The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1896-10-15

though, the prince does not come as q So
cial envoy, but he is here strictly on busi-
ness.
Prince Hilxoff comes here to study our
wonderful systems of railway and river
transportation, with view of applying
some of the lessons we have learned to the
vast expanses Of his own great country. He
wants to take comprehensive glance at
the immense stretches of steel rails which
gridiron the states and to study the diff
culties which our railroad builders have
overcome and the methods by which they
surmounted them.
1t will be no dilettante trip which the
prince will take for he Is "a thoroughly
practical man and one eminently fitted for
the task At home he holds the Office of
imperial minister of ways and communi
cation, and 1t is in this capacity that he
has been dispatched by the czar on his
present errand. Perhaps the various per-
sons with whom he will come in contact in
the course of his journey clear across the
continent and in his side trips will be in
terested to know something about the
prince. He has had most romantic and
unusual career.
The railroad magnates whom he mav
meet should remember that the prince is
no uninforfned of. cial, but practical rail
roader who has learned the business from
tho ground up, and who can do any part
of the work connected with great system,
from stoking or handling the throttle of "a
big locomotive to taking entire charge of
the laying of l, 900 miles of rails and equip
ping a road with rolling stock. Are not
those unusual qualifications for princep
1t was not so long ago, and since no has
become member of the imperial family of
Russia, that the prince had occasion to
get into the cab of locomotive and dem
onstrate his ability in this line. The train
on which he was riding was behind time,
and the imperial minister of ways of COM
munication was convinced that it was net
the locomotive, an American built one, by
the way, but the engineer, who was at
fault. Removing his tall hat and uniform
coat, he took the engineers place for an
| hour, making up the lost time and bring
| ing the train into the terminal exactly on
the scheduled minute.
AS youth he followed for time the
usual course taken by the sons Of wealthy
mobiles He became page to the empress,
and by the time he was 16 was an officer in
the Horse guards of her imperial majesty.
| But he found time to become proficient in
almost every modern language and to get
deeply Interested in mechanics, especially
In the military railroad problems which
| the Crimean war brought forward. In
| 1857 he made a visit of 12 months dura-
| ton to the United States for the sole pur-
| pose Of stpJying our then undevelOped
| railroads. He travelled as far west as the
| Rocky mountains and returned with a pro-
found admiration for everything Ameri-
can.
When in 1861 Alexander III freed the
| serfs, Prince Michaels father was stripped
| of his immense fortune, but the democratic
prince only reioiced. This caused him to
| quarrel with his aristocratic father and
to start out in the world to make his own
fortune. Naturally he came back to Amer.
| lea, but this time he left his title behind
him, and when he applied for work at the
! shop of Philadelphia machinist and rail
way contractor it was as plain John Ma
| gill, name suggested to him by a wrong
pronunciation of his given name. The
first wages the prince earned here were 81
day for making bolt heads.
For months the present imperial minis
| ter worked as common labOrer in the
shops, and was finally promoted. Then
he was sent by his employer TO the Argen'
tine Republic on railway construction
| job. His wages had been increased to B.
day, and on that sum he lived and sup
ported his wife and children, for he had
married before leaving Russia. Think OF
that for an income upon which a prince
and princess were dependent! But he
rose rapidly, and finally, as superintend'
ent Of a roundhouso, earned 81 II day.
Then his proud father, who had neve.
| lost his love for his eldest son, sent for
him to return to Russia, giving him per,
mission to earn his own living there If he
| insisted upon it, So the prince and his
| family returned, but he was somewhat dis
| appointed to find that the only position
open to him was that of locomotive engi
neer But he pluckily entered the cal
again and once more worked his way W
from the very foot of the ladder. In 1881
| he suggested to Il prominent general, Il
| bOyhOOd friend, u scheme for building u
military railroad in central Asia, The
plan was adopted. Working under the di,
rectiOn of the famous General AnnCkoif,
| he constructed 500 miles of railroad in OK
actly one year, an achievement of which
| even an American might be proud. He
| was made inspector general of railways,
and finally attained his present exalted
| position, in which he is the right hand
| man of the young aar, whose pet project
is the completion sf the great Siberian
railroad, and who promises to lay more
rails in Russia during the next few years
than are put down in all the other eoun,
| tries of the world combined. Such In
brief is the career of Prince Hilkoff, whG
IL now in America once more.
FRANCIS B. TALBERT.
|