Evening star., 1909-09-10
FAMOUS IN A DECADE
Hartman a Broker Up to Ten
Years Ago.
RAPID RISE AS MAGNATE
Ability Attracted Great Financial
Interests to Him.
WON SPURS IN UNION PACIFIC
Fight With Hill for the Burlington.
0usting of Stuyvesant Fish.
Denunciation by Roosevelt.
RAPID RISE AS MAGNATE
WON SPURS IN UNION PACIFIC

Denunciation by Roosevelt.
Up to decade ago Mr.. Edward II. Har
rimaE was a successful broker. During
the last ten years he became worlt
power with an ambition which stopped
only at the control of the railroads of q
hemisphere. perhaps of world.
Nothing which transpired during Mr.
Harrimans early days augured any con-
siderable fraction of the success which
were decidedly against great worldly sue
cess, for young Harriman's father was a
poverty stricken Episcopal clergyman OF
good family. whose teachings were not
such as usually lead to success in a
search after gold.
The old rectory of the now fashionable
ST. Georges Church, founded at Hemp
stead, l.. l., in 1902. is pointed out as the
house in which Edward Henry Hartman
was born February 25. 1s4S. The build
ing now belongs to the Hartman family
and in the church itself is memorial 10
the Rev. Orlando Hartman, jr., father
of Edward H. and five other children.
The parents Of young Hartman were of
good stock. Poverty and refinement
went hand In hand in the household OF
the Rev. Orlando Hartman and his wife.
"A gentlewoman, the daughter Of an old
New Brunswick, N. j., family.
There are no stories Of the wonders
done by Hartman as boy. In fact, he
was apparently never pointed out ais one
him as a good fighter. determined and
rather quick mentally. None of the
family was conciliatory of public opinion
They were regarded as cold by outsiders.
though an intense loyalty existed within
the home circle. There were successful
branches already, but poverty made the
Rev. Orlando and his wife decidedly
reserved, according to those who knew
feet on Edward. He never sought public
good will and apparently he never laid
much stress on any adverse public opin-
ion. His code of ethics was his own and
was not Influenced by what others
thought.
Young Hartman began his business
career by entering a Wall street house
as clerk. The young clerk must have
attended strictly to business, for few
years later, when only twenty-three
years old. he purchased a seat on the
stock exchange and organized the firm
of Hartman & Co., which still exists,
though the founder has had no connec-
tion with it for many years.
A Broker in 1870.
Young Hartman became a member of
the stock exchange in August, 1870.
Times were stirring. That he kept his
head above water showed in itself his
ability as an operator. He had mastered
the ms and outs of one of the most diff
cult businesses in the world and rhe had
mastered them so that he not only had
confidence in himself, but some one else
evidently believed in him. for stock ex.
change seats didn't go a-begging even
in the days of Commodore Vanderbilt
Uncle Daniel Drew, Jim Fisk. jr., and
Jay Gould. 1t took more than the price
OF a postage stamp to buy his seat 1,
was the current belief that other an6
successful members of the family assist
ed the young broker materially at this
point. He had served his apprentice.
ship in a time when the Erie wars and
Black Friday had shaken the nerve and
the fortune of more than one of the
great financiers of the day. He had
studied Drew and Vanderbilt and Gould.
and he had taken their measure and
stored the dimensions away for future
reference. He had no fear, for he had
the self-confidence which led him to be-
lieve in his own power. and friends often
pointed out that one of Mr.. Hartman s
marked characteristics was his refusal
to be overawed by any man.
Who do you representa-? a great bank
er once asked when Hartman ap-
cessions regarding the reorganization of
the Erie railroad.
Myself was the reply in a tone
which implied that the speaker believed
he had filled the bill as far as explana-
tions went.
That was at a time when Hartman
was an unknown railroad quantity away
back in the early 90s. He met defeat
then. but he made money on the scheme
in mind and he kept on going
Among his few close friends was Stuy-
yesant Fish. son of President Grant S
Secretary of State, and a man whose So
cial position and financial influence was
unsurpassed in the city. Fish was
change and he came to appreciate Harri-
mans ability. The two became friends
at a time when such a friendship meant
much to at least one of them. Most
desirable customers came to Hartman
through this connection and through the
richer branch OF his own family, which
held out a helping hand now and then
1t was only short time after securing
tune. Money came to him through COM
missions from customers, from other
brokers and through private speculation
He went ahead slowly, but surely, and
success without setback came to him.
and that despite the fact that it was one
of the most perilous decades in the whole
history of the market During those
troubled years from 1870 to 1880 he built
the foundations OF his fortune.
The gold corner the panics following
the Chicago and Boston fires, the Jay
Cooke & Co. failure. the corner in Chi
cago and Northwestern, the anthracite
corner. which he helped to break. and the
Jersey City collapse all passed and left
Other men went down and from each he
learned q lesson.
Enters Into Executive Railroadine.
The friendship with Stuyvesant Fish LED
to Mr.. Harriman's first entry into the
executive side Of railroading, for when
in 1883, Mr.. Fish became vice presiden,
of the Illinois Central railroad he tool
the less influential man into the board OF
directors. Mr.. Hartman declined to res,
on the honor Of directorship, but sci
about to learn everything there was tc
know about the railroad. He quizzed and
pumped and pried and peeped until there
was little connected with that road from
the capitalization down to the price mel
pound of shingle nails for the roofs of the
roundhouses that he didn't know. No Of.
ficer of the road was a closer student o1
details in those days than this director
and It's quite probable that the book
keepers and stock clerks became decidedly
impatient of his prying and equally prob
able that they never complained to him
at least never but once. He could have
shown no greater interest in the roaC
had all the bonds and stocks been locked
up In his own safe.
Another event of this period gave the
future railroad magnate a decided boost
on the road to success. That was his
marriage with Mary Averell of Rochester
the daughter OF rich man who had
town and Ogdensburg railroad. which has
in it's time furnished the sinews, of war
for several other influential families. This
marriage proyed Yn0Sf hannv in every