The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-05-20
Aged Standard Oil Magnate
and Builder Of the Railroad
Which Runs on the
Ocean.
MARRIED THREE TIMES
Began Life Behind the Counter
Of a Country Store and Be-
came One of the Wealth
lest Americans.

UNITED Press Leased Wire Service
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. May 20.
Henry NJ Flagler, Standard Oil mag
nate and builder of the Florida-East
Coast railway, died at mas home here
today. Mrs. Flagler and Mrs. Harry
Harkness Flagler we're with him. For
several hours after his oeath an eff
fort was made to withhold the fact.
The body will be conveyed to st.
Augustine for interment at that place
in the family mausoleum. The dats
OF the funeral has not been set.
Flagler, who was SO years of age,
has been i'll for months. His death
has been expected hourly for the past
! eight weeks and the announcement to-
day was no surprise. During the last
day or SO Flagler was as near death
as he could be and live, according to
his wife who has been with him con.
stantly. During the past few days
/ stimulants have been administered
4 hourly to keep him alive. Physicians
! who have attended him said
this afternoon that his death followed
La long continued state Of coma.
81 Flagler, despite his age, had beAn
!, in good health until he fell on the
stairway of his home In December
He was confined to his bed and, the
confinement was too much for him.
The career of Henry Morrison Flag
; Ter, whose greatest achievement was
the building of the Florida and East
Z Coast Railroad and its extension over
the coral reefs and ocean to Key
West, was as picturesque as 1t was
& meteoric From behind the counter
in country store he became one OF
the rulers of the Standard Oil, second
only to John d. Rockefeller, and the
chief financial figure in the state OF
Florida. His friends say he rose be.
cause he had the dominating qualities
of Morgan and point to him as q
self-made man.
"Flagler was married three times
His first wife, Miss Mary Hardness
the daughter of a Michigan lumber
man, died after a few years of mar
this first wife brought him that Flag
Ter founded the immense fortune he
leaves. Some years liter Ter death
il Flagler married Miss Ida Shourds, the
daughter of Congregational minister
His divorcing his second wife wher
4 he was 70 years old, and subsequent
marriage TO a young woman half his
age made him the target of much
criticism from his enemies. F1agler's
divorce was secured after Mrs. Flag
Ter III. had been confined in a sani
tarium as hopelessly insane. The Il
nancier set aside s2,ooo,0oO for he
maintenance and paid eminent physi
clans princely salaries to attend he
t constantly.
n They said too, that his was th,
= genius that planned the STANDARD
: OILS mpetition-crushing monopol,
: methods and rebate system, and hi
enemies credited him with the pani
t of 1887, when the oil company cleane'
up s1o,o0O,o0o
I Borr at Canandiagua, n Y, Flagle
, early began to hustle for himself
$ From his wages as clerk in countr
e store, he saved enough to start
/ small salt manufacturing enterprise a
|. Saginaw, Mich. There he met tn
d daughter of Michigan lumberman G
, some wealth. Shortly after their mai
riage, Flagler heard of young fello'