The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1901-12-13
ELIJAH THE PROFIT
Once Famous Figure on Wall Street
Breaks Down.

Wall street for two months. There
was a time when he could not hav,
been missing for two days without
q good deal Of a sensation. Those
were the days when he sat in the
presidencies Of railroads and was
halled as the conqueror and humil-
ator of Henry:VilIard. So far a,
any of Mr.. Smiths friends know
now, the only shred Of his former
power left him is that given u
him BY his brother and some other
sympathetic friends a year or Sc
ago when be was made the receiver
Of the Eel river railroad, an lndi-
ana lease line Of the Pennsylvania
system. 1872 milesJong.
Elijah Smith is now in Boston
under the case Of his brother,
Prosper w. Smith. 1t is under.
stood that his brother has put him
in sanatarium Of some sort in The
hope that quiet and constant care
will restore the former promoters
shattered health.
For several months before he
went to Boston, Mr.. Smith was in
miserable condition physically,
though his mental powers were as
vigorous and as aggressive as ever.
He lived at the old Stevens House
on Bowling Green and his room
there is still held for him. But
there was no comfort ia that old
relic Of lower Broadway for
a man as sick and weary as
Elijah Smith. He sadly acquiesced
in the opinion Of his friends that
if recovery was come to him
at all it must come through an en-
tile change Of scene and mir.
Elijah Smith was born about so
years ago in New Bedford, Mass.
He went out from New England
with the crowd that went West
about fifty years ago to manage the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
railroad. Smith was at first EN-
ployed hi the Chicago, Burlington
and Quincy as a small salary. He
had unbounded faith in the future
Of any enterprise with which he
was connected and was as asohstinatel
as d mule in backing np,such opin-
ions. He was promoted rapidly
in the railroad offices and extend
ed the field Of bis activity to the|
railroad field Of the Middle West.
With James f. Joy, Of Detroit,
he was concerned IN the organiza-
tion of the Wabash system. lii one
way or another be had to do with
almost all of the small roads now
included III the Wabash lines. 1t
was probably out of regard for
these former services that in the
days of his decline a place was
found for him as receiver Of the
Eel river railroad, when the courts
decided that the Wabash must give
ab Its lease Of the little road and
il was turned over to the Pcnnsyl-
vania.
Elijah Smlth, in the process Of
building and financing these rail
roads, big and little, now figured |
as contractor, and again as linanc
ing these railroads, big and little, |
now figured as . contractor, and
as financial agent, and Yet again as
IN executive officer When the
panic Of 1878 came along il found |
Smith, still very young man,
surveying Wall street from The topl
Of i very considerable pile; be had
enough, just before the panic, to
have lived upon in comfort alll
these thirty years which have gone
BY since When the panic was
over, Elijah Smith began ut the
bottom, along with lots Of other
men, and began ~ work his wayI |
ap again. He was down, but not
1ns
lle became interested ia the re,
sources and the railroads Of the
Pacife slope. He wasone of those
who organized the Oregon I'm.
company, now the Pa-
siiie Coast Company which oper
aIes many small lines along the
north slope. He was a stockhold +
N ID lumber companies operating
d Southern Oregon near Cuues
Bay. he also embarked IN Texas
'aiIroad Enterprises. T
Daf. Smith MAS most conspieuousl