The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-10-29

{
his hnger on the weak spot in a finan-
cial statement caused him to make Mr..
Perkins to testify that he had win
dow dressed" the annual statement OF
the New York Life Insurance company.
/ with the aid Of j. p. Morgan & Co.,
| thereby laying himself open to Grim
| inal prosecution.
His Training in and Love for Mathe-
mates.
from The start of the gas inquiry Dit
/ WAS humorously dubbed Mr.. Hughes
| class in arithmetic" after the first day(
AIR. Hughes victims and those who
have been in a position 10 follow close
! ~ his latter-day work have earnestly
asked one another: Where did he get
this SURPRISING mastery of figures
his arithmetical mind?' Well that is
! an interesting story, dating back TO
Mr.. Hughes first years.
Mr.. Hughes is 3 son Of a Baptist
| minister. From the time of his birth
i IN Glen Falls, on April II, 1862, until
/ his father was called ITO New York
/ City from Newark, n. j., about twelve
years later, the family was more or
! less on the move. as Baptist preachers
are apt TO be. Ills mother had been u
| school teacher before her marriage,
IA child labors under in getting an cd
ucation first at this school and then at
/ that she decided to teach the boy her
| self
! Mrs. Hughes had been teacher of
| the old-fashiOned sort, a firm believer
| in the efficacy of the three RS" and
| especially in 'Rithmetic, commonly the
! last named of the trio. Therefore, from
] the time he was old enough for it. she
Il =. ~ -
and so sanely that he soon conceived a
strong liking for mathematics, and as
! he grew up was fond of working out
intricate problems, many of them in
/ his head, for pure pleasures sake.
In the one year that he went TO pub
! lie school in Newark and during his
| brief public school career in New York,
ending with his graduation at the ex-
ceptionally tender age of Is, he showed
proficiency beyond his years in math-
ematics and a memory for figures that
proved astonishing TO his teachers.
While at Colgate university (then
versity, where he graduated in 1881, he
| was frequently interpreter Of higher
mathematics for his fellow students,
and, the rare exception among even
good mathematicians, he went right up
and dipped into calculus without
"f1unk" to his discredit.
When he left college he went 10 teach
in Delaware academy, at Delhi, \. Y.
Mathematics, mark, and Greek were
his principal subjects. Graduating
from the Columbia law school and en-
tering the law office of Chamberlain,
Carter & HornblOwer as clerk, he took
particular delight ia Illuminating the
accounts of observation that fell 10 his
lot, and in the early years of his prac-
tice it was frequently his habit TO seek
amusement in solving mathematical
refuses and puzzles and in inVenting
and solving problems.
Yet, despite his long familiarity with
and pleasure in mathematics. Mr.
Hughes does not consider himself a
brilliant mathematician. He does rec
ognize. however, that the training Civ
zen him by his mother in mental arith.
metle and his old habit Of deriving
recreation from figures have stood him
in mighty good stead since March 50
Of last spring, the one being response
BILE for his superior memory of figures
and both largely contributory 10 his
ability Ito so to the nub of the mat
ter
A Brilliant Law Student.
The analytical bent of the boy
Hughes mind was further intensified
by the young lawyers night work dur
ing the three years Immediately fol-
lowing his graduation from law school,
After teaching for a year at Delhi,
where he studied law half the day in
the office of Judge Gleason. the local
leader of the bar, the young man made
up his mind that he was becoming a
lawyer too slowly, and the autumn of
1882 found him in the Columbia law
school and living with his family in
Brooklyn. From the start young
Hughes shone in his class-he had as
classmates William T. Jerome. Lewis
L. Delaheld. De Witt ]. Seiigman,
James ". Gleed, one of the leaders of
the Kansas bar. and partner OF former
Commissioner of Pensions Eugene r.
Ware. and others who have since made
big names for themselves because OF
their eminent legal abilities. High as