The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-02-27
MORGAN SPENT HIS COIN
FOR SAVANNAH FLOWERS
Railroad Magnate Bought ViOIets
and Panries.

]. Pierpont Morgan, railroad mag
vannah yesterday seven minutes, dur
ing which time he spent $1.20. The
money was expended for flowers, nose
gays of violets and pansies, and pay
ment was made with two crisp one
dollar bills. The boy who made the
sale handed so cents back to one of
the kings of finance and he took the
silver.
The New Yorker was uncommunica-
tive, and only came out of his obser-
walton car, Schuylkill, for a minute.
He grabbed a basket of flowers from
Frank McGrath, a newsboy employed
by the Savannah Union Station Com
pany, and darted back into the car
with them. Then he selected the
punches that he wanted and returned
TO the platform with the basket. All
of this occurred at the Four Mile Hill
where a change of engines was made.
The special was made up of five
Pullman cars and there were a half
dozen persons in sight in the cars
when the stop was made at the juno
ton. There may have been others on
the train, but only six displayed them-
selves. One of these was the railroad
fnagnate himself. He was reticent,
however, extremely so. He could not
be induced to disclose the identity OF
the members of his party and appear
ed annoyed when a representative of
the Morning News endeaVored to get
him to express himself on the rumor
that he is figuring on getting control
of the railroads of Cuba. The mem
bers of his party also refused to have
anything to say on the subject. In
fact they would not talk about any
thing and regarded the presence of re-
porters a piece of presumption.
The Pullman conductor announced
that the superintendent wanted it un-
deIstood that no one could enter the
car. On the rear platform two men
and a woman stood chatting. 1t was
about this time that young McGrath
put in an appearance with his basket
of flowers and bundel of papers.
"Arn't those flowers perfectly love-
ly," said the woman, as she laid down
a glass that moment before had been
filled with Apolinaris water. DO buy
some of them for me-" McGrath took
his tip and scaled the railing around
the platform. 1t was then that Mr.
Morgan took part in the proceedings.
Without uttering a word he grabbed the
basket from the handsaof the news
Grath, however displayed no sign of
fear After a selection had been made
Mr. Morgan reappeared with the basket
and paid for the flowers But he was
still communicative. He had nothing
to say and let it go at that He did
not remain on the platform longer than
a minute and took no interest in the
surroundings. He wore a blue yachting
cap and was attired in a plain dark
suit But for the fact that his features
make him unmistakable he would
never be picked out for the Napoleon
of finance that he is.
The special reached the crossing at
1900 o'clock and a force of six men
went Immediately to work examining
the trucks of the cars. Engine No.
1896 was steamed up and waiting 70
take the place of No. 1873 that had
brought the party from the North. The
fresh engine was coupled to the train
in a hurry and at 1916 O'Clock Mr..
Morgan and his party were speeding
towards Jacksonville. The engine taken
on at the junction was in charge of
Engineer ]. w. Urkuhart and Fireman
Henry Mcneil. Urquhart declared that
he would make the run in time that
would be certain to please the New
Yorker, and the manner in which he
pulled the special from the crossing
showed that he meant what he said.
There was no pilot engine in front of
the Morgan special, although it is
claimed that he always travels with
an extra engine several miles in the
lead, so that he will not suffer in case
there is anything wrong with the
tracks.