Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1899-12-22
A Vanderbilt in Black.

pile of mahogany logs carefwullly
shielded In his yard, which faces the
East river. II am reminded of their
shipper, a man who Is sending more
mahogany to market !ust now than
anv other man in the yorld, and whose
history reads like romance or a page
out Of the arabian Nights His name
is Don Juan Knight Of Guatemala,
and he Is virtually the financial ruler
of the Central American states. His
wealth is estimated popularity at any
thing from $5,OO0,0O0 to s1O,000.0OO.
Every cent Of this money was earned
by this man. and the remarkable part
of the whole thing is that Don Juan
Knight, which is Spanish for plain John
KNIGHT, Is a negro, and was porn IN
slavery in Alabama.
"There Is no one in all Guatemala
who does not know the name Of Knight.
and all the financial and commercial
interests in Central America recognize
his power and court his friendship He
Is about five feet eleven, weighs per-
haps IT'S pounds and has so LIGHT
complexion that he would be mistaken
for dark Central American
Spanish and English fluentlv.
is thoroughly conversant with
the news Of the day. and continues to
take great pride in America. His
characteristics are energy and force,
even to this late day In life, and de-
spite his enormous accumulations, ne
has scores of schemes for increasing
his riches many times over before he
retires permanently from the money
making business.
Don Juan's annual income cannot
be less than $5O0,OOO at the present day,
and Of this he spends more than $780,
0O0 for his Is large family, and the
negro loves to live in royal style. Be-
sides. he gives literally to various
charities His tremendous income is
derived from great coffee plantations,
immense tracts Of mahogany foresFs'
gold mines. an extensive banana plan
tation, and investments In wharf,
boat and banking stocks. But not con-
tent with this. Knight is peroetually
engineering some great financial prof.
ect -'hich adds to his capital
Ellis handsome residence near eau
temala City is one Of the places which
visitors come from all parts of the
country to see. 1t is three miles west
Of the suburbs of the queer. stray
glir~ old town. and is a sprawln~ two
story house, with something like thirty
| five large rooms. The rich Central
American, I discovered, while on a re-
cent trip to Guatemala. where I mt
knight. bankers for the largest rooms
it is POSSIBLE to get into a house. TIE
drawing room Of the Knight mansion
is about ninety feet square. and the
other rooms are in proportion. Costly
furniture Of rare DESIGNS IS slowed In
the house from top to bottom. The
sofas are Of mahogany and satin. Their,
are grand pianos and MAGNIFICENT mir
rors galore from Paris, and velvet car
pets from New York. The rooms were
decorated by corps of artists from tn ,
United States, who were half year at
their work. The dining room rep"e-
sents the expenditure Of what many
men would consider a fortune. 1t is
finished throughout in polished mahog-
any and plate glass mirrors; the foo"
| is mosaic Of the rarest hard woods
| which the renlete forests Of Central
America afford. Such another elabor-
ate floor Is not to be found in the New
| World. The POUNDS about the man.
| sion. about three acres IN extent, Ere
embellished with beautiful and perfect
COPIES in statuary from France and
Italy. and an artistic tangle of paths
clumps of shrubbery. beds of bri'lian!
Towering plants. artificial grottoes and
singular DESIGNS in lawns and vines.
| "Out in the mountains Knight has
another estate Of 5000 acres. where the
coffee f1ourishes. The entire property
is under cultivation. and the finest or
chids In the country are there to b.
! seen. There are also acres Of roses
lilies in rows half a mile long. fine
winding roads among the coffee. ba-
mana and pinapple fields. Buildings TO,
the laborers' families and fruit har-
vesting and packing houses and coffee
| curing plants have been erected on
this estate at cost Of $150.000 There
are seven children in John KNIGHTS
family. and all were educated in the
nited States. Two Of his bows recently
completed course at a military acad
envy in mississippi. while one Of his
daughters is a portrait painter ir
Boston. Once every two years Knight
and his wife take trip to New Or
leans. They have been In Eurore two
or three times and frequently send
their children abroad.
'"knight, who Is proud Of his rise
from slave boy to great wealth anG
commercial power, told me the story
Of his life. and in some particulars Il
seems almost beyond belief. He never
knew his father, because the latter was
sold in a lot of slaves who went tc
Georgia a few months before Tohr
was born. His mother was a mu'atto
who became by inheritance the prop
ertv of tobacco grower. Daniel U.
ton, and who lives at Dadeville, Ala
Upton was scholarly, kindly dispose
man, so Knight said, who treated hi
slaves we'll. and his wife, who hac
been school teacher, believed it wa:
her duty to guide and protect the
black people on her husbands nlan.
tation. Mrs. UPTON had brother
John S. Knight, after whom she nam
ed the little black boy when he was
in 1S45. The child was unusually
bright. and Mrs. Upton discovered tina
he took an absorbing interest in the
| instructions given to her children. Ir
the bright weather, when the children
and teacher sat on the piazza of the
house, John would take up static"
near by and listen to all that was said
His apparent zeal for an education ap
pealed to Mrs. Upton, who determine
lessons to get him started on the roat
to independent studies. Eventual,
Mr.. Upton became interested in John!
education and helped him along.
when old enough Knight worked /,
other slaves, but he had special priv
ileges in the evening. and while thu
other small blacks did chores aroun
the place he was allowed to read ant
study. When about 16 years old Knig1
was the most promising negro in Tai
a Doosa county. Mr.. Upton died a
that time. and at the executors sale q
the Upton plantation in 1850 Knigh
was auctioned of to Hannibal NJ
Judson, of the adjacent county O.
Chambers, for $1,000, which was rattle
stiff price for a negro at that time
But slave boys who read and figured
were at a permium. knight went witt
his new master to coffee plantatio.
in Central Alabama. Next spring tn
war broke out and Mr.. Judson enter
ed the confederate army. Knight ther
was made an overseer Of part Of thu
plantation, and for four years super
intended the gathering Of the cottor
and its shipment to New Orleans
When his master returned from thu
war knight declared his freedom. anc
walked to New Orleans, where he Sc
cured work as laborer for firm
which handled fruits from Contra
| America He saved hia money and one