The San Francisco call., 1897-06-01
HE WAS A MONEY-MAKER
Chicago Times Herald.

Chicago Times Herald.
Many years ago in Central New York an old
man Travelled about the country in one
horse shay that Holmes must have seen. His
name was Packard. Under the seat of the
shay were numerous bottles OF "Packard's
Scrofula Remedy" which he sold. His hands
and body were scanned by the disease, which
he said had been cured by his medicine. He
sold enough of it to pay his expe nses and lay
by little. More than once spectators palav-
cred with him. desiring to form q stock com
pany TO manufacture the stuff in quantities.
but such schemes always fell through. So old
man Packard boiled it a, home in an iron pot
and went on the even tenor oil his way BY
and by rumors wen about the country neigh.
DO rhoods that he mad boarded much money
He had one child, daughter, and she was
unwarrantably plain. So homely was she
that, as Twain would say. she could not smile
after 10 O'Clock on Saturday night without
breaking the Sabbath. To her came lanky,
gawky' eadaVerous youth with love in his
looks. This was Chamberiin He married
ner, and Packard paid the license clerk and
the preacher with dozen bottles of his kings
evil annihilator. A. that time Chamberiin
was was an IDEAL "kuoe" OF tender years. he had
been a failure at everything-farming
teaching, clerking, ence-building, book
canYassing. He had run the gamut
9I o. employment open TO rural male
IN tnose days. Learning that his fatheI-in-
laws treasure consisted of S75, stuffed into
an old sock, which in turn MAS stuffed into a
stroug box and locked up, he went TO live
with the old man and contentcdly boiled the
medicine. Later on, having smassed $50, he
opened drugstore. He had no clerk, and the
people looked askance at his sign: "Prescrip-
lions Carefully Compounded" No customers
came near and pharmacy was mis- thirty-sixth
failure. He lost confidence in himself, and
those who knew him never had any confidence
In him to lose.
At that time the local Y NJ. C. A. deter
mined TO branch out 1t wanted TO hire sec
!etary at salary, and Chamberlin got the
~. inst Rfo,1 H.
Threw himself into the work heart and soul.
de doomed the organization as it had never
oeeh doomed He metaphorically dragged in
mem bers by the coattails. He advanced rap
IDLY in the Methodist church. He was
central figure in all church sociables. church
ialrs ana those meetings known as "gifI par
lles, Where the trenzied parson receives
twelve pairs OF fiowered slippers, not any one
OF which fits, and tweniy-three etidies" to go
over the back OF his single rockingham. The
Inns pay 10 $1,000 8 year He worked at this
awhile and then went West
When his friends next heard from him he was
worm Sl ,OO0,OOO The man was miniature
Johu Law, whose genius for finance Of the
risky sort had been cabined, cribb bed, confined
wlta1n the narrow limits of an agricultural
neigh borhood for many years. He saw that
the Tine for real estate boom in Denver was
al hand, and so he doomed. The Chamberlin
investment Company was formed. and corner
lois TOOK an upward shoot The company,
which was really Humphrey e. Chamberlin
handled hundreds of thousands of dollars
every mouth. 1t got about all of the Netho-
dist money in Colorado Its head built an
observaiory-the fourth largest in this coun-
try-and many churches. He gave S75,-
600 in cash 10 Trinity Methodist Church. He
founded Chamberlin, S. D., and other towns
he taught class in Sunday-school and taught
it we'll.
Not content with being the biggest biped in
Colorado and contiguous States, he Invaded
Texas. II took him just ten days TO set the
town OF Fort Worth raving crazy on real estate
In two weeks he had the staid semi-M exica n
town OF San Antonio waltzing around on lis
ear. he bought an evening paper in this
town and imported editors from Denver,
mainly dis linguished by the wealth of ad-
lecttves, and doomed and boom d. He bought
largely on time payments and sold largely
Tor money down. One German was so
happy over selling a $500 lot for $4,000 shat
ne made Preparations 10 go back to the
Fatnerland and drink Bavarian beer for a cen.
tury or two and dropped dead from heart dis
ease. The San Antonio fare and the Fort
Worth flare collapsed. of course and the
ChamDeriin Investment Company retired
Denverward to its mountain Businesses IL
continued business for some years and dis
solved with the advent of hard times in the
west. When II went under Cham berlin went
TO europe, The company owed S15 600 600
ano It's visible assets were sold for S317
1t viii strike most people that a man who
starts with boiling scroiula medicine and dies
In ten years owing SIS 900 900 must have mad
an eiement OF greatness in him.