Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1913-05-31
HARRY i. FLAGLER
MORE TO ART
Speculation as to What Part
He viii Play In Handling
Big Fortune.

KE UGH interest has been express
INV ed by men OF financial affairs
Iva as 20 the part Harry Hark.
ness Flagler viii play In the
disposition Of the great fortune OF his
father, Henry NJ. Blagler, estimated to
be more than $60,OO0000
Harry Hardness Fhger is forty-two
years old He has been little known
ther either in the Standard OIL com
pany or In the great development plans
carried on in Florida.
1t Is said by men who have had
close acquaintance with the affairs Of
Mr. FlagIer that the sou and the father
bad been estranged for long period
and that for ten years they had not
spoken until the day before Mr.. Flag
Ter died, when the younger Mr.. Flagler
arrived at Palm Beach from Europe in
time to see his father alive.
Harry Hardness Elagler, though a
man OF acknowledged business capac-
ity. has never engaged in business. He
has kept slnsularly aloof from the af-
fairs OF the Standard Oil company. lie
never showed interest In the Florida
railroad and hotel plans Of his father,
so far as Is known.
At the age OF twenty-five. with a
large career In business before him if
he chose, L was regarded as doubtful
that he wood ever 30 into business.
His temperament is artistic aud his
nature Is one of excessive delicacy. As
child 1t vas said be preferred TO
play with girls rather than with boys.
Young NJ. Flagler is Columbia
university man of the class of 1894
He is Il son of Mr. Fhgers first wife.
who was member of the Standard
Oil family of Hardness He married
Miss Anna Lamont in 1893. His town
house is at % Park avenue. New York
city. He lives modesty, and though
member OF the Union League and
Calumet clubs of that city is rarely
seen in club life.
An Immense Fortune.
Henry NJ Flagler was one of the
worlds richest men. and his name has
been linked from the beginning with
some of the greatest American enter
prises in financering and engineering
among them the organization and de
velopment OF the Standard Oil com.
pany and the building Of the oversee
railroad from the mainland Of Florida
to the island city Of Key West.
Mr.. Flagler was eighty-three years
old, and it was not until the last two
years of his life that his great genius
was dimmed toan appreciate extent
Like other Americans whose fortune
must be reckoned by scores of mil
lions, Mr.. Fiagler started on his bust
ness life young, very poor and thrifty
He gradually withdrew from the mani
fold business interests which the years
had brought him to a retirement amid
surroundings indescribably sumptuous
1t may be said that he lived TIVE
lives. 1t has been said of him that aft
'er he had reached the age of ffty-fiys
and had won enormous wealth ii
Standard Oil he stopped and began life
over again. with new interests, new
activities. new environment. If he die
not discover in his later years the
fountain OF eternal youth he found at
least regeneration and found it where
it was sought by Ponce de Leon-ir
Florida.
a rrin ltA Ia
made Florida the luxurious winter re
sort that II is today. He more thar
developed II. He created the "Ameri
can Riviera" He built the chain OF
hotels which are unsurpassed in tho
world He strung the narrow PENN
sula commonwealth with railroad
tracks. and his browning achievement
was the oversee railway to Key West
Early Struggles.
Flaglcr was fourteen years old wher
one spring morning he left his birth
place. a little cluster of houses on q
crossroads near Canandaigua. N. Y.
and walked nine miles to Medina with
all his earthly possessions In a small
carpetbag His father was Presby
terrain minister earning $500 year.
The youth decided that 1t would ID,
well for hin, to earn his own living. fol
$500 barely supported his mother an(
sister. At Medina he boarded freighI
boat on. the Evie canal and went t.
Buffalo There were packets. to b.
sure. but packets We're not for a boy
who had so little in his pockets.
At Buffalo he took vessel for San
dusky, o. On Lake Erie they ran into
a storm. and it was miserable young
man who crawled off the boat at the
Ohio town aud went looking for job
He found one in Republic, o. II
was high time, too. for the only money
the boy had was five franc piece, Q
coin that was accepted in that part Of
the country for a dollar. Mr.. FlagleI
always kept that coin to remind hin
Of those DAYS. He said he was imitat
Ing the man in the Bible and his one
talent.
He was paid s. week and his boarC