The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1909-09-10
Railroad Man Died
at 3:35 p. m.
Yesterday
WONDERFUL LIFE
Reared in Poverty, He Arose by His
Own ExertiOn, to the Highest Pin
nacle of Financial Fame, Being
ReckOned One of the Richest Men
in the World.

A RDEN, N. ", Sept. Edward Hen
A ry Hartman, the greatest organ
izer of railroads the world has
ever known, met the only lasting de-
feat of his active life today at the
hands of death. Secluded in his mag
nificent home on Tower hill, he sue
cumbed to an intestinal disorder this
afternoon, after fight against dis
ease which will rank for sheer grit
with his remarkable struggles in the
financial world.
The exact time of his death is
known only in that limited circle of
relatives and associates who had so
effectually shielded Mr. Hartman from
all outside annoyances during his last
illness. The time was given out as
3:35 p. M, but Mrs. Mary Simons, sis
ter of the dead man, said tonight that
Mr.. Hartman died at 1870. Whether
this apparent discrepancy has any
bearing on the current belief that ev-
cry effort was made to lesson the in
fluence of the financiers death on the
New York stock market, is proble-
matical. But it is significant that the
time of his death, as officially an
nounced, was just 35 minutes after
trading had ceased on the New York
exchange.
Peaceful End.
Mr.. Hartman died peacefully and
to the end ris brilliant mind retained
its integrity.
After a relapse on Sunday, he sank
slowly and soon after noon today,
there came a relapse which marked
the approach of the end.
His wife, two daughters and two
sons who have been constantly with
him, assembled at the bedside and a
carriage was hastily dispatched for
Mrs. SimonS, whose home is three
miles from the Tower hill mansion.
Mrs Simons entered the great 81
lent home in time to be present at
her brothers death. She Joined the
wife and children who, with DR.. w. G.
Lyle of New York, and Orlando Har-
riman, brother, and the nurses,
formed a group at the bedside.
No spiritual adviser was at hand.
The swittest automobile in the Harri-
man garage had been dispatched for
Rev. DR.. ]. Holmes McGuinness,
Episcopalian rector of the Arden par
ish but he was not at home. When
found later he hurried to the Arden
house, but death had reached there
first.
With the secrecy that has been
maintained at the Hartman residence
unbroken to the very end, news of
Mr.. Harrimans death was conveyed
to New York before it came to Arden
and the valley below. Then, by way of
New York, the report spread quickly
and confirmation was sought at the
residence by telephone. During the
last 10 days rumors have been so
persistent and variable that little
credence was at first given the report
and it was a shock when voice on
the hill replied:
Eyes, that is correct; Mr.. Hartman
died at 3:35 p. M
Soon afterward the hundreds of
workmen engaged ON the uncompleted
estate learned of their employers
death, when a pare went out and an
nounced simply:
"You may all quit work. Mr.. Har-
riman is dead"
A hush fell over the group and the
workmen, dropping their tools, trudged
silently to the fiat cars and descended
a private incline railroad.
7 Orlando Hartman discussed the
funeral arrangements briefly tonight.
He said Mr.. Hartman would be bur
led in the family plot in the little
graveyard behind st. Johns Episcopal
church at Arden. He will rest beside
his eldest son. Edward H. Hartman,
Jr., who died % years ago, soon after
the family first came to Arden.