The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-07-01

leans at the best market prices until
the close of the war.
Then he walked to New Orleans and
worked as a wharf laborer for a firm
which handled fruits from Central
America. lie saved his money. In 1886
he was sent by his employer to Yucca
tan. in Central America. to live there. as
boss OF the packing and shipping of
fruits to New orleans. That was prac-
tically the beginning of John knights
millions.
A lively. wide-awake person was
something unique In those days Of sizes
tas and tropical sunshine. A revolution
In Guatemala. in which Ramon Sanchez
had been deposed. was just at its close.
knight saw what hard work and an
opportunity to gain the favor of the
new administration would do for him
self. He proposed that for a conces-
sion of some 80, 900 acres of land suitable
for pineapples and bananas he would
go To New Orleans and get the whole
sale fruit dealers, who ruled the Ameri-
can markets 30 years ago.. to agree to
buy 1000. 900 a year of Guatemala
fruits. The Guatemalan government
gladly accepted the proposition. In less
than three months the deal was con-
summated at New Orleans. 1t was the
beginning Of the trade in millions of
dollars annually.
"''h' u JUS EAoiH tIbli, JudH
knight got other concessions, as he
demonstrated the profit there was in
growing fruit for the United States mar
ket. The shipping business in New York
and San Francisco was started and enor-
mously enlarged. BY 1871 the negro was
the largest employer of labor i'm North
ern Guatemala. Where a multitude of
white men had given up in despair of
ever trying to get work out of the lazy.
improvident and careless natives of the
rural regions, knights experience
among the slaves stood him in good
stead. He was famous for the zeal he
impaired to all who labored for him. He
married "A native young woman i'm Stapa
In 1872. and the union has been a great
help To his fortunes. About 20 years
& he induced New England capital to
embark extensively in coffee growing
In Guatemala, and invested his own
capital in the industry. The govern
ment gave him a very advantageous
shipping concession for his efforts in
bringing capital to the country. Coffee
growing proved wonderfully remunera
tive for a dozen years. The negro
planter branched out in other directions.
He went to Philadelphia and contracted
10 furnish many thousands of feet of
mahogany yearly for 10 years.
There is another side to his uncom-
man. He has been a liberal patron
or educational measures. He is withal
a plain, modest man, who is not known
by sight very far from home. He Is tall
and slender and shows the effects Of
hard work and constant care and
thought concerning his enormous BUSH
ness interests.
There are seven children i'm Juan
Knights home. and all have been edu-
Gated i'm the United States. Two of the
boys are In a military academy i'm Mis-
ciCEinni nnA One Hanubfap l. nm a.,
portrait painter in Boston.
once a year the father and mother go
on "a trip to New Orleans and from there
to New York. They We're in Europe in
1894.
The influence Of Juan Knight, the ne
gro millionaire. is felt everywhere in the
commercial and financial domain of
Guatemala. If not I'm every part of Cen
iral America. His advice is sought i'm
all financial projects of the government.
"A syndicate of capitalists sends TO
for an expression of opinion
concerning a bond issue in Central
America, this wonderful ex-slave is con-
suited almost first of all. When the
nearly came to arms with
two years ago. Juan Knight was
Universally looked to by the natives to
fleet peace. His bank in Guatemala
'lty Is about the solidest i'm the coun-
SO great is the confidence in his
integrity that some of his oldest labor
rs draw their pay but once in a half
'ear. The millionaire planter and miner
II Guatemala has several times visited
he plantation in Tallapoosa county,
where he was born and raised.
of people there know all
bout him and remember his childhood.
n 1883, when he was I'm Dadeville. he
net the son Of his first master. Daniel
,pton. He had not forgotten how
and Misses Upton taught him To
cad and write, and all the petty priv
leges they had shown their chattel, lit
le Black John. SO what did the ex-
do but employ George Upton. "A '
On of Knights early master. To go down
D Guatemala and be "A superintendent =
I the mines. MOI only that. The ex- ,
found that the widow Of his old =,
was sick and i'm financial dis
in Mobile, and he forthwith in l
ested for her a sun of his money sufii- :
tent tn keep her comfortable her re-
naming days.-San Francisco Exam
ler, \