Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-09-23

defiant and mean as knew how.
didn't care what said or did, so Il
annoyed Tillman. This brought dowr
the i'll will of Senator Jones and othel
leaders, and only intensified my deter.
mination. 1t went on until Tillman ant
| had a personal encounter on the fool
Of the senate, but neither one Of us was
to blame for that. am thankful tha
the results were no more serious. A
soon as 1 went out of the senate. dis.
| missed politics absolutely from my
mind, and with all the fervor OF my
nature, went into this Brunswick and
Birmingham railroad scheme. I cult.
waited the acquaintance Of all the infiu.
entail men I had met, and was selected
to be president of the road. At this
time, 1872 miles were built from Bruins
wick to Ocilla, the junction Of the
Southern and Seaboard. This was 9
fine strategical point, for John Skeltor
williams was making that magnificent
fight to keep his road from being COB
bled up, and the men, in part, who had
brought me in were hackers, in Balti-
more, of the Seaboard. None Of us had
much money, but we had energy and
brains, and stood well In public esti-
nation. Mind you. I was not sena-
tor, but a private citizen at this time
The only way we could build the road
was by selling bonds. put about
$4,000 of my own hard earnings
practically all the cash had-into the
thing. Every time five miles Of road
were completed, under our charter we
could issue $4,000 Of bonds. 1t was
through a level country, and Mr.. Ma
chen, one Of the most energetic men
ever saw, was president Of the con-
struction company. He had his every
dollar at stake and built cheaply; II
didn't cost over $4,000 a mile, so we
were $4,000 to the good with every
mile constructed The question was, to
place the bonds; and that was what
hoped to be able to do. There were
81, ,S00,O00 Of bonds held by the Knick-
erbocker Trust company, upon which
the interest would fall due July 1st II
we failed to meet 1t, 1t meant receiver
ship. / had met a big fat man with
Machen, named Umsted, who was,
was told, very wealthy iron and steel
magnate. He was looking into the
proposition with view Of developing
some interests he had in Alabama coal
and iron. Before went south to &c
over the property, called on Mr.. Arch
bold and explained the situation to him
Absolutely, the entire transaction was
one Of pure personal friendship. Never
while was in the senate-either direct
or indirect-had / done Mr.. Archbold
the slightest favor. The only legis!a-
ton that ever knew Of in which the
Standard Oil was interested was an
amendment to the subsidy bill, granting
it to fast vessels, and made speech
against 1t, on the ground that slow ves-
sells carrying cotton were the only ones
that would help the south. However
when went over the situation he was
very kind, and, seeing what a desper-
ate hole I was in, gave me the letter
to the Knickerbocker Trust company
His letter was never used, for reasons
which will state later, and the origi-
nal is now in my possession. merely
wanted the Knickerbocker to know that
I Of u,hn
word could be confidently accepted.
filed the letter for future use nearer
July, and went south. When got back
found a new and sinister force lr
power-the most monumental scoundre
I ever met. J. Rufus Wallingford is q
pigmy to Frank A. Umsted. He weigh
ed 1926 pounds and could eat three Phil.
adelphia capons at one bait. He look
ed like money itself, and wore a mil
lion dollar smile even in his sleep. Goo
knows where Machen found him, but
he sure did do the business for us. The
Milford Pink Granite company, Of Wor.
| cester, Mass, is a good concern, and he
was president Of that with about two.
thirds Of its valuable stock in his pos.
session, a bank book which he would
carelessly show with a balance of g
| few odd millions, and black alligator.
skin bag, with a few more millions ir
stocks and bonds which Machen and
were permitted. in awe-struck wonder
| to handle carelessly.
| This Napoleon Of finance had
changed the whole thing-a little
dinky railroad was too small; we were
going to organize the independent
iron companies and build a big plant
in Brunswick to assemble the raw ma
terial on the same plan as the plant
at Sparrows Point, Maryland-we
would develop $4,000 acres of iror
Umsted had in Alabama, and take
over the Tennessee coal and iron prop.
critics, making combination thai
could put United States steel on the
bum. We were given to understand
that John. w. Gates was at the back
Of 1t all, and was cunning for Nor.
gan. Umsted certainly had money
and securities in his possession. He
also had a letter from Mr.. Silas B
butcher, president of the Hamilton
Trust company, viz:
AFTER a careful consideration OF
your financial plan, heartily endorse
your policy and approve above fig.
ures.'
Mr.. butcher was also a director ir
the Mohawk Valley Steel and Wire
company and chairman of the board
1.-THE chief consulting engineer wa.
VIM. Garrett, also one of the direct.
ors. Everybody who knows anything
on the subject is aware Of the high
standing Of Mr.. butcher and that the
Garrett Cromwell Engineering com
pany Of Cleveland, Ohio, stands at the
very top of the profession, and theil
figures are accepted everywhere with.
out question. I have them before me
now, and they show that one single
plant can be constructed for thirty