The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-01-26

turkeys abOardship I'd { TO say
FREEZE IT ALL, SAID EVANS.
s.: mE-sw etaoishrdlu shrdlu
Last Sunday. two weeks ago, Ad-
miral Evans wired % the feet paynas-
ter hat he had to have fresh meat for
the men, and that the meat had TO be
loaded aboard the various ships
promptly. The commissary steward
and the admiraI's clerk came 10 me
and told me of the order. | had to
act quick. There were trust houses in
Norfolk and I had to do business with
them. If they ran short OF meat |
knew that | would have TO hustle
around and make good on The con-
tract. That I made good is demon
strated by the fact that not n com
plant was heard.
1T was the orders Of the admiral
that all of the meat must be frozen
and stored aboard the ships. Here
another problem confronted me as
heretofore | had been supplying meat
as il came from the stock yards. | WAS
al my wits end.
Il got busy with the long distance
phones and spent hundreds OF dollars
in getting into communication with
meat houses in Cincinnati. Baltimore,
and Washington. | ordered meat by
the thousand pounds and notified the
firms that it must come here already
frozen. I went the rounds Of the local
meat houses and bought every pound
from the wholesale places. The YES
sells OF the navy had o be supplied n
the admiral looked to me TO I'LL the
| contract. I got meat from Baltimore
and Washington and went the rounds
of the local houses. At Schwartzchlid
| and Sulzberger's and at Armours, |
bought fifteen. twenty thousand
| pounds. Then the trust firms got wise
| to the fact that | needed thousands or
pounds and needed them quick, and the
| result was that n of the trust nrms
| soaked me for higher prices and the
| other raised the price so high that |
| could see no profit in it for me. even
with a million pound contract on
hand.
ELUDED THE OCTOPUS.
81 took one of the first trains out of
| Norfolk and went to Cincinnati, where
7 made a contract with the Cincinnati
Abattoir company, which is not In the
trust, and which promised TO supply
me with all of the meat | needed, Dut
I ordered so much that they Wlreo
me after they had twenty car LOADS
en- route that they could not freeze II
before it left the yards.
WHEN | received their wire that
they could not deliver the meat already
frozen as the admiral wanted it, | wen'
quickly to Dick Fentress, of the Nor
folk Cold Storage and Ice Company
and told him that I wanted all OF the
space he could spare. Mr.. Fentres;
was very accommodating and ne le'
me have all the available space. A
soon as the meats were frozen they
were rushed down to the Roads IN tne
barges and tugs which [ had employed
In the meantime | had kept the Ions
distance wires hot ordering he meats
from Baltimore and Washington sen
here frozen. These places helped m;
a great deal. To make a long stor.
short. I have filed the order, a mil
lion pounds. the greatest single Orde
for meat ever filled since the united
States has had a navy, and Tor ina
matter, l believe that no such orde
has ever been filed, certainly not II
recent years.
PROFITS ESTIMATED sSO,vO0.
Mr.. Marx stated that he was KEEP
! guessing tSd uIuS ILL
complete order by reason OF the FAC
that there were three separate order
for the feet to move-the 9Th an
18th of January and finally, the l5tl
c of this month. :,
l The beef supplied by Mr.. Marx WI;
. supply the ships for three months. Al
ter the maneuvers the vessels Will re
. turn to the Roads. 1t is said tina
Marx made out of the contract SSo
. 900 in cold cash.
FIRST CONTRACT BROKE HIM.
. When the naval rendezvous too
:, place in Hampton Roads in 1892 Aaro
, Marx vas barely of age. He had Jds
- gotten into the meat business, an
thought he'd bid for the contract &c
= furnishing meats to the navies OF Tn
y world which rode at anchor In lane
locked Hampton Roads preparatory
? sailing for New York, where the Sres
review took place. Marx had doze1
of competitors, but won out again
all of them, and the meat supple
, while eaten by the officers and men
all of the civilized nations on ear1
!. caused him to GO broke.-Virginlan +
l0T