The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-01-23
PHILIP D. ARMOUR DEAD
Chicago's Millionaire Passes Away
After a Two Years Illness.
LEAVES FORTUNE OF $4O,OoO,OOO

he Had Sought Health at Homo and
Abroad-Caught Cold in Frolic With
His Two Grandchildren-sankP Peace
fully Into the Long sleep-The Story
of His Career-His Philanthropy.
Chicago. - Philip D. Armour, philan-
thropist, fnancier and multi-million-
aire, head of the vast commercial es-
tablishment that bears his name, died
suddenly of heart trouble at his resi-
dence, 2115 Prairie avenue. Only the
Immediate members Of the family and
his physicians were at the bedside
when death occurred. The end came
after two years illness, in the course
of which Mr.. Armour visited German
baths, passed the cold months in Cali
fornia, and devoted himself largely to
an attempt to restore his health, which,
however, lad been broken, never to be
regained.
The immediate cause Of the illness
which ended in his death was bad
cold which Mr.. Armour caught at the
time of the first snow furry in No
yember. At that time Mr.. Armour
took his two grandsons, the children
Of the late Philip D. Armour, Jr., for a
ride on a hand sled Oh the sidewalk
in front of the Armour residence. The
children enjoyed the sport, but Alr.
Armour got his feet wet, and q cold
resulted which confined him to his bed
for some time. .
Mr.. Armour was born in Stock
bridge, Madison County. N. Y, on May
16, 1882. AS a boy he divided his
time between working on the farm
and going to the academy. But before
he was out of school he gave up farm
chores and was in business for him
self. He bought cattle from the neigh.
boring farmers, butchered and dressed
them himself, and then hawked the
meat about in q wagon through Oneida
and Madison Counties.
That was the beginning Of Mr.. Ar.
mour's business career, the first inter-
ruption of which was the result Of a
boy and girl love affair. Armour and
the girl played hockey from school one
afternoon and went buggy riding. The
boy was expelled next day. That
marked what Is always called the
turning point" in mans career. Ar
mour went to California. He hunted
for gold in California until 1855, but
bis dirt never panned out very well.
It yielded enough, however, to enable
him to make start in something else,
80 he came East again as far as Nil.
waukee, where he went into the ware
house and grain business.
Then Armour tried pork packing,
which did pan out well. He soon had
a fortune of 100000, and formed the
firm of Armour, Plankinton & Co.,
with headquarters at Milwaukee and
branches in half a dozen other towns.
In 1874 the headquarters was moved
to Chicago. Before that his brother,
a. o. Armour, had established a grain
commission and pork packing business
In Chicago, and the two enterprises
were afterward combined.
It was not the mere killing Of ami
mails and selling the product that made
the foundation of the Armour millions.
P. D. Armour made his first great
speculative stroke just before the close
of the Civil War, when pork was
quoted at $40. He was confident that
with the end Of the war the. prices Of
all food stuffs would come down. So
he sold pork and fought the bulls for
three months successfully. He made
about S1,OOO,O00 on that deal.
In 1870 and 1880 he was bull. when
the bears were short about 100000
barrels Of pork. He cornered the mar
ket, and his profits were estimated all
the way from $2,500000 to $3,500.0 1000.
The next year with his brother he
went into a gigantic deal In wheat and
as bulls made about S1,000,000, but
didn't let 90 soon enough, and lost 1t
all.
For the last five years his fortune
has been estimated at $40,000000.
Mr.. Armour was married in October,
1862, to Miss Malvina Belle Ogden,
the only daughter of Jonathan Ogden,
of Cincinnati. They had two sons, j.
Ogden Armour, who was married on
May II. 1891. to Miss Lolita Hughes
Sheldon, of Suf1eld, Conn.,, and Philip
D. Armour, Jr.. who married on No
vember 6. 1889. Miss May Elizabeth
Lester, Of Chicago. The younger
Philip died last winter. He left two
boys.
Mr.. Armour did much In the way OF
charity and philanthropy. His pet
enterprises Of that kind were the Ar.
mour Mission and the Armour Insti.
tute, a school Of technology in Chi.
cago. They represent an investment
amounting to $2,5O0,000, and Mr.. Ar.
mour frequently said that he had
never made better investment.