sold out his store for promissory
note of 81, 600. This in addition to his
when he started for California. 1t
turned out to be worth only the paper
on which it was written, and Senator
Hearst still keeps it as an autographs
curiO. He went fir m Missouri to Cali
fornia, bought pick and began at once
to dig gold for himself. He was lucky
from the first, and he soon
accumulated bag of gold representing
at least 100000. This gold was made
e r,l- 4 i
including some as big as your fist. He
took it to San Francisco and deposited
it with banker named Lent. A few
days later Lent's bank broke and Hearst
found himself poorer than when he
came TO California. He had scarcely
the money TO buy a new pick, but he
borrowed enough to put himself Oh his
feet and his good fortune stayed with
him. He kept on making money, and
he has at times owned mines and mills
on the Pacific coast which gave
employment to 1900 men and crushed
thousand tons of ore every day. He
is still interested in mining. ana he has
farms containing some of the finest
b1ooded stock in the West, One of the
farms has 10000 acles. He is the owner
of the San Francisco Examiner, and he
has some of the fastest horses of the
country. He has ALWAYS been liberal in
his gifts to the party, and the Demo
crrts gave him their unanimous minor
. ity vote for United States senator when
Stanford was elected by the Republic
ans"
Senator Hearst has been represented
as an illiterate man. but Senator Frye
tells story that illustrates both his
education and his pluck. He has not
played cards among the buffers of Cali
MIA for nothing, and like many of his
brother senators he is by no means
averSe to 4 bet. Not long ago he en-
tered a well-known restaurant of San
Francisco, and on the blackboard at the
back of the bar he saw the word ''bird''
among the items of the bill of fare 1t
was spelled ''birde," and Hearst at
rant, who was noted California char
acter. and said:
''See here. Blank. that's devil of a
way to spell bird Don't you know
any better than that? You ought to
spell it 'b-u-r-d."'
II would have you understand,
George Hearst" replied the restaurant
keeper, that am just as good speller
as you, and am willing to leave it to
the best scholar in the room that you
don't know any more about the matter
basket of champagne that you can't
spell bird the right way"
Done" said Hearst.
'All right" said the man, "and here
IS piece OF paper for you TO put il
down in black and white"
With that he handed Hearst sheet OF
brown paper, and Hearst with a stub
pencil wrote out the letters:
The right way to spell it il
Bird Z"
But" said the restaurant keeper
"you spelled it first with 'u.'n
Senator Hearst threw himself bacl
and slooked the restaurant man in tht
eye. And" said he, Ibid you thinl
that l was BANKED fool enough to spell
''bird" with ~" when there was an,
money up on it?"
/ dropped into the congressional
library this afternoon and asked MI
SnnffOrd as tn the condition of TIM orroa