Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1894-11-09
COST 100000.
Can BE Bought Today for $780,
900.


Payne, Ala.---sIO,OOO Houses Sold
for SIOO---GreRt Hotels and Factorie,
CIosed---the Ruin COmplete---Back OF
IL All the Loss and Suffering I'm New
England Homes.
The story of tragedy is told by the
New York Press. First came the plan
then enthusiasm, then hope, then failure
then despair. And the despair was found
ed on the ruin of horde. 1t grew until
to two men it brought suicide; to two men
it brought madness; to hundred il
brought financial ruin, and to others a cur.
tailment of resources which meant suffer
ing.
Not along ago the property at Fort
Payne, Ala, was sold at auction-such OF
it as could be sold at all. Houses that had
cost $4,000 and more each went to the
"poor whites" of the region for 500.
Some, not sold, have been preGmpted-
furniture and abby poverty stricken fam
| lilies who never stepped upon a carpet I'M
! til they took free possession, whose best
| housing, heretofore, had been in mount
aineers' log cabins. The great hotel, cost
ing originally $4,000, sold for a song,
Splendid manufacturing plants, fitted with
machinery costing thousands, found no
bidders; a railroad worth a fortune was
neglected.
The company that doomed this ill-star-
red town was organized in the fall of 1888.
In selecting its officers care was taken by
the three prime movers to choose men of
influence and established character in the
localities where the stock was offered.
Such was the faith in these men that within
month four of the five millions-the sum
originally fixed as the capital of the COM
pany-was taken, nearly all in New Eng
land and thousands of it in Vermont. In
January, 1889, the prospectus went forth,
and soon the pioneers arrived and began
the foundations of the new city. Broad
avenues and streets were laid out and care
fully graded; houses sprang up as if by
magic; more pretentious homes, with beau
tiful grounds quickly followed; many
more were carefully planned-to be built
when the expected fortunes were realized.
AS the mining and manufacture of iron
was to be the principal feature, iron work
ing plants and furnaces were established.
Cooking coal was discovered and coke ovens
were built, while there were coal mines
near by. A rolling mill and steel plant
was equipped. Stove works, basket fac
tory, an ice factory, a fire clay works, a
hardware plant, and many more industries
were well established within a year A
complete system of sewerage, water works
and a fine electric plant were constructed.
Fine hotels, churches an opera house and
an academy were built. In Is months
from the time of starting the prophecy set
forth in the prospectus was fulfilled, for
model city stood in the place of cotton
fields. The taxable property increased
during this period from STAG, 1913 to $1,000
600. The northerners who had gone there
to dwell were enthusiastic over the place.
They were making money rapidly in their
real estate ventures, and as fast as one sale
was consummated, another was negotiated.
Excursion after excursion had been plan
ned and executed during these Is months,
bringing from New England homes hard
earned savings to be deposited in the
Electric city," These excursions were
always lavishly arranged. After delight
full journey from Boston, the vestibuled
trains would arrive in the early evening of
the second day, when the twinkling lights
of the little city shOne out brilliantly. The
visitors were taken at once to the famous
hotel, the dining room of which was most
attractive. Its walters were well drilled,
and well-known chef from Boston at
tended to the cuisine. The guests were
enthusiastically welcomed and well enter
tanned. What wonders were shown them !.
They subscribed eagerly to everything.
Loath to leave, they returned home com
pletely under the charm of the place, and
carried the tale of wonder to their friends,
inducing them also to invest
A year passed, and instead of marvellous
returns there came imperative demands for
more money. The investors must protect
!
gagged to do this. Times began to change;
money, once so plentiful and free, was
harder to get; still the people had faith in
their wonderful town. They soon began
to critcise the management. The great
furnaces that were to make such wonder
full steel and iron were obliged to shut down
for lack of funds.
Some of the officers of the company, re-
alizing their false position, withdrew from
the enterprise. In the spring of 1891
! preparations were made by the most prom
inent workers in the field to withdraw quiz
city. Others followed as quickly as posi-
ble-at a heavy loss-and so the exodus
began. The academy closed its doors; the
hotel was shut up; all building was sus-
| pended, and the people were panic-strick-
en-. All who could leave went away. But
there were many who could not leave, for
their interests were all centered there.
All the industries are now lying idle,
many of them dismantled, the men having
charge of them for the past three years
selling the fine machinery to pay their own
salaries. All is waiting for a purchaser.
The whole town, costing more than So
100000 could be bought today for $780,
600 or less. Once more the natives occu-
Ply and rule the place so wonderfully i'm
proved for them by the yankees"
A strange feature of it all is that the
honest leaders of this enterprise lost not
only all the money they ever had, but al
prestige besides. 1t was all a tragedy fol
the investors.