The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-10-07

| Capitalist. t9 years old. who has had q
| remarkable career. and is now sued for
| divorce by his bride Of ten months.
Using this money, Mr.. Leathe and Major
Hamilton outfitted an expedition for Cali
fornia in the spring OF 1919. This expedi-
ton became part OF what was known as
the famous Cherokee Train" from South
wcs: Missouri.
| The tedious gait OF the train told on Mr.
I.eathe however. and he exchanged sdrns
[ oxen for pack mules and fastened towArd
the Pacifc Coast. Arriving there in July.
! he established g freighting outfit at Sacra-
/ mento City and engaged in this business
\ for two years
| Three brothers. meantime, had stsked a
claim and one OF them growing home
sick. offered Mr.. Jeathe his interest for
| N,oo. The offer was declined and thirty
days later an eighth interest sold for S12s-
600. Sixty days later the claim had de-
/ veloped into the famous Golden Tunnel
| Mine and could not be bought for q nil
| lion dollars
DEALS WITH VANDERBILT
In S52 Mr.. Leathe entered into an ar
rangement with Commodore Cornelius
vanderbilt for the establishment OF q
| stage line across the Lsthmus Of Nicara-
qua. and the building of a hotel. He was
enthusiastic Mt first, but afte- looking over
the field, abandoned the scheme and re-
turned to Boston In 1853. He was en-
gagged for three years IN Boston In the
commission business. His fondness for
the West, however, drew him to 81 Louis
In 1856, and he formed firm bearing the
naIne OF Bosgs q Leathe. It began tn q
small way. dealing in picture frames and
mirrors and gradually worked up to q big
business In 1889. tho factory and offlce
building burned and q year later tho
partnership was changed to Psttea d
Leathe> Pettes had built the nrst factory
In the United States at Boston for the
weaving OF Brussels carpets
The new Arm worked into thu i,nportinx
and wholesale trade. and eventually .ook
up art goods, dealing In many costly OIL
paintings
In lss2 Mr.. Leathe turned his attention
to ST. Louis real estate, and bought 4
large tract of Land In South st. Louis
which brought big sum from ss7sral
railroads for terminal properties A short
time after he built tho ST. Louis Belle
vile and Southern Railway, and began
developing mines in ST Clair County,
Illinois. His friends predicted that the
two big ventures would swamp him hnan-
cially. but he sold his properties for large
profits. Later he purchased 1900 acres
OF land in Southern Missouri including
the nox famous Mine La Motte' lead
mine. The entire town of Mine La Motto
Is situated on bis land Ranches and farms
also take up a portion Of the immense
tract. More recently he Is said to have
made 81 900 eco in real estate deals, includ-
ing some Washington avenue transac-
tions, among which were the purchase OF
the Washington University site. and three
large blocks between Eighteenth street
and Jefferson avenue.
In 1854 he married Miss Henrietta Bai-
ley. q daughter of a Cambridge, Mass,
book dealer. 4 SON. Samuel Leathe, was
born of their union. She died In 1S7$.
Mr.. Leathe enjoys the distinction OF
having been the first st. Louis man to as
rerid Mount Blanc. in Switzerland This
was In 1856. In the two years he spent
abroad, establishing n direct glass inpor-
.ation from Germany. Switzerland end
England.
ier