Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-07-22
MONTE cRisTo OF THE SOUTH
A Spectacular PIutocrat Is Astonish
ina Macon, Mo.

ing Macon, mo.
After the. colored street lights and
various Illuminating devices had been
installed last week for the carnival,
the big Corliss engine at the electric
light power house, with a perversity
characteristic of the Missouri mule
blew out it's cylinder head and smash
ed some score Of important parts about
il which only an engineer could name
Hundreds of dollars had been spent In
preparing for the illuminations which
were to be the main feature Of the car
nival, and the people were in dismay.
The lighting plant Is municipal af-
fair, and the city fathers divided into
committees and journeyed to manufac-
turing towns to see what could be done
instantly to repair the damage. The
earliest delivery of new parts promised
by anybody was two weeks, and the
carnival was to begin on Monday.
About this time Col. F. w. Blees,
who was looking after some business
interests in Texas, telegraphed the
mayor to connect the municipal wires
with the Blees carriage factory dyna-
mos and that he would keep a night
engineer on duty.
It solved the problem. Carnival
stock went up and everybody was hap
py. It saved the enterprise from fall
ure and put thousands of dollars IN
1f
else would never have found their way
there. The carriage factory was be-
hind wit Texas orders, however, and
to furnish power for the carnival 1t had
to lay off the night shift of 300 men.
During the drought of 1901, the
stream which supplies the town with
water went dry, and the reservoirs
were exhausted. In the parks at the
Blees Military academy were two i'm
mense artificial lakes, the only water
that survived the drought that year.
The town had heavy contracts to sup
ply the railroads with water for i'm
provement work then going on In the
city and for their locomotives.
So dry had things become In the
country that farmers had their wells
padlocked and were charging thirsty
travellers for a drink Of water. At this
time, too, Col. Blees's voluntary gener-
osity rescued the town from dilemma
that threatened complete business
prostration. He installed pumping
engine at the lakes and ran pipes to
connect with the water mains OF the
city. The water held out until the fall
rains came.
A few years ago the colonel taught a
small private school here and was in
extremely modest circumstances. He
knew that one day a great German
estate would be his, but didn't say
much about it. Probably not more
than dozen people here knew of his
great expectations, and even those who
heard of them supposed them near
kin to the many newspaper stories OF
fabulous Fatherland fortunes awaiting
American citizens. which somehow
failed to get across the ocean.
But Colonel Bleess fortune got here.
His father had extensive interests In
coal and iron mines. Some of these
properties were in litigation. and for
awhile there was doubt as to the re-
suit. But the father finally won out
and had more money than he knew
what to do with. Then he passed to
bic fotborc opd CoIonal R1aps crossed
the ocean to wind up the estate in the
old country. When he returned in a
few months he was as quiet and unos-
tentatious as he had always been. He
abandoned his little school and lived
quietly for a year or two. People be-