The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-04-18

every available scheme in the Interim to aug
Col. Knox wa, instrumental in organizing
two Entertainments at Madison Square Gar
den at great personal labor, which netted'
p pe%sseT bolS 0R'y very = fiS aPSs . william iiis9n'' A. t"' aopn,
Commands q Il fayetts Post. q: A. r. raised
returns were small. T,porsonsliy started a cub.
one hundred to give $500, and 1--WE hundred to
s sass siGG '% corneI liz the Han ! S%s 9'e %iIiiSn
agreed to sqbscripa $4,000, each. ,Ex.Gov;
our meetings drew from his vest pocket a slip
Of paper. which. upon II spection, proved TO be
Mr. John D.. Rockefeller, whom i failed to SOC
personally. wrote me on Feb 10. 1891:
Your favor Of goth ulto; received. / will
and responsible PARTIES each pledge $40. ooO."
Mr.. W. X. Vanderbilt. upon ba return home
1891: II Will DO happy to be one Of ten 10 give
Il my list Of $500 men. / remember that Mr..
ready subscribed to tho fund. In fact. I had
s65. 900 in sight before the close of tho wear
Huntington to &c, together q few friends to
uLt sr~rite the, wh,le amount REQUIRED u we
we; TSulS So go ahead as and Ss. 9u.ld' This -! patriots ,p ndc, of
I'VE were full Of hope and pIodded on.
Some Of the new blood in the enterprise
commenced civic pride would not permit II 70
remain unfinished. and that, money, would
meme %sn sh sisGt . s.eu s., At at h ssr'msa o3rp on sra .n~s
birthday and llsten to the lessons taught by
the struggles and successes, OF ills typical
gushing along. Yes. and at one OF these ban
auets we had 70 sit quietly by and be ,chas-
staff onnosr OF stoneWali Jackson. Who boldly
told us that II there was not money and rev.
or nee enough in New York city, old Virginia
In the fall of $500 the design OF Architect
John H.: Duncan was selected from among n
Choose. confess i did not vote T r Mr.. Dun.
cams because the remains were TO be located In
After the adoption of tho plan this was
changed So that tho snrcophagus comes i'm
mediately. beneath the DOME. which was the
6n | ,r # the b. d ssf' : for onn whie Va, ! had Idr yOsff;
broken. Ex-Nayor Grace presided. and Gen.
Horace Porter. who had served upon the staff
which ought to. and perhaps did. give new i'm
pstps to tn" movement Upon the ,v Sdo9ti ion
tho 'i eon nqeSsn fou ptnni n.u and Ge the 'H work w tSs
awarded to Mr.. John 7, Brady. Tho concrete
ia OF the very best formula Is twenty-three feet
how much faster an enterprislng mechanic
could work than the body which, employed
Completed Il the HeF job %S9i,o1 his contract snas CIV was s' exe.
cuted. Thus we expended half tho money we
had in bank. with nothing above ground 10
show Tor 1t. Nothing daunted. however. and
full Of hope. but perhaps a little recklessly,
We made n contract fer tho first tier Of granite
~ fee enh .as fq 1as fnnaa ! !Sossh tn 1en w"qsa n nshr:
Inc gain was our n otto. and we solemnly re-
solved to build as high as our money would let
us, and then roof the building In. IL forced to,
for lack OF means. These were anxious DAYS
for some of.us. but l believe the constant ebb
L. Hotchkis.. our Treasurer. simply stimulated
us to stuhhornly go ahead and do our duty as
ws Imder ,bo 4 In faes; ii was a G .nG ion
family might not both tire 81 delay and re-
move the remains 70 Washington. and ! some
times hoped that this might be the result, for
Indebtedness to him aud my reverence for
bis memory were para mount TO a civic oblisa-
ton which seemed to be wasted.
In the winter Of 1912 there was a vacancy
in the board of tho association. and | asked
Gen. Horace Porter to allow me 70 suggest his
Ing himself as believing that II would be a
homeless, task to revive an enterprise which
had so loEr been dormant and neglected.
nominated and elected. What happened at
the NEE :ing and what followed Ia immaterlal.
that thoae OF US who wanted an Infusion Of
new blood won the fight bv a bare majority.
Ex:Mayor Grace, our President, who had been
In his attendance upon our meetings
and Rad Joined us in every feasible effort 70
augment the fund. resigned. and uen; Horace
place. There was now another spasmodio
effort TO revive ito droooinv interest; ten.
Porter had three schemes: first. to get the boys
81 Harvard and Yale to give us the gate money
Of a football match: second, to secure the CO.
Of the theatres: and third. to get
public to subscribe 81 each. for which a hand
lome engraved certificate shout be given. Only
the latter ex per. mont was tried but tho soldiers
! favored the passage OF a bill AT Albany ap.
propriattng the necessary State aid. I wanted
seemed. been exhausted To arouse public sem
was willing that, the Stase Govern
family. Again . period Of gloom and failure
US. We were Mt our wits end. Every
now and then IN answer TO a personal appeal
haps a hundred dollars. and these desnltory
contributions served to indicate that the peo-
pie would give cheerfully II they were proper.
iy appealed to and an ORGANIZATION perfected
which would reach them. II was a: this crisis
Gen. Porter received q letter from II gen
signed himself Ed wnrd F.. Crac!n and he hailed
similar offers. Int nothing came Of them. rhis,
contained the information that the
S ~r,isr esd tu S.sn w ipstPum mental in ,G 1ais Cbict the
her selection bv Congress for the Columbian
Exposition. and therefore was entitled to con-
NJ. Pullman for Information in regard
to Mr.: CraRin. and on receipt or his reply in
as an INTELLIGENT. earnest Gentleman. and his
modest request that we wonld pay his hotel
bill and give him a Few eeks' trial was
Rcceded to Perhaps he gave MS hone.
though not much faith: we were charitable
enough. however. TO let him thrash out tie old
straw II he .Sished. He came TO us on March
Ii. 1892. A fortnight later Zen. Porter said
TO me; This is one Of the, most remarkable
IT en- ! have over met. ! should not be sur
prised II he raised tho whole amount before
birthday tApril "a. And how did this
unas. inning. systema &c young man
20 TO work? He brought with him HIS West
arm methods, Ills nlan was TO raise the re.
Gulred amount $3.50 900, in six weeks.
II out ON that line" Tho General gave hin
letters to Brad streets and Dun's commerrinl
where he speht hours in classifying
the trades and professions. and then he invit
ed four hundred OF their leading REPRESENTATIVE
to assemble mt the rooms at the Chamber OF
Commerce on q given day. In respon SO. lust
thres persons. IN addition u Gen. Porter and
re-pondod.
ANY Ordinary man would have packed his
ri al returned home. but Cragin WINS mot
made of this waterfall. He was extra ordinary.
Like Grant. he emerged from the Wilderness
and pushed ,ipht alo, T.. He made James NJ.
Constable Chairman OF the meeting and an.
pointed thirty subcommittee. Just as though
the whole four hundred had been present. and
announced then all In the daily papers. Every
day thereafter he appointed new con mittees
until he had three hundred different organi-
zafIona and sauarul fhnnaapd MA "A, ,w..I