St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-02-06
OLE BULLS LAST DAYS.
He Falls a Victim to Unprinci-
l., pied Victims.

The ruins of Oleana, in the mountain
Businesses of Potter county, recall
singular passage in the life of Ole Bull,
the great violinist Love of his native
land was a master passion with Ole
Bull, and after he had grown rich and
famous his thoughts instinctlveiy
turned to his countrymen and the
means for lettering their condition.
The desolate wilds of parts of Northern
Pennsylvania reminded him most OF his
native land, and, concluding the pur-
chase of 125,000 acres of land IN t.otter
county, he resolved, as he SAID, TO
found there a new Norway, conse77
Grated to liberty, baptized with lnde-
pendence, and protected by the Union
mighty flag
Some 500 of his countrymen, charmed
by the prospects which he held out 10
them, settled there, and cosy little
houses fashioned after those they had
left behind them in Norway sprang up
on every hand. Oleana was founded
first, while six miles west New Bergen,
a reminder of Ole Bulls birthplace, and
two miles south New Norway were also
laid out Besides these three villages,
two others were projected, but before
they could be built reverses came. MID
way between Oleana and New Norway,
on the summit of a hill rising abruptly
from the plain, Ole Bull built castle,
in which he proposed to spend the re-
mainder of his life.
A broad road led from Ofeana to the
castle, but forty years of neglect nave
again made it a part of the surrounding
wilderness, and only with difficulty can
one make his way through the under
+I1A foil
now obstruct it. The view from the
site Of the castle is a commanding one.
On every side are forests of rugged
trees, shot with the silver of mountain
brooks, and it is in its wild beauty just
such a place as one would expect the
great musician TO have selected for his
home.
But the bright drenm of prosperous
colony was short-lived. Before his task
was half completed Ole Bull discovered
that his funds were exhausted, and he
was forced to resort to his violin. He
made long trip through the South
and West and set out for San Francis
co, but at Panama yellow fever kept
him on bed of sickness for many
weeks, and he was forced to cancel all
engagements. Broken in health, he
made his way back to his home in the
wilderness, only to be told that the
deed for the vast estate he had already
paid for was fraudulent, and the i'm
provements which had cost him a for
tune were in reality trespass on another
mans property.
rascally business agent had
watched the mails and prevented the
owner of the land from communicating
the true state of affairs to Ole Bull.
When the latter learned the truth he
started at once for Philadelphia, hop
ing his agent, when appealed to, would
repair the wrong he had done. The
agent, bland and affable assured his
desperate principal that everything was
all right, and insisted that he should
eat something before he gave himself
sany further concern. Ole Bull had not
obroken fast for hours, yet when he
seated himself at the table he felt
a. sudden aversion for the food before
him, and refused to eat or drink
/ When he demanded that the agent
should go with him to see the owner of
the land the man refused, and finally
said: Now I have your money; do
your worst" Years after the agents
/, sister told Ole Bull that her brother,
whenzdying, had confessed that he had
| poisoned the food he had Vainly tried
| to persuade his client to eat and for
which theFlater had felt so strange an
aversion. The owner of the land, when
he learned the condition of affairs, Of
| fered to cede Ole Bull his rights at a
| very low figure, but the musician S
money was gone, and he could not &C
| cept the offer. Instead, he brought suit
| against the man who had duped him.
| and after years of litigation recovered
| portion of the money of which he
| had been robbed. In the meantime the
simple settlers, who regarded their
| gifted countryman as more than hui
| man, and who had expected to find
their homes in the new world literally
| underlaid with mines of gold, discov-
! cred that the soil, which, after infinite
| labor, yielded them only bare subsist.
| ence, belonged to another. Disappoint-
| ed and discouraged. they went away,
| and now there are few reminders of
| the daring attempt to found a New
| Norseland on this side of the sea Trees
are growing in the streets of what were
once the thriving villages of New Nor
! way, New Bergen and Oleana, and
| signs of decay are everywhere appar-
| ent. Natue had hidden even the site
of the castle, in the erection of which
| a fortune had been expended, and,
after the fight of years, the only thing
! that remains perfect is the wall that
| surrounded tia melancholy reminder
| of an artists splendid dream.