The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-07-23

ysass 80 was soiA 1R = ~ esa1s Fart
bat which .you cannOt nov 81 unla1n yoa
carpet is With gfeenhaekA Denstor Slew.
art ssili owns DE hig palaeo tAe10, which
h occupied By the CAinase io1nkion, sud
the gronnd b nor eosssed II every diFec-
don With buildingS which have oooe for.
taneA Within . seoas6 throw q Blainess
which With its interior furnishings = rid
80 have cost moFe than quarter q = mil
lion dollar1 Ex-Sensfor 6A1yer,s Known
stone mansion cost more than &I90 "a. xnd
The nev house which LEM z. Leiter b
buiidinR stands upon ground for which he
paid ti0o.OU. M9- Sunset Cox oans .
house in this vicinity which II worth about
"a, go. and enc Of the green stone man.
slons which looks out upon Dupont Circle
vent 20 Turkev. and he tsid me : short
time sfter this tnas be had sold it for $50.-
on. and had made rust $7o.0C Oh Of It
There are, / venture, i.fsy men In con-
cress yho have made and are making
more money out Of bricks and mortar
than from Law making James G. Blaine
aAded materially 10 his fortune By his
real estats investments. and Ms. Blaine
il one of the big tax payers of Washing
"
circle cost him anout So Ooo. and Is has
melted more than L per cent. during the
past ten years from the rent which Letter
has paid for IT, II the reports are correct
its rent has brought in during this time to
the Blaine family some place between
So, 0O0 and $iz5.0O The houss in which
Blaine died vas bought by him. ] under
stand, for SO square loot. The ground
upon which il Is located must BE- v0rth
over $iuO co today. Just next to Biaine's
house 10 the yellow oid-fashioned brick OF
Don Camercn's, for which he paid $61. 900
six or seven years ago and which You
cos.ld not buy now tor <lO0, OD 1t has .
wide frontage. and, like that Of Biaine's.
would be Just the place for great hotel or
nat DON Cameron owns great deal OF
property about Washington City. de ha:
it seems that I'll he has to do 10 TO stick the
spade OF his speculative brain into the
groupd and the earth straightway turns
Into gold. Shrewd - was his father
Simon. Don il said 10 aurpass him, and he
has made gold galore here in houses and
lands. He built big red brick mapsion
on Dupont Circle which cost him, am
told. Something like ~, 600: and he sold It
in 1885 for SIS, 900 cash. This house Vas
bought by d. p. Morgan. . New York
banker, and 10 nov owned By HE widow.
Just across from Is 10 the old Window
house, in which Blaine wrote the FIRST part
Of his book and which practically ruined
its owner politically. photographs OF 1t
being made and distributed with the ques-
ton Is 20 how q man could build house
of that kind ont Of 5000 year. Cameron
for which he paid something like $50 per
acre, bat which, il Is said, you cannot now
buv for thousand.
On the other side Of this house 10 the
home Of the ex-vlcc president, Lew +.
Morton. which cost him fortune, and on
which he spent another fortune In inn
proveinents Mr.. Morton bought this
house from Telephone Bell. and y MAS In
connection with Telephone Bell that DON
Cameron made one Of the few mistakes Of
his life. He must have thought of 1t often
when Bell lived in this big red brick house
with him. for which he paid $l0O. 100. The
mistake that Cameron made MAS In not
going into the Bell Telephone Company.
Shortly after Bell had made the invention
and when the people ~ yet had no faith in
Il he called upon Don Cameron and offered
him a controlling interest In his company
for 5000. Cameron hesitated for time
and finally refused. and Bell left his house
. disappointed man. He got the money
from other quarters and made his fortune
without the aid Of Cameron's money. Had
Cameron given him that 5000 il would
have brought him in tho neighborhoOd OF
81. 600 600 . year. SO am told. for num-
Der Of years. In talking OF Il some time
ago he said to one Of his friends: II would
have advanced the money il hadn't been
hard mp at the time. believed that the
investment would Prove rcmunerataves
but did not like to risk It..
Some OF the richest statesmen here at
Washington City pay rent for their homes.
and 1t is wonderful how much money they
put on in Improvements on rented prop
erty. Secretary Whitney spent more than
$4,000 on the old Freiinghuysen mansion
when he went into IL. and John Wana-
maker tore down number Of Whitney's
improvements and made others. Col.
Brice has, during the past year. spent half
OF the salary of his six wears senatorial
term ON the improvements Of the Million
airo Corcoran's mansion. and 1t 10 not UNI
common for . rich man to spend moro in
making improvements on his house here
than the rent he pays for 1t. Chief Justice
Fuller lives in q rented house on the cor
ner Of Eighteenth street and Massachusetts,
avenue. II il Senator Van Wyck's man.
sion. which the Nebraska man built when
he vas here in congress at . cost Of some
thing like 500 600. and which ! under
stand he would b glad to sell ct less than
that amount today. Senator Palmer. OF
Michigan, still owns his big brown-stone
him In the neiahborhood OF $500. 1t
was for some years on the market. and
suppose now that Secretary Eikins II going
to leave II, that it will be for sale again
this summer. Senator Mcmillan. Of De-
troif. paid something like $50. 000 for the
house which he lives in on Vermont ave.
nue. and just above him - Senator Aiii-
sons home which Is worth about $50, 600.
One OF the finest houses at the capital Is
that Of Senator Hale, which was built
with the money from the estate Of Zach
Chandler. and which cost considerably
more than $4,000 Both Senator Teller
and Senator Wolcott rent their houses and
so does Senator Henderson. who has fine
residence next to the house OF Gen. Sheri-
dan. Senator Voorhees, owns q house
here which cost him something like $f4, COO
aud Senator Washburn lives in the prison.
like mansion of Senator Edmunds At the
corner of Q street and Massachusetts, ave-
nue.. Ex-senator Bayard owns . house
here which is worth perhaps SO 900. and for
which Senator Cuilom pays . good round
rent. Cush Davis. of Minnesota. has a
house on Massachusetts, avenue just across
the stree; from Crllom's, and little above
this is the big house in which Secretary
Window was living ut the time OF his
death. IL cost something like SIS 900 to
huild. and Il has had For SAFE sign in
front of 1t for the pas. year.
The late George Pendieton's house is
also for sale. IL is on Sixteenth street
ahove Scott Circle aud is worth 5000
Next to it il o mansion which has just
been bought by the Epscop&l preacher OF
ST. Johns church for $91,oo. and little
further up is Bourke Cockran's Washing
ton City home. which was built for Secor
Robinson, and Tor which he paid some
where between $4,000 and 10000.
FRANK g. CARPENTER