El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-23
VANDERBILT KEPT A HOTEL.
People Gaze With Interest at the Inn
Where His Wife Tended Bar.

People Gaze With Interest at the Inn
Where His Wife Tended Bar.
From New York Journal.
The marriage of a young Vanderbilt
has set all the goSsips of New Bruins
wick. N. j.. talking about the days
when one of the mi~llionaire's ances-
tors kept a very good hotel on the Rar-
itan river, near that classic city.
1t was here that Commodore Wander
bilt, the great grandfather of Alfred
Gwynne. who married Miss Elsie
French, vas mine host of the old Bel
lonia hotel. The great-grandson had
half-million-dollar wedding. His
shrewd forebear dealt whisky over the
bar at 10 cents a glass. and in this
way helped to make his first thousand
dollars n found the colossal family
fortune.
The old hotel is a New Brunswick
landmark now. Half the old liars and
most aged inhabitants in town will
tell how they drank with him, but
rarely at his expense for that is not
the way in which fortunes are found
ed.
The hotel is now a nem house.
1t shows the wrinkles of age. Its an
Gent glory is gone. Its only use. ex-
cept as a tenement, is that it serves
to point a moral and adorn the tales
of the administered fraternity who
retail "reminiscences to all Corners.
But in the old days when the Van
derbilt who was to become a commo-
dore by and by. ran it the Bellonia
hotel was one of the most important
| stopping places and one of the best
paying properties in the state. The
New York and New Brunswick Freight
company ran a line of passenger and
freight sloops between New Bruins
wick down the Raritan river to the
bay and thence to New York city. land
ing at the Battery every alternate day.
A trip by sloop from New Tor to
Brunswick in those days was almost
as momentous an event as is a jaunt to
Europe now. Mr.. Vanderbilt caught
the passengers going and coming and
put them UP at his well-appointed inn.
Travellers waited at the Bellonia for
arriving or departing boats or for the
coach to Philadelphia, stretching their
legs before a bag log fire or drinking
hot toddy in the barroom. mixed by
the good wife of the original Wander
bilt. a buxOm. homely soul who knew
how to brew punch that would warm
the heart of the weary guest.
Eloping couples %sojourned under the
Ao ohAt iOoA IA vi ~
Burr and Hamilton type who loved the
cheer of the Bellonia.
1t was while conducting this hotel
that Commodore Vanderbilt took his
first lessons in the field there was for
n railroad. He saw the demand for a
better mode of travel than coach and
sloop. He had taken the hotel by the
advice of William Ribbons, president
of the New York and New Brunswick
Freight company. The hotel was built
in 1903 n had passed into the hands
of the company.
Before he became a boniface he
dredged oysters for a living in the
Raritan bay, He was noted for his skill
and daring as an FISHERMAN.
One stormy night in winter Presi- |
dent Gibbons of the Transportation |
company arrived at Perth Amboy and |
to cross the Staten island |
SOUND to Tottenville. None of the boat
at Perth Amboy would consider |
an offer to row him across until Van |
derb1l was seem He said hat he |
take the job. The sea in the
sound was running high and the trip
was very dangerous. but both men
finally landed in safety on the Staten |
island shore. AS it happened. Gibbons |
had an appointment with a lady among |
the fashionable Staten islanders this |
and he appreciated the raver !
young Vanderbilt in rowing him
across the dangerous waters in time
not to disappoint the lady. and there
made him the captain and part
owner of a small oyster sloop.
One successful easOn put young
Vanderbilt in control of a little capt.
tai, and Gibbons. who had always re-
manned his firm friend. advised him to
assume the management of the Bel
hotel. which was then in need of
a manager.
Vanderbilt did this and began to
money at once His wife attend
ed the hotel and served foo and entic-
ing drinks, while Vanderbilt worked as
on One of the freight boats of
he transportation company. this po-
,itiOn. too, coming to him through Glib
patronage.
1t was in 1925 tat. Vanderbilt as
charge of the Bellonia hotel. For
years he nducte it. aided by
his wife. Then. with increasing good
tOrtune. Mrs. Vanderbilt desired to
the hotel quarters for a private
'esidence and the family moved to a
lCuSe a few hundred yards north of the
lotel. There they lived for many
ears.