The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-09-04
to escape from what they deemed their
Food Coffee.

to escape from what they deemed thei
cursed fountry.
Among the thousands OF families wa
that of the Goele.s, who were stopped a
the borders of the low countries and sen
back. Only one member OF ii, Jean, es
capped the French officers, and he came
to this country in16s5. He landed in Z
town which was intensely protestant
He was welcomed almos. as a hero. He
was personally attractive, Of admirable
address and excellent education. He
knew English, and soon made himself
something of social factor in the little
colony.
He fell in love with the married daugh.
ter Of John Cannon, merchant. in 1897
and with her came considerable for
tune It was the turning tide for the
young Frenchman. Accepted as part
ner by his father-in-law, he finally be-
came one Of the we'll known merchants
of the colony. The children resulting
from the marriage were thrifty and ad-
6ed to the wealth which was left TO- them
by the Huguenot merchant.
jeans grandson, Peter, had inherited
a considerable amount of real estate
from his father, and, true to the inner
tied passion Of the race, he, too, became
merchant. 1t was then just before tie
Revolutionary war He had big hard
ware store IN Hanover square, then the
| largest store of its kind in the colony,
and when the raid was made at the be-
ginning OF the hostilities and the statue
! Of the king was melted in Bowling Green
MS store was attacked for powder and
arms.
The great principle of trade recognized
by Peter was that he would do no credit
business under any circumstances, and
as he bought and sold only for cash he
soon was regarded as a very wealthy
man. His advertisements in the news
| papers a the close Of the revolutionary
war were attractive, because already
! commercial instinct had taught him the
medium through which to reach the peo-
| pie. All the time he continued to invest
| in small pieces of property in the lower
! part of the city, 50 that when he died he
| left fortune, which for that time was
regarded as enormous, to his sons, Peter
and Robert.
Peter. the uncle Of Robert Goelet, was
/ one Of these sons. He it was who put
! the capstone on the fortune Of the fom-
| lily. He, as the eldest son Of the old mer-
| chant, inherited the larger share of the
| fortune. He soon saw that trade no
/ longer offered the greatest opportunities
| for the accumulation Of wealth. He saw
! that New York was certain to become
one of the greatest cities in the world
The real estate in the lower part Of the
| city which had been left to him. where
| it was off the thoroughfare of traffic, he
| traded or sold. His desire was for hold
| ings in Broadway, which already indi-
Gated its future. He loaned money on
| the property in the district, then away
| cut Of town, but now Immediately about
! Fortieth and Fiftieth streets. He en-
| c0uraged builders 10 c6me to him for
loans, and then when there was a fail
ure on their part TO met their indebted
ness he would secure the property by
virtue Of his liens on It,
There were stories of Mr.. Goelet that
Indicated that he was more than par
slmonlous There was one character,
however. that he possessed to an ex-
treme degree. 1t was his logged deter
mination in fixing values of property
and refusing to consider any PROPOSE
ton in contradiction to his appraisal In
MS later years ne refused to rent enor-
nous stores in Broadway merely because
ne could not obtain within three or four
fnAuGanH Of -hot bo =
for rental. The aggregation of loss from
this course was then considered enorm-
Gus enough to make many people regard
Mr.. Goelet as eccentric.
The so-called Goelet farm did not con-
sist OF unbroken property 1t was chief
ly located in the parts Of the city al
ready mentioned. At that time Mr..
Goelet owned most of the land on which
the Grand Central station and its ap-
proacheS lie. Commodore Vanderbilt ap-
preached the shrewd Spectator and
made him an offer for it. Mr.. Goelet
laughed at the offer.
Very Well" Commodore Vanderbilt IS
quoted as saying, that property pleases
me very much and I intend to have con-
troll OF it,
Again Mr.. Goelet laughed, but the rail-
way king went to the legislature and
succeeded in having an act passed con-
demning the property for railway pur-
poses. Mr.. Goelet never completely for
gave Commodore Vanderbilt for this
though the real estate ragnate always
refeyfaS ITO; theSrahNay king witt, mo-
foInf respect as the only man WHO had
ever gotten the best Of Peter Goelet
The memorable fight OF Peter Goelet
with Tweed, in which the latter insisted
On continuing Madison avenue to the
southwark 50 that it might join Broad
way, is still remembered among real
estate operators. Tweed attempted the
same tactics as Mr.. Vanderbilt. but Mr..
Goelet had been taught a lesson. and
when Tweed succeeded in obtaining ac-
ton by the legislature Mr.. Goe!et had II
declared unconstitutional by the ap2el-
tate courts
Readers OF the Herald are familiar
with the story OF the ancient mansion at
Nineteenth street and Broadway. There
Peter G0elet lived While he was comnIe.-
ing the fabric OF his fortunes AMI thara
49, vi - AtNViiioS4 -, 1879. his broth
er Robert preceded him by just two
months. His fortune was left 10 his
nephews. ne having never married
NEW YORK GARMENT WORKERS
some settling and Resuming Work While
Others Are Striking
New York. Sept S.-Ves:mskers 10 tse
number o. 5000 wen; on ,rike today
for higher wages. The strikers are afi-