The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-29

his power and wealth were both grow ing beyond his widest dreams.
 But he began to have trouble in 1880, when some other chaps got nearer to the King than Spreckles was by paying the royal debts. He got that trouble partly fixed up. and then the sugar trust got after him. That was in 1887. the year of the trusts avowed for nation, or perhaps, d year or two earlier, when its formation was under
 way.
 The trust people had been watching his exceedingly profitable career in sugar on the Pacific coast. and it hurt their feelings. So they made propo- sition to him to come in, curtly, he said. and told him he could take 1t or leave it. If the latter he could look out for war, and that was all there was about 1t. He could see, they opined. that they could buck him with ruinous prices In his own territory and keep it up until he, without any outside profits. would be all worn out.
 How Speckles Fought Back. Spreckles considered this an offensive bluff and profanely told them to do their worst" Then he proceeded to teach them a few things. They had forgotten. seemingly. that it was no
 
 lantic coast than from Brooklyn to the
 Pacific. but he hadn't, and. putting a certified check for some hundreds of | thousands-or was 1t for million or
 two?-into his inside booked, he board ed train for Philadelphia.
 Arriving, he began to make the fur fly Depositing his check, he an nounced that he was going into the sugar refiaing business there as soon
 as he could build refinery. and then
 made good promptly. All told, he had invested s3,O00. 900 in the enterprise when he started up.
 The trust stood his competition,
 which was ruinous. till 1892. when the trouble was fixed" Only those on the inside know just how, but the general ly accepted storN is that the trust peo- ple gave him SS, ,O00. 900 for his property, divided the country with him as to sugar sales, and abandoned their Pa tcinc coast refinery, thus according the victory to him. Other versions are not so favorable to the Spreckles' side of the story, but he certainly forced the trust to make terms far more favorable for him than they wished to- and they certainly had
 to acknowledge his power. He pos sesses this quality in a remarkable de- gree Those who know him well say that had he been a man of cultivation his vast natural ability and l1mitiess
 energy were such as to have made
 much greater things than his actual achievements possible to him.
 Spreckles's enterprises outside sugar have been many and vast. He Is now 76, looks younger, though showing age, still speaks broken English-when ex- cited it is hard to understand him and has the reputation of being the kindest, cruelest, most conslderate'
 most overbearing, most generous the stingiest and the fairest, most Srdsplhs man on the coast
 His personal life has been tull or trouble It was one of his four sons Adolph-who shot M. H. De Young or The San Francisco Chronicle because or
 an article it printed about company
 controlled by the Spreckles family. TWO
 of his sons-or Is 1t three nave peen
 estranged from their father much or
 the time for years, and suits for sian der between the Spreckleses have made
 Pacific coast sensations several times
 within the last few years.
 His daughter Emma married broker Thomas Watson by name With
 out her fathers consent Apparently
 the old man wanted her 10 marry no
 one and kept her as secluded as pos
 sible But Watson was the old mans
 friend. he never dreamed of a marriage
 between him and his daughter, ana
 they were often together. Spreckies
 refused to forgive the couple aand the
 lady created big splash by returning
 to her father the property. worth
 million or more, which he had given
 her though her husband was poor
 man. L.
 Claus Spreckels was much put out ny the annexation of Hawaii and the de- position of Queen Liloukalani two or three years earlier. He sWore tnen he'd never set foot on the lslahos tilI she was restored to the throne ana ne
 bas kent his word: thus his magnifi-
 cant Honolulu residence has never
 been occupied save by caretakers and servants. r c.,,
 Fla is credited with owning The San Francisco Call, which Is housed Tn ffteen story building erected Tor US home in 1895, the first skyscraper ever
 mt m on the Pacific coast. His
 ptho an+ernrises are numerous. and in- clude almost every sort oI business activity
 rho ArbuckIe chapter in the sugar
 e,arno came along after the close of the Spreckles chapter, and made DIE rumpus. ,.. ,o,.
 Irish descent John attended the same
 school as Henry Phipps and shared his
 seat Andrew Carnegie was pupil in another grade of the school, and John still calls him Andy"
 The ArbuckIes went into coffee roast inr when young men. and by economy. as much as anything-though they had
 plenty of ambition, were not afraid or
 progressive methods and never hesi-
 tated to spend money at the right time they built up a highly prosperous i business. | Early in the seventies they decided