The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-02-24
COLLEGES BENEFACTOR.
SKETCH OF DR. D. K. pEARsoys or
CHICIGO.
Who Has Given Away. S2,O00,O and
 WilI Give s1,5oO,0 ,0OO More.

e'a ~tSS RAspVo,Vou
 This is the life story of a man who, al
 forty years of age, brought $5 900 to Chi.
 cago, who in the forty years since that
 time has made and given away in ehari-
 ty $2,50OO00, and who has left d for
 tune of Sl,500,000 which he intends to be-
 stow in the same way, keeping none for
 himself.
 pr. D. K. Pearsons came to Chicago
 to reside in April, 1866. It was a rainy
 disagreeable day when he arrived, and
 he and his wife left the old GaIena Rail-
 road station in West Van Buren street
 and walked over the bridge into the
 city. They though Chicago looked like
 anything but a good place to live in
 just then
 In his satchel Dr. Pearsons carried $5,oOO which he had saved up in ten
 years medical practice in Chicopee,
 Mase. He and his wife had some dis
 tant relatives in Chicago, but they had made up their minds not to go to them, although they knew practically no one else here. Their relatives had discour- aged the doctor from coming West. They did not think he was fitted to get oicie III tilc iiuollt anu SCIdIIlDlc Ol d growing city, and advised him to stick to his country practice.
 But Dr. Pearsons had made up his mind to quit medicine altogether and to devote himself to getting rich. William Fl. Carter, whom he had known years ago in the East, was then living at 46 Van Buren street, and pr. Pearsons and his wife went there first Mr. Carter agreed to board them for $5 a week apiece, and Dr. Pearson unpacked his valise, put his $500O capital in his wal let and began to look about for way to make money. After he had found boarding place he hunted up an office, He induced Harvey B. Hurd and Henry Booth to rent him a desk in their law office at 116 Randolph street, and as MT. Booth and MT. Hurd were just get ting started they agreed on a rental of $25 a year.
 pr. Pearsons had letter from 8 friend in the East authorizing his to sell 14,000 acres of land in Champaign County, He put an advertisement in the Chicago papers, offering his friends farm for sale in tracts of 120 and 40 acres, and began to hustle about for customers. On every farm he sold he received a commission of per cent. The terms of sale were one-fourth cash and the balance on security, running from one to four years.
 At that time it was considered almost to sell an Illinois farm. Hun dreds of settlers had taken up 150-acre tracts along'the new railroad lines, and hadbeen forced to give them up. Corn was worth 10 cents a bushel, oats could be had for 12h cents, and other farm products were ruinously cheap. Hay, cut and delivered, was worth only $1.50 bought lands on time, expecting to pay for them by the sale of their crops were being forced to give them up.
 Dr. Pearsons, however, believed that ] these bad times would not last long. | Every Monday morning he packed his papers and money into a small valise, md started out through the State to sell arms. He made is strict point to -ell things just as they were, but he talked prosperity to the settlers harder than they ever heard it talked before. 0n Saturday night he eturned to Chi ,ago, and spent Sunday at his board- ng place at 46 Van Buren street.
 Before long the 14,000 tract was sold, MT. Hurd and MT. Booth, seeing that pr. Peareons was settled in business, 'aised his desk rent to $50 year Other friends in the East wrote to him to sell heir lands also, and he disposed of these at the same per cent. commission, al- ways being careful to represent them 70 the purchasers just as they were and 70 get hold only of the choicest lands .tba opd of first two yaarc oearsons farm land sales had become famous, and MT. Hurd and Mr. Booth 'aised the price of his desk rent to $75 year. This was more than Dr. Pear on would pay, and he packed up his papers and moved to his office to the Id Methodist Church Block, whefe he ook whole suite. He did all the office york himself, however. Settlers in tile East began to write to )r. Pearsons then to pick out tracts of ( % and 150 acres for them, from among he farm lands he had for sale Michael 1 sullivan, the Illinois farm land king, ] urned over thousands of acres of his rairie lands for him to cut into farms ] )r. Pearsons continued to dispose of { hese as he had the first 14000-acre { ract. He advertised in the newspapers I )r customers, got in correspondence l yith them, and then met then on hie { ,eekly trips. He drove from town to { own in buggy, and looked after each ( ale personally. On every sale he re- ( aived 5 per sent commission cash, Y hich he reinvested in farm land of his t wn. Sometimes his sales amounted to 0,000 a week, of which his cash com | lission was S3 OOO N f Finally Dr. Pearsons' business became t prosperous that MT. Carter raised c le price of his board at S10 a week. | his was more than the doctor consider i l it worth, so he traded off his 400- g gre farm near Rochelle, which he had a jed successfully for three years to 1 lrm before coming to Chicago, for the I >use next door, at AS Van Buren street. n his was Dr. Pearsons' home for sever I years c pr. Pearsons never went to the theater a nd gave up all of his time on week t lys to business. Durinll his busiest t mes he never employed a clerk He Id on overwhelming ambition to get lC eh, but from the start he made up his e ind to give whatever he might accu- W ulate 10 charity. He and his wife lived g the modest way, and his wife plann- g
 with him the ways in which to dis lf ,se of their wealth, when they should il