Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-01-09
The Confession Of a Railway
Millionaire.

VnOS AASSA AAA0AV 0AU 8Ve AAIO VuO E0lAs
road business. At IA l was offered
and accepted employment as . tele-
graph operator on the Hudson River
railroad. When / was 10, another
lucky chance happened me. Jay Gould
gave me . commission to buy y piece
Of property, and l was so successful
In it that he made me general mana
ger. At % l was president Of a rail
way company, probably the youngest
president in the country. There Is q
good story how l happened to become
president Of this road. and l will tell
1t.
an looking about me 1 conceived
the idea that il q certain railroad,
which We will call the D. and B., were
extended ten miles in order to connect
with another road it would become a
vastly more valuable property. The
road was owned by q we'll known rail-
way magnate who was! Exceedingly
difficult to get at. Desparing OF Sc
curing IN interview with him in any
other way, / wrote q letter of intro
duction for myself and signed It. with
my own name. The ruse worked and
/ obtained An audience. / told him l
had railroad to sell him and we
talked q long time. / explained to
him the advantages of the. road and
how It could be built up by simply ex-
tending it ten miles. Every few min
utes he asked me to name the road.
but ! kept standing him of on this
till at length I could do 80 no longer.
1t is the D. and b. / said. Why, 1
own that road he exclaimed in Q
rather puzzled way. Get out Of here
you young rascall How dare you colne
IN here and take my time for an hour
talking to me about selling to me nv
own railroad?' Not so FAST l retorted
i have adopted this method OF getting
you Interested in this proposed ex.
tension OF the line for your own good
He was still pretty hot but he cooled
of by degrees while / poured the facts
and figures into him, and the upshot
Of it was that he agreed to extend the
road ten miles and make me manager
Of the line.
.Once / heard OF q road that was to
be sold because the owner was short OF
cash and in other trouble. It was a
street railway and was doing q good
business, although badly managed. l
did not have cash enough within. my
controlt to make the first payments re-
quired but concluded to 60 and see q
capitalist in q neighboring town, q
man who sometimes took q 1ier in
such properties, and see il / couldn't
induce him to 60 in with me. / told
him all about the road, how much
business 1t Was doing, how much bet
ter it could do under better manage
|ment, and so on. / thought 1 had him
but he finally said he would have to
take time In which to consider. But
this Offer only holds good q few days.
I explained. 1t Is q bargain, and We
get It only because the owner must
have ready cash. It must be closed at
once or we lose It., Notwithstanding
this appeal he decided not to invest,
and l went away feeling pretty blue.
for / knew the real value OF the prop.
erty and was cure 1t would prove :
rich investment.
an the sect next to me In the train
on my way home were two young men.
I overheard q good deal Of their con
versation. It turned ont that one OF
these men was on his way to investi.
gate the condition Of the very road I
had been talking about, and / had
my opinion as to who had sent him.
It was plain enough to me that the
capitalist who had declined to 20 in
with me had decided to look into the
road, and il everything was found Is
represented to buy the property him
self, leaving me out In the cold. I
thought the case over and decided on
1 plan Of action.
AWhen We reached the city / picked
mp two smart boys whom I knew.
pointed out my men to them and gave
them their instructions. They were
to be paid 90 each for their services.
I knew the 6rst thing the agent would
do was to make = trip or two over the
line to mote its condition. After that
he would talk TO the superintendent
or owner. Ny boys had orders to keep
an eye on the agent and to board 81
street car whenever he did. The cars
were all equipped with cash boxes,
there being no conductors. AZ luck
would have it he started out on his
trip at a moment when traffic was dull.
and he had not gone more than 1 block
until one OF my boys jumped ON and
pursuant to my orders. instead OF sim
ply paying one fare dropped half .
dollars worth Of dimes and nickels ia
tho cash box. Farther mp the line my
other boy rot on and did the came
thing. On the return trip both boys
did the same trick again, and finally I
stepped aboard and dropped 3 lot of
small change In the box, pretending