The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1909-10-01
Echoes Of Woman's Clubs
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CAREER OF E. II. HARTMAN

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CAREER OF E. III. HARTMAN
Born and Bred in Poverty, Becomes q
Multi-MilliOnaire When He is
35 Years Of Age
OF Harriman's early history little
is known. He was born Feb. rs,
1848, in the rectory OF st. Georges
Episcopal church. at Hemstead, l.. /.
his father, Rev. Orlando Hartman
Jr., being rector of the parish. The
year after young Harriman's birth q
controversy sprang up between his
father and the vestrymen over ar
rears in salary, and in 1850 the fam
lily moved to Castleton, Staten Is.
land. In 1855, when Edward Henry
Hartman was years old, the fam
lily again moved, this time to Jersey
City, where followed period of ex-
IRENE poverty and hardship.
There were four boys In the fam
lily, known as Nelson, Orlando, Ed
ward Henry and William, and two
Girls, Lily and Annie. In 1859 the
family moved to West Hoboken, al
which place the father had been cleo.
ted rector Of st. Johns church at a
salary Of 5000 a year. Between 1853
and 1856 the family lived in small
house in the meadows and there
was never enough to 60 around at
meal times. An inheritance through
the death of the boys mother late
in the SOS enabled the Harrimans to
buy a comfortable homestead In Jer.
sey City. During these years e. II
Hartman was educated In district
schools and finished with two years
free course in boys school under
church auspices.
Enters Wall Street
Late in the Sos young Hartman
entered Wall street as brokers'
clerk. In few years he had accum-
ulated sufficient money to buy a seat
on the stock exchange, which he did
Aug. Is, 1870. The story generally
accepted in Wall street is that he Sc
cured the money to make the pur-
chase by plunging in small way on
the market and making his profits
on BLACK Friday"
In 1870, at the age Of %, Harri-
man blossomed out as trader on
the exchange as Hartman & Co. He
had learned the game from studying
the manipulations of Fisk, Drew,
Gould and Vanderbilt. Hartman
showed great aptitude for .tscalping'
and at the end of his fifth year on
change men had come to recognize
him as a trader who made money
whichever way the market went and
who hung on to it after he made it.
Hartman displayed his ability as
a trader a year or two after he had
bought his seat. In 1871 and 1872
came the Chicago and Boston fires,
with their resultant panics, and the
following year 81 firms failed in the
panic which followed the bankrupt
cy of Jay Cook & Co. Out of 1t all
Hartman made money. In 1875 he
aided in crushing the anthracite
corner and took his profits when
Jersey Central collapsed from $11O
a share to Sc.
Gains Riches in Panic
Later on. in 1884 when the Grant
& Ward failure and the white Cor
ner" came, Hartman was still gath
ering in profits where others realiz-
ed losses, and later on in 1890, when
the financial world was shaken by
the Barring collapse, he was still able
to stand unmoved in the panic, rush
ing In and out of the market, and
piling up wealth at every move. All
these years Hartman was broker.
He gambled in stocks and bonds,
and was not a creator of anything
new He was still unknown, but
had accumulated wealth
The years between 1890 and 1897
mark division in Harriman's ca
reer, his development from broker
into railroad magnate. In 1888 he
had in his strong box fine list of
stocks picked UP for almost nothing
In the various panics. and he was
selected director of the Illinois
Central. AT that time he was a close
friend of Stuyvesant Fish. In 1887
Hartman became vice president of
the road and Fish president. During
tHO pcIIOu UttWGGl 1908 anu 1850
Hartman took no prominent part in
either the railroad or the financial
worlds, apparently contenting himself
with waiting and studying the rail-
road situation, meanwhile overlook
Ing no opportunities to gather wealth
from the stock market.
Enters Railway Field
The decade beginning Jan. 1, 1890,
was momentous in the history Of
American railroads and industries. It.
swept in with a panic, settled into a 4
lull, then swept out again in temp
est of ruin. At the beginning of this
period Morgan, Vanderbilt,
Jay Gould. Coils p Huntington and
James J. Hill were the railroad kings.
Morgan and Vanderbilt held the coall
roads and the trunk lines Of the East.
Gould, Huntington and Hill held the
great bulk of the western roads.
The panic of 1928 furnished
Hartman his opportunity. In 1897
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