The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-02-25

| SofQ on the doctor weekly Ir1pS.
BY 1870 Dr. Pearsons had accumulated a
great fortune He had sold his home al
IS Van Buren, street, and he and mis- wife
| moved to the Palmer House, where they
| lived for fourteen years He was heavily
interested in street railway properties
and other Chicago enterprises. and was
rated as one of the great capitalists of
the city.
But his plans for getting rich were not
yet fulfilled. He began buying pine lands
along the White and Muskegon Rivers in
Michigan, and finally accumulated 5000
acres His sales of farm lands by that
time had passed 1,oOO,OOo acres. He began
to clear away the timber from his Michi-
gan lands, selling the logs at a great
| profit. He made trips 10 the logging
| camps twice each month and sold the
| logs at wholesale himself.
! When the big fire came it burned nine
| houses which DR. Pearsons had built on
the North Side but ne got contractors to
rebuild them in exchange for his pine
| timber He owned in all 100 houses and
stores on the North Side, all located
south of Lincoln Park and which have
long since been given away to charitable
institutions.
When the city of Chicago reached the
verge Of bankruptcy in 1873. DR.. Pearsons,
who was s1H living at the Palmer
House, was elected alderman of the First
Ward Monroe Heath was elected mayor
and Murray F. Tuley, now judge of the
circuit court, Addison Ballard, o. B.
Phelps, Eugene Cary, POhn NJ. Smyth,
and Jacob Beidler were among the other
aldermen.
The city had been paying its debts in
script and had reached the end of its
credit The tax levies were in dispute, as
they are now, and, although they were
soon declared legal, they could not te
collected in time to meet the city's obli-
cations then due. The city adminisJra-
ton staggered through two years, and
finally was almost ready TO repudiase its
obligations. Many Of the municipal bonds
were due, and the Eastern bondhOIde-s
were in an uproar.
DR.. Pearsons did not belong 10 any
political party but was claimed at that
time by the Democrats. Oscar Field,
First Ward liveryman, was nominated to
succeed him, but the Democrats insisted
on DR. Pearsons becoming a candidate
again, and he was elected by the votes Of
both Democrats and Republicans. Mayor
Heath at once made him chairman Of the
finance committee.
The financial condition Of the city had
reached a point then when the city's
credit was PRACTICAL worthless. Repuji-
ating the bonds then due was seriously
L
ten to any such proposition, however.
He quietly took a train for New 1ork,
where the bondholders were clamorrg
the loudest, and appeared one day before
the city's creditors in the American En-
change bank A pompOus man named
Brooks talked for the creditors.
Before the NEE ing ended D. Pearsons
had satisfied the creditors by offering TO
pledge his personal fortune f9r the re-
compton of the bonds Then he went to
Boston, where another meeting Of Chi
cago's creditors was being hell. The
overjoyed bondho.ders who knew Of DIR.
Pearsons' personal responsibility. invited
him TO dinner, and on various oc ,asions
OF the kind rendered him champagne,
which he declined, as ne has declined
such things all his life When he cam=
home to Chicago he was given an enthusi
astic welcome as tn. man who mad saved
the city : credit.
In making his gifts DR.. Pearsons fol-
lowed his own Investigations and decided
for himself whether the object was wor-
thy He rigidly followed plan Of giving
only where the institution he gave TO was
able to raise an equal or a larger sum,
which he always stipulated in advance.
In this way by giving himself, he brought
out thousands more dollars from other
friends of the colleges. Although he
never had joined a church, he gave only
to those colleges which had religious
affiliations.
In ten years. between 1890 and 1900, DR..
Pearsons has given away s2500,009 Of his
fortune Lake Forest University has re-
ceived S125,000; Beloit College, S295, 900;
Knox College, at Galesburg. 500 900; Chi
cago Theological Seminary. $2S0oQ0; Nc |
Cormick Theological Seminary. $4,000; the |
Presbyterian Hospital Of which DR.. Fear !
sons is president. so 600; the Chicago Y |
NJ c. A, 1000; Drury College, Spring !
field. Mo, 10000; Yankton College, South |
Dakota, 1900; Colorado College. Colo !
RADIO Springs 100000 Fargo College, /
Fargo. y. D, $4,000; Mount Holyoke |
S150,0O0: the Chicago Art Insti- |
tute, $3.50, 900: Berea College. in Kentucky. |
$l00, 0J0: Marietta College, $4,000; McKen- |
dree College, $4,000: Grand Prairie Semin- !
airy. Onarga, H.. $1,000; Whitman Col /
lege. sl20 o00; Pacific University. in Ore |
gon. $4,000: Pomona College. in Call |
fornia, $4,000; Bradford (Vt) Public
Library, 5000; Presbyterian Board of /
Missions. $4,000: First Presbyterian
church, Chicago. $4,000; Olivet College, in (
Michigan. $500 Paramount College, in
Kansas. $4,000; Carleton College. North
field. MINI, 5000; Chicago City Mission
airy society, $1,000; Anatola College, in
Turkey, so 0G0;
The balance of the $4,000 which DR..
Pearsons has given up to this time was
IN smaller amounts, many OF them given
50 quietly that no one but the recipients
knows Of them. At one time Dr.. Pear
SONS had SI59.DJ0 loaned ID needy students
at per cent
Il has been his intention from the
start 10 De the executor Of his own viii
and 70 see all his fortune bestowed for
the good Of the public before his death.
In the same spirit that ne has been cree
ing monuments for himself in the form
II colleges all over the United States.
Or. Pearsons also erected his Own tomb
stone four years ago in the cemetaTy At
9insdzle. y desire 70 have n = affairs
III arranged before de" he said IN
explanation, 80 that I shall have only
o lie down and rest At the end" The
granite for this monuments was brought
rom Barry, Vt. where Dr. Pearzons
z,,e~E,- s-%.---l ;- fs1z