The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-07-27

tiful seaside suburban town of Winthrop,
upon noble eminence that commands
a fascinating view of the blue waters
and green islands of Boston harbor, there
lives man whose career smacks of the
romantic-almoSt of the impossible-and
yet striking as it is, it is only the leglti-
mate and natural outcome of keen and
comprehensive native ability reinforced
by an indomitable pluck all-powerful
enough to surmount every obstacle, and
whose precept from childhood's happy
days has ever been 81 WILL" instead OF
Il will try"
This man who in less than a year has
transformed himself from comparative
poverty and obscurity to great wealth.
fame and position, is none other than C..
L. King, the founder, president and the
unquestioned power of the great King
Crowther Corporation, which has attract
ed the attention of men of finance and
affairs from Plymouth Rock to the Golden
Gate The very remarkable achieve
ments of this man yet under 80 years OF
age, should prove a valuable lesson to
the hustling, struggling youth of the
land.
Mr. King is a Southerner by birth and
the story of what he has done with his
talents, and how we'll he has rounded
out his life in this, his adopted home,
is a contribution to modern literature,
possessing extraordinary human inter-
est. and should prove especially enter
tanning to his many friends and acquaint-
ances in the South-that smiling country
TO which his heart ever turns with an
affectionate remembrance.
eF,,1 IN
is the usual accepted practice to go back
to his early days and pick up the little
odds and ends of characterize signs and
incidents of his life that show what sort
of stuff was in the boy whom fate could
not keep down. In the case of c. F.
King we have only to turn back the
clock of time about twenty-five years and
gaze at a little manufacturing village in
Alamance county, North Carolina, and we
see him as boy of 10, already under the
pressure of unceasing toil-for his mother
was a widow with many mouths to feed
and money was not easy in North Caro-
lima in those days. We see him cut
off from the advantages of school, Ia
boring earnestly as a child, yet porting
over his books by night under the light
of a Pickering candle. Twenty-Five cents
when there was delivered into his hand
after a weeks toll little yellow envel-
ope in which was enclosed the munifi-
cent sum of $3.50, he considered himself
lucky indeed, and toiled on, doing what
ever came to hand, always cheered by
the star of hope that cleaned as brightly
for him as many another American boy
in his days of struggle and endeavor.
Next we find him, yet a beardless youth
plunging into newspaper work at Char
lotte, with all the ardor and enthusiasm
of a boy who knows and feels that there
is something in him. He secured a stu
alton on a local newspaper where he
found his versatility severely put to the
test. He did everything there was to do
from writing obituary notices and heavy
editorials to collecting bills for small adj
yertisements. After a time there came a
strike of the printers and the death of
the paper was near at hand. In this,
however, King saw his opportunity.
Other boys perhaps might have consid-
cred this turn of affairs a great misfor-
tune, but not so with him. With that
enterprise and indomitable pluck which
had already become a part of his being,
somehow and in some way he managed to
scrape together a few dollars, sufficient
to satisfy the printers, and forthwith he
became editor and manager of what there
was left of the paper. The days, how
ever, when c. F. King was owner, editor
and manager of a newspaper in Char
lotte, North Carolina, are not remem-
bered as the most pleasant incidents of
his very interesting career. He admits
frankly that the experience was fraught
with grave disappointments and the
herculean task of raising thirty-four dol
lars every week to meet the pay roll was
an awful strain on his nervous system.
But brighter days soon began to dawn.
By persistent application, he became
North Carolina correspondent for many
years of the great metropolitan newspa-
pers of the country, among which were
numbered the leading papers of Atlanta.
Memphis, Richmond, New York, Boston,
st. Louis and Chicago With these he
soon made his mark. The opportunity
came in the shape of terrible accident
on the old Richmond and Danville rail-
way. King was early on the spot and
he held the one telegraph wire to the
North and West, insuring his papers a
monumental scoop on the terrible dis
aster. After that his standing was Sc
cured. He was accounted one of the
best Southern correspondents in the
country and his progress was rapidly up
ward. After few months he went to
Atlanta and did notable work on the
Constitution and Journal of that city.
Next he went to st. Louis and his orig
inal and effective work on the Republic
and Chronicle is still remembered pleas
antly by newspaper readers there. 1t
was in st. Louis that he began the work
that was so characteristic of him in later
years. He conducted a business tour
through Texas for the st. Louis Republic,
obtaining the loan of two private cars of
the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railway
for the Journey 1t might be stated here
that the proposition of a newspaper man
requesting of railroad company the loan
of two private cars for six weeks was
new in st. Louis, and perhaps that ac-
counts for it's success with the Missouri
and Kansas Railroad Company. The
officials no doubt figured out that the
novelty of the proposition itself was
worthy of consideration.
Mr.. King afterwards conducted sim
liar tour through Colorado for the