The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1891-03-07

Nm was afflicted with a
Senator Hearst complication of dis
eases resulting, primarily, from Sc
rious arrangement of the bowels Act
ing upon the physicians advice, he re-
turned tn his family in this city and
yielded himself entirely to medical
treatment. Absolute quiet and rest
were strictly enjoined, and his official
duties were lightened as much as pos
siblc.
Notwithstanding the fact that he re-
ceived the benefit of the most careful
nursing and the most skillful medical
attention. n steady and uninterrupted
decline was observed. and it was seen
several weeks ago that his case was "A
hopeless one. DIR. Ward has been al
most constantly in attendance upon him
since his return from New York. and
during the last few weeks he has been
assisted in his treatment by DIR. y. 5.
Lincoln. of this city. There was a
change for the worse in the senator's
condition a day or two since, and he
grew weaker and weaker until about
o'clock last evening. when he passed
into state of coma. and Mrs
Hearst was made aware that his
end was near She was at din
ner at the time. and Immediately
joined the sorrowing group about the
dying mans bedside. The senator's
hands were held by Mrs. Hearst and
the physician. and so quietly and easily
did he pass away that Mrs Hearst did
not know that he was dead until 81 in
formed by DIR. Ward. lie gave no indi-
cation whatever of pain or discomfort.
| and seemed to the anxious watchers
merely to have fallen asleep.
George Hearst was native of Franklin
county, Mo. His father. William q. Hearst.
| was born In south Carolina. but wss Of
| Scotch descent, and rs early "a lsts moved
| west Of the Mississippi, to the territory after
| wards included in the state Of Missouri. but
| which was then the extreme frontier Here,
| in 1877, he married Elizabeth Collins, a young
| girl of English family, whose father was
also a pioneer and the owner of a con
| siderable tract of land. The young couple
| met with the usual reverses and hardships
| attendant upon frontier life. and il was Just
after a period of unusual yic.sstu lie when
| the young married people had gone with
| their parents to Texas, only to meet with
sickness. failure and loss. and to return
| again to farming and stock raising in their
| native State, that George Hearst was born
| on the I'd Of September, 1870. Bred to the
| homely and exacting duties OF life on a west
| ern farm, the boy enjoyed few advantages
| and received only the most indifferent edu-
| cation in a country school Missouri was at
that day the principal mining state Of the
union, and when George grew to manhood
| he found occupation in the lead and copper
| mines near his home.
| when he was ~ years old, in Is49, the Cali.
| fornia gold fever ragged throughout the land.
| The young,lnan resisted the temptations and
| allurements of the goldfields az long as he
could, but in March, 1850, a company Of
| young men was formed in his immediate
| neighborhoOd who were resolved to JON the
/ gold seekers on the Pacific slope, and when
they started out on the long overland trip
| George Hearst was one of their number. find e
| ing partial Justification for the venture on
| the score of his i'll health, which he fancied
| might he improved by the journey. The
| party was five months in crossing the plains
| and mountains and in October, 1850, reached
| Placcrville, FL Dorado county, where its
| members at once joined the eager throngs Of
toilers in the placer claims. Indiferentsu sue
| cess attended this first mining venture. but
| George Hearst persevered and worked on
| with the same patience and pluck that char
| actcriZed him in every subsequent under
| taking. Fourteen months later he was re-
| wartled by the discovery of "A rich quartz
| ledge. This was something substantial and
| out Of their carefully boarded savings he
and his partners set up fine stamp mill.
| one of the first ever put up in the state OF
| California.
| His financial career after this was so like
| that of the typical miner of - that il reads
| almost Ike a chapter from one of Mark
| Twains stories, or the experience Of one of
| Bret Harte's heroes. The money that was
| so easily acquired in quartz mining was sunk
| with equal facility, swept away by n single
| haplcss venture i'm the general merchandise
line in sacramento. year later We find
| him back on the river bar, industriously
washing out gold, but the plaoers were by
/ this time very nearly exhausted. and in 1856,
| six years after he reached the Golden state.
| he was almost penniless man.
George Hearst had $40 in his pocket. not
more than the price of a sack Of potatoes in
those times but with this capital he went
up TO Nevada county. bought pick. and re-
sumed the quartz mining. For three years
| he worked there with considerable success,
| and then his good genius led him TO the
| Washoe silver fields. He afterwards mined
on the COmstOck and in other rich fields,
| with such good success that at the close OF
| the war he had amasse'l 81 l.O00.O00. Even
this Iirge sum was not sufficient to make
that period and the financial disturb
aaces that followed, and series of dis
| astcrs heft him comparatively poor
riIn year later. In this crisis
| he for the first time turned to real estate
speculation, and realized so large a sum dur
| ing the real estate boom of 1876 in san Fran
cisco that he was enabled to organize the
great firm of Hearst, Haggin & Tovis. which
has now for many years been the leading
mining firm Of the world, owning and operat
ins most of the richest mines i'm America, all
the way from Montana to Mexico. The
wealth Of this trio of capitalists can not easily
be estimated. for the reason that their inter
ests are so widespread and 50 diversified that
| no outsider can form any adequate idea Oi
their values. II may be safely said. however
| that at the time of his death Mr.. Hearst was
| the largest mine and land owner in the world
He never held Office but twice. being a mem
| Der of the state legislature in 1856. and
being elected TO the United states senate q
little more than three years ago. He was q
democrat in politics
The senator leaves but one child, " lillian
L. Hearst This son, "will' Hearst, as he
4. popuIarIy known, is Of very different
ruettIe from the ordinary millionaire's son
ard has distinguished himself after an odd
and unusual fashion. When he graduated
from college some seven years ago he found
hi father embarrassed with the newly -ac'
un:reI ownership of the old san Francisco
I1atniner. This incumbrance young Hear>'
. | t,ok off his fathers hands, and without any
preyious experience in journalism he has
succeeded in making the newspaper one o.
the leading journals of san Francisco and
| o-. of the best known papers on the AIneri'
e.n continent. st Louis Republic.