The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1912-08-09
new NEWS or YESTERDAY
Price Once Famous Man Paid
for Little Vanity.
ophlr Farm, Ben Holidays Magnlf-
cent Country Estate, Got Its San
quine Builder Into All Kinds
OF Legal Trouble.
BY e. J. EDWARDS.

In the midwinter of 1881, | spent
part of an evening with Ben Holiday
in the library of his home on X street,
Washington. Though once he had been
wealthy, Mr.. Holiday was at that time
In financial reverses, and it seemed to
me that he was also something of an
invalid. / could not realize, as I sat
chatting with him, that he had been at
one time the most famous of Ameri-
can expressmen, that he had organ
lied, and In sensational manner, the
Holiday Pony express, by which mails
and passengers were first carried over
land from the Missouri valley to the
Pacific slope before the building of the
Pacific railroad; and that he had also
organized and put in operation the
greatest fleet of coastwise steamers
that then sailed, or has sailed since
probably, along the Pacific coast from
Alaska to southern California.
Mr.. Holiday had taken up tenn
porary residence in Washington for
the purpose of securing a congression-
al appropriation In payment OF very
large claims which he had established
for service for the federal government
to maintain postal line between the
Missouri valley and the Pacific coast.
| asked Mr.. Holiday IL the delays he
was meeting with in securing acknowl-
edgment of his claims had affected his
health; or IL he were recovering from
a temporary illness.
There came into my hosts eyes
momentary flash of the power and de-
termination which were characters
tic of Ben Holiday when he estab-
lished his overland mail and passenger
stage service, the very line that had
so many encounters with the Indians
and the buffalo herds.
NO." he said, you have to wait
long time sometimes, IL you are going
to get claim paid by the government.
The government of the United States
is the worst debtor and the harshest
creditor in the world. OF course, the
government pays its fixed obligations,
like interest upon bonds; but 1t Is
master hand at STAYING off just debts.
l knew that and was prepared for 1t,
and can wait good while yet. There
Il
ever, that has come nearer to break
Ing me down physically than any 9th
err thing | have done In my entire
business career. am paying now for
little vanity"
Mr.. Holiday stopped for moment,
looked at me with penetrating and
inquiring glance, and then asked:
"I cupnpga Vnu hava hoard tha
Ophir miner"
or course, had heard OF that mine
and the stories of its fabulous rich
ness; 1t was a California mine which
Mr.. Holiday had owned. but which
brought him financial disaster, after
promising for time to be a producer
Of wonderful riches, hence its name
WELL" said he, Il thought the mine
was going to make me rich as Croes-
us; and l determined to spend some
of my wealth in building great cas-
tie in the center of the greatest pri-
vate park owned by any American
| citizen up to that time. I bought
great tract OF land, several thousand
acres, lying between White Plains,
Westminster county, New York, and
the Connecticut state line. Upon it
built the finest castle that had up to
that time been erected in the United
States. l entertained people just as
| the owners of great estates In England
| do. ! called tho place Ophir Farm,
and there was a great deal of talk
about 1t in the papers. II stood me In
about a million and half: and 1t and
the Ophir mine got me into all kinds
OF trouble. There were lawsuits and
foreclosure proceedings, and that was
about all l got out of an attempt to
crafty little personal vanity. II /
get my claims paid by the government,
| may be able to hold on to It."
A year or two later, announcement
was made in the newspapers that
Whitelaw Reid, the editor of the New
| York Tribune, who in 1881 had mar
| ried a daughter of D. o. Mills, had
bought Ophir Farm. and that 1t was to
be his country home. 1t is Mr.. Reds
country home to this day; and since
his purchase of Ophir Farm there have
been entertainments in 1t which sur
passed in splendor and In the illus
trious character of the guests any of
| the great entertainments given there
by Ben Holiday, who died In the late
eighties. when he had owned it.
| Copyright. 1911. by f. ]. Edwards All
Rights Reserved)
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