Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1896-01-16
A YANKEE MONTE CRISTO.
By ALBERT CLAYPOOL WHITE.

The strange and eventful career of
Henry Meiggs on the Pacific slope of
South America reads like tale from
THE Arabian Nights" and as an eN-
hibition of what Yankee brains and
energy can accomplish it is unparal-
leled
Who has not heard Of him?-that
versatile adventurer, the associate of
Ralston, the California banker, the
bosom friend of Sharon, Mackay,
OBren, Baldwin, and one of the
princes of the golden era Of 40. He
was born in Catskill, n. u, in 1911, and
amassed a fortune in the lumber trade
before he was 81 years old. During the
panic of 1887 he lost verything. but
he recovered from bankruptcy within
two years. When gold was found at
Suffers Mill iii lS49, Meiggs joined the
ArgouautS and sailed for California in
vessel loaded with lumber, which he
sold in San Francisco for 20 times it's
cost. He built wharf-long famous
as Meiggs wharf-and a sawmill on
the bay, and sent men in the woods to
cut trees. His business prospered, and
possessing genial nature and liberal
disposition he soon won the friendship
and confidence of the people. and they
made him treasurer Of the city and
county of San Francisco.
He was the custodian of many thou
sands of dollars, and in addition held
the fortunes left by deceased persons
pending the administration of their
estates. Money flowed into the vaults
SO freely, and he had such a strong
hold upon the confidence of the people,
that he began to believe that he had
some sort Of equity in the treasure.
Friends who had assisted him to office
solicited temporary LOANS" which
they never repaid. \ craze for specu-
lation ensued at this time, and Meiggs
fell victim. He looted the treasury
and the money held III trust, and when
the financial crash Of 1854 came he was
compelled to flee the city. He bought
Il small schooner and, with his wife,
departed secretly by sea.
1t was long time before his victims
heard from him, and then the repor.
came that he was engaged in extensive
railroad building in Chilli. The peo-
pie in Chill rather distrusted him, but
he was soon upon his feet. His genius
found an opportunity. Having no ex-
perience in railroad construction-not
even a rudimentary knowledge of
surveying-he, nevertheless, turned his
attention to that business. The Chilli
ans were ANXIOUS to have a railroad from
the seaport of Valparaiso to Santiago,
the capital, and Meiggs promptly under
took it. Previously, an English COM
pany had built the road from the coast
to the foot of the great Andean range
which lies between the two cities. This
was halfway, and it was the easies,
part to build. The lofty mountains,
discouraged the English, and they
threw up the contract. To finish the
road was stupendous piece of engin-
eering. and nothing similar had ever
before been attempted in South Ameri-
ca. The chief feature of the contract
was question of time. Meggis agreed
to perform the work within a given
time, STIMULATING, however, that if ne
made shorter work of it, he was to re-
ceive an enormous bonus for every day
saved. There was small fortune il,
each day; but it appeared to the Chill
ans such an impossible task that tue
government did not hesitate to accept
Meiggs' terms. He made over 81 ,OOO,-
COO out of it. He demonstrated to the
conceited Chilians what Yankee could
do in the way of railroad construction.
After this, Meiggs made money rap
IDLY IN various enterprises, for nothing
succeeds like success. He erected IN
the suburbs of Santiago a magnificent
home--a structure of rare beauty and a
conspicuous example Of extravagance--
costing over S1,o0O,O0o, every timber
and brick and tile being imported, the
marble staircase alone costing $4,000.
lie then began career of social splen.
dor that dazzled the natives. Some
time after the death of his wife, Meigys
married again, and the manner in
which he secured his second wife is tc
this day related with great relish by the
gossips of Chilli.
In Chilli, mantas and skirts of white
flannel are worn by peniten<as-wom.
en- who have previously sinned, and
thus advertise their penitence. They
haunt the churches, and kneel for hours
before the images of saints. In the
large cathredals, as in the smaller
churches, these white figures are visi-
bic, kneeling, crouching, motionless,
looking like statues. Ladies of high
rank are to be seen among the peni-
tentas, as well as beautiful girls of
lower station. 1t is strange to learn
that this method of securing absolu-
ton is very fashionable, and when the
gayety of the summer season is over,
and at the beginning of Lent, the ranks
of the penitentas are full. Souls that
cannot be cleansed by this course retire
to a convent south of Santiago, called
the Convent of the Penitents, when they
scourge themselves with whips, wear
sack-cloth, sleep in ashes, and live upon
water and crusts, until the priests give
them dissolution. Within the walls of
this convent was fair senorita, of
whom Meiggs became enamored, and,
with the help of an American dentist,
he began courtship romantic beyond
the imaginings of d Boccaccio. For it
1h'OASCu HUGS lieu 10 stones ana
thrown over the walls, impromptu
scenes from Romeo and Juliet" a rope
ladder, excited nuns, angry parents
and scandalized church. But it all
ended happily, however, in parental
forgiveness and fashionable wedding.
Meiggs' extravaganza now made him
run short of money, and to replenish
his purse he put up his palace as a
lottery prize, enlisting the aid of an
English adventurer. The lottery was a
fraud, and SO many Chilians were VIC
timized that Meiggs speedily lost caste
in Chilli.
Again falling in debt, he next looked
to Peru as new field to conquer. He
had to borrow a thousand dollars to de-
fray the expenses of a journey there;
but his reputation had gone before
him, and the Peruvians gave him valu-