Los Angeles herald., 1905-01-29

Written for The Herald by Col. Joseph d. Lynch

/ failure of the Bank Of California by the
completion Of that road to Los An
eeles and its extension, In the form OF
the Sunset, to Arizona and New or
leans. At a later stage Of our history,
within very recent memory, our splen-
did oil development came In very pat.
Col. Scott IN the Panic Of 1873
In May of 1874 arrived in Pittsburs
from San Diego, having some business
to transact in my old home. In look
ing over the papers one day I found
, that Cal. Thomas A Scott was regis
tered at the Monogahela house. I lost
no time in sending In my card and was
accorded a cordial interview. / was
shocked at the changes which a period
Of less than two years had made in
him. He was still strikingly hand
some man, but his hair and whiskers
had become white in that two years
When he was in San Diego and Los
Angeles he had the appearance and
sprightlness almost Of a young man.
| He told me that the panic of Jay
Cooke had wrecked his personal for
tunes, that he had sold his horses and
carriages, disposed of his expensive
establishment and used the street cars
for transit to and from his office. He
was one of the few railway magnates
of that time or this who enjoyed the
sympathy Of the public in his fallen
fortunes. A short time before the
Cooke explosion he married and took
his wife to London on wedding tour,
combining business and pleasure, as
the bonds of his Texas Pacific railway
were being negotiated in that city. He
had everything arranged and nothing
remained but the signatures to the
bonds and contracts. AS his wife, who
had been widely known as the charn-
ing Miss Biddle of Philadelphia, for
merly of Pittsburg, desired to see the
Alps, and as several of the signatories
to the contract were temporarily out OF
the city, Col. Scott concluded to crafty
his wifes longing for the picturesque,
and took her over to Switzerland.
| thinking that a few days delay in a
purely clerical function would make no
difference. In this case he was reckon
| ing without his host. On the very day
of his return the Atlantic cable brought
the news of the failure of Jay Cooke,
and the Texas Pacific went up in
smoke. If he had arrived twenty-four
hours before he would have had his
money and could have snapped his
fingers at the panic.
| The Miss Biddle whom Col. Scott
married, and whose passion for fine
scenery cost him so dearly, was the
lady with whom Andy Carnegie
was supposed to be so deeply in love.
The great railway king created Car
negie, taking him in hand when the
canny Scot was a messenger boy at a
salary of So a week and pushing his
fortunes at all times very much as
Carnegie, in his turn, made Charlie
Schwab the multi-millionaire he is.
1t is pleasant to know that Scott, who
was always doing kindly things to
others, reconstructed his fortunes. The
Pennsylvania railway stood Loyalty by
him, his creditors gave him all the
| time he asked and he died leaving
several millions of dollars to his family
Amongst his assets was a large tract
of the famous bean lands of Ventura
county, which were managed for him
by Senator Thomas r. Bard and which
were gradually sold off at prices which,
in many cases. made the purchasers
rich, but which, at the time of sale,
were looked upon as satisfactory con-
siderations. Many of these acres, which
are now worth 5000 and upward, were
sold for So and $40 an acre.