The Irish standard., 1896-08-15
bold MONEY GB1''BRl. !
Jaw Cookies Remarkable Career as
q Bold and Successful
I'inancier.
Had Nothing to Start With But
w i @.zgf}
!. Afterwards Saved the Credit
,t of the Nation.
Lost all His Wealth But Finally
Regained 1t, Paying Every
Man He Owed.

Man He Owed.
With head sivered by many winters and
bowed with age, with tottering step and
! lack luster eye, in one of the suburbs OF
Philadelphia one can see one OF the men
who in years gone by held the financial fate
of the nation in his grasp. The old man.
now almost beyond the cares Of life, too
feeble to do more than toddle about his
home, was once the king of money makers.
That old man is Jay Cooke. No man who
ever gave his time and talents to the acqui-
sition Of fortune passed through as many
changes Of temper on the part of the tickle
goddess as Jay Cooke. No man ever caused
as much turmoil in the financial world and
none OF the great fnanciers of the founda-
tion period OF this country lived through as
many strange experiences. Now, with age
bowling him down he is waiting to pay the
Hast debt, that due to nature. All others
are paid. Every cent the old man owed to
anybody has been paid and he has nothing
left to: do but yield the spirit to his maker.
Once man Of colossal enterprise, he is
now almost forgotten in the busy rush Of
the world after the elusive dollar. With the
financial power Of the nation upheld by
| him, ne fell at last and dragged the nation
down with him. No more interesting fig
lure than his ever posed in the financial
world. None has dropped more complete
Il ly out Of the world he made his own. He
has been lauded-this when he was pros
porous and reviled as no other man, not
even Jim Fisk has been after he fell. He
has been charged with every crime known
to finance almost, yet as the end draws
near, his sterling honesty shines out as the
one jewel which could not be taken FROM
him-the crown of his old age says the
Chicago Chronicle. l
Jay Cooke it was Of whom General Grant
spoke in the following message on the eve
OF Lees surrender:
"Tell him that it is to his labors more
than those Of any other man that the peo- 7
pie of this country owe the continued life
of this nation ..... ill., -.
After the lapse OF generation this mes
sage has become the sober verdict of his
tory. It was only by splendid skill and
audacity that he wrested victory from de-
feat. To this day the steel in Jay Cookies
nature rings fine and true and his entire
and of devotion to noble ends.
Jay Cookies ancestors came to New Eng
land in the Mayflower. His father was born
in Connecticut, but moved to Ohio when
he was young man. He rose rapidly in
the legal profession, and for a time repre-
sented his district in congress, besides oc-
cupying other important public positions.
His mothers folks came from the north OF
Ireland, which country they were forced
to leave on account of their religious views.
Jay Cooke, with the exception Of few
months, never attended school after he
was 13 years old. He was tall. angular
lad and dearly loved to roam about the
woods and hills of Sandusky, fishing and
hunting, boyhood fashion, for deer and
birds that never came to his bag. His
companion In all these rambles was Ogontz,
young Shawnee boy, and afterward
chief of that nation. Ogontz was taciturEl
and wore an eagle feather in his hair.
Young Cooke was volubie and open mind
ed. .F@S
7 They made aqueer pair, but their friend
ship was deep and sincere, and even after
Jay Cooke had risen to financial. eminence
he always remembered his Indian friend.
These early ra1nbles through wood and
prairie left an idelible impression on young
Cookies mind and he never forgot his early II
love for the great west.
= Itnlay have been the early display OF his
business instincts, or it may have been
through Difference to his fathers wishes
that he gave up those boyish rambles. At
any rate he bade Ogontz good-by and went
to work with one Of the leading mercantile 4
firms of Sandusky as clerk. s I .s
This was Jay Cookies first business ex-.
.perience. In those days almost all the +
travellers from east to west and west to f
east passed through Sandusky. 1T was in
this way that young Cooke became ac-SsS.
quainted with st. Louis merchant. The +
brightness and energy of the boy impress u
ed him, and he invited Jay to become sas I:
clerk in a store he was about to open In n
ST. Louis. sa b
AT the age of Is, therefore, he set out
alone for st. Louis, his Indian friend 4,
Ognntz following the stage that was to-
take him to the Ohio river for many miles. a
The "trip to st. Louis consumed eighteen.
days It was necessary to take a steamer
to Louisville and to re-embark from there 3
TO his Anal destination. KIN 81
At that time the population of st. Louis
was not1nore than 1900, and half Of its &
habitants we're French and Indians. Cooke
worked in his new position for about two 4,
years Like all boys with future wealth
in view he saved his money, and at the endkE &
of his elerksaip, when the panic Of 1887 had
turned to Sandusky with his pockets full sss
Of money. 1 ID \, ss ,sssA Sl
He went back to school, but only for ~
brief period The husband of his eldest
sister had become interested in a trasp0rta- d
tioni line abort to commence operations be-
tWeen Philadelphia add the west, and @
yotIy1g Cooke was offered a position with Il