The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-26
sPsCULATOR WHITE.
Some Account OF HIS Early Years
sud sis Sosculatsous.
81. n BaFfon &C.,

TIE day, / suppose you fellows with money
think, Is the assignment following upon
TIE failure q s. 7. White & Co, which
was announced OF the stock exchange 3:
I0sSO o'c!ock sals C7oraiag-
The news caused great s1rp-iss, as the
firm VISA one Of the ricoest ard most pros
wzs millionaire, and the ether members
Ct tie firm, a ". Alien, ?. W. Hopkins
and Arthur White we're ranked among tie
wealth men here and in Chicago.
The failure Is speck in tee midst OF the
Abundant prosperity. OF tbs firms trans
actions il toe Streets and the financial los
to Be looked for, the Glo5s DOUBTLESS gives
IFS readers fall details from man who know
% thsu-
Let me tel you somsthinz Of the nan
himself
s. V. White Is, should say, 90 years Of
age, short, stout. little bald, with a keen
bright eye and bsaI ded ike PAID. Lucky,
Indeed fortunate, Was he who had him for 8
friend, for brighter wit, q more generous
heart, more liberal hand cannot be found
IN toe realms Of finance from Dau 20 Beer
sdsbs
have known him many years. He lives
On what is called Columbia nights, for
msrly Columbia street, Brooklyn, 10 a hand
yard ot which is an observatory fitted with
al telescope and estronouic mechanism.
White ranks high up, but II is not Of that 1
would speak, nor Of which his Deighb3Ts
talk.
He has for many years hesl Known as
Deacon White he never WAC deac n.
He Is not even a member Of the church.
Plymouth church, OF which ne IS a trustee,
and where be cocsta ally attends, having
- q
est sdoereats, closest frie5d5 and most help
f5l aida.
l Think s. Y. White and q B. Clafln
were as nsar an approach to what intelli-
gent readers well understand as Christian
gentleman, as am personalities lever met.
" hits has given hundreds Of thou3auds Of
dollars 20 charities public and private. and
be has pu, sores OF young men On their
feat financially. He aided friends in dire
moments with significant amounts. some Of
which were repaid, 10 my of which were
charged By hin y profit aud loss. In many
respects S. V. White is q great man. Brok-
srs and bankers will tell you Of his great
icopsd financial operations, but OF those
know nothing.
Il was reported in every paper in the
land last week that one day Mr.. White
made 81 200, 900, and az a little press gath
eriug in Boston on Monday Of this week
contrasts we're drawn between the money
making faculty Of professional Spectators
and professional writers.
The story may have been true or false,
Il would not surprise men In New York il
10 we're true.
1t 10 not generally known that White, for
purposes Of his owu, studied law and was
entered at the bar. In several cases in
volving many millions OF dollars in which
be and his friends were interested, he made
tho arguments 10 our supreme courts and
gained his cases.
He is a man without fear and without re-
proach, good, charitable, an all-around,
KTND-HEARTED PERSON.
Do believe he is down for goodl
Not much.
You will fiud, ere six months have rolled
their rolls, s. Y. White working his way
from beneath the heapof corn under which
be finds himself buried to-day, will stand
with all his losses paid or adjusted, and his
firm once more rank as A No. /.
DIR. White was born in Chatham county,
North Carolina, his father being a de.
scendapt OF Pennsylvania Quaker family
and his mother a member Of one of thu
| Oldest families OF his native state
His father was bitter opponent Of slavery
| and was compelled to leave the state during
the Nat Turner uprising in 1881, six months
after young Stephen was born. The family
Journeyed by wagon across Tennessee anC
Kentucky and settled in Illinois near thu
junction OF the Mississippi and Illinoi
rivers, where they built log cabin anC
titled the soil.
Young Stephen was brought up TO do
farm work and received little or no scaool.
ing until he was Is years old; but he man.
aged to get hold of few books and devoureC
their contents eagerly.
His first money was earned by trapping
mink, musk rats aud other wild animals
whose skins he sold, and before he left home
he had become expert enough at grading
aud binding grain 70 earn the muuificen;
sum Of 81 day.
AN elder brother gave him chance for
liberal education in 1S49 and he entered
Knox College i'll 1854 During his senior
year he paid his own expenses by teaching
school for three months.
After college graduation he went TO ST.
Louis and entered the employ of his brother
in-law's firm as bookkeeper. A few months
of mercantile career satisfied him, how
ever, and he then entered the law Office OF
Brown & Kasson, composed of Benjamin
Gratz Brown, who ran for Vice President
on the ticket with Horace Greeley, and
John Kssson, afterward United States
senator from Illinois, and minister to
Austria.
During his study of law White wrote sew
eral articles for the Missouri Democrat
Mr.. Browns paper, which afterward be.
came the st. Louis Globe Dem ocrdt and he
was actively engaged in the Fremont cam.
paign of 1856. He was admitted to the bar
in 1856. and the next month hung out his
shingle at Des Moines. the new capital OF
Iowa. He soon gained large practice and
argued many important cases, especially in
the United States courts.
In 1861 he successfully defended the only
treason case ever tried in the state, and
two years later in the United States su.
| preme court argued n case in which the
| constitutlonality of municipal bonds in aid
| OF railro ads was sustained by his argument
| thus saving large sums Of money to in
vestors after the state courts had repudiated
| the obligations
In 1864 he filed the United States dis
| trict attorneyship of Iowa for several
months, during the illness Of the regula in
| cumbent.
In 1865 White decided to turn his atten-
ton from the law and become a banker end
| broker. He became one OF the firm of Mar.
win q White in Wall street Their business
was successful from the start, but Mr.. Mar.
vin withdrew in 1867, and Mr.. White con-
tinued his business alone until 1882, when
Arthur Clafin and +. w. Hopkins became
associated with him under the name of s.
| V. White g. Co.
The firm occupied a handsome suite OF
offices at Sc Wall street, aud did large
| business
Mr.. White made his greatest reputation
upon the street in connection with the Del
aware, Lackawanna and Western stock in
March, 1854