The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-08
SIR THOMAS J. Upton.
THE STORY OF HIS LIFE AS TOLD
BY HIMSELF.

Greatest Happiness He Ever Experi-
snced Was Earning of His First
DoIIar-was Then IA Years Old.
early Appreciated Advantages OF
an Education and Spent Every
snare Hour in Study-Work in
south Carolina Rice Fields Netted
CapitaI to Open Meat Shop-Starts
90 Deal in Tea-"I Do Not Want
More Money, More Rank, or More
ANYTHING" Says Owner of sham
rock III.
New York Letter in Philadelphia North
American.
something about me, outside yacht
ing?" questioned Sir Thomas tombstone
Linton, sinking back in the soft cushion
of the forward deckhouse of the Erin.
smile lit up his eyes and showed I'M
der his heavy grizzled moustache.
"a great many will fancy that is like
Giving Hamlet with the principal char
acter left out, will they not? am sure
thew must think of me as a man whose
life is bound up in challengers and rae
ers: perhaps they will not be interested
fully. The visitor FASTENED to assure
the Irish knight that the reverse of the
last statement was the truth.
It was a busy day aboard the Upton
feet at anchor in the Horseshoe" in
side Sandy Hook. The slender, green
bodied Shamrock III, challenger for the
Americas cup, was to receive its first
Fx~
rnent the sun had risen on cloudless
sky, bringing with it a ripping south
east breeze. there had been signs OF
rushing activity everywhere.
All Busy on Boats of Fleet.
\ score or more hardy, duck clad
men swarmed over the challenger,
hauling at the myriad ropes, working
at long, slender rolls of canvas brought
from the mysterious depths below,
testing spars and arranging tackle
aloft and on deck.
The big tender Porto Rico. an ocean
going steamship, where the racing
crew sleeps, lying a hundred yards
away, resounded to sharp orders as
men rushed about everywhere collect
ing more paraphernalia; launches
darted about like so many water in
sects-noW to the racer, back to the
Porto Rico, ashore after messages or
carrying them ofttimes turning in
their own length as if something had
suddenly occurred to the steersmen
which could not be overlooked, and
then another turn, as If they had con-
Guided to let it go, and then darting
back to make a combined charge on the
great white steam yacht Erin, lying
outside Of the group-the sentinel of
the fleet.
Upton on Deck Early.
The Erin, on which Sir Thomas and
his friends will make their home I'M
til after the race, was awake nearly
as soon as the other boats. The owner
appeared from his cabin before Z.
O'Clock and found Designer Watson,
gray-haired and gray-mousta ched,
pacing the deck facing the Sham
rock II.
They were soon Joined by Commo-
dore Hilliard of the Royal Clyde Yacht
Club said to be the best known anna
teur yachtsman of Scotland, and the
three were soon engaged in an ani-
mated conversation over the plans for
the day.
From this the knight was called by
his secretaries bearing cable messages,
kilograms and letters which had come
during the night There was another
hour of hard work as the business was
rapidly gone through with, for the Erin
is now the main office of a great and
diversified business. It took up the
breakfast hour, and between bites let
tiers were outlined, cables answered
and kilograms resonded to. The car
rying out OF the orders took the Off
cial staff nearly all the rest of the
day.
Despite that fact and the further
one that the Shamrock's huge white
mainsail sent her around the narrow
point of the hook into the broader
reaches of the sea at 10 o'clock, he had
found time to talk to an interviewer.
Then, and at night, with the moonlight
shining on the cleaning decks of the
Erin, he told the story of a successful
career.
story of EventfuI Life.
Simply and unaffectedly it was told.
There was none of "See-what-I-once-
as-and-what-I-am- air" about it.
The years were taken up one at a
time and their experiences related.
Whether he was telling of an errand
boy in Glasgow, an immigrant in
prince, there were no words of pride
of regret. 1t was simply the story of
progress and sure development always,
of every opportunity seen and seized
and turned to the best advantage.
The telling of it describes man
blessed with an abundant health and
vitality, able to Withstand the great
drains of an exhaustless energy. It de-
scribes an optimist also, one always sure
that the future holds good instead of
evil; just in all things to his fellow
man, and by that commanding justice,
always looking at the brighter SIDE,
charitable, but with charity. which
aims only to aid the deserving; rich
or poor, unknown, or the most-talked-
of man in two hemispheres, smiling,
laughing, shrewd and democratic.
81 was born in 1851" he said, the
year that saw the birth of the Ameri-
cas- sup, and my birthplace was Glas-
gov, Scotland. My father and mother
had come there some years before from
the North of Ireland, and my father
had started as a. dealer in provisions
IN a small way. was one of three
children but my brother and sister
never reached adult age, dying when
quite young.
Barns His First Dollar.
up to the age of "A I attended
school, and when I was old enough
helped. my father at odd hours, Then
wanted to do something for the fam
lily, and induced my parents to aliow
me to leave school and become a mes
senger for another shopkeeper."
He paused here as If thinking OF