The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-02-14
GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN
WHO AND WHAT THE MAN Is AND
WHY HE Is CALLED "CITIZEN."
A Singular Character Whose sanity Is
Doubted hut Who Is Level Headed
ut Times-A Varied Career.
Megargee. in Philadelphia Times.


the few things he said and did there have
led TO a flood of inquiries as TO why he is
called Citizen-with a capital C-who he
IS and what he is and there are some
queries as 10 whether or not he Is sane.
This is probably the most difficult problem
that the narrator has ever been confronted
with As to who he is and what he is, the
answer is easy. To begin with. any one
who has met him will admit that he Is
a most remarkable man. His birth was in
Boston sixty-eight years ago. According TO
his own statement. made at the Glover Club
board. he first opened his eyes at p High
street upon a town and people whom he
now holds in the supremest contempt. He
looks like a San DOMINICAN, with the
swarthy countenance of a mulatto and
crisp. curly hair of gray. suggesting Du-
mas. His eyes are restless. his whole man
ner feverish: his forehead receding but his
tongue glib and his brain ever active.
To study the man. we must study his
career. He was engaged in business in Bos-
ton for some years, and In 1853. when he
was twenty-four years of age, he went 10
Australia. Well, he founded the famous
house of Caldwell. Train & Co. He amassed
large wealth; was reputed at one time TO
be possessed of several millions of dollars.
He Travelled extensively, and finally made
his abode in England. where he made
strenuous efforts to introduce street rail-
ways-they call them tramways over there
to London and Birkenhead. This was in
1859. He met with violent oppostion-the
same sort OF opposition that greeted the in
PRODUCTION of horse cars TO the citizens of
this goOdly Quaker City of ours-and was
unsuccessful. This first failure of his life
appears TO have soured his naturally kindly
nature and thenceforth he became a mis-
anthrope- If he couldn't make the British
people see things as he saw them. he could
at least scold them, which he proceeded
to do in highly exciting manntf. lecturing
through England. Scotland and Ireland be-
fore large audiences on the weaknesses and
defects OF British society, flashing the So
cial evils of the country and the times with
Train returned TO this country in 1862 and
since that time has been noted as writer,
leeturer and what most people term a
cursory narrative of his career. IL may be
well to enumerate the books he has written.
for probably few people of the present gen.
Grafton aware of the fact that he has
been very Industrious author. He has
written n An American Merchant in EuTSgs.
young America Abroad QS5O, Young
America in Wall Street ..ds5s, Spread
Man His Own Autocrat,' chiefly biograph-
zeal QS5O. Young America on Slavery
liverpool, 1900 George Francis Train.
Unionist on Thomas Cooley GratIan. Seces-
sionist" london. 1s6D. Union Speeches
American War 1PhiiadeIphia and London.
four volumes. 1862 Downfall of England
A Championship of Women'' Qea ll5 t n.
Kan, 1861
AT THE CLOVER CLUB.
Since Trains return to the country of his
birth he has spent most of his voice I'm de-
claiming against it's institutions and the
cities of his birth and adoption. Whether
he is entirely serious not il is difficult to
tell. AT the Glover Club mahogany he said
with a smiling visage and with no appear
ance of ill-feeling that he would have Civ
en- one thousand dollars If he had been on
sufficient terms of mountaineering with
his mother TO have induced her to have
his birthplace elsewhere. He said that his
first recollection of Boston town was COD
fish swinging over a storehOuse and that
blem OF the aristocracy of the Hub. He
said many things of an ugly character
about the town OF his birth and yet did
II with no suggestion of malevolence. For
instance. Il was taught as an innocent
child and led To believe that at the battle
of Lexington ten thousand Americans were
were shot and one of these in
the rear. Then the story that my infant
mind was nurtured with about the men OF
Boston casting the tea overheard. Who
ever heard of a Boston merchant throwing
away anything? IL was a put-up job to foo
II must be confessed. into one OF the bright
est speeches that ever tickled human ear
into suggestions that John hancock-he OF
the sweeping signature TO the Declaration
of Independence-and John Adams were
smussleIs working In the interests OF the
contempt for the American Athens. but in
an earlier speech-he made two-he spoke OF
the city of his adoption, New York, as 1.-THE
State prison of the country, the Botany
bay of all nations and the penal colony OF
the world. Yet there he makes his abode
and has for years. in the old Continental
Hotel. Twentieth street and broadway
Look upon that picture; a man with such
Then endeavor to bring this before your
mini.
An oasis in the desert life of a busy city
a breathing spot. green and restful in the
heart of the metropolis. Madison-squart
Garden. surrounded by great hotels. tai
buildings. the turmoil and conflict of Broad
way. "A little space set apart where trees
grow green and where nature asserts her
self against man. Benches under the YER
dant branches. Tramps. tattered and torn
seated upon many OF them. Birds piping
I'm the foliage. On one bench sits a man
I'm n white suit. swarthy of hue. with crisp
gray hair; like Dumas. About him chat
tering laughing. bubbling, brighteninl- the
scene. horde of children; some poorly
clad. some with nurses standing apart
clambering over mans knee; whispering
in his ears; robbing him of the nuts ahU
sweetmeats he had brought for them. and
amid them all sparrows chattering amid the
very feet of the little ones and picking VI
the crumbs that the strange dictator in
Infants kingdom had thrown to their ready
beaks That is the picture OF George
Francis Train as Ii presents itself to the
narrator'S mind. The other picture Is that
of man who. at the Glover Club dinner
delivered one of the cleverest speeches thai
ever flashed across the board OF that or.
ganizatior. They say he is crazy.
Perhaps,
Who ear tell? Who can determine MS
mental equipoise. and who is mad and who
Is not?
is HE CRAZY.
There are some people who contend that
all great actors are really insane but OF
course. il should be understood that the
term insanity means simply a departur,
from the normal mental condition. Anc
who il to determine what the normal con
dtiOn IS? "A hod-carrier would certainl,
look upon a Shakespeare as a maniac
Train has gone 10 prison a number OF
times-he said fifteen at the Glover Clui
board-for violently declaring his views OF
various questions. Ii will be recalled tina
he came TO this city in 1877 at the time OF
a strike OF the Brotherhood of LocOmotiv,
Engineers against the Reading Railroa.
Company and was announced To deliver ;
lecture on behalf OF that organization IN
Association Hall. The afternoon of IN,
day sor his appearance the following. re.
markaolc communication was received
from his business manager
NV psychology has evo uted into-demonot
oSy- The one Is harmless; the. other dan
gerous. The two conditions ebb and flow
through my blood like the tides i'm the BAY
OF Fundy Possessing great power for good
i cannot do wrong. Hence must ask Won =.
- IT gs