COMMODORE VANDERBILT. THE VANDERBILTS THE STORY OF THEIR FORTUNE W. A. GEOFF UT AUTHOR OF " A HELPING HAND," " A MIDSUMMER LARK," " THE BOURBON BALLADS," " HISTORV OF CONNECTICUT," ETC. CHICAGO AND NEW YORK BELFOED, CLAEKE & COMPANY Publishers C97/ 73 COPTRIGHT, 18S6, BY BELFORD, CLAEKE & COMPANY. TROWS PRINTING AND QOOKBINDING COMPANY, NEW YORK. PEEFAOE This is a history of the Yanderbilt family, with a record of their vicissitudes, and a clironicle of the method bj which their wealth has been acquired. It is confidently put forth as a work which should fall into the hands of boys and young men — of all wdio aspire to become Cap- tains of Industry or leaders of their fellows in the sharp and wholesome competitions of life. In preparing these pages, the author has had an am- bition, not merely to give a biographical picture of sire, son, and grandsons and descendants, but to consider their relation to society, to measure the significance and the influence of their fortune, to ascertain where their money came from, to inquire whether others are poorer because they are rich, whether they are hindering or promoting civilization, whether they and snch as they are impediments to the welfare of the human race. A correct answer to these questions will solve half of the problems which most eagerly beset this generation. This story is an analogue of the story of all American successes. When Commodore Yanderbilt visited Europe in 1853 at the head of his family, he seemed to defy classification. He was apparently neither lord nor com- moner, lie was too democratic for a errandee : too self- 871456 IV PREFACE. poised for a plebeian. He was untitled, but his 3'acht surpassed in size and splendor the ocean vehicles of monarchs. No expense was too great to be indulged, no luxury too choice to be provided, but he moved mod- estly and without ostentation, with the serene compos- ure of a prince among his equals. There were wealthy English citizens who could have afforded a similar out- lay, but they would have been sneered at and charged with pretentiousness and vanity, with aping customs rightly monopolized by the nobilitj-. They would have been rated as snobs, cads, upstarts, and would have been twitted with their humble origin, as if an impi'ovement of one's condition were a reproach instead of an honor. But the cruising Commodore came from a land where prevalent conditions and not antecedents are considered ; Avhere a coat-of-arms is properly regarded as a foolish affectation ; where a family's "descent" is of no impor- tance, and its ascent of all importance ; whei'e the M'heel of fortune runs rapidly around and every man is, not only permitted bnt required to stand for what he is. So when William 11. Yanderbilt erected for himself a palace, and enriched it with an art collection more valuable than any private gallery in Great Britain, the English found it impossible to think of him as he was — a quiet citizen, despising parade and display — and the Lon- don Spectator said when he was dead: "• lie occasionally flaunted his wealth in a uiaimer a Roman noble could not have exceeded. He gave an entertainment, it is said, one day last year at which his guests ate off gold laid upon fine lace, the wines cost thousands, and flowers were brought from the Southern States at an expense of £4,000." And the editorial inventor went on to an- PREFACE, V iiounce that the host on tliis occasion " was accused of giving each journalist among his guests a thousand-dol- lar note tied up in his napkin, in order that his magnifi- cence might be reported in detail." This from one of the most cautious and conservative journals in England ! The British mind apparently cannot conceive of a man who has made a hundred million dollars and yet is not a pompous vulgarian filled with " the pride that apes humilitv." America is the land of the self-made man — the em- pire of the parvenu. Here it is felt tliat the accident of birth is of trifling consequence ; here there is no " blood " that is to be coveted save the red blood which every masterful man distills in his own arteries ; and here the name of parvenu is the only and all-sufficient title of nobility. So here, if nowhere else in the world, should such a dominant man without hesitation or apology assume the place to which he is entitled, in commerce or the industrial arts, in professional life or society. A wealthy man is as much in the public eye and as much an object of popular intei'est as a successful gen- eral, a famous inventor, a great poet, or a distinguished statesman, and an opulent family is the focus of much legitimate and respectful curiosity. Xeither Stephen Girard, John Jacob Astor, nor Alexander T. Stewart is a familiar personage to this generation, because there is no complete narrative of their lives, thoughts, and methods, telling how they acquired their money, and to what purpose they lived. Traditions there are, in abun- dance, and rumors and myths, largely discreditable ; but the real men are not known, and probably never will be. Yet a rich man, if only because he possesses the rare gift VI PREFACE. of money-getting and money-keeping, and the skill and wisdom that are a part of it, is necessarily one of the most interesting figures of his generation. In this is a sufficient justification for the preparation of this work. Acknowledgment is gratefully made to Chauncey M. Depew, Isaac P. Chambers, Dr. Jared Linsly, Thomas C. Purdy, Robert Bonner, E. H. Carmick, Dr. Fuller- Walker, and Rev. Dr. Deems, for valuable information, and to Mrs. Frank Leslie and Harper & Brothers for illustrations. C0:?^TE1^TS CHAPTER I. PAGE Ancestors 1 The Dutch Emigrants — Men Self-made or not Made at all — Distinguislied Examples — Aris on Long Island— Jacob goes to Staten Island — The Moravians — Jacob's Son and Grandson— Thrifty but Unambitious— The Fruit of the Family Tree. CHAPTER II. Boyhood and Poverty 10 His Father and Mother — The Humble Home — Avoiding School — Fun and Hard Work — Wants to be a Sailor — Earns a Periauger — Ready for Business at Sixteen. CHAPTER III. Youth and Ambition 19 Sails his Boat on the Bay — Fare, Eighteen Cents — Makes $1,000 a Year— Sturdy, Abrupt, and Honest — In War Times— Beats Van Duzen — Marries at Nineteen. CHAPTER IV. Steamboat and Tavern 27 Abandons Sails for Steam— New York to New Brunswick — Fight with a Monopoly — Dodging the Sheriff — Making his Point — Large Profits — Pluck and Enterprise. CHAPTER V. Home and Children 37 His Return to New York Harbor — Residence in the City — A New House on Staten Island — His Three Sons — Stern Management — William 11. 's Exile to New Dorp. Till CO^s^TENTS. PAGE CHAPTER VI. From Steamboats to Steamships 43 , Running Steamboats in all Directions — To California via / the Isthmus — Worth Ten Million Dollars — A Yachting Cruise to Europe — A Line Across the Atlantic — The Mails — Lending a Vessel to the Government. CHAPTER VII. TwEXTT Tears a Farmer 57 William at New Dorp, Staten Island — The Farm — Energy and Economy — The Seat on the Fence — A Mortgage and Consequent WVath — " Four Dollars a Load" — A Spurt on the Road — A New House— The Farm Pays. CHAPTER VIII. - William's Apprenticeship 66 The Staten Island Railroad — Its Ruin and Regeneration — Death of Cap'ain George — An Obedient Son — New Schemes. CHAPTER IX. The Harlem Corner 71 1 Into Railroads — Harlem at 3 — Buying to Keep — Public Sym- \j pathy — Aldermen Set a Trap — Get Caught — Six Rules of Management — The Legislature in Trouble — Harlem at 285 ! — Fights and Conquers the Central — No Sympathy Needed. CHAPTER X. The Erie War 86 The Commodore Covets Erie — Daniel Drew"s Little Game — The Vanderbilt Party Buys — Drew and Gould Sell Short — Drew's Duplicity — Fisk Throws 100,000 Bogus Sliares upon the Market — Dodging the Sheriff — Flight to Jersey — Surrender and Restitution. CHAPTER XI. Trophies of Victory 98 Twent3'-five JMillion Dollars in Five Years — William's Way — i Consolidation Succeeds — Freight Depot on St. John's Park ^J — Dedication of the Commodore's Monument, the Bronzes — Watering Stock — What is It, and Whom does it Rob ? CONTENTS. IX PAGF CHAPTER XII. Habits and Charactek 106 _^ Methods of Work — Location in Various Years — Keeping Ac- counts in His Head— Punctuality— Close at a Bargain— Wliist after Dinner— Tells a Story of His Mother— Death of His Wife. CHAPTER XIII. Family Matters 114 His Grandchildren— Cornelius, Jr., and William K. at Work — The Thorn in the Flesh — Horace Greeley — " Cornele's Wife " — The Commodore Marries at Eighty — His Wife's Influence. CHAPTER XIV. Father and Son 123 Buying New Roads Westward — Building the Grand Central Depot — William H.'s Office Habits — Overwork — A Glance at His Mail — A Good-natured Pessimist — The Complacent Commodore. CHAPTER XV. Thr Commodore's Charities 131 His Opinion of Beggars — The Way He Gave — Careful about Money — Meets Dr. Deems — Gives the Church of the Strangers — The Tennessee University. CHAPTER XVI. Death of the Commodore 142 Taken 111 at Eighty-two — Great Public Interest — The Vigi- lant Newspapers — Rej^orters Besiege the Invalid — Death after Eight Months— A Simple Funeral— The Will. CHAPTER XVII. The Commodore's Successor 148 Industrious and Prudent — Compromises with Foes — Deal- ing with Laborers— Contest of the Will — The Quarrel Ended — Generosity and Human Nature — Accurate Biisi- ness Habits. X CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER XVni. The Mansion 155 Tlie Stj'le and Cost — Six Hundred Workmen and Sixty Sculptors — Description of the Rooms— The Vestibule — The Picture Gallery — Hoping to Live There Ten Years — Leaves in Five. CHAPTER XIX. The Art Gallery 163 Modern French Art— Best Collection in the World— A Good Investment — Mr. Yanderbilt's Tastes and Fancies — His Visits to Artists — Abuse of Hospitality. CHAPTER XX. The Vaxderbilt Family 175 Captain "Jake" — His Wealth and Habits — His Children — The Sisters of William H.— His Widow and Children— Their Homes and Families. CHAPTER XXL Social Position 190 What is Good Society ?— Our Plutocracy— Mrs. W. K. Yan- derbilt's Great Ball — Preparations — The Guests — The Cos- tumes — The Display. CHAPTER XXII. Horses and Stables 198 Love for Horses — Fondness for Fast Teams — Excellent Ama- teur Driver — Perils of the Road — MaudS. — Summer Rec- reation — The Derby — His Stables — Resigns the Reins. CHAPTER XXIII, William H. Yanderbilt's Donations 206 His Method of Giving — The Tennessee University — The Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons — The Grants — Minor Gifts— The Obelisk— Public Ingratitude. CONTEISTTS. xi PAGK CHAPTER XXIV. The Mausoleum 213 Original Design Rejected — Too Grand — Moravian Thrift — The Site Secured — Tlie Plan Adopted — A Romanesque Tomb — Granite, Limestone, and Bronze — The Interior — Allegorical Sculptures. CHAPTER XXV. Closing Labors 219 Sensitive to Public Opinion — Relinquishes His "Monop- oly" — Fifty Millions in Government Bonds — Resigns His Presidencies — Letter to Associates — "The Public be Damned ! "' — Succeeded by His Sons— Working Westward — Acquiring the Nickel Plate — Letter on Freight Dis- criminations — On Labor — To Grover Cleveland. CHAPTER XXVI. W. H. Vanderbilt's Death 231 Worry and Anxiety — His Declining Health — Morning of the Last Day — At Ward's Studio — Conference with Mr. Garrett — Paralysis and Quick Death — Effect on the Public Mind — Simple and Inexpensive Funeral — The Vault at New Dorp — Home Again. CHAPTER XXVIL The Will j 239 Two Hundred Million Dollars given Away — The Great Bur- den Distributed — Widow, Children, and Relatives well Provided for — The " Residue" of a Hundred Millions — Charities — The Testator's Purposes and Dreams. CHAPTER XXVIII. Estimate of His Character 248 Temperate Habits — Abstemious — Domestic — Tribute of the Directors — Opinions of Jay Gould and Russell Sage — Letter to Matthew Riley — A Much-abused Man— Fond of Opera — The Student Waiters — The Undelivered Apple- jack. Xll CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER XXIX. The Sons and their Heritage 264 The New Residences — Cornelius and William K. Vander- bilt — Theii- Public Trusts and Private Character — A Nota- ble Present — Law-abiding and Self-restraining — Compari- son of the Central with other Roads — Reduction of Pas- senger and Freight Charges. CHAPTER XXX. Some Reflections About It 269 Commercial Philanthropy — Promiscuous Charity — Do the Yanderbilts Possess their Money '? — The Envious and Malevolent — Can a Man "Earn a Million Dollars?" — Brain and Brawn — The Genealogy of Civilization — Re- productive Wealth. APPENDICES. Appendix A 277 Appendix B 279 Appendix C 280 Appendix D . . 286 Appendix E 293 Appendix F 294 Appendix G 298 THE VANDERBILTS. CHAPTER I. ANCESTORS. The Dutch Emigrants — Men Self-made or not Made at all — Dis- tinguished Examples — Aris on Long Island — Jacob goes to Staten Island — The Moravians — Jacob's Son and Grandson — Thrifty but Unambitious — Tiie Fruit of the Family Tree. A GENERATION Or two after tlie Hudson River was dis- covered and the bold explorer who gave liis name to it liad perished in tlie Arctic seas, the Vanderbilts came with the early Knickerbockers to the Western World. They settled on New York Bay because it seemed like their home in the Low Countries — the same wash of the aggressi ve wave, the same stretch of indented shore, different only in its peaceful aspect. Holland is always besieged by an alert and sleepless foe. Inheriting the savage conflict from generation to generation, the garri- son has thrown up huge fortiiications a thousand miles long, stronger than Gibraltar or the dykes which wail in the great harbors of France ; for many centuries they have slept on the battle-field, weapon in hand and armor on, never relaxing vigilance, never beguiled by a treacherous flag of truce. The incessant combat has 3 THE VAISTDERBILTS. made them a robust, patient, abstemious and obstinate people. Marp :tisan :five hundred years ago the weary fight-began" i't'wlH' continue, undiminished in ferocity, five : liiindred j^e^rs' hence. The foe is the sea ; his ailies, the rivers and tlie lakes. Manhattan Island had won the alluvial battle centu- ries before and was at peace. The array of observation had ceased to countermarch along the parapet, and had exchanged its weapons for implements of luisbandiy ; so the fugitives from the Holland conflict found it a grateful and restful camping-gi-ound. The founder of the wealth of the Vanderbilts, known to New Yorkers for half a century as "the Commo- dore," was, like almost all men of unusual vigor and personal power, a rustic of humble oi-igin. Few boys born in homes of luxury ever greatly increase their wealth or attain a leading position among men. The dominating and over-mastering qualities are nurtured in poverty and grown in hardy soil. Nine-tenths of all the citizens of the metropolis who have acquired con- spicuous influence in manufactures, commerce, litera- ture, or professional life, have been born and reai^ed afar in farming districts, and have been thrown upon their own resources from their very earliest years. In this country men are either self-made or not made at all. Parental nursing and coddling seem to be en- feebling in their effect on boys : they make the muscles flabby and the energies inert. " Young man ! " said Henry Ward Beecher, the greatest preacher of our days, "if you are poor, thank God, and take courage ; for lie has given you a chance to be somebody ! " The young learn the value of money only from needing it and SELF-MADE MEX. 3 earning it bj liard work. Abstinence is the mother of conipetence; self-denial the cradle of wealth. Peter Cooper wandered hither from Peekskill, and worked joyously and faithfully for $25 a year and his board. Cyrus W. Field descended from the sterile liills of Berkshire, and served A. T. Stewart as office- boy, at $2 a week. Horace Greeley migrated from the wilds of Xew Hampshire. The founders of the house of Harper were Long Island farm-boys, and they came to the city and paid $20 a year apiece for the privilege of working. AVilliani E. Dodge and P. T. Barnum emerged from Coimecticut, and began at the lowest round of the ladder ; so did George Law, for he was a hod-carrier in Troy. Russell Sage escaped from an Oneida County grocery-store. Daniel Drew was a Putnam County plow-boy. John H. Starin came from an obscure fam- ily in the middle of the State. John Kelly, John Koach, Bobcrt Bonner, and A. T. Stewart were penni- less Irish boys, and they acquired their trades as they could, in spite of every impediment. John G. Moore rebelled against the fate of a Maine skipper, to which he seemed destined. Thurlow Weed was a printer's " devil." Thomas A. Edison \vas a Michigan news-boy, and Rufns T. Bush was a Michigan school-teacher. Poswell P. Flower was a chore-boy on a wretched farm in Jefferson County. F. B. Thurber had a similar ma- triculation in Delaware County, and when this large- hearted merchant-millionaire, then a hardy boy, was hoeing potatoes in Delhi, Jay Gould M-as still i)ellows- blower and clerk for a Eoxbury blacksmith, at $2 a week, only live miles over the hill. Scratch a Xew 1 ork millionaire and you will gener- 4 THE VANDERBILTS. ally find a farm-boy nnderneatli — a youth with a strong bade and resolute will, Avith the umber of toil on his liands, and in his heart the determination to conquer. If Commodore Yanderbilt had been born to a Valen- ciennes christening-robe and a heritage of plenty — had grown to be a child with a nursery full of toys, and afterward a youth with a pocket full of money, there is little chance that he would ever have been heard of beyond the shadow of the Moravian church. Xature seems to begrudge her highest favors to all except those who walk through the thorny lane of penury, and be- come familiar with her in her capricious and hostile moods. The early arrangement of the family name Nvas Yan Der Bilt, and they were farmei's for generations. Just when the lirst immigrant came from Holland is uncer- tain,* but he settled on Long Island near Brooklyn. We hear of Art Jansen Van Der Bilt M'ho settled in Flat- bush, and was the grantee of a considerable part of the territory of that town under the Dongan patent of 1685. Twenty-one years earlier the English had taken posses- sion of Manhattan Island, and sixty years earlier the Dutch had bought it for $24, and founded Kew Am- sterdam. Contemporary with Art Jansen — perhaps his brother — was Aris, who, with his M'ife Ililitje, dwelt in the same town. They w-orkedhard to get a living and give bread to a large and growing bi'ood. The family' seems to have been of some social consequence, for one of theni was an elder in the church, and another presented to the religious edifice " a fine bell imported from Holland." Among the children of Aris was Jacob Van Der Bilt, born January 25, 1602. In 1715 Jacob was accepted THE MORAVIANS. 5 in marriage by Eleanor* and to set liiin np in life his father "sold" him a large tract of land "at Staaten Island," probably obtained by him from the Indians, for this was then a frontier settlement. The consideration given by Jacob is not stated, bnt thither he and his yonng wife repaired and fonnded the Staten Island bi'anch of the Vanderbilt family. Dnring the next thirty years eleven children were born to them.f Abont this time some of the persecnted followers of John Ilnss, called Moravians, fled to this country, and a few of them settled at Xew Dorp. This destination was most natural. Already the beautiful and lonely island had become the refuge of bands of Ilnguenots, Waldenses, and "Walloons, who had clustered here and there in detached communities. So thither the exiled Protestants from Bohemia flocked and told their story of outrage. The Van Der Bilts became converts. In 1741 Count Zinzendorf, the founder and patron of this martyr-sect, having been banished from Saxony, came to America, and visited, among others, the little community on Staten Island. It is related tliat the primal wilderness was then so untamed and xvew Dorp so diflicult of access, that he had a long search for the place on the wandering Indian t]-ails and cowpaths. Tlie visit of the illustrious exile fired the half-dozen IMora- vians with uncommon zeal, and the feeble church, of * Called, in Dntcli, Xeilje. f Aiis, born February 2, 1716 ; Dennys, born September 5. 1716 ; Hilitje, born March 22, 1720; Jacob, born January 6, 1723; Mag- delena, born December 1, 1725 ; John, born Xovember 15, 1728; Cornelius, born September 22, 1731 ; Anna, born February' 11, 1734; Phebe, born April 27, 1737 ; Anthea, born January 31, 1739 ; Eleanor, born September 13, 1742. 6 THE VAISTDERBILTS. M'hicli Jacob Van Dei* Bilt and his wife and children were chief pilhirs, resolved to build a ship to assist the immigration of the United Brethren from Germany. This missionary vessel was launched May 29, IT-tS, and was in the service of the builders iiine years. She crossed from ISi^ew York to Amsterdam and back twelve times, brino-ino; each time a freight of refugees. In 1T57 she was captured by a French privateer and driven to wreck off Cape Breton. In the records of the United Brethren at that time, Jacob Van Der Bilt of K ew Dorp is mentioned as the most active and persevering member. The religious services of the Moravians were held first in a private residence, and then in a school-house at ]S^ew Dorp, but in 1762, the Cornelius Van Der Bilt 'wdiose birth has been recorded, joined liis neighbors in an application to the authorities of the church in Beth- lehem, Pa., for the construction of a Moi'avian meeting- house and society on Staten Island. On July T, 1763, the corner-stone of the edifice was laid, and it was con- secrated just before the year closed, only to be burned to the ground by the British soldiery fourteen years later. Of the liberal brood of Jacob Van Der Bilt, above mentioned, Jacob, jr., m'Iio first saw the light in 1723, is the only one in whose personal fortunes this history is interested, as he appears "• in the line of promotion.'" He married in due time Mary Sprague mIio bore him seven children,'" and these, during their life-time, learned * Eleanor, born 1747 ; Jacob, born January G, 1750 ; John, born May 9, 1752; Dorothy, born July 29, 1754 ; Oliver, born June 10, 1757 ; Joseph, born September G, 17G1 ; Cornelius, born Aiigust 28. 1764. CONTENTED DRUDGES. 7 to economize bj uniting tlie first two syllables of the family name and writing it "Vander Bilt." The last of these, Coi-nelius, born 1764, married Phebe Hand, and they, in time, had nine children '-^ born to their humble honse. A hard time they seem to have had snppoj-ting life i-espectably and keeping the family together. About this time it was that the Rose-and-Crown cottage was kept at Stapleton by one of the Yander Bilts, and it is known in Revolutionary story as having been much frequented by British officers and made prosperous by British guineas. During this century and a half, from the coming of Aris to the birth of the stur.dy " Commodore," Cor- nelius, the hundred male members of the family and its collateral wings had all been solid and stolid tillers of the earth. They had carted on the manure and carted off the rocks. They had rendered arable the stony and fruitful the sterile land. They had pastured the cows and milked them. They had planted and hoed, ploughed and sowed, drudged and delved, died and been buried in the town where they were born. The average woi-kman in the employ of the Xew York Central Railroad to-day lives better and gets far more of the real comforts of life than any of the Yanderbilts * Mary, born December 21, 1787, and died August 10, 1845 ; Jacob, born August 28, 1789, and died October 3, 18U5 ; Charlotte, born December 29, 1791, married Captain John De Forest, died January 5, 1877 ; Cornelius, born May 27, 1794, died January 4, 1877 ; Phebe, born February 19, 1798, died young ; Jane, born August 1, 1800, and became wife of Colonel Samuel Barton ; Eleanor, born January 4, 1804, died April 21, 1833; Jacob Hand, born September 2, 1807; Phebe, born February 9, 1810, died April 23, 1885. 8 THE TAiSTDEEBILTS. of tlie last centni-y. Thev were not nnhappj, for tliey had that contented mind which, the philosopher tells us, is a continual feast. But the standard of their ex- istence M'as simple. In the very mode of life they had adopted, they were ]3reparing for a colossal output. They were practising an untiring industry and an economy that knew no bounds. They were M-restling with all the in- describable difficulties of a new settlement. They had attached themselves to a persecuted church, and were learning self-denial for the sake of sympathy and deep religious feeling. They were delving in an inhospitable soil, and facing hostile elements, and inuring themselves to hardship and exposure, and thus getting the muscles of steel, the unflinching pluck, and the unconquerable will that move and mould the world. Unconsciously, nerve by nerve, and fibre by fibre, they were building up the man who was to illustrate their name. There was, indeed, a cousin, John Yanderbilt, who became a member of the Assembly from Long Island. But he did not win fame. His principal mission as a legislator doubtless was, to move to adjourn when the appointed hour came around ; as the local records show that he was chosen to the office, not for his probity and ability, though he was probably both talented and hon- est, but "because it was his turne." The case is too ambiguous to disprove the rule of mediocrity. Generation after generation, the Vanderbilts had fed their stock and tilled their tough acres and asked no more. They had stood, successively, father and son, on the same green hill-side and looked down the bay through that open gateway, the Narrows, to the sea be- THE COMING MATST. 9 yond, without desiring to occupy it. Tlieyliad glanced languidly up the bay to the shining city in the dis- tance without burning to get a mortgage on it. They liad gazed joyously round upon the opulent earth with- out resolving to own it. Indeed, during all these years, the members of this family do not seem to have cher- ished any ambition of any kind, except to pay their taxes promptl}-, go to church regularly, and get to Heaven at last. AVith this they were satisfied. The fruit of the family tree was not yet ripe, but it was ripening. The man had not yet come who, filled with divine greed, would go forth on a magnificent crusade of conquest; who, inspired by personal avarice, would enter into the commercial emulations of his time with benefi- cent results ; who, determined to be master, would be- come pre-eminently the servant of his countrymen ; who, aiming only to push forward his own interests, would mysteriously advance the interests of all, promoting traffic and transit, increasing the general M^ealth and thrift, and augmenting the universal comfort beyond the dreams of philanthropy. Such a man, at the end of the fourth generation, made his appearance iu the person of Cornelius Vanderbilt. CHAPTER 11. BOYHOOD AND POVERTY. His Father and Mother — The Humble Home — Avoiding School — Fun and Hard Work — Wants to be a Sailor — Earns a Periauger — Readj for Business at Sixteen. Of the father of Cornelius we know little. He had no start in life, as he did not inherit even the meagre patriuionj ; for his father and mother died when he was a child, and the property that existed was dissipated by incapable or faithless trnstees. As he grew to man- hood he snot a livino- as he conld, assistino; the farmers at their work, and sailing a boat up to Kew York with produce. It is alleged tiiat he was the first boatman Avho established the habit of leaving his wharf near the Quarantine ground at a regular time ever}' morn- ing, and quitting ]^ew Yoj-k for home at a uniform hour in the afternoon. Thus he became, to a certain extent, the founder of tlie Staten Island Ferry that now carries twenty thousand passengers a daj'. He had just succeeded in getting a few acres together, when he made his fortune by meeting and marrying Phebe Hand, a woman of i-are qualities. She was born over in Rahway, and both of her grandfathers were farmers. Her uncle. Colonel Hand, fought at the battle of Long Island. A competence was left her by her THE commodore's mother. ins FATTIER AND MOTHER. 11 maternal grandfatlier, but tlie family patriotism in- vested it in "Continental Ijonds" and it was almost wholly lost, so she was compelled, as she emerged into womanhood, to rely npou her own labor for support. "When she first became acqnainted with Mr. Vanderbilt, she was residing in the family of a clergyman at Port Richmond, on the north side of the island, and there they married and set np housekeeping. He seems to have been an industrious plodder, but be was not very thrifty or forehanded. In fact, he was inclined to be improvident and to indulge in specula- tions that did not terminate profitably. They lived in a small house at Port Pichmond.^ More than once Mrs. Vanderbilt saved the little family from want, and it is known that on one occasion, when her husband was in a dire strait, she drew from an old clock s3,000, the care- ful hoardings of years, and rescued the place from his creditors. Her energy, forethought, and self-reliance served as an admirable countei'poise to the visionary projects and scheming propensities of her husband. The scanty family record shows that she was possessed of a high and strong character, and to this fact her favor- ite son always bore nnstinted testimony. The family lived for some years at Port Pichmond, on the Kill Yon Kull, and then moved to Stapleton, the residence being on the eastern face of Staten Island, on a gently sloping lawn that was washed by the tides of the Narrows, It stood ten rods or so back from the beach, and was not lifted moie than six or eight feet above high water. It was shingled all over, Avas of one story, with a loft above under a steep roof lighted by * Still standing, and the property of Dr. Harrison. 12 THE VANDERBILTS. dormer windows, and there could not have been more than five rooms in tlie wliole liouse. Tliis made rather cramped quarters for tlie father, motlier, and nine lively children. Even the great chimney seems to have felt the need of elbow-room, for it went outside and stood up like a grenadier at the gable end of the cabin, Cor- nelius and the older children were born at Port Rich- mond. They had opened their ej^es on the light of the slcy in a much smaller and humbler residence, and the father moved to Stapleton because it had become im- peratively necessary to " have more room." Taking possession of the fine five-roomed liouse on the beach was, in the Yanderbilt hive, analogous to sM'arming.* Cornelius Yanderbilt,t born May 27, 1794, was the second son, but when he was eleven years old his elder brother died, leaving him heir-apparent. The dauphin had not a vcvy brilliant prospect before him. His great-grandfather had brought up eleven children, his grandfather seven, and his father nine, and this severe service had quite exhausted the few acres on which the thrifty Aris had planted the family tree eighty years before. They had sailed a little, fished a little, and delved in the soil a good deal, and had managed to sur- vive in the humble fashion of those days. Cornelius attracted much attention by his personal * For description, see Ajipendix A. f He always wrote Ids name " Van Derbilt." as in the autograph upon the cover of this book ; hut he directed everybody else to write the name as one word. His oldest son, during his youth, com- promised between his father's custom and his command by leaving aspice after the first syllable, thus '* Van derbilt." On the old family tomb, built by the Commodore, the name stands " Vauder Bilt," but ou the new mausoleum it appears as " Vauderbilt." A LIVE BOY. 13 resoluteness and his love of out-door sports. That is to say, in the direct language of that uncircuitous age, "he was obstinate and disobedient, and h.ated to go to school.*' Indeed, he would not go to school if he could help it. When given his choice, limited to the two things, he even preferred to work. But plaj suited him best of all. He was hearty, hardv, tall, and strong of his age, bold, quick as a cat, sinewy, a good oarsman, an expert swimmer, an unsurpassed climber, a wrestler whom few could lay upon his back. In fact he seems to have had a remarkably vigorous mind, as \yell as body ; he early learned how to sail a boat and he learned the use of all accessible tools, — he could learn anything but his lessons. His mother used to tell of his riding an im- promptu horse-race, bare-back of course, before he was six years old. His antagonist was a slave-boy two yeai's his senior, and both of them went at full speed. The black contestant lived to be a Methodist minister.- Books and school Cornelius shunned. Multiplication was vexation, and Division M^as still worse, while he never heard of the Rule-of-Three. lie often lamented his illiteracy in after days. The Bible and spelling- book were the only books he remembered ever having used in school. But even orthography was a profound mystery to him, and all his life he insisted on " spelling according to common-sense " — a system which the Eng- lish language cannot tolerate. If young Cornelius avoided school, he loved the water. He seems to have been the first of his line who felt en- tirely at home upon the surface of the bay, and who * They met .again at tlie Commodore's liouse, ia Wasliington Place, after a separation of seventy-five years. 14 THE VANDERBILTS. looked down tlirongli the Xarrows with an acquisitive eje. Wliole summer afternoons, when he should have been, or at any rate, might have been, studying, he lay upon the lawn or sat in a tree-top near the house and watched the incoming and outgoing craft. It was a superb outlook, for the bay of New York is unequalled in the world for its generous expanse, its pleasant em- brace of fertile shores, its ever-changing beauty and its panorama of picturesque activity. Opposite was the forest of Bay liidge ; further off were the vacant slopes where now rise the white spires of Greenwood. Up the liarbor wei-e the first roofs of infant Brooklyn, and in the background, bej'ond, the greater city was dimly vis- ible against the sky. The boy was observing and had a retentive memory along the line of his predilections. lie soon distin- guished the difference between a schooner and a ship, a brig and a barkentine ; and it is alleged that it was not long before he knew by sight every ship belonging to the port, and learned the rig and outline of every fish- ing-smack or coaster that trafficked on the rivers. Like the other farmers along the shore, his father at last came to own a clumsy sail-boat of primitive pat- tern, with which to carry his produce to the city market. It had two masts and no deck, and its name had been Americanized from mellifluous Spanish into " periau- ger." * On this rude water- vehicle young Cornelius made himself useful, and thus escaped torment at the dreaded school. lie got, at an early age, so that he * It was the pr(Hlccessor of tlio cat-boat of flic jiresciit day. and its iiamo was probably carried to tlio Netliorlauds by tho terrible Alva. WORK AXD FUX. 15 could bo trusted to sail and steer the " perianger " as well as anybody, for there were yet no steamers to run him down. A stoi-y is told at this time which indicates that the family thrift was already bi-ewing in his father's arte- ries. The boy, as a reward for special hard work, hoe- ing potatoes, had been promised a holiday •' next Tues- day," during wdiich he and a neighboi'ing crony, Owen, could "go np to New York and have a good time." The morning came, and the father said : " Xow Cornele, there's the perianger for you ; I've pitched on moi-e than half of the hay, yon and Owen can just pitch on the rest, and take it np and unload it at the wharf as usual, and you can play on the way — both ways, going up and coming back ! Here's sixpence for you, my boy." The Commodore, in telling the story in after years, used to add, " A boy can get fun out of 'most anything, and we got some fun out of that ; but I remember we were just as tired that night as if we had been working." Before Cornelius had finished his eleventh year, his father had come to trust him to oversee and manage jobs requiring the prudence and thoughtfulness of a man, sometimes sending him many miles away from home with teams and men to assist in the nnloading of stranded vessels. lie always proved himself equal to such emergencies. When he was twelve years old, his father took a con- tract for getting the cargo out of a vessel stranded near Sandy Hook, and transporting it to Isew York in lighters. It was necessary to carry the cargo in wagons across a sandy spit. Cornelius, with a little fleet of lighters, three wagons, their horses and drivers, started 16 THE VANDERBILTS. from liome solely charged with the management of this difficult affair. After loading the lighters and starting them for the eitv, he had to conduct his wagons home by land^a long distance over Jersey sands. Leaving the beach with only six dollars, he reached South Am- boy penniless, with six horses and three men all hungry, still far from home, and separated from Staten Island hj an arm of the sea half a mile wide, that could be crossed only by paying the ferryman six dollars. This was a puzzling predicament for a boy of twelve, and he pondered long how he could get out of it. At length he went boldly to the only innkeeper of the place, and addressed him thus : " I have here three teams that I want to get over to Staten Island. If you will put us across, I'll leave with you one of my horses in pawn, and if I don't send you back the six dollars within forty-eight hours you may sell the horse." The innkeeper looked into the bright, honest eyes of the boy for a moment, and said : " I'll do it." And he did it. The horse in pawn was left with the ferryman on the island, and was redeemed in time. At last came the inevital)le hour. The seductive vision of moving sails had done its work on the boy's imagination. The wizard sea had wrought its spell. He slyly announced to his mother that he was going to be a sailor and should ship before the mast. He Avas sixteen years old, stalwart, tougli, and hardy. Of course, he would have to run away, for the youth of those days had not the fi-eedom they have at present— every boy's labor belonged to liis father absolutely until lie was HE BUYS A BOAT. 17 twenty-one, and the law held Iiini bound to render that service. His mother pleaded with him to give np hir, crazy fancy, and set before him its exposures, hardships, and dangers. He listened to' her. She was not only the family oracle, but she\vas the oracle of the neighborhood, whose advice was sought in all sorts of dilemmas, and whose judgment had weight. But he loved the sea and hated the farm, and he would be one of those " Who reap, but sow not, on the rolling fields." A compromise M-as possible. If he could not ship as a sailor, might he buy a boat ? If he only had ^100 with which to buy a boat ! The mother's love directed lier to a solution of the problem. After thinking of the matter over night she promised the boy * that if he would earn the hundred dollars he should have it. There was on the farm an eight-acre lot, so hard, rough, and stony that it had never been ploughed. The bar- gain was that if he would plough and harrow that eight acres and plant it with corn before the 27th of the month, the day when he would be sixteen, he should have the $100. He closed the contract and he exe- cuted it — partly by hard work, partly by stratagem. lie interested some of the neighboring boys in his scheme. He confided to them the fact that he was to have " a new periauger " of his own as soon as he got the patch planted, and he added casually that anybody who helped him finish the job right up in a hurry would be permitted to sail in the Avonderful craft, and perhaps * On May 1, 1810. 18 THE VANDERBILTS. to some extent assist in managing her. The remark bore fruit. Recruits flocked to his standard. And the fiekl was all ploughed, harrowed, and planted complete the day befoi-e his birthday.* He claimed his reward — it M'as reluctantly given — produced, no doubt, from his mother's inexhaustible clock. She had not much faith in his venture. He had long had his eye on a new and beautiful " periauger " over at Port Kichmond, which the owner wanted to sell, and now he rushed off and secured it. It would carry twenty passengers. He used to say, in later days, when in a reminiscent mood, " I didn't feel as much real sat- isfaction when I made two million in that Harlem cor- ner as I did on that bright May morning sixty years before M'hen I stepped into my own periauger, hoisted my own sail, and put my hand on my own tiller." It will be noticed that, np to this time, the boy had not been " a favorite of Fortune," as the envious called him in after years ; he had been helped by no special " good luck ; " every step had been won by hard work. Kext morning he had his anchor up bright and early, and announced that he was ready to carry freight and passengers to Kew York. Those who came down the beach to look at the craft found a capable-looking youth of sixteen standing in the stern — tall, vigorous, firmly- knotted, broad of shoulder, bright of eye, deft of hand, with a complexion of Avhite and pink, and a reassuring and agreeable smile. He could back a wild colt and subdue it, and sail a boat on the maddest sea, but he could scarcely write his name. * He liad evidently been reading about the decorative exploits of "Tom Sawjer." CHAPTER III. YOUTH AND AMBITION. Sails his Boat on tlie Bay— Fare, Eighteen Cents— Makes $1,000 a Year — Sturdy, Abrupt, and Honest — In War Times — Beats Van Duzen — Marries at Nineteen. In those days Kew York City was a cluster of houses and stores below Fulton Street ; Broadway came up to wliere the City Hall was rising, and disappeared in the cornfields to the north. The Bowery Avas a country lane, leading to the cow-pastures above Fourteenth Street. Canal Street was a brook running to the Hudson through huckleberry-fields. Centre Street was a lake covering ten acres, and a great marsh-bordered pond spread over the area which is now spanned by the approaches to the Brooklyn Bridge, Xew York had overtaken and passed Boston and Philadelphia, and it was growing. Most of the business was done in Hanover Square and Pearl Street ; there was no Water Street or South Street or Front Street or West Street, and " up-town " was in- habited only by farmers. This was the place to and from which " Young Cor- nele," as he was called, began his first trips of transpor- tation. A single fare was eighteen cents. He worked about sixteen hours out of every twenty-four. He car- 20 THE VANDEEBILTS. ried by daylight the casual freight or incidental passen- ger, and at night he bore across the Bay, whenever he could get a load, parties of the young of both sexes who went to enjoy the revel of promenading on the Battery in the moonlight, behind the rows of old cannon which still lingered there, and winding up the wild festivity by partakiug of walnuts and llip in the fashionable tavern of Bowling Green. The lad made money. At the end of the first year he gave $100 to his mother for the " perianger," and $1,000 besides. At the end of the second he gave her another $1,000, and in the mean- time had bought a fractional interest in two or three more " periaugers." Just at this time there came an extraordinary demand for boats. On account of the joyful manner in which we heard of and commented on the triumphant march of Napoleon in Europe the relations of this country with Great Britain were becoming strained, and war was menaced. So our seaports were immediately strength- ened. The forts now flanking the entrance to the Sound and the Narrows were hastily begun, and all available boatmen were kept busy bringing materials for their construction. Cornelius got his full share of the business. Often he skipped his dinner, and always went to bed late and was out with the dawn. Tlie young boatman was not blessed "with popular manners. lie was not conciliatory, and never seemed to care what people thought or said of him. He lacked the affability and suavity which are born of a love of approbation — the desire to please. He was not choice of his language. He was sometimes harsh, abru})t, uncere- monious, and even uncivil — like Julius Ga'sar, Kapuleon BOLD AND SKILLFUL. 21 Bonaparte, Wellington, Von Moltke, Belmont, and a good many others who liave never attained either wealth or fame. But he was honest. He charged fair prices. He al- lowed nobody to miderbid him. He believed in the competitive system of labor, which all sluggards who are beaten in the competition denounce as barbarous. He believed in " the survival of the- fittest," a law of nature that is never liked by the weaklings or by those who are unable to cope with their fellows on equal terms. He was thoroughly capable and willing. So he soon came to be the first person called on when anything dif- ficult or dangerous was to be done. When the winds were fierce, and the eyes were blinded with driving sleet, and the waves raged and howled for a victim, then the youth was in demand if anybody needed to go upon the bay. In this instance, as ever, the boy was father of the man. The traits he showed as a boatman on the bay were the very same tliat distinguished him fifty years later — the power of doing what he set out to do in spite of all obstacles. This was the key to the achievements of his life. When the British fleet tried to foi'ce its way past Sandy Hook, "to lay Xew York in ashes,*' as the Ad- miral gayly observed, the ill-equipped forts beat it off. The batteries had an important ally in a fearful storm that was raging at the time, but this niade it all the more diflicult to infoi'm the commanding otficer in the city of the attack and the repulse, and to obtain instant ]"einforcements. A messenger was sent to Staten Island for its most expert boatman. Cornelius was found and 22 THE YAXDERBILTS. summoned. Arriving at Sandy Hook, a staff officer asked him if a boat would live in such a sea. " Yes, if properly handled," was the answer. " Will yon take us to the Battery ? " " Yes ; but I shall carry you part way under water." "All right, young man ; we can stand that." They started, and after several hours of terrible ex- posure to cold and wet he landed them safely at the stairs at Whitehall. They were like drowned rats, and one of them declaimed that he did not draw one full breath throughout tlie stormy journey. But there they were, and the fort at Sandy Hook was reinforced next morning. He allowed nobody to beat him at the business he followed. One day, when the wind was off, and he was pulling his boat-load of passengers up through Butter- milk Channel, between Governor's Island and Brooklyn, he suddenly found his boat neck-and-neck with the boat of his tall rival, Jake Van Duzen. Beaten he must never be, and by the most powerful exertions he sent his boat swiftly forward to its destination. But he held the pole against his breast, and he put forth such efforts that it bored through the flesh to the bone, and made there a scar which he carried to his grave. One day during the war an advertisement appeared in the papers which stirred up some emulation. "When the boatmen M'ere anxiously considering what they should do to escape the draft and thus keep at their profitable \vork, a card was issued from the ofhce of the Commissary-General, ]\Iatthew L. Davis, inviting bids from the boatmen for the contract of conveying provi- sions to the posts in the vicinity of Xew York, during A GOVERNMENT CONTRACT. 23 tlie three months — the contractor to bo exempt from military duty. The boatmen canght at this, as a drow-n- ing man catches at a straw, and put in bids at rates pi'eposteronsly ]ow — all except Cornelius Vanderbilt. " Why don't you send in a bid ? " asked his father. " Of whatnse would it be ? " replied the son. " They are offering to do the work at half price. It can't be done at sncli rates." " Well,"' added the father, " it can do no harm to try for it." So, to please his father, but without the slightest ex- pectation of getting the contract, he sent in an applica- tion, offering to transport the provisions at a price whicli would enable him to do it with the requisite certainty and promptitude. His offer was simply fair to both parties. On the day named for awarding the contract all the boatmen excepting liim assembled at the commissai-y's office. He stayed at the boat-stand, not considering that he had any interest in the aM^ard. When they all, one after another, returned without the prize, he strolled over to the office, and asked the commissary if the con- tract had been given. " Oh, yes," said Davis ; " that business is settled. Cornelius Vanderbilt is the man." He was thunderstruck. " What ! " said the commissary, observing his aston- ishment, " is it yon ? " " My name is Cornelius Vanderbilt." " Well," said Davis, " don't you know why we have given the contract to you 1 " " No." 24 THE VATSTDERBILTS. " Why, it is because we want this business done^ and we know you'll do it." When he was nineteen years old he fell in love with Sophia Johnson, an attractive and capable young woman, and the daughter of his father's sister Eleanor. His mother objected to the match on the ground of con- sanguinity, and his father on the ground that so useful and profitable a member of the household could not be spared ; but he overcame both impediments and mar- ried her.* There are on the lips of the old people of Staten Island and New York many picturesque traditions of the prow- ess of young Yanderbilt about these days. One tells how, when injustice Avas attempted against him, he attacked with his fists an armed oiRcer in the midst of a battalion of soldiers, and compelled him to succumb. Another narrates how, when riding up Broadway at the head of a cavalcade of eight hundred Staten Islanders, in a procession, he was insulted by " Yankee Sullivan," whereupon he calmly dismounted and beat that re- nowned pugilist " till he couldn't stand." These stories liave an internal resemblance to the myths wherewith popular prodigies and heroes are always glorified, and the details need not be recounted here. War was raging around, and business was bi'isk. The young husband had obtained the contract to carrj^ pi-o- visions to the six forts around New York, and this im- mediately entailed extraordinary labors. To supply each of the six forts took one day, and each needed provi- sioning once a week. His boat was busy on the Staten Island route during the day, so he did the additional * December 19, 1813. BOATING AND PEDDLING. 25 work at night, loading up at the Battery every evening after the day's ferriage was over. Sunday furnished the only day or night of unbroken rest. The profits were hirge, and he was now enabled to build a beautiful little schooner for the coasting-trade, which he called the Dread, and which he sent under a captain up and down the Sound or ocean-shore, wherever a paying cargo could be found. From his several vent- iu*es he was earning a good deal of money, and the fol- lowing year he built a very large schooner named after his sister Charlotte, and put it on the line between Xew York and Charleston, commanded by her husband, Cap- tain De Forest. In one of his cruisings up the river he stopped with a community of Shakers. After he had remained with them a day and a night tliey refused to take any pay for the hospitality. The circumstance made a deep im- pression on his mind, and he never forgot it." He did coasting or river business indifferently, trans- porting or peddling, as the case might be. He was above no honest toil that brought in moneyj Xow he would carry l)oat-loads of shad up and down the shore looking for a purchaser. Xow he would collect tons of melons in Delaware, and boat them up to Albany, sell- ing them out, wholesale and retail, at the little towns on the way. When the war closed and he had passed his twenty- first birthday, he began earnestly to plan methods of improving the shape and build of ships. He allowed * Many years afterward, when president of the Harlem, he granted to them an important and nnusual concession, much to the surprise of his associates. 26 THE VAISTDEEBILTS. himself to be lianijDered by no precedents, and be intro- duced such innovations and modifications as attracted the attention of ship-builders, and made " Vanderbilt models " and " Vanderbilt methods " discussed even among the experienced and practical men of his craft. He soon built another vessel, a still greater departure from the usual patterns, and worked on.) Between ship- building and ship-owning, when he M^as twenty-three he balanced his books* and found that he was worth $9,000 in cash, besides his interest in various stanch sailing-vessels. But a new candidate had come to con- test with Boreas the supremacy of the sea, and Cornelius Vanderbilt sat down on ISTew Year's Day and thought it over. * December 31, 1817. CHAPTER IV. STEAMBOAT AND TAVERN. Abandons Sails for Steam — New York to Xe\v Brunswick — Figlit with a Monopoly — Dodging the Sheriff — Making his Point^ Large Profits — Pluck and Enterprise. The new-comer was Steam. Two years after Cor- nelius Yanderbilt was boi-n, John Fitcli, of Connecticut, had launched a steam-yawl, propelled by a stern-screw, on Collect Pond, a body of fresh water sixty feet deep, where the Tombs now stands, and though he had but a twelve-gallon pot for a boiler, he ran his nondescript around the pond witli great rapidity.* Tlie achieve- ment was almost forgotten when Kobert Fulton, eleven years later, launched the Clermont on the Hudson and steamed toward Albany against wind and tide at the rate of five miles an hour. John Stevens simultane- ously launched the Phffinix on the Delaware. These events caused a sensation, and M'ere heard of and talked of even in Staten Island. The State of Xew York hastened to grant exclusive patents to Fulton and Livingston for the running of steamboats on all the * Fitch had been before his invention a penniless adventurer, capt- ured and bartered for tobacco by the Indians of Ohio ; and, after his failure to attract attention by his steam-vessels on Collect Pond and the Delaware, he returned to the West, disgusted with the world's stupidity, and died of drink in the wilderness of Kentucky, while Fulton and Livingston were reaping his harvest. 28 THE YAXDERBILTS. waters within its jurisdiction, and the patentees pro- ceeded to profit bj it. Better boats than the Clermont were built, a higher speed was attained, and in some places they even drove off the sloops and 'schooners and took their place. By ISIO Fulton and Livingston had four regular steamboats plying on the Hudson, one on the Delaware and one on the St. Lawrence.* Ship-owners, as a class, derided the steamboat as " a mere plaything," which might answer for Sunday-scliool picnics, but could never be used to carry freight to ad- vantage, because the machinery took up so much room. Young Vanderbilt was a leader among this class, and participated in this sort of talk, but he did not allow it to blind his judgment as to probabilities. lie went and carefully examined Fulton's craft, took passage to Al- bany and back, studied the engines and machinery, and reluctantly made up his mind that the future of naviga- tion belonged to steamboats. lie saw that the usefulness of sailing-vessels was lim- ited by various conditions, \vliile the scope of steam was pi'actically unbounded. To the astonishment of his friends, he suddenly turned his back on sails, gave up the coasting business, sold out his interest in half a dozen vessels, and looked vaguely around for a steam- boat. He was eager to learn the business on any terms. Fulton and Livingston had been granted by the Leg- islature a monopoly of the new motor in Xew York State, but the privilege M'as not uncontested. Thomas Gibbons, a man with money and spirit, had started, a transportation line from iSTew York to Philadelphia, by * There was only one steamboat on tlie Mississippi at tlie time of tlie battle of New Orleans. FIGHTING A MONOPOLY. 29 steamer from tlie Battery to Xew Brunswick, at tlie head of liaritan River, thence by stage to Trenton, and by steamer again from Trenton to the point of destina- tion. Livingston fought him in tlie courts, got a de- cision against him, obtained an injunction to prevent the trip from the Battery to ISTew Brunswiclc, and put in the liands of officers warrants for tlie arrest of Gibbons and liis captain. Gibbons appealed to higher courts, but personally he stayed in New Jersey, and made reprisals as he could. In his defence, New Jersey passed a re- taliatory law, threatening with State prison any officer of New York who should arrest any citizen of New Jersey for steamboating in New York waters. But the officers attempting to execute the Livingston writs were carfeful to keep on their own side of the bay and the river. It was a bitter contest, and prolonged from year to year. Vanderbilt was naturally pugnacious. He always .took sides in a fight, and generally with the weaker party. So now, lie announced himself a Gibbonsonian, and was welcomed as an important recruit. A man of grit was needed to command the Mouse-of-the-Moun- tain, and though Vanderbilt had been clearing ^3,000 a year by luffing and tacking, he now accepted $1,000 a year as captain of that diminutive steamboat. He at once introduced a new order of things. He improved the Mouse in various ways, made his trips on time, discharged all superfluous help, cut down running ex- penses, and at the end of six months, the line began for the first time to return a profit to Gibbons. In a year the Bellona, a larger steamer, M\as built under Yander- bilt's supervision, and substituted for the Mouse-of-the- Mountain. 30 THE VAISTDEEBILTS. Tlie half-way-house at Xew Brunswick, where all passengers had to tarry over-night to take the morning stage, was dirtv and badlv-managed, and Vanderbilt's offer to " take it and run it," was promptly accepted. Thither he moved his M-ife with her babes from his father's little house at Stapleton, and put her in charge of the way-side tavern. This step was abundantly justi- fied by the results. Like his mother, his Avife proved to be a rare woman — strong, industrious, neat, frugal, skilful, courageous, and business-like. She turned the house wrong-side out and up-side down, cleaned it, reno- vated it, fumigated it, and made it fit for guests. The same energy, care, thrift, and economy which her hus- band exhibited for the next twelve years in command of the Bellona, she practised in command of Bellona Hall. The line at last was made to pay $40,000 a year to Gib- bons, and Captain Vanderbilt's salary was raised to $2,000. Besides the salary, the house at the point of transfer was a constant source of revenue." During more than half of these twelve years of ap- prenticeship to steam, Yanderbilt's life was one inces- sant fight with the monopoly created by the Legislature. The Bellona violated the patent of Fulton and Livingston from the moment she entered Xew York Bay, and the captain was subjected to repeated arrests and constant annoyance. There was one period when for sixty suc- cessive days an attempt was every day made to arrest him, but the captain baffled each attempt. He fought * Captain Vanderbilt is known to liave expressed some socialistic notions about these days, such as that John Jacob Astor was a dan- gerous monopolist, and "no man ever ought to be worth more than $20,000. ' ' DODGI^s'G THE SHERIFF. 31 the monopoly by every device lie could think of, and, as in the fable of old, made the tail of the fox eke ont the skin of the lion. When defiance failed to protect him, he resorted to stratagem and iinesse. lie took a young woman into the pilot-house and taught her to steer the boat, so that when the ofhcers of the law boai"ded the trespassing vessel off Governor's Island, they were greeted only with a confusing vision of petti- coats at the helm. They searched the lower decks on these occasions, but the crew had all been left in New Jersey, and the captain had retreated and hidden him- self in a fanel-closet which they could not find. This went on week after week, the M-rit of arrest being reg- ularly returned with the indorsement, non est inventus. In 1810 Captain Yanderbilt was caught on the wharf. In the custody of the exasperated and indignant sheriff he was taken to Albany on the next steamboat which the Stevenses sent up, and there M^as arraigned before the Chancellor, Livingston's successor, to answer for con- tempt of court. When the trial came off, it was found that the audacious captain had set a trap, and had gone ashore on purpose to be captured, having for that day only (Sunday) hired out to one Tompkins, who held a license under the Fulton-Livingston patents, lie was released. A little incident of these years he has sometimes re- lated to his children. In the cold January of 1820, the ship Elizabeth — the first ship ever sent to Africa by the Colonization Society — lay at the foot of Rector Street, with the negroes all on board, frozen in. For many days her crew, aided by the crew of the frigate Siam, her convoy, had been cutting away at the ice ; but as more ice formed at night than could be removed by day, 32 THE VAIS^DERBILTS. tlie prospect of getting to sea was unpromising. One after- noon Captain Vanderbilt joined the crowd of spectators. " Tliej are going the wrong way to work," he care- lessly remarked, as he tnrned to go home. " I could get her out in one day." These words from a man who was known to mean all he said made an impression on a bystander, who re- ported them to the anxious agent of the society. The agent called upon him. " What did you mean, captain, by saying that you could get out the ship in one day ? " " Just Mdiat I said." % " What will you get her out for ? " " One hundred dollars." " I'll give it. When will you do it ? " " Have a steamer to-morrow, at twelve o'clock, ready to tow her out. I'll have her clear in time." That same evening, at six, he was on the spot witli five men, three pine boards, and a small anchor. The difficulty was that beyond the ship there were two hun- dred yards of ice too thin to bear a man. The captain placed his anchor on one of his boards, and pushed it out as far as he could reach ; then placed another board npon the ice, lay down upon it, and gave liis anchor another push. Then he put down his third board, and nsed that as a means of propulsion. In this way he worked forward to near the edge of the thin ice, where tlie anchor broke through and sunk. With the line at- tached to it, he hauled a boat to the outer edge, and then began cutting a passage for the ship. At eleven the next morning she was clear. At twelve slie was towed into the stream. STICKING TO GIBBONS. B3 Every effort was made by the ricli Xorth River alli- ance to induce this plucky young captain to desert to their side. They sent an emissary who offei-ed him 85,000 a year to take charge of their largest boat. He declined. " No," he said, " I shall stick to Gibbons. He has always treated me square, and been as good as his Avord. (BesideSj^I don't care half so much about making money as I, do about making my jjoint, and coming out aheadP \ In 1S2J:, when he had continued the battle against monopoly seven years, the cause of Gibbons 'os. the suc- cessors of Livingston was decided in favor of Gibbons, in the Supreme Court of the United States. Daniel Webster made his great speech against the granting of such an exclusive privilege, and Chief Justice Marshall delivered the judgment of the Court, that it was uncon- stitutional. Thenceforth the boats were run in peace, and there was no longer before the captain's eyes the fear of a jail. The following is an advertisement of those early days : UNION LINE. For Philadelphia and Baltimore. Through To Philadeli)hia in one day J Twenty-five miles of land carriage, hy New Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton! The splendid new steamer, Emerald, Captain C. Vanderbilt, leaves the whai'f, north side of the Batteiy, at 12 o'clock noon every day, Sunday excepted. Travellers will lodge at Trenton and ariive at Philadelphia by steamboat at 10 o'clock next morning ! fare only three dollars ! For seats, apply to York House, No. 5 Coui-tlandt Street. New York, Sei>tember 15, 1826. f 34 THE VANDERBILTS. Another boat left at a later hour, whose passengers stopped all night at Bellona Hall, Kew Brnnswick. During these years, too. Captain Yanderbilt had been making a profound stud}' of the shape and equipment of steamboats ; had been locating their weaknesses, and drawing crude designs to remedy them. Fulton and Livingston were long since dead, but their intro- duction of steam had been followed by tremendous growth in all directions. Captain Yanderbilt told his Avife that he must take a hand in the spoils of this ncM'ly discovered realm, and to do so advantageously they nmst leave jS^ew Brunswick and return to ]^ew York Bay. Woman-like, she di-eaded to give up her home to try experiments. " I love this place," she said. " Our children have been born here. We have friends about us. AYe have prospered and can now count up $30,000 of our own. Why should we tempt misfortune by changing now ? " She had a strong ally in Thomas Gibbons, who warmly remonstrated with the captain. " If you leave me, Yanderbilt, it will break up the line. I can't get along without you. I will double your pay. Stay and I will let you have half of the line at your own price, and you may pay for it out of the profits." But Yan- derbilt's eye was fixed on the traffic of the Hudson and the Sound ; his acute commercial brain showed him how these could be marvellously expanded and devel- oped, and how he could put in practice those new prin- ciples of construction that he had forged during his meditations. So in 1829 he resigned and took his now muncrous family back to Kcw York City. In the spring of lb30 SHARP KIVALKY. 35 he made his appearance among the transportation grandees who controlled the waters of the State. They were richer than he, but they already knew him and feared him. It was a case of superior sagacity against long purses. He began to build boats with novel im- provements and run them in opposition to the old es- tablished lines. His chief and most enterprising an- tagonist, Stevens of lloboken, amazed at the dash of his onset, and supposing that he was '• backed by Gib- bons," surrendered the light and withdrew from the river rather than waste a fortime in cutting rates ; but that doughty couple, Daniel Drew and Dean Richmond, took his place in the battle. Vanderbilt constructed magnificent boats, faster, better, and more commodious than ever befoi-e seen, and he ran them at the lowest paying fares. His foible \vas " opposition ; " wherever his keen eye detected a line that was making a very large profit on its investment, he swooped down on it and drove it to the wall by offering a better service and lower rates."'" To understand what tremendous improvements were introduced into steamboating by this trio of giant com- manders, it is necessary only to travel on the shabby English river-boats or the primitive Rhine steamers of to-day, where the influence of these enterprising I'ivals was never felt. The Caroline, a little steamer which Yanderbilt con- structed at this time, met with an unusual doom. She was put on Lake Erie, and there was used by the in- surgents during the Canadian " rebellion." She was * After leaving Gibbons he made $30,000 a year for the first five years, then doubled it in 183(5. 36 THE VANDERBILTS. captured by an excited band of loyalists, in the Niagara River, and then she was cut from her moorings, set on fire, turned down the rapids, sent, like some splendid sacrificial offering over the mighty Falls, and torn to pieces in the mad whirlpool below. It is a fact worth noting that, although Vanderbilt, at one time or another, built or bought a hundred vessels, not one of them was ever wrecked, burned, or destroyed while in his possession. This must be assigned to the extreme care with which he selected his officers and men. Jle^ never insured a vessel. lie used to say, when spoken to on the subject: "Good vessels and good cap- tains are the best sort of insurance. If corporations can make money out of insurance, I can." Captain Yanderbilt came naturally by his early preju- dices against railroads. In October, 1833, the first se- rious railroad accident in America occurred on the Am- boy Railroad, in Xew Jersey. The Captain came near losing his life. He was pitched out, dragged along the track, and flung down a thirty-foot embankment. Sev- eral of his ribs were broken and pushed into the lungs, and the air escaped into the cellular tissue. His body was dangerously swollen, and lie was subjected to heroic treatment at his house, 13-i Madison Street,* by Dr. Jared Lindsey, then a young man. "I staid with him thi-ee weeks," says the doctor. " One night I bled him three times, and thus subdued the inflammation." * See Appendix B. CHAPTER V. HOME AND CHILDREN. His return to New York Harbor — Residence in the City — A New House on Staten Island — His Tliree Sons — Stern Management — William H. 's Exile to New Dorp. When he left l^ew Brunswick, in 1829, with his wife and cliildren,* he took them first to a quiet and humble tenement in Stone Street, near the Battery. The sur- roundings were narrow, unwholesome, and uncomfort- able, especially for the children, M'ho seriously felt the contrast with the open country to which they had been accustomed.f From here he soon sought a little more comfortable quarters in East Broadway, but this tene- ment was the reverse of spacious, and he shortly re- turned with his increasing family to the little honse at Stapleton, where his mother still resided with some of her daughters. This, of conrse, was far too cramped to be longer tol- erable, and Captain Vanderbilt, already regarded as a man of means, built his first family mansion on Staten * There were thirteen children in all, and ten of them were born in New Brunswick. One (Francis) died in infancy, and the story of the other three boys will be told. The nine girls all lived to marry and have families, but the captain and his wife were too busy to make a family record, and diligent inquiry fails to ascertain the dates of their children's birth. t ^^^ Appendix B. 38 THE VANDERBILTS. Island, in one corner of the ancestral farm. He had his eje on this lot early in life, and years before he built his permanent home there it was known among the neighbors as " Corneel's lot." Its site was on the north- east corner of the farm, near the water, on a rise of land overlooking the bay, midway between Stapleton and Tompkinsville, and those passing down that road may still see, surrounded by an iron fence, the residence of the great railroad king. It is an imposing dwelling, conspicuous for its high portico and tall Corinthian col- umns in front. IIe)"e he lived several years, du.ring the youth of his children. It was not until 1846 that the family moved to Xew York and made, at JSTo. 10 Washington Place, a perma- nent residence. It was a little too far np-town, but the tide was setting toward it. The "npper ten," as they were called, had begun to abandon that choice locality, St. John's Square, now occupied by the great freight depot of the Hudson River Railway Company. Bleecker Street, even, Avas ceasing to be the fashionable thoroughfare, and "Washington's Parade Ground, its name modei-nized to Washington Square, had become the aristocratic heart of the city. Trees had been planted, greensward put down, the stream that ran through it turned aside into the new sewer, and it had become the most desirable centre of resort and resi- dence. There the opulent AYest India merchants lived, and the great real estate owners and bankei's, the Rhine- landers, Jays, Schnylers, Lispenards, Van Rensselaers, and leaders of society. Long before this time, Yanderbilt had attracted great attention among the rich and pushing men of the city. THE EAKLY MILLIOISTAIRES. 39 111 a qnaint list of sncli lie is tlius mentioned: "Cor- nelius Vaiiderbilt, $750,000, of an old Dutch root; lias evinced more go-aheaditiveness than any other single Dutchman ever possessed. It takes our American hot suns to clear off the fogs and vapors of the Zuyder-Zee and wake up the phlegm of a descendant of old Hol- land." There were sixteen millionaires in the list, most of them now forgotten. Who remembers the million- aires Brandegee, Bowne, Barclay, Glover, "Ward, Leggett and Parrish, who flourished only forty-five years ago ? Captain A^anderbilt had striven to give all his chil- dren a fair education, and to prepare his three sons to follow in his footsteps and take care of the estate he was to leave behind liini. Of these last, George, the youngest, was his favorite, though, when lie was old enough, he sent him to West Point, thus apparently taking him out of the line of the commercial succession. His oldest son, William II.,* was never in early days regarded with great favor by his father. He seemed to him dull and commonplace, and in his candid moments the elder Vanderbilt was accustomed to call him a fool to his face. He usually addressed him and spoke of lain as " Billy ; " sometimes, resentfully, as '• Bill." The second son, Cornelius Jeremiah, was antipathetic to his father in all things : he was physically weak, and an epileptic — moody, irascible, unstable, indolent, petu- lant, extravagant, and fond of the gaming-table. The strong man had no toleration for this invalid ne'er-do-weel, and he early announced that no son of his should have any of his wealth until demonstrating his * William Henry, named after liis father's hero, General Harrison, who had won the battle of Tippecanoe ten years before. 40 THE YANDERBILTS. capacity to support liimself without any aid from him, Cornelius always wanted money, and one day, during the California excitement of '49, when his father, as usual, refused his demands, he ran away, and shipped before the mast for the land of gold. He went around Cape Horn, and the voyage tended to increase his physi- cal debility. A short stay was enough, and lie returned home again, only to be arrested on his arrival by his father and confined as a lunatic in the Bloomingdale In- sane Asylum. The evidence offered to prove that he was crazy was that he had used his father's name to procure funds when suffering from want in Sacramento. The incarceration was short, and his father thenceforth made liim a moderate annual allowance, increasing it considerably after his marriage in 1S56. Thus Corne- lius J. was early seen to be a failure, and the exacting father was not slow in assigning "William to the same category. The Captain was not only the incumbent of the throne, but the power behind it also. He ruled home, wife, and children with a rod of steel, and brooked no disobedience or contradiction. He manifested scant af- fection for his children, seldom sought their love or con- fidence, and treated them very nearly like anybody's else. After William was born at ISew Brunswick, in 18:^1, liis father noticed him only as much as he was compelled to. The boy went to the country school for four or five years, but he M'as not apt or ambitious in his studies, and when he was nine went with father and family to IS^ew York. Here he attended the Columbia Grammar School, and got some of the rudiments of youthful learning. At the age of seventeen he went into busi- AVILLIAM H. IN THE BANK. 41 ness in a small way as a sliip-cliaiidler ; but when he was eighteen his father transferred him as a clerk to the large banking-house of Diew, Kobinson & Co., in Wall Street, the senior partner being Daniel Drew. Tlie young bank clerk recalled the inverted compli- ments which his father had heaped upon him from time to time, and he resolved to disprove their applicability. He worked hard from morning to night. He was not very quick to comprehend or to learn, but by stubboi-n plodding he mastered the details of the business, and slowly but surely won the approval of his employers. His salary the first year was $150; the second year it was $300 ; and the third year it was made $1,000. During his twentieth year his affections became en- tangled with those of Miss Maria Louisa Ivissam, an educated young woman, and the daughter of a Brooklyn clergyman, and her he married — of course against the remonstrances of his father. " What are you going to live on ? " incjuired the lat- ter. "Isineteen dollars a week,*' replied the son, nothing daunted. " Well, Billy, yon are a fool, just as I always thought ! " and the great ship-owner went off disgusted. The young bank clerk and his wife lived on the nineteen dollars a week in a cheap boarding-house in East Broad- way. The Captain was M'orth a million dollars, but he had made up his mind that William was shiftless and reckless, and going to the dogs, and it was useless to spend money in trying to prevent the inevitable. Or perhaps he thought. If I give him money now he will never learn those important lessons which only Poverty 42 THE VANDERBILTS. teaches. The young clei'k strnggled on, and his yonng wife proved a blessing to him in every way. His home life, thence onwai'd for forty-live years, showed a whole- some and agreeable contrast to that of his father, who was cold and suspicious, and whose imperious will com- pelled everybody about him to move as he directed. He imagined that the fact that " Billy " was his son was the cause of his advancement at the bank, and gave him little credit for it. Suddenly William's health began to fail, and the phy- sician notified his father that he would probably die if he were not taken from the confinement at the bank. The Captain said, " Well, Billy, wdiat next ? " - " I don't know," said the young husband, " but I can support us two at almost anything." " You two ! " exclaimed his father ; "but there'll be more than two. I know the way of our family. You must go on a farm, where there'll be room." He bought a little farm of seventy acres of unim- proved land at Kew Dorp, Staten Island, between the old Moravian church and the sea ; and he no doubt re- marked to himself, " I am the only one of all our breed that is fit for anything except digging in that dirt!" The young couple accepted the gift without the blessing, and took possession of the lonely little homestead. It stood on the slope of the southeast shore of the an- cestral island ; a third of the horizon was the billowy sea, and straight in front of the cottage, toward the summer sunrise, the nearest land was Spain. CHAPTER VI. FROM, STEAMBOATS TO STEAMSHIPS. Running Steamboats in all Directions— To California via the Istli- mus — Worth Ten Million Dollars — A Yachting Cruise to Europe — A Line Across the Atlantic— The Mails — Lending a Vessel to the Government. Before lie Lad readied the age of forty lie was worth half a million dollars. He had a score of vessels in com- mission, most of which he had built himself, and these were of so superior a character and so rapidly increasing in number. that there was bestowed npon him by accla- mation the title of " Commodore." This honorary badge of distinction he wore all his life, and the designa- tion, first applied facetiously, was at last universally em- ployed as a serious recognition of his worth and power. During the next fifteen years he launched out broadly upon all the waters around ^ew York. He ran boats to Albany, sometimes at a loss, but generally at a profit, till Robert L. Stevens & Son '"^ bought him off. He built boats of new models and of great power, and es- tablished lines to Bridgeport, Norwalk, Derby, Xew Haven, Hartford, New London, Providence and iS^ew- *Tlie Commodore afterward said of the Stevenses, "Thev were the greatest projectors of their day, with more faith than Fulton, or Livingston, or any of us. They projected the New Jersey Railroad and Canal, which nobody else thought would ever pay a dividend." 44 THE YANDEllBILTS. port, and even Boston. lie reached in all directions for patronage, and the snppl}^ was equal to the demand. From 1S40 to 1S50 he made a great deal of money. On the outbreak of the gold fever of California in 1849, the Commodore hastened to avail himself of the opportunity which it offered to the enterprising carrier. The Pacific Mail Steaniship Company monopolized most of the transportation service, running steamers in connection with both shores at Panama. The price for the round trip was $600, and the service was verj^ bad. " I can improve on that," said Yanderbilt ; " 1 can make money at $300, crossing my passengers by Lake Nica- ragua, a route six hundred miles shorter." He built a fine large steamer, the Prometheus,* and steamed down to the Ts icaragua crossing, three or four hundred miles this side of Panama, dragging a small, side- wheel steamboat, the Director, in tow.f This last was for transporting passengers across Lake Kicai'agua, which is a hundred miles long and fifty broad, located among the tops of the Andes. How to get the boat up into the lake was the question. The San Juan River empties out of it, into the Caribbean Sea, near where the Prometheus was anchored, but no boat had ever tried to ascend it. Yanderbilt sent his engineers to ex- plore it. They were gone a week, and reported that the stream was not navigable ; that there were bars and rocks, fallen trees and rapids and cascades in great * This was tlie first steamer ever owned by an individual. f He was so secretive about this venture that he ieft home in 1850, it is alleged, without bidding good-by to his wife. She missed him and made inquiries, found that the steamer had gone, whither no one knew, and that he had been recently much seen studying a map of Central America. In three weeks he was heard from, via Panama. THE CALIFOIINIA LINE. 45 numbers ; bnt that tliey might drag the boat along by easy stages, and cut side canals around the places that were too steep to climb. Tliis report disgusted the ISTapoleon of navigation, who felt that he was losing $5,000 a day by the delay. He tired up the little Director, boarded her with thirty men, and announced to them that he was going up to the lake"Mnthout anymore fooling." The engineers were appalled, but on he went. Sometimes he got over the rapids by putting on all steam ; sometiines when this did not avail, he extended a heavy cable to great trees up stream and warped the boat over in that way. Every device was resorted to. On returning to New York the engineers reported that he " tied down the safety-valve and 'jumped' the obstructions, to the great terror of the 'whole party." He finally got to the lake and established his through line. It was a good deal like the old Gibbons line — a boat at each end and a portage between. Then came an enormous rush of passengers, and the means of trans- portation were increased. Two steamers were placed on the river, the Clayton and Buhver, and a large one, the Central America, on the lake. On tlie Atlantic side the Commodore put the Prometheus, which was his first ocean-built steamer, the Webster, the Star-of- the-West, and the Northern Light, and on the Pacific side five others. He started a boat from New York every fortnight, and soon had the bulk of the travel, making large sums and swelling his already innnense fortune. He made more than a million dollars a year in Nic*a- ragua, besides the revenue from other enterprises at 46 THE VANDEEBILTS. the same time. In the will contest, March 15, 1878, Jacob J. Yan Pelt, who had known the Commodore for lif tj years, said : " I remember when the Commodore went off with his family in the North Star. I asked him if he had everything fixed. He said yes, and added : 'Yan, I have got eleven millions invested better than any other eleven millions in the United States. It is worth twenty -five per cent, a year M'ithout any risk.'" In 1853, thinkin.g he deserved a holiday, he sold out his Nicaragua route to the Transit Line, and celebrated his commercial success by going to Europe in the world- renowned North Star, the largest pleasure steam-yacht that had ever been coifstructed. It was a vessel of two thousand tons, palatial in capacity and equipment. Ac- companying him were his wife, and eleven children.* It was an exhibition to Europe of a notable specimen of republican institutions. The steamer was the largest that liad ever been afloat at that timcf It was con- * 1, Pliebe Jane, wife of one of her father's steam-ship captains ; 2, Ethelinda, wife of D. B. Allen, a retired merchant ; 3, AVilliam H. ; 4, Emily, wife of W. K. Thorne ; 5, Eliza, Mrs. Osgood ; 6, Sophia, wife of Daniel Torrance, a Montreal merchant; 7, Marie L., wife of Horace F. Clarke ; 8, Frances, wlio died at the age of forty ; 9, Maria Elecia, wife of N. La Ban ; 10, the wife of Captain Barker ; 11, George, the yonngest, f Tlie steam-yacht North Star was built exjiressly for the pleasure excursion to Europe, by Commodore Vanderbilt. It was 260 feet long on the keel, 270 feet on the spar-deck, had a breadth of beam of 88 feet, and was 28 feet G inches deep. It was furnished with two lever-beam engines, and had four boilers, each 24 feet long. The main saloon was fitted up with satinwood with just sufficient rose- wood to relieve it. Tlie furniture was of rosewood carved in the .style of Louis XV., and upholstered with figured i)lush velvet, a green ground filled with llowers. The two sofas cost $o50 each ; the THE GREAT YACHT CRUISE. 47 strncted on American models, by American workmen, in an American ship-yard, and was commanded l)y the man who was at once the owner, captain, designer, and builder, himself the most remarkable .of American products, for he liad risen to his position without tho' aid of ancestry behind him or influential friends about him, and was travelling in an ocean palace, the centi-e of a flock of children equal to those of patriarchal times. His story, repeated from nation to nation, did much to stir the hopes and hearts of millions of peasants and turn their eyes across the western sea. Everywhere Vanderbilt and the North Star were received with hon- ors. It was difficult to make the people of Europe be- lieve tliat he was not a titled personage ; for in no other four couches $300 eacli ; aud the six arm-chairs $50 each. There were ten elegant state-rooms connecting with the saloon, each with a large ghass door, the plate being 40 by 04 inches, and costing $100. The berths were furnished with silk lambrequins and lace curtains. Each room was in a di3erent color, as green and gold, crimson and gold, orange, etc. Forward of the grand saloon was a magnificent dining-room. The walls were covered with a preparation of "lig- neous marble," which was polished to a degree of mirror-like briglit- ness that marble is incapable of receiving. The panels were of Naples granite, resembling jasper, and the surbase was of yellow Pyrenees marble. The ceiling was white, with a scroll-work of pur- ple, li_ght green, and gold surrounding medallion portraits of Webster, Clay, Washington, Franklin, and others. The china was of ruby and gold finish, and the silverware was the finest that could be had. With the exception of a chaplain and family physician with their wives, the passengers in the North Star were all members of the family of Captain Vanderbilt, twenty-three persons in all. The cost of this excursion was half a million of dollars. The party visited Southampton, London, Stockholm, up the Neva to St. Petersburg, then back to Gibraltar, and on to Naples, Malta, Athens, Constanti- nople and Alexandria. [For further, see Appendix C] 48 THE VANDERBILTS. way could tliey account for the magnificence and ele- gance in wliicli lie moved. In Southampton he was honored with a ceremonious dinner at wliich two hundred sat down, many of theui the best known publicists of England. At Boulogne, Marseilles, and Genoa he was received with deep and wide-spread interest, and saluted by the assembled ship- ping. At St. Petersburg the Grand Duke Constantine and the Admiral of the Russian Navy visited the ship and obtained permission to have drawings made of her model. At Constantinople the officers of the Sultan were equally inquisitive, and tendered to the Commodore many compliments, doubtless in view of the existing difficulties with " the Bear of the North," and the need of American sympathy in the preparations being made for that Crimean War which broke out the next year. At Leghorn, under the dominion of Austria, the North Star was regarded as a spy, and was evenbelieve(i to be laden with munitions of war for the enemy at the Bosphorus. So it was placed under surveillance, frowned on by the guns of an Austrian num-of-war, and when the visitors walked abroad in Leghorn they were es- corted by a military officer for fear of unpleasant acci- dents, with a crowd of the ununiformed sMrri hovei'ing about them. On the i-eturn of the party to New York, the Com- modore rounded to in front of his old home at Stapleton, and gave a royal salute to his venerable mother, who lived in the little brown house upon the slope — the mother whose wisdom and frugality had supplied him with $100 to buy his first " periauger." Then he went W. II. VANDERBII.T. ruNisniisrG the transit company. 49 off in a boat and paid Iior an affectionate visit before proceeding on his way. Within three months the old lady died, expressing in her last words the pride and pleasure she felt in the love of lier rich and successful son. [See portrait.] He now found himself in trouble M'ith the Nicaragua Transit Company, to which he had sold a controlling interest in his short route for the transportation of Cali- fornians. The men to whom he sold had got rich, and now refused to pay him according to the terms of the contract. To prosecute them under the forms of law would be an interiuitional affair, and would involve great expense and nmch time. So the Commodore Avrote them a note, which for brevity and energy recalls those mar- velous epistles of twenty words which Napoleon uttered when he wrote to the King of Prussia, " The success of my arms is not doubtful. Your troops will be beaten." The steamship general now wrote : Gentlejien : You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue you, for law is too slow. I will ruin you. Yours truly, CoKNELius Van Derbilt. He kept his word. He put on another fleet of steamers, and in two years the opposition line was ir- retrievably bankrupt. Vanderbilt remained in the Cali- fornia shipping business nine years more, making money all the while, and accumulating not less than $10,000,000 in the business. At this time a remarkable character appeared on the Central American stage — the filibuster. Walker. Vanderbilt refused to transport his men or munitions. Needing some money to carry out his revo- 4 60 THE VANDERBILTS. lutionary schemos, lie seized upon tlie Yanderbilt fran- chise, and arbitrarily confiscated it and resold it to creatures of his own. Yanderbilt managed to save his steamers from capture, and as soon as possible he brought them again under the protection of the stars and stripes ; for he had another large venture on his hands -which needed attention. When he returned from Europe he found the Cri- mean war already broken out. The Cunard line of steamers had been withdrawn for service between Eng- land and the Black Sea. Collins was running a weekly line of very good American steamers, but this was only half the service required, and Vanderbilt offered to form a partnership ^\^tll him and put on two more steamships. Collins declined ; he feared to let the ter- I'ible man get a foothold on his property, " Very well," said the Commodore. He then went to Washington and offered to put on two Atlantic steamers, running once a fortnight, if Congress would pay him for carrying the mail the same that the Eng- lish steamers had been getting— 116,000 a trip. The Collins line (American) was running, and receiving for the mail $33,000 a trip, and Mr. Collins now visited Yanderbilt to beg him not to bring down the price. "If you will charge $33,000," said Collins, " I will back your bill with my whole Congressional influence, and Ave can pass it." "No," said the inexorable Commodore; "my motive is a patriotic one. If an Englishman can carry the mails for $10,000, 1 can. I won't admit that a Bi'itisher can beat us." "It is not business, Connuodore," said the man of AN OCEAN" LINE OF STEAMERS. 51 subsidy, " to take ^16,000 when yon can get twice that. 1 can't make it pay as it is." " Then yon are probably in a business that yon don't understand," persisted the Coniniodoro ; " let nic try it." In response to Collins's ui-gency he substituted another proposition, whieli he called a " compromise," to carry the mails for it;19,750 a round trip, and agree that he should not be paid anything if he failed to beat the Collins steamers every trip. But he could not get even this measure through Con- gress. The Collins subsidy influence was too strong. Yet he was not embittered, and when the Arctic was lost he offered his rival the North Star for nothing, till he could replace her. Then he calmly went to work, built three Atlantic steamers, finer and faster than any in the world, and organized a new line from Xew York to Havre. These vessels were the Ariel, the Harvest Queen, and the never-to-be-forgotten Yanderbilt ; and their accommodations were so palatial, and their speed so great, that they became the favorites of travellers. The ocean races of this time were most exciting, and attracted world-wide attention. The racers of the Col- lins' line were the Arabia and Persia, and those of the Havre line the Yanderbilt and the Ariel. The Commo- dore's steamers made the quickest time nine trips out of ten. Then he proclaimed his grand coup. He offered to carry the foreign mails for nothing. This struck terror to the heart of Collins. President Pierce vetoed his subsidy, and the " Collins Line " disappeared from the ocean. Yanderbilt did not seize upon the Atlantic cari-ying 52 THE VANDERBILTS. trade as it was expected he would do Avlien lie got such a firm hold of it. He v;as not a man of sentiment or of chimeras. There was nothing Quixotic about him. He carefully examined the business, and concluded that it " wouldn't pay to push it." So he sold some of his ves- sels, transferred some to other lines of travel, and grad- ually began to withdraw his money from shipping, where it must always suffer from European competition, and invest it in railroads which were protected fi'om the ri- valry of half-paid Italians and Scandinavians. When the Kebellion broke upon the country, a good many of his investments had already been transferred from the water to the land, so that his prosperity suffered no shock.* He was now an old man ; but his usefulness was not 3'et over. When the rebel ram, Merrimac, burst out of its hiding-place, and made such fearful havoc among * In 1818 Mr. Vauderbilt attended to the building of tlie steamer Bellona, of wliicli lie was fifterward Captain. He afterward bxiilt many other steamships, as follows: In 1820, the Caroline; 1821, the Fanny ; 1822, the Thistle and Emerald ; 1824, the Swan ; 1826, tiie Citizen ; 1827-28, the Cinderella, Bolivar, Clifton, Clayton, Union, Chamjiion, New Champion, Nimrod, Hunchback, Living- ston, Director, Cleopatra, Westchester, Sound Champion, Linnaes, North Carolina, Governor Dudley, Vanderbilt, and Gibraltar, the four last for the regular mail line between Washington and Charles- ton. Then followed the Gladiator, Kill von KuU, Central America, Sylph, Westfield, Augusta, Wilmington, Red Jacket, Traveller, Hugue- not, Graysia, Hannah Burt, Eastern, C. Vanderbilt, and Commodore, the last two forming the great Boston line, via Stonington. He next placed on the route across the Isthmus eight steamships, and the five vessels that ran between Havana and Matanzas. He also built the Prometheus, Daniel Webster, Star of the West, Northern Light, and North Star. At this time he gave employment to more men than any otlier one man in the country. HEADING OFF THE MERHOIAC. 63 onr frigates in Hampton Roads, great was the conster- nation in AV^ashington. Ericsson's little Monitor, arriv- ing at Fortress Monroe in the nick of time, had driven the monster into his cave, hnt it was feared that he would emerge again presently and continue tlie devasta- tion. Thurlow Weed was at the Capital at the time, and he telegraphed to Commodore Yanderbilt, with whom lie had already been associated in the work of sending sol- diers to the front. The Commodore went at once. On liis arrival, he was taken into the presence of the Presi- dent, whom he found in great distress and alarm. His attention was called to the condition of affairs at Fort- ress Monroe, and Mr. Lincoln asked : " How mnch will you take to stop that rebel ram and keep it away ? " " No money will hire me to do it," said the visitor. " I will not make money out of the sorrows of my country." The President was perplexed and silent, but the Com- modore presently said: "I have a ship that I believe will take care of that devil. If you will man it I will take the command, and go down there and do the busi- ness up myself. I ask only that I may be free from the bossing of the Xavy Department." Instant relief was felt and expressed. He returned to i^ew York on the first train, and in thirty-six hours lie was steaming past Fortress Monroe into the mouth of the James River, and the admiral in chai'ge looked inquiringly and admiringly at the steamer whose shadow loomed over the water like a great cloud. Tlie Commodore was then sixty-seven years old, and the ship was his sturdy namesake, the Vanderbilt. She was the 54 THE VANDERBILTS. pride of his lieart, tlie concentrated result of all his matured knowledge of ship-building. lie showed his credentials. The officer in charge asked him what he proposed to do if the Merrimac should reappear. " Run her down," he said, " as a hound runs down a wolf ; strike her amidships and sink her." " How can 1 help you ? " " Only by keeping out of the way when I am hunt- ing the cutter." The Merrimac was seen no more. She kept her hid- ing-place. After the danger was over, the Commodore returned home, and was superseded by a naval officer. He wrote and offered the vessel to the government till the war should be over, and the offer was gladly ac- cepted. Wlien the Alabama commenced her ravages, the Yanderbilt, now equipped as a war-vessel, went after lier and hunted her for twelve months. At the close of the war, during which Vanderbilt had made great contributions, and had given the life of his favorite son, the government, instead of returning the borrowed vessel to her owner, had her mustered into the United States Navy, and formally returned thanks for tlie present ! The followino; are the resolutions of Cono-ress : " WIte}'eas, Cornelius Vanderbilt, of New York, did, during the spring of 1862, make a free gift to his imiDerilled couutiy of his new and stanch steamship Vanderbilt, of five thousand tons burden, built by him, with the greatest care, of the best mate- rial, at a cost of $800,000, which steamship has ever since been actively employed in the sei-vice of the republic against rebel devastations of her commerce, and THANKED UY CONGRESS. 65 " inm'eas, the said Covnelius Yandorbilt has in no manner songht any requital of this magnificent gift or any official recog- nition thereof ; therefore " BESOii\'ED, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the thanks of Congress be presented to Cornelius Vanderbilt for his unique manifestation of a fervid and large-soulod patriotism. "Eesolved, That the President of the United States be re- quested to cause a gold medal to be struck which shall fitly embody an attestation of the nation's gratit^ide for this gift, which medal shall be forwarded to Cornelius Vanderbilt ; and a copy of it shall be made and deposited for preservation in the Library of Congress." An "appropriate" medal was struck of solid gold, weio'liing six oimces, and measuring three inches across. On the reverse is the likeness of the donor, or, ratlier, of tlie former owner of tlie vessel, and the legend " A grateful country to her generous son," and on the ob- verse, in has reliefs the figure of Columbia with Xep- tune laying his trident at her feet, and the motto, ^'' Bis dat qui tenipori dat " (he gives best who gives quickly), and in the back-ground a correct outline of the steamer Vanderbilt. The Congressional Committee authorized to present him with the resolutions and tlie twenty-five-dollar medal had rather a stormy time of it. lie rehearsed the particulars of the theft, and asked them if that was the way a great and noble nation ouglit to conduct itself. Some of them declared that they liad misunderstood, and wanted to return the vessel. " Xo ! devil take your impudence ! " shouted the Commodore, " keep her. I don't care about a little thing like that ! " Commodore Vanderbilt was now one of the richest 56 THE VANDEEBILTS. men in Xew York, l^early a linndred vessels answered to his call. His keels fretted every sea. lie never speculated, but always bought property to improve it. He was not content unless everything that he owned prospered. The magnates of Wall Street began to look at his great wealth with an inquiring eye, for when the Rebellion broke out he was worth not less than twenty millions of dollars. CHAPTER VII. TWENTY YEARS A FARMER. William at New Dorp, Staten Island — The Farm — Energy and Econ- omy — The Seat on tlie Fence — A Mortgage and Consequent Wrath — " Four Dollars a Load" — A Spurt on the Road— A New House — The Farm Pays. AYhen, ill 18412, William II. Yanderbilt went to his farm on the southeast shore of Staten Island, at the foot of the lane leading from the New Dorp chnrch to the beach, he was no better off in this woi'ld's goods than his farming neighbors. Indeed, he was poorer than most of them. The house to which he took his yomig wife, and in which he lived till ISO-Jr, was a small, square, plain, two-stoiy structure facing the sea, with a lean-to at one end for a kitchen. All told, it could hardly have contained more than five rooms — about as many as that in which, two generations before, his grandfather had reared his family at Stapleton, five miles north across the fields. The little farm was a part of the neglected barrens of Staten Island, and needed abundant fertilizing and care- ful tillage to render it fruitful. Fortunately, it proved tolerably easy to cultivate. It was almost as level as a house-floor, without a stone or stump, and the soil a thin sandy loam. Then, as now, there were but few trees on the place, and these mostly clustered about the front of 58 THE VANDEEBILTS. tlie house, or fringed the lane leading up to the road. Then, as now, all of these shore farms had a hit of woodland back on the hills, sufficient to furnish fence- rails and fuel for the winter's fires. From the first, Mr. Vanderbilt determined to make a success of farming. He was poor, but he meant to be better off. The house was small, but he resolved that it should be larger. The land was poor, but he planned how to enrich it and make it profitable. He was un- known and unnoticed, but he meant by-and-by to be on a social and financial equality with his neighbors. His method was novel in that region. He never worked much with his own hands, following the plow or hoeing corn, but he took care that those whom he employed did a good day's M'ork, and he was always master of the situation. He was what is called " a gen- tleman farmer ; " l>ut he gave his undivided attention to the business in hand, and got as much as it was possible to get out of his narrow acres. One-of his old farm-hands say^ : " He was a hard mas- ter to work for. He would hire fresh hands in the spring or during haying ' on trial,' and naturally they would take care to produce a good impression with their first day's work. At night Mr. Vanderbilt would count the number of rows of corn they had hoed, or the number of bales of hay they had pressed, and then re- quire them to do the same amount of work every day.'^ He would tolerate no shirk on the place ; and if a man did not come up to his requirements, he was paid off and discharged. " Billy," said the Commodore, visiting him one day, " I think you work your men too hard." AN EXACTING BOSS. 59 " They are willing to work hard if I have the money to pay them," was the I'eply, and the old millionaire M^as no doubt secretly pleased. " He was a downright square man," says one who worked for him for twenty years, " sociable, reliable, honest, prompt to pay, quick to recognize merit. I don't want any better boss." lie looked sharply after liis men, and allowed none to idle. His favorite occupation was to sit upon the top rail of the fence surrounding the field, and whittle a stick or read a newspaper while watching the men. All the neighbors laughed at this method of tilling the earth, and even the workmen had their quiet fun over it. One of these, still living, tells a story to the young farmei"'s disadvantage. He was directed one afternoon to repair the fence where they were planting corn, and he adjusted the top rails with their sharp edges up. Mr. Vanderbilt came out in the morning as the men went to work, and walked all round the field looking for a com- fortable place to sit. " How's this ? " he shouted to the fence-builder. " What did you put all the rails on this way for — sharp edge up ? " " Because," answered the man, as his fellows began to titter, " so's folks won't be coming along and sitting on 'em and wearing 'em out." He was already fond of horses, and at times lie rode behind the mowing-machine ; and every afternoon about four o'clock he went for a drive along the smooth roads of Staten Island. Society, finance, the great city, the world beyond the bay, seemed to have no attrac- tions for him. He was essentially a domestic man, lived 60 THE YANDERBILTS. largely in the midst of liis farnilj, and spent all his evenings at home. On Sniidays he took his wife and his growing children hehind liira, and had a spin np the island to the Episcopal clinrch at Clifton, passing the little Moravian clmrch of his ancestors on the way. The farming experiment was a success. He had in five years transformed the wastes of his little farm into a blooming garden. The seventy acres returned a fair in- come, and enabled him to support liis family well, and to keep the best horses on tlie island. But he was am- bitious to enlarge the fiekl of his operations, and through a friend he applied to his millionaire father for a loan of $5,000. " No ! " was the answer. " It is just as I expected. He is a lazy spendthrift, and will never amount to any- thing." William then borrowed $6,000 of a neighbor, gave a mortgage on liis farm for it, and bought enough of the adjoining land to give him three hundred and fifty acres. He also enlarged his house. The neighbor of whom he borrowed the money was more talkative than discreet. In the grocery down at the village he took the large note from his pocket and exhibited it, casually remark- ing: "Some folks says that Cornele Yanderbilt is wuth two million dollars or more, and there's folks that be- lieved it. Well, mebby he is '; but you can't tell how much them New Yorkers is wuth — nor how little neither." The old man heard of the speech, and the next Sun- day he drove down to New Dorp and asked his agricult- ural son to go outriding with him. The invitation was accepted, and a conversation ensued, which was told of afterward by the unhappy son. REPROACHES AND HELP. 61 " Billy, have you borrowed money of that old fool ? " " Yes, father ; I couldn't help it." " You know what I think of such things ? " " Yes, father ; but " " Bill, you don't amount to a row of pins ! You won't never be able to do anything but bring disgrace upon yourself, and your family, and everybody con- nected with 3'ou. There's nothing to you, and Tve made up my mind to have nothing more to do with you ! " Wlieu he had a chance to speak the young farmer re- marked that he had done nothing to be ashamed of ; that the mortgage was a business operation, and he could and should pay it off when due ; that he had al- ways tried to please his father, and should need no money from liim at any time. The next morning the Commodore sent him a check for the 86,000, with the remark that he was '' lending a little on real estate himself just now," and orders to his son to pay off the mortgage before he slept. In farming William II. Vanderbilt gave his atten- tion chiefly to hay, corn, potatoes, and oats. Sometimes he raised annually some 1:00 tons of timothy, 1,500 bar- rels of potatoes, 1,000 bushels of corn, and 10 aci-es of oats. Some years he had a good-sized patch of cab- bages, the product of which he sold ia Clifton. He M'as not a " truck-farmer," growing only enough vegetables for his own nse, and keeping enough cows to supply his family wants. At first he took his hay and corn up to Xew York on echooners, and sold them in open market ; but when 62 THE VANDERBILTS. liis father became interested in the horse-rail way he had a sure market, at top prices, for all he could raise. During the war he made money rapidly, selling all of his hay to the Government at Camp Scott, on the island, where Sickles's Brigade was formed, and disposing of his potatoes at the rate of $0 a barrel. In a bargain made about this time he got ahead of his father and turned toward himself, temporarily at least, some of that gentleman's admiration. His fertil- izing matei'ial he obtained from the city, and one day he got some from the Fouilh Avenue stables and car- ried it down on a scow\ The next day he saw his father and asked him how much he would charge for ten loads. "What'll you give?" asked the Commodore. ".It's worth $4: a load to me," said the farmer. " Good enough, I'll let yon have it for that," answered the railroad man, having a very decided impression that the price named was at least twice as much as the stuff M^as worth. Kext day he found his rustic son with another scow just loaded for home. " How many loads have you got on that scow, Billy ? " asked the Commodore, in excellent humor. " How many ? " i-epeated the son, feigning surprise, " one, of course." "One! why there's at least thirty ! " the old gentle- man exclaimed, inspecting it curiously. " Xo, father, I never put bnt one load on a scow — one scow-load ! Cast off the lines, Pat ! " The senior Vanderbilt made no reply. He would let it go so, and Bill should have the rest of it. He was struck dumb with a mixture of cham-in and frratiiica- THE COMMODOr.E ASTONISHED. 68 tion. The workman "who narrates the incident aatlietic nods and said, " His second childhood ! This dabbling in I'ailroads spi'ings from the morbid, irrepressible activity of old age, and will end in his ruin." The world had accepted him as the greatest steamboat manager that ever lived, and it could not comprehend that he was equally great at everything. Along toward Apiil a rumor was in 'the air that the Commodore had got some new franchise, or advantage, but nobody seemed to know exactly what it was. Stock crept up to 50. Suddenly, on the evenhig of April 21st, the Common Council of the City of Xew York passed an ordinance authorizing him to build a street railroad all the way down Broadway to the Batterj' ; and next d*ay, when the brokers heard of it, up went Harlem to 75 at one jump, then crept along to par. The Commo- dore and his friends felt rich, and he was elected Presi- dent of the road on May 19th ; but the game was not yet finished. Late in June a curious phenomenon was noticed by close observers : the very xVldermen who had been so generous with their franchises began to sell Harlem short — that is, sell it for future delivery at a pi ice lower than the price then prevailing. These men had made up their minds that they could all get rich by selling the 4 74 THE VAIS^DERBILTS. stock short, and then repealing the ordinance they had just passed giving the street-railroad franchise to the Commodore. They let their confidential friends into the secret, and they gave their confidential friends the " point," till there were a thousand men throwing Harlem npon the market. To the uninitiated it may be M'ell to explain this familiar trick of stock-gamblers : When stock in Har- lem was selling at 100, they could get plenty of people to agree to take it in a month at 90 ; then they could repeal the ordinance that had sent it up, and, logically, it ought to drop to 50 or 60. By buying at these prices and delivering at 90, they could make the difference, $30 or $40 a share. This is what they attempted to do. The Commodore heard of the perfidy, but he calmly went on buying, and got others to buy for him. He took all the "shorts" which Drew and the other " bears " liad to offer ; and, as the total amount of the stock was not large (one hundred and ton thousand sliai-es), the greedy operatoi-s had, before they knew it, sold more than existed. Then the Council rescinded the ordi- nance, and Judge Brady simultaneously, in the Court of Common Pleas, enjoined the laying of rails in Broad- way, Everything looked like disaster foi' Yanderbilt. The merry brokers kept selling short. The stock dropped to 72, rebounded, dropped, and rose and fell again with febrile symptoms. At this juncture those who had sold short wanted to deliver, and Avent into the market to buy "cheap.*' Up went Harlem to 100, 115, 120, 130, 110, 150, 170 ! There was a panic and a howl of dismay. The shorts could not be covered, because the Commodore held all RUINS THE ALDERMEX. 75 of tlie stock. Seeing that the assault had been made on him personally, he was inexorable, lie and his partnei'S in the bull movement took a million of dollars from the Council that week, and other millions from others, and compelled them to make their last settlements at $179 a share! The Common Council was ruined. Stock soon settled again toward the former rate, Vanderbilt sellino; meantime and makino; a o-ood deal of money, lie strengthened his hold of the property by associating his son William 11. with him as vice-presi- dent. The president did not often feel the need of consulting the vice-president as to projected ventures, but he left to him the management of details and the execution of the schemes he planned. William 11. im- mediately put in practice here the same method which he had used with such brilliant results in the resurrec- tion of the dead little road on Staten Island. It was found to be equally adapted to large roads and large re- sults. They repaired the track, improved the speed, and managed the road as a gi'eat property ought to be managed to make money decently. Before long traffic and travel increased, and it became obvious that this was a good property to own. Everything combined to favor the Vanderbilt experiment ; even the presence of deso- lating war increased the revenues. Commodore Yanderbilt's methods in railroad manage- ment may be briefly summarized : 1, buy your rail- road ; 2, stop the stealing that went on under the other man ; 3, improve it in every practicable way within a reasonable expenditure ; -i, consolidate it with any other road that can be run with it economically ; 5, water its stock ; 6, make it pay a large dividend. 73 THE VANDERBILTS. Having Harlem Vn'oII in hand, in the fall of 1S63 the Commodore began to buy Hudson River Raih-oad stock. It had been going at 25. The road had never paid, and was a foot-ball in the street. He bought everything in the open market without concealment. He did not want to speculate ; he wanted to make the road make money. JN^obody understood him. He was in his seven- tieth 3'ear, but his faculties were very alert, and he was physically almost as lively as when he proudl}'- stood in his own "periauger." Before many months he had secured control of the road. He saw that the two lines were rivals without any good result to either their owners or the public, and he now made up his mind to procure their consolidation. With this purpose he caused a bill to bo introduced into the Legislature at Albany authorizing that act. It was an enormous project, and its value was not under- estimated by members of the Senate and Assembly. The owners of the Central and directors of the Erie fought him by every device, but the Commodore went up and engineered his own bill with results that prom- ised high success. He secured the pledge of a majority of the members that they would pass the measure, and of the governor that he would sign it. Stock innne- diately leaped up again to 75, and then to 100, 130, 150, the Connnodore buying all he could at reasonable prices. After he left Albany, in February, 1864, treachery be- gan to show itself among the members who had pledged themselves to him. They concluded, as the Aldermen had done a year before, that they could make a good deal more money by selling Harlem for future delivery, and then defeating the bill, than they could by passing THE OLD GAME TRIED AGAIN". 77 it. The gentlenifrn wlio liad cliarge of the matter re- ported their perfidy to the Coiiiinodore, who, in antici- pation of success, had been lieavily buying stock. He was enraged at their trickery, but he went on buying as usual. They carried out tlieir new progi'aniine — tliey defeated the bilL From 150 stock fell off fifty-nine points, and thei-e it stuck, refusing to go below 90. A damage of millions had been inflicted on Yanderbilt and his friends. If the gamblers had been satisfied to deliver the stock then, they would have made a good deal of money. But this was not at all what they had looked for and bargained for. They ex- pected the stock to go down to 50, giving them a clear profit of four or five million dollars. And this was worth waiting for. So they waited. At this juncture the Commodore sent for John Tobin, who had formerly been a gate-keeper of the first ferry- house on Staten Island, but who was now worth two or three million dollars, a part of which was made in the Harlem corner with the Commodore during the pre- vious summer. He, too, had been buying heavily of the stock, paying above par for a good deal of it. They talked the matter over. " They stuck you, too, John. How do you feel about it ? " asked the president of Harlem. Tobin said he had held on to his stock ; so he should meet no actual loss, unless he sold. "Shall we let 'em bleed us?" continued the Com- modore. " John, don't them fellows need dressing down ? " Tobin agreed that they did. " Let's teach 'em never to go back on their word 78 THE VANDERBILTS. again as long as thev draw breath. Let's try the liar- lem corner." Tobin acquiesced, and said he could spare a million dollars for it, and the senior partner in this plot of ret- ribution agreed to put in as much more as was needed. To buy at par all the rest of the stock that was out of their hands would require four or five millions of dol- lars. They began to buv secretly but rapidly. JVIeantiuie, the treacherous members of the Legisla- ture, having what they considered " a sure thing," not only sold Harlem short for all they were worth, but confidentiall}- let their friends in, so that in a month millions of dollars' worth had been sold to be delivered during the summer at various prices below par, the coalition supposing and alleging to each other that in two months Harlem could " be bought for a song." They were surprised that their treacliery did not bring the president of Harlem to Albany to remon- strate with them. Xo; he stayed at home and bouglit stock. The bill for consolidation had been defeated, and the conspirators, rich in anticipation, waited, ex- pecting to see Harlem drop to " where it ought to." To their astonishment it stood firm ; and when they went into the market to buy for deliver}"^, there was none to be had. They were caught as the Aldermen had been. Great were the chagrin, alarm, and distress of the too-cunning law-makers who had set the trap. They Avere at once compelled to buy at whatever price the holders chose to exact in order to deliver on "call." The Yanderbilt pool had bought twenty-seven thousand more shares, including contracts, than the entire stock of the road. THE LEGISLATURE " BUSTED.'' 79 " Put it np to 1,000 ! " exclaimed the remorseless Com- modore, "this panel-game is being tried too often!" It would have been easy to put np the stock to 1,000 ; but his allies, John Tobin and Leonard Jerome, urged prudence, for, as Jerome declared, " it Avould l^reak every house on the street." The next day contracts for fifteen thousand sliai'es matured, and the holders let it go at 285 ! Yanderbilt and his chief partner gained millions each. Many of the " bears "M'ere absolutely ruined. There are men who were rich M'hen they went into that " speculation," who have not yet recovered from the disaster, and never will. The Commodore, in telling the story nsed to say, " We busted the whole Legislature, and scores of the honorable members had to go home without paying their board-bills!" Drew was among the heaviest losers, but he pleaded that he did not understand what he was doing, and by a long suit forced a compromise, paying $1, 000,000. By this time a tacit understanding seems to have crept around among the frisky "boys" of Wall Street that the old man of three score and ten could take care of himself, and stood in no pressing need of their sym- pathy or protection. An English wi-iter in Fraser'^s Magazine said of Drew and Yanderbilt : " Between the two preference is de- cidedly to be given to Mr. Yanderbilt, who must be ac- knowledged to have his good traits, and to be in many respects superior to professional speculators, among whom he assumes the royal dignity and moral tone of a Ggetulian lion among the hyenas and jackals of the desert." Touching on the same comparison, Charles Francis 80 THE VANDERBILTS. Adams said, in tlie North American Review, in one of that remarkable series of articles that began after the \ periodical had felt the strong touch of Thorndike Rice: '"Yanderbilt must be allowed to be far the superior- man. Drew is astute and full of resources, and at times a dangerous opponent ; but Vanderbilt takes lai'ger and more comprehensive views, and his mind has a vigorous grasp which that of Drew seems to want. In a wider field, the one might have made himself a great and successful despot, but the other \vould hardly have as- pired to be more than the head of the jobbing depart- ment of some corrupt government. While Drew has sought only to carry to peifection the old system of pirating successfully from the confidential position of director, neither knowing anything nor caring anything for the railroad system except in its connection with the movements of the Stock Exchange, Yanderbilt has seen the full magnitude of the sj-stein, and through it has sought to make himself a dictator in modern civilization, moving forward with a sort of pitiless enei'gy which has seemed to have in it an element of fatality." \ A rigid system of reform meantime kffd been inaugu- rated and enforced in the Harlem road, under the imnie- diate eye of "William 11. Vanderbilt. lie had dismissed incompetent men ; got rid of supernumeraries ; com- pleted the double- track ; built new stations ; increased the rolling-stock ; checked extravagance and looked after small economies whose aggregate was large. Before any- body suspected it, the road was a paying investment. Delighted and even convinced by this result, the Commodore placed his son l)y his side as vice-president of the Hudson River road, and to that they strenuously COUNELIUS VANDERBII.T. GOES AFTER THE CENTRAL. 81 applied the same remedies. " I tell Billy," he was fond of saying, " that if these railroads can be weeded out and cleaned np, and made ship-shape, they'll both pay dividends." The old man was gifted with prophetic vision. In a few months it was earning a net profit. This was partly the result of the great prosperity which overflowed the whole country at the close of the war ; but a cause quite as potent as this was the thorough renovation which the road received from its new owner. The Commodore did not at once renew the attempt to consolidate his two roads, but he plainly saw how he was hampered and embarrassed by a short line, and how necessary it was to have a trunk line to the lakes under one management. He began to buy stock in the New York Central ; in fact ho put into it two of the millions he had made in the " Harlem pool." In 1864 the Central was controlled by Dean Rich- mond and Peter Cagger, the remains of the old Albany Regency. They looked with jealousy and apprehen- sion on the appearance of several Vanderbilt directors in their board, for they felt the approaching shadow of the Commodore. In order to keep him away, they got up a quarrel with him. Daniel Drew had control of the Hudson River steam])oats, and with him the Central managers made a league, offensive and defensive, against the ogre from the South who coveted the line in the Mohawk Valley, and was the dreaded lival of the boats. During the winter, when the boats were absent, ai'med neutrality prevailed, for the roads were equally depend- ent on each other for an outlet ; but when the ice broke up in the spring, the Central resumed its habit of cut- ting the acquaintance of the railroads and shipping its 82 THE YAXDERBILTS. passengers and freight, as far as possible, ma the river. It sold through tickets bj way of the river and made connection with the boats, arranging as often as possible to arrive at Albany after the last Hudson River train had gone. The Commodore endured being thus discriminated against foi- one winter. lie remonstrated, but his re- monstrances were in vain. He proposed different forms of compromise, but his overtures were declined. He waited till the Hudson River froze up solid and the boats were congealed at their wharves, then he sent out the stern mandate, " Take no more freight from the New York Central ! " It was a silent order, addressed to his officers only, and he left them to execute it in their own way. The next train that went north did not connect with the Central at all, did not even cross the river, but stopped half a mile east of the bridge that leads into Albany. The passengers — some of them members of the State Government protested and supplicated, but to no pur- pose. The train stopped there for the night ; the fires were banked ; and the passengers had to walk the rest of the way to the city, or get vehicles as the}' could. Xo moi'e trains went to Albany, and the perishable freight hither-bound probably suffered. Great was the excitement. No more through fi-eight came over the Central. Its stock went down fifteen per cent, at a blow. The stock of the Hudson River Rail- road kept mysteriously rising. When the Legislature convened, it was felt to be proper to "investigate" the arbitrary conduct of the Conimodore in refusing to come all the way to Albany, AXD GETS IT. 83 and, if necessary, to do something to him in defence of the dignity of the State. A committee snmmoned him to testify. lie went. They asked him how he came to be gnilty of such high- handed conduct. lie showed them an old law which prohibited the road from running trains across the river, a law which had always before remained a dead letter, as it has since. " But why did you not run the train to the river \ " "I was not there, gentlemen." " What did you do when you heard of it ? " " I did not do anything.'' " Why not ? Where were you ? " " I was at home, gentlemen, playing a rubber at whist, and I never allow anything to interfere with me when I am playing that game. It requires, as you know, un- divided attention." It was apparent to everybody that a crisis had come in the aifairs of the Xew York Central, and the result of it was, that the Commodore's grasp on the road Avas tightened rather than relaxed. He made a dash for the management in the fall of 1SG6, hut missed it, and Henry Keep was chosen President, as a friend of all parties. It was only a temporary makeshift, and a year afterward Mr. Keep resigned, and the directors, representing a large majority of the stock, sat down and wrote to the all-conquering Commodore as follows : New York, November 12, 1867. C. Vanderbilt, Esq. The \indersigned, stockholders of the New York Central Rail- road Company, are satisfied that a change in the administration of the Company, and a thorough reformation in the manage- 84 THE YANDEEBILTS. ment of its affairs, wonld result in larger dividends to the stock- holders and greatly promote the interests of the public. They therefore request that you "will receive their proxies for the coming election, and select such a board of directors as shall seem to you entitled to their confidence. They hope that such an organization will be effected as shall secure to the Company the aid of your great and acknowledged abilities. Yours respectfully, Edwaed Cunabd, John Jacob Astok, Jr., Bernard V. Hutton, John Steward and others, representing over thiiieen millions of stock. He accepted the trust in tlie spirit in which it was given. An eyewitness of the election tlie next month thus describes the scene : " The recent revolution in the Central Railroad sug- gests the changing nature of all earthly things. Only a short time ago the Pruyns, the Martins, the Pages, and other leading men of the road were to be seen in the directors' rooms, bat they passed away like a dream. Even Erastns Corning, the beloved manager, whose fiat was law, is here no more, and another dynasty appears on the stage. The change M-as wrought by an agency of the most simple character, and one from which no such great end might have been expected. It was a slip of paper a few inches square and containing a few lines of written characters. The circumstances were these. On the eleventh day of December a half-dozen gentlemen marched into the rooms of the Company, rooms into which this was in some instances their first entrance. At 11.15 one of these gentlemen arose and dropped a piece of paper into the ballot-box, and presto, PICTURE OF THE BALLOTING. 85 the cliange is wrought, an old empire passes away and a new empire is inaugurated. The appearance of the gen- tleman referred to was striking and impressive, lie was of large size and finely proportioned, a splendid specimen of muscular and intellectual development, with an easy bluff air which suggested the quarter-deck, and with that peculiar at-home-ness which showed that lie felt himself master of the situation. Such was the sfyle of the last election of the ' Central.' At eleven o'clock the poll was opened, and remained open for five liours ; for five weary hours the inspectors stood guard over the ballot-box, and during that time one vote was received. When the poll was closed the potency of the solitary ballot was disco vei'ed. It bore the names of thirteen directors, and represented stock to the amount of $18,000,000. Such was Commodore Vanderbilt's accession to the control of the Central. He came, bring- ing his directors with him, elected those directors, and then received through them the management." It was a signal triumph for a man seventy-three years of age. Then he gave that road, too, what he vigorously called " an overhauling." He gave it the same medicine that he had already applied through William II. to the Harlem and the Hudson River. He administered even a more drastic dose. He improved it enormously in its rolling stock, its time-tables, and its service, ballasted anew the track, straightened out the kinks in it, and multiplied its connections. The stock i-ose from the moment his mysterious talisman touched it. CHAPTER X. THE ERIE WAR. The Commodore Covets Erie — Daniel Drew's Little Game — The Van- derbilt Party Buys — Drew and Gould Sell Short — Drew's Du- plicity— Fisk Throws 100,000 Bogus Shares Upon the Market- Dodging the Sheriff — Flight to Jersey — Surrender and Restitu- tion. Now a battle of magnificeut proportions took place between the Coinraodore and those whom, by his ag- gressiveness, he made his enemies. Having bought and regulated the great trunk lines to the north, he looked around to see where else he was "needed," as he called it. The Pennsylvania was out of the State and strongly buttressed ; but there was the Erie. In 1859 it had failed to meet the interest on its first, second, third, fourth and fifth mortgages, and had passed into the hands of a ]-eceiver. It emerged in a crippled condition, and Daniel Drew and other railroad wreckers went for the flotsam and jetsam. " Uncle Dan'l " was known by the dishonorable designation of the Specula- ting Director, because he used his official position in the Erie road to put its stock up or thrust it down, which- ever would enable him to make money. He was a very devout man, and occupied as much time at prayer as Vanderbilt did at whist. He was a curious combination of simplicity and cunning, of boldness and cowardice, of DANIEL DREW. 87 frankness and secretiveness, of lionesty and nnscrupu- lousness, of superstition and faithlessness. An English critic * says of him : " Daniel Drew had for a long time regarded Erie as his own special preserve. It was set all over with his spring-guns and man-traps in which he dailv caught throniirs of unwai'v intruders, and never let them go till they had emptied their pockets into his private coffers." lie cared nothing whatever for the road except for what he conld make by juggling with its stock. Drew was naturally destructive, not constructive. So he was always a "bear," fond of depreciating values, of tearing down, and disappointing the liopeful. While Vanderbilt was fighting for his property, as narrated in the preceding chapter. Drew was planning a deep game, and was selling Erie short. To liis great grief, the stock kept going up. Promptly he developed his game. Drew, in his official capacity of Treasurer of Erie bor- rowed S3,500,000 in cash of Drew in his private capa- city as Individual Speculator, giving him as security 28,000 shaves of capital stock hitherto nnissiied, and three million dollars' worth of bonds alleged to be convertible into stock. Then Di'ew the Treasurer obligingly con- verted the bonds into stock at the request of Drew the Speculator, and when the latter had sold as much stock at current prices for future delivery as he could induce anybody to buy, he threw the 50,000 shares on the mar- ket. There was consternation, distress, and terror. Stock went down in two days from 8^7 to 850, and " Uncle Dan'l " pocketed the difference in millions of dollars and presented a new Methodist Church to his * In Eraser's Magazine. 88 THE VANDERBILTS. Bishop. Charges of malfeasance hi office were brought against him. This man, who begged off from liis indebtedness the previous year, M^as still treasurer of the Erie and virtu- ally at its head. The road was acting as a guerilla, cut- ting rates very sharply and without system or reason, and Vanderbilt wanted to prevent that. It was owned by nobody, was a foot-ball in Wall Street, falling first into the hands of one set of speculators and then an- other; it made rates and broke rates, not in the interest of the public, or of the road, but only of the speculators of the hour, who effected heavy combinations Avhen they wanted to put the stock up, and drove the corporation to the verge of a receivership wlien they wanted to force the stock down. Erie had been the barometer of the market, but it was the butt and derision of the street. This recklessness seemed to be injurious to everybody, and the Commodore made up his mind that the only way to bring order out of chaos was to " absorb " the road and run it himself. This, he always alleged, was his motive, but he may have been somewhat influenced by a subsidiary purpose, always attributed to liim, to corner Erie and take millions out of the "bears," as he had done in the " Harlem pool." At any rate he went at it in the old way and obtained stock, beginning in the summer of 1867, his brokers buy- ing laro;e blocks of the coveted stock, and he electino; some of the directors. Early the next year he formed an alliance with a knot of speculators who controlled the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad, and forced the cunning treasurer of Erie to come to terms. At the YANDEKBIl/r BUYS MILLIONS. 89 next election Drew was left out of the Directory. That night he went and made a personal appeal to Yander- bilt not to ruin him ; he shed tears at the picture which he conjured up of the beggaiy about " staring him in the face," and the Commodore yielded. A New Hamp- shire director immediately resigned at his request, and the lachrymose millionaire was restoi'ed to his old posi- tion, he agreeing to i-epresent Vanderbilt's interests and give the market an upward tendency. His presence in the Board was more full of perils than the admission into the beleagured capital of that ancient animal which neither of the schemers had ever heard of — the Trojan liorse. He had made a large fortune through his con- nection with the road. " Them air Erie shears," liad been alternately depressed and advanced by liiin, and liad been made to pay tribute to " Uncle Dan'l " when- ever they passed through his hands. He had no idea of allowing his giant rival to capture the goose that laid his golden eggs. Drew was not a strong man. He was parsimonious, ambitious, timid, emotional, and possessed of a low cunning. By his retention on the Erie Board Gould and Fisk came into power. They had little monej', but one had brains and the other a cheek of brass. The purchase of stock went on. Vanderbilt had a majority of it, but he M-anted it all, so that he could put his own price on it. Then came rumors of Drew's treachery and of an intention to issue more stock. This was in obvious and wanton violation of law, and must be prevented. Hostilities began in court. Judge Bar- nard enjoined the Erie Directors from issuing any more stock, and ordered Mr. Drew to return to the treasury 90 THE VANDERBILTS. one-fourth of that already ont. Judge Balcom, of Bingliauiton, ordered a stay of these proceedings. A New Yoi'k judge forbade any meeting of the Erie Di- rectors unless Mr. Vanderbilt's representative was re- stored to his seat. Judge Barnard forbade the conver- sion of any Erie bonds into stock. This was deemed a victory for Yanderbilt, and he continued to buy fast and much. The price rose with a bound to 50, 60, 70, and 80. When it reached S-i the Yanderbilt party had nearly two hundred thousand shares in their possession, and the stock was virtually cornered. Drew, Gould, Eisk, and their backers and allies, had been " bearing " the stock with all their might — selling short for future delivery — and when it persist- ently rose, it looked as if they were irretrievably ruined. But, still in charge of the machinery of the Company, they had an audacious trick in reserve which was quite beyond the Commodore's experience. As he had a large majority of the stock, getting control of the property seemed a result not very difficult to attain to a man who had wrought so many commercial miracles. He did not dream that the plot of Gould and Eisk and Drew ren- dered his project impossible of realization. But so it proved. He was dealing with no ordinary men. One hundred thousand shares of new stock was signed in blank and deposited in Drew's safe. On March 10th the contracts for the delivery of stock generally culmi- nated. The court had enjoined the Secretary from issuing any more stock, but early on the morning of the eventful day he directed an employe of the road to take the books of stock from the office in \Yest Street to Pine Street. While on his way the messenger was THE BOGUS STOCK. 91 robbed ! Jaines Fisk met him outside the door, wrenched the books away from him and ran away with them. They were taken in tlie bokl conspirator's carriage to liis office in Broad Street, and thrown on tlie market. Over ten million dollars' worth of the stuff, manufac- tured for the occasion in defiance of law and the Court's decree, were sold to all comers. Yanderbilt went on buying till he was loaded np with the so-called " stock," which had no legal existence, lie took it in million-dollar blocks. His allies and brokers were John Tobin, Frank "Work, Kufus Hatch, William Heath, and Augustus and Richard Schell. " Over-issue of Erie ! " was the rumor on the Street. When the Commodore wanted more money he sent that bold and i-eckless financier, " Dick " Schell, to negotiate with the banks. " We can't lend on Erie," they said, " there is an il- legal issue of stock, and Erie isn't worth anything." " What will you lend on ? " inquired Schell. " Central — that's good," they answered. Schell inquired, and found out that they all liad Cen- tral. " Very well, gentlemen ! " said Scliell, as if by author- ity ; "if you don't lend the Commodore half a million on Erie at 50, and do it at once, he will put Central at 50 to-morrow and break half the houses on the Street ! You know whether you will be among them." Thereupon they made the loan, and the intrepid Com- modore went on buying. It was like trying to dip out the ocean. The manuj^acturer gayly remarked to confi- dential friends, " If this printing-press don't break down, I'll be if I don't give the old hog all he 92 THE VANDEKBILTS. wants of Erie." The printing-press was strong, and he succeeded. It is a wonder that even Yanderbilt, rich as he was, was not driven into bankruptcy by these desper- ate gainesters. AVhen the exposure was first made his best friends supposed he was mined past liope. Not quite so bad as that, the sequel proved, but he was be- hind six or seven millions of dollars. Tobin, ex-presi- dent of the Central, lost $2,500,000. Half of tlie buy- ers were absolutely driven to wreck. But the chief vic- tim of the conspiracy had some money yet unexpended, and a- great deal more pluck. Drew, risk, and Gould had the assurance to go to their offices next morning, but they soon heard that warrants for their arrest were out, and then a strange sight was seen : " At ten o'clock on the morning of the eleventh, the astonished police saw a throng of panic-stricken railroad directors, looking more like a frightened gang of thieves disturbed in the division of their plunder, than like the wealthy representatives of a great corpora- tion, rushing headlong from the doors of the Erie office and dashing off in the direction of the Jersey City Feriy. In their hands were packages and files of papers, and their pockets were crammed with assets and securities. One individual bore away with him in a hackney coach bales containing $6,000,000 in greenbacks ! * "The attempted 'corner' was a failure, and Drew was victorious — no doubt existed on that point. The question now was, could Yanderbilt sustain himself? In spite of all his wealth, must he not go down before his cunning opponent ? When night put an end to the conflict Erie stood at TS, the shock of battle M'as over, * Charles Fraucis Adams in Nortli American Review, 18G9. IX PERIL OF BAXKRUPTCY. 93 and the astonished brokers drew breath as they waited for the events of the morrow. . . . As usual in these Wall Street operations, thei-e was a grim humor in tlie situation. Had VanderbiJt failed to sustain the market, a financial collapse and panic must have ensued which would have sent him to the wall. lie had sustained it, and had absorbed a hundred thousand shares of Erie. . . . Yanderbilt had, however, little leisure to devote to the enjoj^ment of the lunnorous side of his position. The situation was alarming. His opponents had carried with them in their flight seven millions in currency, which were withdrawn from circulation. An artificial stringency was thus created in Wall Street^ and while money rose, stocks fell, and unusual margins were called in. Vanderbilt was carrying a fearful load, and the least want of confidence, the faintest sign of faltering, might well bring on a crash. He already had a hun- dred thousand shares of Erie, not one of which he could sell. He was liable at any time to be called upon to carry as much more as his opponents, skilled by long practice in the manufacture of the article, might see fit to produce. Opposed to him were men who scrupled at nothing, and who knew every in and out of the money market. With every look and every gesture anx- iously scrutinized, a position more trying than his then was can hardly be conceived. It is not known from what source he drew the vast sums which enabled him to surmount his difficulties Nvith such apparent ease. His nerve, however, stood him in at least as good stead as his financial resources. Like a great genei'al, in the hour of trial he inspired confidence. While fighting for life he could ' talk horse' and play whist. The man- 94 THE VANDERBILTS. ner in wliicli he then emerged from his troubles, serene and confident, was as extraordinary as the financial re- sources he commanded." The Commodore now did two things : He at once sold out all the genuine stock he held, and he put in im- mediate and vigorous action all the enginery of the law for the punishment of the conspiratoi'S, whom he called by much harsher names, and threatened with the peni- tentiary. He procured attachments against their prop- erty and warrants for their personal arrest, and the in- dignant Barnard sent liis most active oiScers after them. They had hastily fled to Jersey City, carrying with them 1^7,000,000 of the Commodore's money, and there Fisk, Gould, Drew, and others remained all summer, at a refuge which became known as " Camp Taylor." Xot only did most of them avoid arrest, but they Ansited Albany clandestinely, and by the use of the money they had got from the Commodore secured the passage by the Legislatui'c of an act authorizing the issue of bogus bonds! — similar to an act to legalize counterfeit money. Courts were appealed to for their protection. Two judges became implicated in charges of bribery, one of whom was impeached, while the other more prudently resigned. Tlic attention of the whole country was aroused by the tunnilt of the combat. The Jersey City exiles tried in vain to compromise ; but all the fighting qualities of the Commodore were np, and he sent them word that unless they refunded every cent th-ey had stolen he would have them in jail if it took his last dollar. At last he triumphed. The banishment to Jei-sey and the pressure of public condemnation became a double burden, too great to be borne, and Di-ew came in one THE PLOTTERS SURRENDER. 05 Sunday and surrendered. He agreed to '* do the fair thing," and asked for mercy, making an appeal of the most pathetic natui'e to the Commodore. As a matter of liistoi-ic fact, he went to Washington Place and spent half of the night weeping, as usual, over his miserable condition.* It succeeded. About the only soft spot tJiat the Commodore had in his nature was a sentimental willingness to help Mr. Drew out of scrapes. Drew was t])ree years his junior, and was dreadfully ignorant and illiterate, and Yanderbilt regarded with a certain sort of fraternal pride a man who had " made himself,"' and from a common laborer had got to be worth $18,000,000. So when the unfortunate magnate unlocked the foun- tains of sympathy and promised to behave and do just what Vanderl)ilt wanted done, if he would " let up,'' the overture was received magnanimously. He made restitution, and a settlement M'as effected. As a wit- ness in court, subsequently. Drew testified, "Yanderbilt alius tole me that I acted very foolish in goin' to Jersey City ; I tole him I didn't know but Avhat I wus circum- stanced in an ockerd light.*" Shortly afterward Gould and Fisk followed his ex- ample. They surrendered. Yanderbilt was relieved of 50,000 shares at $70, receiving $2,500,000 in cash and $1,250,000 in bonds of the Boston, Hartford and Erie at $80. He was to receive a further $1,000,000 out- right for the privilege thus secured of calling on him for his other 50,000 shares at $70, any time within four months. This bargain was consummated one morning, while * Dauiel Drew's constant premonitions of poverty were at last re- alized, and when he died he left not a dollar's worth of property. 96 THE TA^DEEBILTS. they wei'e still shadowed bv tlie police. Jnst before daylight, Gould and Fisk crept across the river with piles of documents and bonds in their buggy, and wended their quiet if not contrite way to Washington Place. As a witness in one of these interminable Erie suits subsequently, Fisk told the story of this early visit in his own droll way. Inferring that the Commo- dore would not yet be up, Gould counselled a decent de- lay, but Fisk boldly rang the bell, and went straiglit np to the Commodore's bedroom. " The Commodore was sitting on the side of the bed with one shoe off and one shoe on," began this observ- ing and facetious witness. " He got up, and I saw him putting on the other shoe. I remember that shoe from its peculiarity : it had four buckles on it. I had never seen shoes M'ith buckles in that manner before, and I thought if these sort of men always wear that sort of shoe I might want a pair. lie said I must take my position as I found it ; that there I was, and he would keep his bloodhounds (the lawyers) on our track ; that he would be damned if he didn't keep them after us if we didn't take the stock off his hands. I told him that if I had my way I'd be damned if I M'ould take a share of it; that he brought the punishment on himself and he deserved it. This mellowed him down. ... I told him that he was a robber. He said the suits would never be withdrawn till he was settled with. I said [after settling with him] that it was an almighty rob- bery; that we had sold ourselves to the devil, and that Gould felt just the same as I did." Tlie issue of bogus bonds and the illegal " compro- mise" by which the conspirators escaped punishment THE COMMODORE UNHARMED. 97 Iiad cost the Erie road in all about nine millions of dol- lars, and to this amount they were afterward compelled to make restitution. This Erie venture had cost Vanderbilt a million or two which the above restitution did not cover, and it operated as a warning to him. He declared, in monosj-I- labic Saxon, that he would never touch Erie again, and " never have anything more to do with them blowers," and he never did. The Legislature, at its succeeding session, passed an act forbidding the consolidation of the Erie and the Central— a rightful and needful pro- hibition. Thenceforth there was wholesome compe- tition between the two great trunk systems of Kew York State. Wall Street looked upon the Commodore as badly crip- pled before he emerged from this battle-royal, and was greatly astonished to see that he always bore himself with his usual composure and courage, and seemed to have as much money as ever. 5 CHAPTER XL TROPHIES OF VICTORY. Twenty-five Million Dollars in Five Years — William's Way — Consoli- dation Succeeds — Freight Depot on St. John's Park — Dedication of the Commodore's Monument, the Bronzes — Watering Stock- — What is It, and Whom does it Rob ? The financial world was disappointed and astonished. The audacious Commodore had not " gone under." On the contrary, he had demonstrated his ability to hold his own against all comers. After he had passed far more than an average life-time in familiarizing himself Avitli marine transportation, and had learned that com- plicated business to the minutest detail, he had, at three- score and ten, changed the whole purpose of his life and transferred all of his wealth to railroads, in the man- agement of which he had had no experience. Practical railroad men predicted that he would lose ashore the fortune he had made afloat. He had turned their prophecies to derision. He had learned his new trade as easily as Mezzofanti learned a new language, or Blind Tom a new tune. His hair was silvered, and the crow-step twinkle had come to the cor- ners of his eyes, but in the first five years of his raili-oad ventures and experiments he had made a clear profit of not less than twentv-five million dollars. CONSOLIDATION. 99 With his son AVilliam at his side, now quite estab- lished in his confidence and pursuing careful business methods that received his cordial approval, the railroads he had bought rapidly continued to improve. In two years he advanced to the iCentral road 82,000,000 above the stock he bought. '*' lie burned np its old cars, sold its old locomotives, threw out its old ties, put on new cars, new locomotives, new ties, new rails, and made it what it is to-daj, one of the best-reg- ulated and most thoroughly-stocked roads in the State of Xew' York." lie believed that the road inust pay if well equipped and well conducted. And he backed his opinion with his money. ' The next fall (1S69) lie went to Albany again, and asked for the privilege of consolidating the Hudson Kiver and the Xew York Central Railroads. The "bears," whose claws had been caught in his Harlem scheme, stood oif at a very respectful distance, and did not offer their assistance in any waj', and the act was passed on Xovember Ist without serious opposition. About the next thing he did was to buy outright from the city St. John's Park, on Hudson Street, formerly the centre of aristocratic residence. He paid 81,000,000 for it, and he erected there a gigantic freight depot for the Hudson River Railroad. In the western pedi- ment of this imposing structure he erected Albert De Groot's famous bronze has-relief^ an ambitious allegory of Industry, emblematical of the Commodoi-e's remark- able career. The artist was the son of Captain Freeman De Groot, who commanded the Cinderella on Van- derbilt's line. The device was erected with jf formal celebration, and cost $250,000. 100 THE VANDEEBILTS. Tliese iiieniorial bronzes, now buried in the business heart of the city below Canal Street, were unveiled on November 10, 1869, in the presence of some ten thou- sand people. The day M-as observed in Xew York by a display of flags on all the public buildings, as well as on the shipping in the two rivers. The exercises at the unveiling consisted of music by the Seventh Regiment Band ; a prayer by Bishop Janes, of the Methodist Church ; an address by Oakey Hall, Mayor of the city, aTid a poem by William Ross Wallace. Admirals Gordon and Stringham, of the Xavy, were present, and out of compliment to Commodore Vanderbilt, twenty-five vet- eran sailors from the United States receiving ship Ver- mont were detailed to haul up the heavy canvas when the bronzes were revealed to public view. When this had been done, and the Commodore's pennant was run upon the flagstaff, it was found that the bronzes consisted of a statue of the Commodore, larger than life, standing in a central niche, flanked on either side with an immense field of bronze devoted to the story of his life, its works and achievements. The figure of the Commodore is rather stiff, and is dressed in the fur-lined coat he was fond of wearing. " As a likeness," says Horace Greeley j- in liis paper, at the time, "the statue signally fails to do justice to that physiognomy, one of the finest in America, which has never yet been rendered M-oi'thily by any photograph, bronze, or picture that we have seen." The field on the right, or southern side of tlie statue, is devoted to the marine period of Commodore Vander- bilt's life, while that on the left, or northern side, illus- trates his railway life. The Nation, speaking of the work, said : " There is about it a curious appropriate- THE r.KONZE MEMORIAL. 101 ness and fitness to the exploits and fame it is to cele- brate/'' While these bronzes, said to be the largest in the world, do not rank high as works of art, they tell in a very plain manner the story of the life of Commodore Vanderbilt. In the marine section there is the image of the boat in which, as a yonngman, he carried passengers f I'om the Battery to Staten Island and back. There is also one of the vessels of the Pacific Mail line-, and a' correct representation of tlie great steamship Yanderbilt, wh''ch he gave to the United States G€)vermi:tent du''i!)g flre'^nV-ii conflict. Piled in the foregronnd, and around the feet of the statue, are various objects, representing, symbolically, facts and events iu his career, such as a major and minor engine, anchors, cables, pilot-Mdieel, cotton-bale, etc. The northern section of the bronzes contains what may be called a panoramic view of the Hudson Piver Rail- way, with bridges, tunnels, mountains, trains going up and down the river, etc., with glimpses of the Hudson and its river boats, all witnesses to his enei-gy and busi- ness sagacity. Few men have their statues set up during their life-time. The Iron Duke and George Peabody are modern instances. But the. courage, tenacity, ca- pacity for toil and energy^ crowned with success, won for Commodore Yanderbilt great respect from his fellow- citizens during his life. Said the Tribune at the time: '• We fully recoo-nize and pay tribute to his bi'oad fore- sight, patient judgment, and resistless energy of will ; and in honoring him, we honor the commercial enterprise, commercial sagacity, and commercial success which make him the 'realized ideal' of -more people than al- most anv other living; American." , 102 THE VANDERBILTS. Tens of thousands of the residents of the great citj have never seen this unique memorial, for it is masked by high business blocks on a street which they never traverse. As a monument for the public eye it might almost as well be in the depths of the Adii'on- dacks. The Commodore made William II. Vanderbilt vice- president of the consolidated system, and it profited at oncB'f'om his Ihcibugh executive management and at- tention to details. 'Tn3 vvritcr' iu J^fd'se7'''s, says: "These roads the Com- modore certainly managed with great skill, \llis ad- ministrative ability is immense. He has introduced vigor and thoroughness into every department, and the public are well pleased with the fruits of his labors. lie is ambitious of the fame of conducting his roads in the best possible manner, and he takes such a pride in their appearance and appointments as a hunting gentle- man takes in his stud." Then he hastened to dilute the capital of all his roads enormously, pretty nearly doubling his previous wealth. When he was elected president of the Hudson Kiver Kailroad its capital was $7,000,000 only ; when he became president of the Central it had a capital of $28,000,000. Early in 1869, he declared a tremendous dividend of new stock to all stockholders. Ko less than eighty per cent, was added in a lump to the estimated value of Hudson Kiver, and one hundred and seven per cent, to the estimated value of Xew York Central. In other words, the capital stock of the two roads was in- creased from $35,000,000 to $86,000,000, and then to ),000,000. As they proved to be worth it, it put co- WHAT IS STOCK-WATERING ? 103 lossal profits into the pockets of the president and his friends. One night, at niidTiight, lie carried away from the office of Horace F. Chirk, his son-indaw, §6,000,000 in greenbacks as a part of his share of the profits. And he luid $20,000,000 more in new stock. This was the gigantic stock-watering operation wliich called down on the Yanderbilts the denunciation of a good many who were not partners in the transaction, and which is still regarded by the uninformed and the iinthiidcing as " a pure steal." * What is stock-watering? It is simply the conclusion and declaration of a man that his property is worth more to day than it was yesterday. He buys an old, broken-down horse, for instance, and pays $20 for it. He takes some chances. It may die on his hands, but he resolves to save it and make money on it, if possible. He gives the animal the best of care, feeds it well, grooms it carefully, and in a year it recovers from its lameness, acquires a glossy coat, and is sound and w^ell. He then puts a new price on his horse, and asks $200 for it, Noticing that it has spirit and a good form, he speeds it on the track and finds, to his surprise, that it can go in three minutes. He now says, " If any man wants that horse he must pay $1,000 for it." He has "watered " his horse. Has he robbed anybody ? Has * When the Commodore's portrait first appeared upon the bonds of the Central, a holder of some called one day and said ; " Commodore, glad to see your face on them bonds. It's worth ten per cent. It gives everybody confidence." The Commodore smiled grimly, the only recognition he ever made of a compliment. "'Cause,'' ex- plained the visitor, "wen we see that fine, noble brow, it reminds us that you never'U let anybody else steal anything ! " 104 THE VANDEEEILTS. lie not a riglit to charge for it what he pleases, so long as nobody is compelled to buy ? * So Yanderbilt bought roads— not to sell, but to im- prove. They were all crippled when he bought, and they were afflicted with every pernicious disease that sick railroads ever have. lie administered heroic treat- ment : He lopped off every extravagance ; removed ornaments from the locomotives ; increased the tracks and the carrying capacity ; combined half a dozen short railroads and made them into a single long one, and rolled half a dozen Presidents and Boards of Directors into one ; opened new outlets and new feeders ; made every man in his employ do a whole daA-'s work ; and thus, roads which had been the toys of gamblers and the preserves of bankrupt politicians grew to valuable prop- erty in his liands, and showed that they knew their master. They had been treated exactly as the broken-down army horses were treated that were turned out upon the farms of the State during those same years, lie had bought the roads, and he had put value into them, as truly as a cabinet-maker puts value into wood when he makes it into a chair. Was it not his privilege to put a price on his own property ? It was twice as valuable in 1869 as when he bought it ; was it " robbery " for him to charge twice as much for it ? If he had not bought * In a careful estimate concerning this matter, Charles Francis Adams computed that in 1870 " $50,000 of absolute water " had been poured out for each mile of road between New York and Buffalo. In other words, that Commodore Vanderbilt's brain, brought to bear on this ramshackle tlioroughfare, had added $50,000 a mile to its abso- lute value. W. K. VANHKRHTT.T. HE CHEATED HIS WEALTH. 105 it it would not have been worth $50,000,000 in 1869. Was he not fairly entitled to the extra millions, and had lie not earned them as truly as a man who wheels sand from a sand-bank earns his daily dollar? Before he bought the Central, a six per cent, dividend had been nominally paid, but much of the tinie this had been borrowed. When he had reconstructed the roads on a business basis he made them so serviceable that he more than doubled their value. Indeed, he increased their nominal value from $36,000,000 to $90,000,000, and paid annually eight per cent, on that! If he had not watered the stock their augmented value M'ould have been the same, but instead of paying eight per cent, on $90,000,000 he would have paid twenty per cent, on the $36,000,000. If he had watered the stock with- out being able to pay dividends on it, the watering would have made no difference in its value. The prop- erty was property he had created, and without him the bulk of it would not have existed at all. 5* CHAPTER XII. HABITS AND CHARACTER Methods of Work — Location' in Various Years — Keeping Accounts in His Head — Punctuality — Close at a Bargain — Whist After Dinner —Tells a Story of His Mother— Death of His Wife. His success was not more remarkable than the ease witli which he superintended his extensive affairs. At ten or eleven in tlie morning, having glanced through twp or three newspapers, he came out of his house on Washington Place, and drove in a light, no-top buggy to his office in Bowling Green. There, in an hour or so, aided by a single clerk, he transacted the business of the day, and after giving some hints to his son, William H., returned for his afternoon drive up the Blooniingdale Poad. He always despised show and ostentation in every form. Ko laclvcy attended hiui : he held tlie reins himself. With an estate of forty or fifty millions to manage, nearly all actively emplo^'ed in iron-works and railroads, he kept scarcely any books, but carried all his larger affairs in his head, and managed them without the least apparent effort or anxiety. He had already occupied a large number and variety of offices. Being asked where his first was, he answered, with a laugh, " On the head of an upturned flour-barrel on the wharf. I kept my steamboat accounts there for FROM PLACE TO PLACE, 107 a year, and took my cold dinner daily on that same barrel." But as early as 1837 lie had an office in South Street. From there he moved the next year to !No. 39 Peck Slip, to the little room np the first flight. His agent was D, B. Allen, a son-in-law, and his clei'k Lambert Wardell. The Commodore was not much of the time in the office. lie detested the routine of office work ; declared that the ledger was a meaningless humbug, and kept his per- sonal reckoning in a little book which he carried in his vest-pocket.' 'He hired men whom he thought he could trust, and then let them do their part of the business in their own way, accounting to him only for net resultsJ " How much money is there over to-day ? " he would inquire of his agent, and ascertaining, would put it in his pocket and carry it away with him. From Peck Slip he moved to Xo. 34 Broadway, about 1842, and was burned out by the great fire three years later. Being roofless, and the city being a tumult of ruins and rebuilding, he took possession of an old shanty on an East-side wharf, and kept his office there all win- ter. In the spring of 1846 he found fairly comfortable quarters at Xo. 8 Battery Place, and remained till 1855, when he transferred his office to Xo. 5 Bowling Green, and thence, at last, to JSio. 2 West Fourth, in the rear of his house, where he stayed till he left his office for the List time. At eighty he was still as straight as an Indian, with the elasticity of vigorous manhood in his step, and a face of remarkable beauty and strength. He owed a good deal of his robust health, doubtless, 108 THE VANDERBILTS. to his fondness for driving. Ue possessed, too, the en- viable power of leaving his business absolutely in his office, and never letting it intrude on hours of recreation. Out on the road behind a fast team, or seated at whist at the Club-House, he entered gayly into the humors of the moment. lie was rigid on one point only : not to talk or hear of business out of business hours. He was a good stoi-y-teller, and an interesting con- verser concerning matters within his knowledge, but he could seldom be coaxed or induced to make a speech. After-dinner oratory is mainly the result of practice, and he never practised. lie could express his meaning with force, brevity, and clearness, and some of his letters are models of that sort of composition. lie never said a word too much. War- dell, who was at his side for a whole generation, says : " In dictating a letter to a clerk I never saw his equal." But pen and ink always had him at a disadvantage. His English was even worse than Xapoleon Bonaparte's French. He always wrote of the reservoir in which steam was generated as the " boylar," and a letter of his is still extant in which he asks a friend to " com down and sea the widdow." He could not endure the office or office work, and never spent more than an hour a day there, except for conver- sation. He insisted that most letter-wi'iters were idiots and used ten times as many words as were necessary. If a letter of more than fifteen lines were handed to him he would struggle through three oi- four lines and then toss it impatiently to a clerk with, "Here, see what this (expletive) fool is driving at, and tell me the gist of it ! " HIS PUNCTUALITY. 109 He never kept money by hiin in lai'ge sums, but al- most always invested it the very clay it was received, and generally had made the arrangements beforehand. He made it a point never to lose a dollar in interest thi'ongli lack of promptness. " On one occasion," says E. H. Carmick, the Commo- doi-e's associate in some large transactions, '"he and I went to Washington, and lived together at Willard's one winter. We wanted to see John M. Clayton, and arranged to go and call on him on a certain evening. When the night came dense darkness came with it, and it rained pitchforks. I said to the Commodore, ' We can't go now ; wait, and if it slacks np we will go over.' I shortly missed him, and inquiring for him, found that lie had gone to Clayton's. When it cleared away, about 9 o'clock, I took the stage, and went over to Capitol Hill, where the distinguished Senator lived. I went in and found him, and the Commodore with him, playing whist. ' I didn't suppose you would come in such a pouring rain,' I said. ' Cai'mick,' he said, 'between you and me, that's the way I got ahead of some of the other boys. I never failed to keep an engagement in my life.' " He rarely ever alluded to his fortune, and never boast- fully ; but Mr, Carmick says : " We were sitting in the liotel vestibule one night in 1S53, with not much to talk about, when the Commodore said suddenly, ' Who's the second richest man in Xew York, Carmick '{ — next after Astor ? ' " " I saw what he was thinking of, but I said, ' Stephen Whitney, I guess.' " ' How much is Wliitney worth ? ' he asked. " ' Oh, he must be worth 8T,000,000,' said I. 110 THE VANDEKBILTS, "'H — m!' he exclaimed, 'he'll have to be worth a good deal more than that to be the second richest man in New Yo]-k.' " He did not appear to understand the cause of his own prosperity, and perhaps he really did not under- ^stand it. 1^ Being asked one day what he considered to be the secret of success in business, he I'eplied : " Secret ? There is no secret about it. All you have to do is to attend to your business, and go ahead.", J He would doubtless have sympathized with the great composer who, being asked to define genius said : " Genius ?— industry ! " When asked on another occasion to tell the secret of his success, he replied : " Never to tell anything I'm go- ing to do till I've done i t ! " | Like Astor, Stewart, Drew, Dean Richmond, and other wealthy men, he was close at a bargain, and watched his pennies more carefully than the average of his fellows. When he was worth $50,000,000 he econ- omized in the snme old way, and in making out certifi- cates of stock, would always lump as many shares as possible together, in order to save the twenty-five cents internal-revenue tax on each certificate. His personal habits of daily life, after his seventy-fifth year, underwent little change. He still rose very early, and took a light breakfast, skimming the morning papers at table. These, indeed, were about all that lie ever read, excepting "Pilgrim's Progress," which he en- joyed conning over and over. After breakfast he would go to his ju'ivate office, around on Fourth Street, and there stay dispatching busi- WIILST, AND A STORY. Ill ness and eliattiiig ^vith friends till 11 o'clock. Then he would inspect his liorses in the adjacent stable, and those whom he liked were asked to attend the inspection. After this ceremony he returned home, to chat with liis children or grandchildren and dress for dinner. The afternoon furnished him an opportunity to drive np tlie island, and his turn-out was one of the finest on the road. Supper was served at 6 o'clock. He ate sparingly at all times, and of the plainest and most wholesome things ; rarely took wine, and generally retired at 10 o'clock. At both office and house he was easily accessible ; he never refused to see any caller, however humble, but he had uncommon discernment, and if the visitor lacked a sufficient errand he was capable of being sharp, and even rude, exclaiming : " Come ! speak quick and be off ! " He spent at least half of his evenings at home, but he was as fond of whist as Talleyrand, and insisted upon " the rio-ors of the o;ame " like Mrs. Battle. Therefoi-e it was that he was a member of three clubs in which whist was considered the great social duty. The party at Saratoga, where he spent a portion of every summei-, was very exclusive. A stranger was never taken into the game, and seldom permitted to watch its progress. On account of his early association with sailors, pro- fanity was an established habit of his life. If he did not swear very wickedly, he swore frequently ; indeed, it was found that he often indulged in forbidden forms of speech when quite unconscious of it. Dr. Deems relates a surprising and amusing instance of this. He was dining there one day, and sitting, as he 112 THE VANDERBILTS. usually did, at the Commodore's left, when his host told a story of his early life. " I had just finished the Caroline, my first steamboat," he began, as he carved the beef, " and I was mighty proud of her, I tell you ! When the last bit of paint was dry, I liired a caterer to spread a banquet in the cabin — just a bang-up dinner — nicest lie could get. Then I h'isted the flags and Avent over to the island to see motlier. I went and got 'er and fetched 'er down to the wharf — I remember it, Doctor, as if 'twas only last week — and I escorted lier aboard and shosved her the gay decks and the engine, and the galley, and finally took 'er into the cabin, where the banquet was spread, and set 'er down at the head of the table. I never see anybody so astonished as she was when I told her it was all mine. ' Cornele,' she asked, looking up, ' whei'e the d 1 did you git this dinner ? ' " " I don't believe a word of it ! " exclaimed the Doctor. " AYhat do you mean ? " asked the narrator, flinging down his knife and fork. "You've got up the 3'arn,'' persisted his guest. "I don't believe you had any boat, or any dinner, or that your mother was there, or anything al)Out it." " You mean to tell me I lie ? " exclaimed the Com- modore, flushing to the roots of his white hair. " I am not permitted to use such language at 3'our table," answered the clergyman ; " I am your guest. But- when you tell me that that pious woman, your mother, on coming on board your boat, said, ' where the d 1 did you get that dinner ? ' I know better, and it throws doubt on the whole story." " Aw I " exclaimed the raconteur, in disgust ; " I'm DEATH AFTER THE GOLDEN WEDDING. 113 mad at myself that I don't break off tliat mean, low, dirty habit. It's a shame ! I wish you'd always correct me when I swear, Doctor.'' The Commodore met with his greatest earthly loss in the death of his wife, on August IT, 1808. It occurred at the residence of Horace F. Clark, her son-in-law, where she was visiting. Her husband hurried to her side from Saratoga, a few days before her death. She was a noble woman, with strong qualities, supreme affection, frugality, self-denial. She had borne thirteen children, and had reared twelve of them to adult life. For more than half-a-century she had been the charm of her hus- band's home, the sharer of his anxieties and his labors, acquiescent and patient under the sway of his dominant will and in the presence of his trying moods. The fact that she lived harmoniously with such an obstinate man bears strong testimony to her character. She was buried in the Commodore's tomb in the Moravian Cemetery at Xew Dorp,* in the midst of a crowd of affectionate friends. She was of simple tastes and habits, and never learned to feel quite at home amid the great and splendid city. She clung closely to the acquaintances of her youth, and used to tell those incredulous and amazed hearers that the happiest days of her life were those spent in hard work in the half-way tavern at Xew Brunswick, and that she liked the house that her husband had built on Staten Island, with all the children romping on the lawn or swarming in to teaze her with their innumerable wants, far, far better than the prim mansion on Wash- ington Place. * Among the pall-bearers were A. T. Stewart and Horace Greeley. CHAPTER XIII. FAMILY MATTERS, His Grandchildren — Cornelius, Jr., and William K. at Work — The Thorn in the Flesh — Horace Greeley- — " Cornele's Wife " — The Commodore Marries at Eighty — His Wife's Influence. By this time most of the eleven survivors of the thirteen children of the Commodore wei'e married, and had children of their own to take care of. "William II. had made rapid inroads upon his father^s confidence, until he was completely trusted to carry out all the details of his schemes. He was not allowed to share his business secrets : nobody was. Being asked, two or three years since, if he could furnish much material for a life of his father, he answered, " Ko, none ; I knew nothing about him. As to his business methods, I never understood them, and if he had thought his overcoat did he would have burnt it up ! " The man who was now his father's predestined heir lived in a handsome house at Fifth Avenue and Fortieth Street, with his growing family. His father M'as regard- ing anxiously liis two oldest grandsons, Cornelius and "William Kissam Yanderbilt, already emerged into man- hood. In fact, he had regarded them anxiously and incredulously for many years, and did not liesitate to express his opinion that those "youngsters" Avould be " spoilt." Spoilt by petting and indolence, he meant. THE BOYS AT WORK. 115 The Commodore had an idea that most boys were doomed to be mined, and that nothing on earth could save them except hard and disagreeable work. To pnt them at some severe service about as soon as they en- tered their teens, and compel them to support themselves — that was his panacea for the evils that beset youth. " If a boy is good for anything you can stick him down anywhere and he'll earn his living and lay up something ; if he can't do it he ain't worth saving, and you can't save him." That was his inflexible rule. He had applied it to both William and " Cornele," his sons, and now he urged its application to his grandsons. Their father was not loth to adopt the rule, for he thought there was something in it, so when the eldest, Cornelius, was sixteen years old, a clerkship was obtained for him in the Shoe and Leather Bank. He served veiy faithfully and soon mastered the work required of him. John M. Crane, president of the bank, says : " I do not now see much of Mr. Yanderbilt, as our paths lie apart, but when he was here he was, I think, the most single-minded and conscientious worker I ever saw. He was not merely honest — most bank clerks are that — but he was intellectually precise, and worried if a cent were missing in the accounts. He M-as thoroughly fair- minded, too, and always did exactly as he agreed, show- ing, in every way, not only a careful bringing up but a kindly nature." It is related that one of his uncles, going to Europe for the Commodoi'e, invited the lad to accompany him, and agreed to pay his expenses. It was a rare chance. The young clerk applied to the president for leave-of- absence. "Yes, you can cro ," was the answer; '• but of 116 THE VANDERBILTS. course yon will lose your salary for the two months." Cornelius found that this would be 8100, whereupon ho immediately discarded the temptation and remained through the summer at his desk. Cornelius was in the Shoe and Leather Bank three years, going into the Treasurer's office at the Grand Central Depot in 1865, when he was twenty-one years old. His next younger brother went to school more, but in 18T0 he left the Academy at Geneva, Switzerland, returned to New Yoi'k, and joined his brother in the office. Both were put at the bottom, and compelled to learn the tedious routine of the business. The Commodore's second son, Cornelius Jeremiah, was a thorn in his flesh and a source of constant annoy- ance. Since he ran away in his eighteenth year, and fled to California as a sailor, and his father retaliated by locking him up as a lunatic, the two had been on the worst possible terms. Indeed, they scarcely spoke when they met, except for mutual reproaches. It is not sur- prising that such a rare specimen of vigorous energy, thrift, and virility as the father was — a king among men — lacked patience for this flaccid, nerveless, shiftless, reckless son ; this sickly epileptic and spendthrift. Xo two men could be more unlike. To see each other was nmtually exasperating. The son was accustomed to ap- ply to his father, wlien speaking of him to others, all the uncomplimentary epithets in the thesaurus, and the old gentleman would complain, " I'd give one hundred dollars if he never'd been named Cornelius ! " A hun- dred dollars, curiously enough, was usually about the highest limit of his offers of imaginary bonuses for the unattainable thiuiis which he wanted. "CORNELE" and GREELEY. 117 Cornelius Jeremiah was a tall, angular, tliin, cadaver- ous-looking man, with faded eyes, tawny hair, and scrag- gly beard, nervous, suspicious, petulent, and almost con- tinually in bad health, lie was known, more than once, to fall in a lit at a gaming table, recover, and play on. For nearly a score of years he lived away from home on an allowance, and obtained access to his father only throug-h tlie intercession of friends — of tenest of the young man's mother. Her heart always warmed to- ward him, and frequently she gave him money to pay his debts incurred in gambling or other imprudence. In these straits, when he could no longer get at home the money he needed, he was in the habit of boi-rowing it of some of the friends of his father. One of these whom he found most useful for his purpose M'as that careless and generous philosopher, Horace Greeley, who at any time found it more agreeable to give than to refuse, and more easy to give at once and get rid of the suppliant, than to spend time ascertaining what he did with his money. It was difficult for the waywai'd ■ man to get money from his father in his frequent emer- gencies, but Mr. Greeley's pocket was always on tap without any unpleasant questions. So the editor of the Tribune got into the habit of lending " Cornele " hun- dreds and even thousands at a time — sometimes ten thousand at a time, Nvhen his own family sorely needed the money. The Commodore heard of this, and supposing, of course, that Mr. Greeley was being deceived and would look to him for reimbursement, determined to put a stop to the outburst of mistaken liberality. So, climbing the crooked little wooden stairs on Spruce Street one day, and 118 THE VANDERBILTS. marching with heavy tread into the sanctum, wliich was always open, he greeted the editor abruptly with, " Greeley, I hear you are lending Cornele money." Mr. Greeley took time to finish the sentence he had begun to write, and then drawled out, " Yes ; I have let him have some." " Well, now, I give you fair warning that you needn't look to me. I won't pay it ! " " Who the devil asked you ? " rejoined Greeley. " I haven't, have I ? " Not another word was said on either side, and the wrathful Commodoi-e stalked out. When Mr. Greeley died, in 1872, the Commodore re- lented somewhat — sufficiently to send to each of the edit- or's daughters a check for $10,000 ; an amount which was found to be much needed. It is not known that " Cornele " ever did but one thing that pleased his father : that was when he married Miss Williams, of Hartford, a lady whom the old gentle- man liked. He not only approved the choice, but he liked the idea of his son's settling down in marriage. He thought that such a step might have the effect of straightening out a career that had been very zigzag, and his youngest son might at last cease to be, as he called him to his face whenever they met, " a disgrace to the family." But when the young husband ventured to ask for money to build a house in Hartford, it was refused. " ]^o, Cornele," was the answer ; " you've got to show that you can be trusted before I trust you." Then the wife was induced to repeat the request. He had some little confidence in her judgment and honest}', and he THE COMMODORE MARRIES AGAIN. 119 frankly told her so, adding, " How much can you get along with ? " " Ten thousand dollars," was the reply. He drew his check for it and handed it to her, advis- ing her to make it go as far as she could. A few months later she made her appearance again. He was not surprised, and doubtless said to himself, " Here she is again ; wants S5,000 more." " Well, what now ? " he said. " Nothing," papa ; only I've brought back $1,500 ; it was more than we needed, and I've brought you what's left." The Commodore was thunderstruck. Such a tliino- had never before happened to him in the whole course of his life. Perhaps it was guileless innocence on her part, and perhaps it was far-sighted shrewdness; at any rate it worked to a charm. Thenceforth " Cornele's wife " could get anytiiing out'of her father-in-law. This lady died ten years before her husband, and left liini a very helpless creature. He was confined to an allowance of $200 a week, and spent most of his time complaining of the stinginess of his father for giving liim such a niggardly pittance. Just after the war a Mrs. Crawford moved to New York City from Mobile, Ala., where the fortunes of the family had been badly shattered by the conflict. With her came her daughter, Frank A., a young woman of uncommon intelligence, refinement, and pei-sonal at- tractiveness. She was tall, handsome, graceful, and well educated, and she supported herself here by teaching music. On her father's side she Avas related to ex- Yice -president Crawford, and one of her great-grand- 120 THE VANDERBILTS. fathers was Samuel Hand, a brother of Commodore Yanderbilt's mother, Pliebe Hand. This last relationship was the cause of an acqnaint- ance springing np with the Commodore and his children. Nothing was thought of it till a year after the death of Mrs. Yanderbilt, when the widower and Miss Craw- ford encountered each other at Saratoga. It was the old story — a walk on the balconies, a drive in the moon- light, a jocular exchange, a laughable challenge to mat- rimony from the venerable suitor and at Jast a serious proposal. He entertained a good deal of doubt whether Miss Crawford would accept him, and communicated his ap- prehensions to one or two confidential fiiends. But she did, after thinking of it a proper length of time. Then he wrote to her with charming naivete : " You are mak- ing a gi'eat sacrifice in marrying me. You have youth, beauty, virtue, talent, and all that is lovely in a woman, and I have nothing to give you in return ! " Miss Crawford said she would marry him if he would send for Dr. Charles F. Deems, her Xew York pastor. The Commodore telegraphed to him, but he was absent, and it was determined not to make a telegraphic seai'ch for him. A trip to Niagara was proposed and agreed to ; they made a rapid journey, crossed to Canada, and in the town of London, half way to Detroit, a young Wesleyan minister was summoned and the marriage cei'emony was performed. Two friends who had accompanied them in their droll elopement, Augustus Schell and Superintendent Tilling- hast, of the Centi'al, were witnesses of tlie marriage. Then they returned to New York. Being spoken to FREDERICK W. VANDERBII.T. A srccESSFUL vp:nture. 121 about it, tlie lively old bridegroom said, " I didn't want to raise a iioise in the United States, so I slipped over to Canada and had it done up in a jiffy, and I guess the knot was well tied." The Commodore never bought a coat-of-arms or even searched for one, and he did not boast of his '' blood," yet he seems to have had a strong prejudice in favor of his own, for the ladies whom he selected for his wives were both his cousins. The marriage was received with surprise and consider- able disfavor by other members of his family. They of course thought they knew better than he did about such mattei'S, and they remarked to each other and even to their friends that it was hardly necessary for him to take another spouse. Old saws were quoted to his dis- advantage. But the graceful intruder possessed both amiability and tact, and she brought her whole fund of attractions to bear in winning the hearts of her new relations. It did not take long for her to make herself beloved, as she liad always been respected. To be the young wife of the leading millionaire of the country w^as a trying role, but she was equal to its exactions, and she brought to the old man much happiness and solace during his re- maining years. Nay, more ; she introduced a new element of Chris- tian gentleness into his home, and even modified his character and habits. For her he yielded to the claims of a wise charity. For her he tried to tone down the rough language which he had picked up about the wharfs in his youth. For her and with her he began to go to church. Di-. Deems has written : " The religious germ 6 122 THE VANDERBILTS. planted in his youth was to be developed under the kindly cultivation of a yonnger nature, strange to his long antecedent career. It was the mission of his second wife to rescue from its burden of worldliness the intrin- sic goodness surviving in liis soul, and to inspire the benevolent deeds that crowned his days." The Doctor tells of an incident illustrating this change in the old man's moods : " I went in one day and found him on the sofa in tears. ' Why, what's the matter, Commodore ? ' I asked. ' Oh,' he said, ' I've been a-swearing again, and I'm sorry. I'd ought to stop it, my wife such a pious woman and you and other religious folks coming to see ns, and it's a shame that I don't.' I told him that such a battle was about the same as a victory, and that God probably looked at the heart rather than the lips." After his second marriage he took more pains about appearances than ever before. He grew more gentle and acquiescent and manageable. He acquired some re- spect for conventionalities. He substituted new carpets for the old ones which he had hitherto thought good enough. He ceased to attend spiritualistic "seances" and to communicate with Captain George and Fhebe Hand through that precarious avenue. He M'ent no more to the Manhattan Club, and even quitted his card clubs. After that, his friends of the social quartet liad to come to the house if they wanted to play whist with him. His children weie all married off, and he had more than thirty gi'andchildren, to whom, for the first time in his life, be began to play the part of mysterious generosity and personate Santa Claus at Christmas. CHAPTER XIV. FATHER AND SON. Buying New Roads Westward — Building the Grand Central Depot — William H.'s Office Habits— Overwork— A Glance at His Mail— A Good-Natiired Pessimist — The Complacent Commodore. All of Commodore Yanderbilt's railroad interests were now prosperous under the joint management of him- self and liis son. In November, 1SG9, on the consol- idation of the Hudson River and Central, he became President and William H. Vice-president of the system — one of the largest and most important corporate en- terprises in the world. The stock, which i-anged from T5 to 120 in 1867, now touched 200, although the amount was doubled. The Commodore had always been averse to going west of Buffalo. " If we take hold of roads running all the way to Chicago," he was M-ont to say, " we miofht as well g:o to San Francisco and to China." But circumstances are stronger than logic, or any one man's will, and they now compelled liim to modify his purpose, or at any rate his conduct. The same conflict of rival interests that made it necessary to drive Corning, Pruyn, and Keep out of the Central, and extend his manage- ment to Buffalo, now commanded a union with the Lake Shore and Michigan Southei-n to enable him to hold his own among the trunk lines. 124 THE VAISTDERBILTS, His son-in-law, Horace F. Clark, had made some large operations in Lake Shore as early as 1870, had become its President, and had bolstered up its stock in the mar- ket because of his relationship to " the Railroad Em- peror."^ He died suddenly in 1873, and the Commo- dore finding himself obliged to sustain the property, concluded that the easiest way to do so was to buy it. This, in a few years, made necessary the acquire- ment of the Canada Southern and Michigan Central, which was accomplished under the immediate adminis- tration of his son. These auxiliaries of the New York Central were imposed by the purchase of the Great "Western by the Grand Trunk, and they gave " the Yan- derbilt system" a needed terminus in Chicago. During these years, too, the Commodore, now almost eighty years old, began and pushed to completion the vast enterprise by which the northern railroads obtain entrance to New York City. He obtained a charter from the Legislature authoi'izing the erection of an im- mense Union depot at Fourth Avenue and Forty -second Street, and giving him the use of the avenue thence to Harlem (previously occupied only by the surface rails of the Harlem Railroad) for an elaborate series of un- derground or viaduct tracks conducting into the very heart of the metropolis the trains of the Central and Hudson River, the Harlem, and the Kew Haven and Boston lines. The old man's brain was as accessible to new ideas as ever, as is evident by his adoption of iron trusses springing from the ground for the support of the immense roof of the depot, which was one of the very latest facts in the development of the use of iron in building. WILLIAM H. AT WORK. 125 The legislative enactment " allowed " the cit}' to as- sume one-half of the cost of the spacious subterranean way, and upon the acceptance of this provision by the aldermen, the '* Fourth Avenue Improvement," as it was called, was immediately begun. This remarkable achievement is too recent and too well known to need particular description. It cost $6,500,000 for the su- ■perbly constructed viaducts, tunnels, and bridges. One hundred and fifty trains pass through them daily, and the success with which the whole is managed is the marvel of eno-ineerino-. The completion of a side-cut from the Hudson River Railroad, at Spuyten Diiyvel, following the creek of that name to Harlem, thus furnishing a continuous branch to the Forty-second Street Depot, was the culmination of the stupendous project which has its origin in a brain covered with the silver of four-score years. The Com- modore was now ably seconded by the indefatigable labors and constant vigilance of William H., whom he had learned to trust implicitly and even advise with, but he did not relinquish a jot either of his responsibility or his power. William H. Yanderbilt had learned a good deal in ten years. He was not a brilliant original thinker and bold planner, like his father, but he was, unlike his father, careful, methodical, and industrious in familiarising him- self with routine work. Indeed, this prodigal devotion to details was his weakness. He resolved, on entering the office of the Yanderbilt roads as their Vice-president, to acquaint himself thoroughly with the practical working of each department. He would not only mark every check, see every bill, revise eveiy contract, and inspect 126 THE YANDERBILTS. every voucher of the finance department, but he would make himself master of transportation, construction, and equipment ; he w-ould examine every engine, know every engineer, keep watch of the coal-bin, find out what a new culvert ought to cost, have an eye on the ticket- office, stop all the leakages in the repair-shops, supervise the purchases of steel-rails and chestnut ties, look into the printing-office — in fact, he M'ould find out evevy- thing there was to know. He attempted the impossi- ble : a tremendous work, for which the eyes of Argus and the hands of Briareus would have been too few. Is^o one man could do what he laid out for himself. For a few years he adhered to his determination. He penetrated into every nook and corner of the system. He had become suspicious of others in his management of the Staten Island farm, and now he did not try to keep his suspicion from the knowledge of his employes. He investigated every part of the vast business, moving swiftly, and making his appearance unexpectedly. The immediate result was a steady improvement in the mor- ale of the men, and in the effectiveness of the roads. Trains were on time. There was no hocus-pocusing of contracts. Stealing was reduced to its lowest terms. Mr. Vanderbilt did not object to desk-work, but he had not that genius for shirking which has saved so many lives — the ability to turn over the easy routine work to other and cheaper men. If there was a letter to write he did not want to dictate it — he wanted to write it. He answered with his own hand all the let- ters he could. He did his woi'k laboriously, and per- formed a vast amount of drudgery which executive of- ficers usually assign to clerks. He insisted in reading GLANCE AT HIS LETTERS. 127 liis own business correspondence, although snrronnded by men who liad attested their fidelity to his interests by many years of service. He could not be induced to employ a phonographer, or permit others to dictate let- ters for him. lie tried to take np the whole establish- ment and carry it at arms' length. This making him- self a slave of minor details which he might have and ought to have shifted upon others, constantly tended to increase his irritability and to break down his health. In conversation he was sometimes abrupt and brusque to the vei'ge of rudeness, but he did not possess the power of annihilating an impudent applicant with that impei'- ious scorn and majestic insolence of which his father ■was a master. He was a pessimist of a cheerful sort, and thought men and women, as a rule, "a pretty bad lot ;" generally expressing his opinion of the aggregate in a good-humored, chaffing sort of way, which implied distrust rather than dislike. Whoever has a chance to look into the eleven bulky volumes of bound letters which William H. Yanderbilt preserved as racy samples of their kind — letters from rascals, proposing shady schemes ; from charlatans and cranks, offering " valuable assistance ; " from " socialists," threatening to kill him at a specified time and place; from women by the hundred, inclosing photographs and asking to see him ; fi-om min- isters begging for churches, and mendicants of every degree begging for themselves — will come to the con- clusion that his low opinion of human nature had a most reasonable foundation. He thought everybody in the world was ready to take advantage of him, and looked upon every stranger as either a foe whom he had yet to meet or a suppliant whom he must yet refuse. But his 128 THE VANDERBILTS. large fund of buoyancy and bonbommie saved bim from falling into a petnlent niisantbropy. Botb be and bis fatber bad tbe experience of otber ricb men in enconntering flunkies at every turn. Con- scions tbat tbeydid not know everytbing by a good deal, tbey wanted to obtain an bonest opinion from tbose witli wbom tbey came into contact. Mr. Depew says : " I bave frequently seen a look of distress on Mr. Vander- l)ilt's face Avlien be was talking witli a number of friends, because be could see tbat tbey were evidently trj'ing to learn tbe bent of bis wisbes, so tbat tbey migbt follow bim. Wbat be M'anted was an bonest expression of per- sonal opinion, and be found few men independent enougb to give bim tbeir real opinions if tbey differed from Ills own. He knew tbat bis judgment was not in- fallible, and be was anxious to learn tbe real trutb about tilings and to obtain tbe candid opinions of otbers in regard to tbem. He migbt differ witli a man and con- test bis reasoning, but bis own opinion was often modi- fied by wbat otbers said." Like Ills fatber, he was perfectly democratic in bis in- stincts. He was easily accessible to any visitor mIio bad a rigbt to bis attention, and all were treated alike wbetber worth millions or nothing at all. He wanted no preposterous coat-of-arms. He never wore jewelry or made any show of his wealth, and always dressed in plain black. He was anxious above all things to be considered a good fellow ; be did not care about being thought a great man, and be did not wish people to bumble them- selves before him. It was this feeling which made bim so popular on tbe road among horsemen, who consiiiered SUMMARY OF CAREER. 129 themselves quite as good as lie was, and talked with liim on terms of perfect equality. This was, indeed, his safety valve, as there at least he was able to obtain the expression of unprejudiced opinion. The father and son, at last united in interest and sympathy, now controlled the great northern trunk line to Chicago. They had laid four tracks on the Central, two exclusively for passengers and two for freight, giv- ing the line indefinitely expansive powers. The freight trains could be run continuously, like an endless chain, and carry grain enough to load two hundred vessels a day, while the safety of passenger transfer was brought to a maximum. Commodore Vanderbiit, now eighty-one years old, looked back at his achievements with complacent satis- faction. "I have made a million dollars every year of my life," he said one dav, " and tlie best of it is that it has been worth three times that to the people of the United States." It was true. If he had put liis money at interest when he was seventy, and sluggishly con- tented himself with the income, he would have bene- fited the counti-y but little. Instead of that, he aroused to a new vouth, began to search for something that needed rebuilding and renovating, laid his hand on the badly-managed railroads of his native State, prostrated by war and crippled by speculators, put together the iso- lated fragments, reconstructed' and equipped them anew, rescued them from poverty and contempt, reduced their passenger and freight rates, and devised and executed improvements that placed his system at the head of the locomotive traffic of the planet, lie had one contin- uous road nine hundred and seventv-cio-ht miles in leno;th. 130 THE VANDERBILTS. with side lines greatly increasing tins total, represent- ing an aggregate capital of $150,000,000, of which he owned one-half. Old age was on him and death con- fronted him, but he did not ]-est. He went on develop- ing, strengthening, maturing, finishing, to the last. He was, in his eighty-fiist year, a superb specimen of physical and intellectual manhood. Whei-ever he moved he attracted as much attention as the President or General Grant. Tall in stature, stately in beaiing, his eye as bright as ever, his step still fi-ee, a slight con- sciousness of his extraordinary career expressed in his de- meanor, Mith thirty-three grandchildren around his feet, and increasing tenderness taking possession of his heart and warming his face and his words, he held the fore- most place, like some patrician patriarch, among the seniors of the commercial world. CHAPTER XV. THE COMMODORE'S CHARITIES. • His Opinion of Beggars — Tlie Way He Gave — Careful About Money — Meets Dr. Deems — Gives the Church of the Strangers — The Tennessee University. Commodore Vandeebilt was not natnrally a philan- thropist. The school of advei-sity in which he was trained — penniless boy, hoatnian, skipper, steamboat captain, sliip-owner— was not calcnlated to turn his sym- pathies toward the. weak and destitute. A too fierce fii>-ht with jS'atnre almost alwavs tends to harden the lieart rather than to soften it. It was strong men whom he liked and sympathized with, not weak ones ; the self- reliant, not the helpless, lie had always worked hard and saved ever}' penny that he conld, both as boy and man; "Let others do as I have done," he said, "and they need not be around here begging." He felt that the solicitor of charity was always a lazy or di'unken person tr^-ing to live hy plundering the sober and in- dustrious. The conclusion was not quite aecui'ate, but the intui- tion was right. There were important exceptions to his rule, but he had not time to hunt them up and provide for them. It was not understood then, as it clearly is now, that the promiscuous alms-giver on the city streets J 32 THE VANDERBILTS. does far more evil than good ; that hap-hazard charity creates more paupers than it relieves ; * and that it is the duty of every citizen to refnse to yield to that wounded emotion, heavenly in its origin but pernicious in its action, that inclines him to drop a nickel into the extended palm as the easiest way of getting rid of a suppliant and gratifying liis own untutored moral sense. Darwin's felicitous phrase, " the survival of the fittest," "though invented had not yet been popularized, but the Commodore instinctively felt that the average result of charity was to promote the survival of the uniittest, and that about the only way to do any permanent good was by teaching the indolent to be industrious, the unskillful to be expert, the extravagant to be economical, the slug- gish to be ambitious — in short, by teaching the weak to help themselves. He always had an eye to this sort of person among his old acquaintances, and did not hesitate to give gen- erously where the gift would stimulate the recipient to self-reliance. The people of Staten Island know of scores of instances in which he quietly attempted thus to lend a needed hand. His most persistent applicants for money were clergymen, and for them he felt an aversion not unmixed with contempt. As a rule he dis- * Gerrit Smith gave so liberally and unreservingly that hundreds lost their self-respect througli his largess, and some of his neighbors were turned into beggars. Herbert Spencer tells of a great bequest to an English village, which so demoralized the people that Parlia- ment had to intercede and cancel the gift. It is notorious that as the poor-rates in England increase pauperism increases ; and that in those cities where all the able-bodied jioor are compelled to work for the public the number of those who solicit alms is reduced tliree- quarters. HIS IDEAS OF CHARITY. 133 missed tliem abruptly, sometimes rudely, and once, when he had been annoyed persistently by a need\' par- son, he presented hin* with a free ticket to the AVest Indies and never heard of him again. One rule the Commodore had that was inflexible. He never put his name to a subscription paper for any purpose whatever. One day E. H. Caridick, his old partner in Nicaragua schemes, met him on Broadway. They talked about affairs in Washington for a moment, then Carmick said, "Commodore, I have something here that you'll be interested in,'' pulling out a suT^scription paper. " I want to build an asylum on Staten Island for broken-down merchants, where they can always have a warm home and plenty to eat. Roberts is going to give $10,000. Aspinwall and Astor are in it. We want 3'ou to give a lot down on your old place." The Commodore heard him through, and then said, "No, Carmick ; you ought to be about better business ! Don't you know that about half the people's ' broken down ' one way or another, and that if you was to roof Staten Island right over, it would be filled up before you could turn around ? " One reason why he gave no more in such i-easonable ways as that above mentioned is that the acquisitive liabit of a life was so strong on him. Pie did not see that it was safe to let his expenditures keep step with his increasing wealth. " Something may happen," he kept saying; and, in fact, something in the shape of financial disaster came very near happening two or three times in his life and shipwrecking him. So he kept saving, and denying himself what his money would buy ; con- stantly cheating himself for the sake of others. Only a 134 THE VANDEKBILTS. few years before his death he had some internal trouble for which the doctor recommended champagne. " Cham- pagne!" exclaimed the liftj-millionaire ; ''champagne! I can't afford champagne ! A bottle every morning ! Oh, I guess sody water'll do ! " Advancing years, inclining him to stay at home more and more, atld the presence of a helpful and intelligent companion in his second wife, effected something of a change in his character. One day he said, " Frank, where is that Doctor Deems I've heai'd you talk about ? — the one that you wanted to have marry us? " " I haven't seen him since we came back to town," she answered ; " he used to preach to strangei-s around in the University Building." " I should think he might call on us," said the Com- modore. Somebody told the Doctor. " I have never run after rich people," he said. " I have not avoided them, but when a man, conspicuous for wealth or position, desires to know me, he must seek me. If I am expected I Mill call." He was cordially received, contrary' to the experience of most clergymen. They talked freely and frankly. The Commodore turned the talk upon the Doctor's work and hopes. They met often after that. One even- inorthe convei'sation turned on clerical bci^ai'S, the host's O OCT' ' pet aversion. The Doctor depi-ecated the whole business. "Now liei'e I am," he said. " I have been preaching for two years within ear-shot of the Commodore. My little rooms have been ovei'run. People have said to me, ' Why don't you see Mi-. Lenox, or Mr. Stewart, or Mr. Astor, or Commodore Yanderbilt, and get some of DK. DEEMS. 135 them to bnild you a Church of the Strangers?' ^STot I. The Coinniodore will bear me witness that 1 have never solicited a dollar from him for any object on earth." " Xo, he never has, Fraidc," he said, turning to his wife ; evidently thinking the better of his visitor for the abstinence. " And 1 never shall, as long as there is breath in my body," said the visitor. The Commodore obviously did not quite like the re- mark, but the Doctor went on, " For if he has lived to at- tain his present age and has not got sense enough to see what I need and grace enough to send it, he will die without the sight." The speaker's impressions of the Commodore were not favorable. He regarded him as an unscrupulous hoarder of money, who merely aimed at accumulating an immense fortune, but had little concern for the human race. Dr. Deems was at this time thinking of purchasing the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church edifice, hoping to pay for it somehow, and a report of this had got to the Commodore's ears. One Monday evening, at the close of a call, he asked his visitor to come around soon. The reply was that every evening for a week was occu- pied, but the next Saturday evening he went. The Commodore offered to buy the Mercer Street Church for him. The Doctor says that he "fired up in a minute," because he supposed the donor had some sin- ister motive, either wanting a chaplain he could use, or desiring to get hold of the building for business pur- poses. His benefactor reassured him. " After the discharge of the lightning of my anger," says the Doctor, "I felt that a sort of April shower 136 THE VANDEEBILTS. was coming. Mj ejos were moistening. It seemed a wonderfnl Providence, for you know we always think it is a wonderfnl Providence if it runs with our ideas. I extended my hand and said, ' Commodore, if you give me that church for the Lord Jesus Christ, Pll most thank- fully accept it.' " ' Ko,' said he ; ' Doctor, I wouldn't give it to you that way, because that would be professing to you a re- ligious sentiment I don't feel. I want to give you a church. That's all about it. It is one friend doins: something for another friend. Now, if you take it that way, I'll give it to you.' " We both rose at the same moment, and I took his hand and said, ' Commodore, in whatever spirit you give it, I gi'atefully accept it, but I shall receive it in the name of the Loixl Jesus Christ.' " ' O, well,' he said, 'let's go in the sitting-room and see the women ! ' " It was some time before the property could be got ; and one day the Commodore's clerk, Mr. AVardell, called and said, " Doctoi-, here is a package containing $50,000 in money from Commodore Yanderbilt." The follow- ing conversation took place : Pauson. " Don't you know what this is for ? " Clekk. " No, sir ; 1 don't." Parson. " Didn't the Commodore tell you ? " Clerk. " No, sir." Parson. " Shall I give you a receipt ? " Clerk. "No, sir." Parson. " Why don't you take a receipt ? " Clerk. " The Commodore didn't ask for any." The Doctor wanted the church given to trustees, but GEORGE W. VANDERBILT. GIVING HOSTAGES TO LEARNING. 137 tlie Commodore refused, saying, " No, you hammer away at some of them fellows about their sins and they'll turn around and bedevil you so that you will have to quit. I'm going to give it to you yourself." '' And from that day forth," testifies the Doctor, "he always treated me as one gentleman treats another who has done him a very great favor." After the TH".TJTiTT.T's TJF.STDKNnF.. CORNELIUS VANDEHUILT ^ND WIFE IN FANCY BALL COSTUME. THE GREAT FAKCY-DRESS BALL. 193 beaut}', in brilliancy, and in Inxnrioiis and lavish expense any scene before witnessed in the new world. For weeks beforehand the costnmers, milliners, and dressmakers, not only of Kew Yoi'k, but of all the larger eastern cities, were engaged in preparing the richest and most varied of garments for this wonderful enter- tainment. Histories, novels, and illustrated books of all periods were ransacked by the expectant guests to ob- tain either suggestions or models npon which their own costumes could be patterned. All else was forgotten in society during the forty days of Lenten penitence which preceded the event, and the most impi'obable and fantas- tic tales and rumors of the forthcoming splendor wei-e constantly circulated in the community. Even the daily press became affected by the prevailing excitement which the ball occasioned in the atmosphere, and as- signed their ablest and most skilled reporters for two weeks beforehand to the preparation of lists of the cos- tumes of the guests and more or less accurate foreshad- owings of the event. In fact they devoted more atten- tion to it, than they have ever done before or since to any purelj' social affair. Although Mrs. AV". II. Yanderbilt had already given a ball in her own palace which was largely and fashion- ably attended, and althougli the names of two or three of her daughters and daughters-in-law had already figured as patronesses of the distinctive society balls of the met- ropolis, two or three of the leaders of Xew York society, notably Mrs. William Astor, had never called upon any of the ladies of the Yanderbilt family. It Avas Lady Mandeville, who with her family had been making Mrs. W. K. Yanderbilt a visit of a year, who first suggested 9 194 THE VAISTDEEBILTS. tlie entertainment to her hostess, and it is largely due to her society experience, cleverness, and tact that the ball was in every M-ay tlie grandest ever given on this con- tinent, and one which fully established the Vanderbilt family as social leaders. According to the genei-ally ac- cepted story in society, soon after the first announce- ment of the ball Miss Carrie Astor, the only unmarried daughter of Mrs. William Astor, organized a fancy-dress quadrille to be danced at the ball by sevei-al young ladies and gentlemen. Mrs. Vanderbilt heard of this, and stated in the hearing of some friends that she regretted that she could not invite Miss Astor to her ball, as her mother had never called upon her. This reached Mrs. Aster's ears, and soon afterward she called upon Mrs. Vanderbilt and they wei'e invited. Thus did the ball break the last barriers down. The brilliant scene was well framed in one of the most beautiful of New York houses — the reproduction of one of those fascinating chateaux of the French renais- sance which are the pride of Touraine. Seen, as it was on the night of this entertainment, under a blaze of light, and kindled into splendor everywhere by masses of flowers and a moving throng of varied and magnilicent costumes, it was the most fltting fi'ame-work an artist could have asked for a succession of pictui-es so hetero- 2;eneous, so incone-rnous in detail, vet in their ireneral effect so dazzling and so attractive. The guests, on arriv- ing, found themselves in a grand hall about Go feet long, 16 feet in height, and 20 feet in width. Under their feet was a floor of polished and luminous marble, and above them a ceiling richly paneled in oak, while over a high wainiscoting of richly carved Caen stone hung THE QUADRILLES. 105 antique Italian tapestries. Over this liall, to the riglit, rose a grand stairway of the finest Caen stone, carved Avith superb delicacy and vigor, to the height of fifty feet. By eleven o'clock the members of the six organized quadrilles assembled in the gymnasium, on the third floor, a beautiful apartment, 50 feet in length by 35 feet in width. These quadrilles, six in number, comprised in all nearly a hundred ladies and gentlemen, and, having formed in the gymnasium in order, they mov^ed in a glittering processional pageant down the grand stairway and through the hall into a room in the front of the house fitted and furnished in the style of Francis I., 25 feet in width by -iO in length, whose Avhole wains- cotino; of carved F]-ench walnut M'as brouirht from a chateau in France, and whose ceiling was painted by Paul Baudry. Thence the pi'ocession swept on into the spacious dining-hall, which was converted for a night into a ball-room, and the dancing began. The first cpuidrille was the " hobby horse," led by Mr. J. Y. Parker and Mrs. S. S. Howland, a daughter of Mr. August Belmont. The horses took two months in construction. They were of life-size, covered M'ith genuine hides, and were light enough to be easily and comfortably attached to the waists of the wearers. The costumes for the men were red hunting-coats, white satin vests, yellow satin knee-breeches, and white satin stockings. The ladies wore red hunting-coats and white satin skirts, elegantly enibroidered. The other quad- rilles danced were the " Mother Goose," led by Mr. Oliver Xorthcote and Mrs. Lawrence Perkins, in which the famous characters of Mother Goose were person- 196 THE VAISTDERBILTS. ated; the "Opera Bouffe," the " Star," the "Dresden China," and the " Go-as-you-please." In the " Star " quadrille, which was organized by Mrs. William Astor, the ladies were arrayed as twin stars, in yellow, blue, and white. The " Dresden China " quadrille, in which the dancers personated those dainty porcelain figures of the famous pottery, was perhaps the most notable of the evening, and even the photographs in costume of those who appeared in it are cherished as household treasures to-day. The dancers all wore ivory-white satin costumes, every appnrtenance of which was pure M'hite ; their hair was powdered and dressed high. The gentlemen wore the old German court costnme of white satin knee- breeches and powdered wigs, while the two crossed swords, the mark of the Dresden factory, were embroid- ered on all the costumes. Among the hundreds of striking and unique costumes only a very few can possibly be noted. Mrs.W. K. N^ander- bilt herself personated a A^enetian princess, as painted by Cabanel. The underskirt of her dress was of white and yellow brocade, shading from the deepest orange to the lightest canary, M'hile the figures of flowers and leaves were ontlined in gold and white and iridescent beads ; her white satin train was embroidered magnificently in gold, and lined with Roman red. The waist was of blue satin covered with gold embroidery, and on her head was a Venetian cap covered with magnificent jewels, among them a peacock in many-colored gems. Lady Mandeville, who received the guests with Mrs. Vanderbilt, wore a costume copied from a picture by Vandyke of the Princess Marie-Claire Decroy. Mr. W. K. Vanderbilt appeared as the Dnke De A ROYAL ENTERTAINMENT. 197 Gnise ; Mr. Conielins Yaiiderbilt as Louis XVI. Mrs. Cornelius Yanderbilt went as the Electric Light, in white satin trimmed with diamonds, and with a snperb dia- mond head-dress. Miss Amide Smith, Mrs. ^'anderbilt's sister, came as a peacock, in a dazzling costume of pea- cock-blue satin, and Mrs. Seward Webb, Mr. Vander- bilt's sister, as a hornet, with a brilliant Avaist of yellow satin with a brown velvet skirt and brown gauze wings. Other notable costumes were those worn by Miss AVork, as Joan of Arc; by Miss Edith Fish, as Marie Antoinette ; by Miss Turnure, as an Egyptian Princess, and by Mrs. Bradley Martin, as Marie Stuart. The Due du Morny wore a court dress ; Madam Christine Xilsson a mourn- ing costume of the time of Henry HI. ; Mrs. Pierre Lorillard appeared as a Phoenix, and Mr. Hurlburt as a Spanish knight. It was a royal entertainment, which had never before been equaled in the social annals of America, and which it is probable will not be surpassed for many years to come. It was the wonder not only of the year but of the decade, and the Yanderbilt ball will be remembered when other events much greater in their significance and in their bearing ou the time have been quite for- gotten. CHAPTER XXII. HORSES AND STABLES Love for Horses— Fondness for Fast Teams— Excellent Amateur Driver— Perils of the Road— Maud S.— Summer Recreation — The Derby— His Stables — Resigns the Reins. William II. Vanderbilt really loved his horses. He not only admired their performances, as his father did, and liked them because they enabled him to go ahead of other people's horses, but he felt and showed a warm interest in other qualities besides their fleetness — in their beauty, docility, and affectionate disposition. Un- like his father, he was fond of petting and handling his horses, and while on Staten Island he usually insisted on taking care of the horses himself. His penchant for fast horses increased after he moved to New York. It was not until about 1865 that he rode behind a really fast horse, although at that time he owned a fair pair of his own which could make a mile in three minutes. At that time there was a private driving-club near Macomb's Dam Bridge, on the upper end of Manhattan Island, frequented by such men as Commodore Vanderbilt, Ilobert Bonner, and Colonel John Harper. Mr. Bonner was the owner of the mare Peerless, and noticing that Mr. Yanderbilt seemed in- terested in her, he invited him to drive round the FAST TEAMS. 100 track. He was astonished at lier speed, and fiom that day manifested a growing desire to possess good horses. Before his father's death he made no pretence of being one of tlie leaders on the road, but was content to ride behind horses of considerable speed. The highest price ever paid by the Cominodoi-e for a horse was $10,000, for Mountain Boy. A year before he died he bought a fast horse named Small Hopes, and this fine animal he left to his son and heir. After the death of the Commodore, Mr. AVilliam 11. Yanderbilt took his father's place on the road. He bought Lady Mac, to match with Small Hopes, and astonished the trotting public by driving the team to a top road-wagon a mile over the Fleetwood Park course in 2.23^. This was about the beginning of the craze for fast teams. Other men pnrchased fast teams to compete with Mr. Vanderbilt, and the excitement on the bonlevards and avenues above Central Park, and on the Fleetwood track was unprecedented. Among the most notable of these was Edward and Dick Swiveller, driven by Mr. Frank Work, the most persistent and formidable rival Mr. Yanderbilt had on the road ; Blondine and Mill Boy, Maxey Cobb and Xeta Medium. Mr, Yanderbilt soon discovered that his team. Small Hopes and Lady Mac, would not be able to maintain his prestige on the road, and he secui-ed another team composed of the bay mare, Aldine, and the chestnut mare, Early Hose. This was in 1SS2. The team was driven in Hartford, Ct., a mile in 2.1 6A-. Shortly after this Mr. Work's famous team beat the record, and great was the excitement 200 THE VA]^TDERBILTS. among tlie road men. Mr. Yanderbilt now determined to be his rival for the team record. Maud S. had made her appearance in Kentucky, and was developing great speed. "VVlien the mare was but fonr years old Mr. Yanderbilt offered to give §20,000 for her if she would show a mile in public in 2.20. The trial was made in October of that year at Lexington, where she made a record of 2.17|^. Mr. Yanderbilt then gave $21,000, the extra thousand going to lier driver. On June 14, 1883, over the Fleetwood track, Mr. Yanderbilt took his fastest wagon-ride, behind Aldine and Maud S., a mile in 2.15i^. The road-wagon, with Mr. Yanderbilt, weighed nearly four hundred pounds. This performance has not been equaled by any team. Xo professional driver even ever drove a team as fast as that. Tie seemed, in driving, to have a special control of his horses. When his friends were congratulating him upon the result, lie quietly replied : " It is pretty good for an amateur." lie wanted his horses to be fast, was al- ways anxious to see what they could do and he treated them well. Of late years he paid less and less personal attention to the stabling aiid feeding of his horses. Having beaten the record of his rival, Mr. Work, Mr. Yanderbilt appeared to be satisfied, and the feeling between the two gentlemen subsided, xiniong the other horses with excellent records M'hich he owned, were Leander and Lysander; Bay Dick and Charles Dickens. Fast driving has its perils, especially in the crowded thoroughfares of a great metropolis, and Mr. Yander- bilt experienced his share. On Kovember 7, 1878, while he was speeding along Jerome Avenue at TWO ACCIDENTS. 201 tlie rate of a mile in 2.-i0 his team knocked down and fatally injured a man named Ililey, In giving an ac- count of the accident afterward Mr. Vanderbilt said : " On pleasant afternoons from hfty to a hundred gentlemen congregate on Judge Smith's stoop to witness the driving of fast horses on what is known as the speed- ing-gronnd of Jerome Avenue. I wasdriving along on the afternoon of November 7th, when, after coming around a turn in the road, I saw a man about sixty feet ahead of me and about twenty -five feet from the gutter. I at once shouted to him, being scared at seeing him so near in front of me. lie hesitated and seemed confused. Although I tried my best to pull up my team, it was too late, and my right horse struck him. I could not turn my horse out any further than 1 did, for I cracked my wagon in turning as it was. When I stopped my team and looked back I never had such a sensation pass over me before. Such an accident never before occurred to me. I liad him taken to Judge Smith's hotel, and tried to have the man given all the attention possible." On October 17, 1883, Mr. Yanderbilt met with a severe accident on tlie track at Fleetwood Park. He was driving Maud S., and came in collision with a sulky. lie was thrown violently to the ground, and for a while remained senseless. He suffered a severe shock, but no serious injury. His first question on recovering con- sciousness was to ask whether the mare was hurt. In the spring he was at Fleetwood Park nearly every day, taking a deep interest in tbe trials made there by horses belonging to his friends, or else speeding his favorite team. The pull of the reins seemed to inspire him, and he appeared his best when sitting behind 9* 202 THE YAISTDERBILTS. Maud S., or his trotting team, Aldine and Early Rose, a brisk breeze blowino; liis lont;: Eno-lish whiskers back of his head, a flush on Iiis good-humored Dutch face, and a cheery tone in his voice. He always took his horses with him to Saratoga and Sharon Springs, where he usually spent the summer season ; and every afternoon he went to the Lake, and there met the men wnth whom he loved to associate. This daily drive seemed to be his greatest delight, and if the w^eather prevented he did not hesitate to express his disappointment to his friends. Like all classes of the English people he loved the excitement which driving on the road affords. He went to Fleetwood be- cause he liked the track. He M'as fond of the excite- ment of a pleasant brush, and the fresh air did him good. He had a good deal of respect for his horses, and, as is well-known, would never use them for money -making pui'poses on the track. Lideed, he thought so much of his famous Maud S. that when he had decided to sell her, she was oifered to Mr. Bonner for §40,000, although other men stood ready to pay $100,000. Mr. Vander- bilt said at the time, " H I sell her to the syndicate the public will think I still own her, while if I sell her to Robert Bonner it will be known that there is no col- lusion between us. Then, she will never be trotted for money, and will be sure of good care." Thereafter he frequently spoke of Maud S. with affection and enthu- siasm. He did not give up the practice of driving daily with his own hands until his health was impaired, and then he would go out with a man in his employ, who was AS A DRIVER. 203 careful and trnstworthy. To nse the words of Mr. Bonner : " For one who had such varied interests to look after, and naturally could give but limited time to his horses, he was an excellent judge of an animal and frequently surprised his friends by his intelligent criti- cisms of well-known track performers that he liad seen. In a word, Mr. Yandei'bilt loved liorses, and could drive them well.'" When at Saratoga, in 187-1, Mr. Yanderbilt made the acquaintance of a clerk at Congress Hall, Matthew Riley, since a broker on the street. Kiley always liked a good horse, and knew something about horse-flesh, so the two used to " talk horse," and in the end a feeling of congeniality sprung up, which ripened into a friend- ship that lasted as long as Mr. Yanderbilt lived. Every afternoon, when the clerk could get away fi'om the hotel, Mr. Yanderbilt would come around with his horses and take him out for a drive. Says ^Nlr. Riley: "The minute Mr. Yanderbilt got his hands on the rib- bons he left all care behind him, just as Mand S. shows her heels to a common horse. He was full of jollity, and thongli he did not often tell stories himself, he would pull up his flyers as we jogged along and listen with a relish to a good story from one of the boys, and when it was good he had a hearty laugh for it. He had a wonderful faculty for controlling horses better than any non-professional I ever saw, and he was, in my opinion, the best double-team driver in America, amateur or pro- fessional. In 1883 we met every day on the road, and used to jog out to Fleetwood and then race back down Seventh Avenue with the boys. He was driving at that time, among other horses, Leander, his favorite, and he 204 THE VANDERBILTS. tried to match him but conld not. Leander is a fine fellow, and out of fifty-four races he has won thirty- four first prizes. He is fourteen years old now, 1885, and hasn't a blemish on him." Until a few years ago Mr. Yanderbilt was very fond of witnessing a well-contested trot, and generally on the first day of the Buffalo Grand Circuit meeting, in Au- gust, he W'ould take a party of friends from Saratoga by special train, witness the trotting, and return at once to the Springs. On these occasions he royally entertained his guests. In 1877 he visited England to witness the Derby, and said that the sight of three hundred thousand people looking at a horse-race was worth in itself a trip across the ocean. When in Europe during the trotting season he sent many cablegrams to his agents in this country, asking about his horses. When St. Julien and Maud S. trotted in Rochester, he had the details of the race re- ported to him by cable, a dispatch being sent after eveiy heat. Up to about a year before his death, Mr. \^anderbilt usually attended the trials of fast trotters, and could be seen on the steps of the New York Driving Club house, watching with interest all that was going on. He was fond of Dan Mace, the trainer, and would spend much time in his company talking about horses. The last year of his life he did not go out much, on account of poor health, and when he did it was simply for a drive to Macomb's Dam Bridge, and home early. He Iniilt magnificent stables on Fifty-second Street, near Madison Avenue, at a cost for the building alone of some $60,000. Its walls, floors, ceilings and stalls, HIS STABLES. 205 of whicli tliere are sixteen, are all finished in polished cheriT, ash, and black walnut. At the north end of the stable is a large box stall, 18 x 12, built for Maud S., but now occupied by Aldine. The carriage house is light and airy, with a high ceiling. Arranged in rows -here stand a Victoria, a square coach, a landau, a d'Or- say, a Brougham, and a small Victoria, two cutters, a family sleigh, five light road wagons, and a tilbury. The harness room is 12 x 12, and contains a large num- ber of harnesses arranged in glass cases with oak frames. The entire area, 100 x 75 feet, is given up to the pur- poses of the stable, which includes a carriage-room, 40 X 57, and a riding-ring, 38 x 51. In this last the horses were exercised when not in use out of doors. This room is covered by an iron and glass dome ; be- neath this is a marble floor, and around the outside edge is a track of tanbark. The stable is lighted by gas, the jets shaded with porcelain globes, decorated with horses' heads. About the walls are hung pictures of English racing scenes. Almost all the exercise that Mr. Vanderbilt took was behind his horses, and it is probable that they actually prolonged his life for years. CHAPTER XXIII. WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT'S DONATIONS. His Method of Giving — The Tennessee University— The College of Physicians and Surgeons — The Grants — Minor Gifts — The Obe- lisk — Public Ingratitude. William II. Yanderbilt had no ambition to be re- garded as a philantliropist. He had held his own against a scheming world, to his father's astonishment, and he had in seven years doubled his fathei-'s bequest, to the Avorld's astonishment. With that he was measur- ably content. He recognized the fact that he had obligations, and he met them without hesitation when they presented themselves before him in unquestionable shape. Old friends who were needy ; old associates of his father who had been unfortunate ; employes of the Central, suddenly disabled or afflicted — these he helped without stint, and what he gave was given encumbered with no tedious restrictions. He shunned subscription papers instinctively, like his father, but if a case of suft'ei-ing Avas laid before him by an3'body whom he knew to be trustworthy he did not hesitate. Tlie Commodore, like those other illiterate men — Cor- nell, Yassar, and Johns Hopkins — had borne fervent testimony in favor of learning, by founding auhiversity, METilOD OF GIVING, 207 aiid the son was not slow in addinii; to the million dol- lars the father had given. Ua added $200,000 to the endowment, and gave $100,000 for the Theological School. The hall built with this latter gift was dedi- cated on May 8, ISSl, the birthday of its patron. Only two weeks before his death, he gave his check for $10,000 toward the formation of a library for the Uni- versity. Mr. Yanderbilt was pleased with approval, and far more sensitive to pnblic opinion than his father was ; but he was shy of any conspicuous lienors, and always gave when he could, as above, to institutions ah'eady founded and christened, so that his name might not be coupled with the donation. In this spirit he made hislai'g- est gift. In 1S64: he cast about to see where lie could most wisely bestow lialf a million dollars where it would minister to the sick and suffering. It would build and magnificently endow a new hospital, to be forever known as the Vanderbilt Hospital, and to stand as a defence and answer tlie slanders of Socialists. But no ; he did not want a monument — he merely wanted to give the money M'here it would do the most good. So he gave it to an ad- mirable institution already founded — the College of Ph}'- sicians and Sui'geons. It was a superb endowment. And a year aftei-\vai-d, his daughter, Mrs. Sloane, added to the gift a quarter of a million from her own resources. The letters which he wrote to General and Mrs. Grant after their financial disaster, generously offering to can- cel their obligation of $150,000 to him, and pressing his offer with delicate insistance, won for him many grateful expressions from all parts of the country.* The * For these letters, see Appendix D. 208 THE VANDERBILTS. incident extorted a sort of patronizing tolerance and churlish admiration even from those millions who were in the habit of denouncing every word he spoke and disparaging everj^ generous deed ho attempted. Among AVilliam IT. Yanderbilt's minor gifts may be mentioned, $100,000 distributed among the employes of the ]!New York Central Kailroad ; $50,000 toward pay- ing the debt incurred by the Church of St. Bartholomew when it moved to its present situation on Madison Avenue, and $10,000 to the Deems Fund for the educa- tion of poor young men at the University of jS'orth Carolina. ITe has also contributed to the University of Yii'ginia, and made almost innumerable private dona- tions, of which the public has no knowledge. He was plain, simple, and unostentious in his manner of giving, and did not care to have his charities bruited in the public prints. When Dr. Deems explained to him the plan he had devised in relation to helping poor young men who wished to get an education, he said, " I like the scheme, and will give you $10,000 for j-our fund." Within two years afterward over fifty students had been helped through the university by the aid of this gift. It is known that he was very kind to his father's old friends, and he gave pensions to many superannuated employes. The last check he signed, three hours be- fore his death, was for the benefit of a charity in a dis- tant city. When the Suez Canal was opened, in ISOO, there was a large gathering of notable people from all parts of the civilized world. Among the representatives from America was Mr. W. H. Hurlburt, then editor of the TRANSPORTING THE OBELISK. 209 New York World. He met the Khedive of Eijypt, Ismail, and this fanctionary was the first to make the suirgestion iookino; to the reiuov^al of the obelisk at Alex- andiia to America, lie offered to present the monolith to the United States, as he had given its prostrate com- panion to England. Mr. Ilurlburt became deeply in- terested in the project, and cast about for ways and means for its accomplishment. It was ten years later, in June, 1879, that the atten- tion of Commander Henry II. Gorringe was called to the subject. He became interested in the matter, made a careful development of original plans, and an estimate of the cost of executing them, which resulted in an offer to undertake the work. A couple of months later he received the following letter : New York, August 4, 1879. LiEiTENANT-CosrMANDER H. H. GoRRisGE, United states Navy. De-^r Sir : I have learned that you have or can procure the facilities to remove to the city of New York the obelisk now standing at Alexandria, in Egypt, known as " Cleopatra's Needle." As I desire that this obelisk may be secured for the city of New York, I make you the following proposition : If you will take down and remove said obelisk from its jjresent position to this city, and place it on such site as may be selected with my approval by the Commissioners of Parks, and furnish and con- struct at your own expense on said site a foundation of mason- work and granite base of such form and dimensions as said commissioners and myself may approve, I will, on the comple- tion of the whole work, pay to you 375,000. It is understood, however, that there is to be no liability on my part until the obelisk shall be so received and placed in posi- tion in the city of New York, and the same to be in as good condition as it now is. It is understood further that this agree- 210 THE VANDEEBILTS. ment binds also my executors and adiijinistrators ; you to accept this proposition in writing on the receipt thereof, and agree to execute the same, and complete the work fully in every respect within one year from the date hereof. Very truly yours, W. H. Vanderbilt. To this proposition Commander Gorringe replied : New York, August 6, 1879. Mk. William H. Vandekbilt. Dear Sir : I hereby acknowledge the receipt of your letter of August 4, 1879, relating to the removal of the obelisk from Alexandria, Egypt, to New York, and its erection on a site to be selected with your approval, and I accept the proposition and the conditions named therein. Very truly yours, Hexry H. Goerixge, Lieutenant- Commander, V.S.N. Commander Gorringe had much difficulty in getting a vessel adapted to the novel transportation, and when he reached Egypt he found that no one, not even the Khedive, believed that the great obelisk would be or could be taken to America. At last the moiniment was turned over to a horizontal position ; an iron steamer was obtained ; its bow was removed, and the vast mono- lith was introduced to the hull endwise. On June 25, 1880, the sliip Dessong was ailoat with her unprece- dented cargo, and amid the cordial acclamations of the Egyptian populace she started for America. A fortnight later, in mid-ocean, the after crank-shaft broke, and she had to lie still a week, JS'eptune conducting liimself in a most kindly manner during that period. The Dessong anchored off Staten Island on July 20th, ITS RE-ERECTION. 211 and in tlie afternoon of*T;he same day she was moored in the Hudson River, off Twenty-third Street. It took one hundred and twelve days to move the obelisk overland from the foot of West Ninety-sixth Street, to the pedestal erected for it in Central Park, a distance of two miles. The corner-stone, of polished syenite, was laid with masonic ceremonies, and ou Jan- uary 22, 1881, the colossal stone was re-erected at noon, in the presence of ten thousand people. On the first claw of the fourth crab, beneath the obelisk, is the inscription : The cost of removing from Alexandria and placing on this sijot this obelisk, pedestal, and base, was borne by William H. Vanderbilt. Mr. Yanderbilt paid $103,Y32 for the entire removal and re-erection. The obelisk is of fine syenite of the Assouan quarries. It was formerly the companion of the obelisk now standing on the Thames Embankment. The pair were originally erected by Thothmes III., b.c. 1591-1565, before the famous Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis. While at Alexandria, this obelisk was usu- ally the first and last of Egyptian monuments to be visited by travelers. Owing to the gradual sinking of the land of that part of Egypt the sea came to within eighty feet of its base. It was already inclining toward the water, and in a few years must have fallen and been broken. Commander Gorringe lived to write a history of his achievement, dedicated To William H. Vanderbilt, in recognition of the enlightened munificence to which New York is indebted for the possession 212 THE VANDERBILTS. of one of the most interesting monuments of the Old World, and of the most ancient record of man now known to exist on the American Continent. In the preface of this work, Mr. W. II. Hurlbnrt saj's : " But no man knows as well as I do the discour- agements and difficulties through which success was won, and it appears to me to be mj duty, therefore, to bear witness here, once for all, to the absolute simplicity of purpose and single-minded public spirit to which Kew York is indebted for the possession of the great obelisk of Alexandria. No arguments wei-e needed to commend the project to Mr. Vanderbilt, whose liberality made it practicable." Mr. Vanderbilt's wealth was so extraordinary that his relation to society was peculiar. His charities were never received with a hearty good grace. When he gave $300,000 to the University, the act was coarsely greeted with " That's nothing for him ! " When, with royal courtesy, he offered to foi'give General Grant a great debt of honor, thei-e were ingrates who said " Well, he stole the money, as every millionaire does, and it would be only just if he were to give up ten times as much." When he donated half a million to the surgeons' college, and another half million to other equally needed insti- tutions, they expressed their gratitude in " Huh ! It isn't a quarter of what he ought to give ! " CHAPTER XXIV. THE MAUSOLEUM. Original Design Rejected — Too Grand — Moravian Thrift — The Site Secured — The Plan Adopted — A Romanesque Tomb — Granite, Limestone, and Bronze — The Interior — Allegorical Sculptures. When^ Mr. Vanderbilt determined to build a tomb for his last resting-place, and for the members of his im- mediate family, he consulted the architect of the Yan- derbilt houses, Mr. Richard M. Hunt, and desired him to prepare the plans. Mr. Hunt, being acquainted with many of the most magnificent mausoleums in Europe, drew elaborate designs for a grand and pretentious chapel above-ground, very ornate, since he understood that the cost would not be considered. When tliese were submitted to Mr. Yanderbilt, he said : " Xo, Mr. Hunt ; this will not answer at all. You entirely misunderstood me. AYe are plain, quiet, unos- tentatious people, and we don't want to be buried in anything so showy as that would be. The cost of it is a secondary matter, and does not concern me. I want it roomy and solid and rich. I don't object to appropriate carvings, or even statuary, but it mustn't have any unne- cessary fancy-work on it." The architect beoran asrain, and toned down his origi- 214 * THE VANDERBILTS. nal intention to something far less ornamental, and the mausoleum now being finished on the lower end of Staten Island is the outcome. It is undoubtedly the finest and most costly private tomb in America, and will rank high hy the side of tlie royal tombs of Enrope. The structure stands near the bi'ow of a hill just back or west of the old Moravian Cemetery at New Dorp. Mr. Vanderbilt originally intended to place it in the ceme- tery, where so many of his ancestors are buried, but the trustees asked more for the requisite plot of ground than he thought it was worth. As Commodore Yanderbilt had given the fifty acres of land constituting the ceme- tery, they were unable to come to an agreement, and the result was that fourteen acres of land were pur- chased just outside of, but adjoining, the cemetery. A much more suitable site was thus procured, and the fine structure is placed where it can be seen to advan- tage, and not upon level ground, with commonplace surroundings. The tomb has a front some forty feet in height, by sixty in breadth, and is placed against a bank of nearly the same height, so that the sides, rear, and most of the roof are not seen, being covered with earth and green turf. The sides are also efi^ectually masked by retaining walls curving outward, each nearly a quar- ter-circle, and heavily buttressed. The result is, there- fore, that as the visitor approaches he sees merely a gabled front, rich in carved work, forty feet higli, made of Quincy granite, divided laterally into a center projected some six feet from the front walls of the aisles. Standing upon the steps in front of the central door- way, an extensive and lovely view is obtained. The lit- STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE. 215 tie hamlet of New Dor]), with its quaint and scattered farm-liouses, including the village post-office and the blacksmith's shop, lies at the foot of the knoll ; bej'ond are the extensive tlatlands which gently slope to the south shore of the island, which merges into the blue waters of the lower Bay of New York and the silver gray of the broad Atlantic. At the right can be seen a sapphire strip of land known as Sandy Hook, with a stretch of the Jersey coast beyond, while at the left there is a full view of Coney Island, with the highlands of Long Island stretching toward Greenwood and the city of Brooklyn. Every steamship and sailing craft which enters Xew York Harbor must pass in sight of this mausoleum. It will be the first prominent object seen on Staten Island by those who come fiom Europe to America. The farm where Mr. William H. Vanderbilt spent some twenty odd years of his life lies spread out below the tomb like a map. It is fitting that his last resting- place should dominate the landscape he knew and loved so well. The style of architecture followed in the tomb is Romanesque. Each of the three divisions of the fagade has a door-way, in which is hung a double bronze door. The upper part of the door is grated, to admit light to the vestibule. The chief feature of the front is tlie great central door-way, an arch of some seven feet in diameter inside and twenty outside. It is splayed in- ward, together with its supporting piers, in a curve of nearly a quarter of a circle, to the depth of five feet. The tympanum of the arch is filled with sculpture cut in the solid granite, representing the emblems which 216 THE VANDEEBILTS. signify the writers of the four gospels, with a figure of Christ in the center. A richly-wrought string-course traversing the entire front is continued across the open- ins: as a transom, and the whole Held of the wall of the central front is decorated in diaper. Another string- course divides this from the gable above, which is dec- orated with a mock arcade the height of the openings, conforming to the line of the roof, after the manner of the facade of the famous Cathedral of Pisa. In front of the main door is a semicircular platform, eighteen feet in diameter, on a level with tlie floor of the vestibule, and gained by an ascent of six Steps. The vestibule is eleven by fifty-one feet in area, and opens through a single door-way at the center into the tomb proper. Each side of this door-way are large tablets of polished Quincy granite, and two of the same size at either end of the vestibule. There is a deep arched recess opposite each side-door, opening into the vesti- bule, which contains a huge vase of polished granite standing upon a pedestal. These can be used for hold- ing flowers. Either side of the main door, in the front wall of the vestibule, there are small doors, at the foot of bronze staircases, which lead to the ventilating cham- bers above the catacombs. In the tympanum over the great door-way opening into the tomb proper is a bas-relief showing a figure of Christ, with angels and scroll-work, and the words, in English text, " I am the door." This is seen from tlie vestibule, as the tomb is entered. Inside the tomb another bas-relief over the same door-way sliows Christ in the act of pronouncing a blessing, with the words " Pax Vobiscum " on a scroll. THE INTERIOR. 217 The great room of the tomb proper is sixty by forty- five feet, and fully forty feet high from the floor to the top of the arches. It resembles a church built of solid stone and richly carved, only that the side-walls are filled with open catacombs. This room is composed of two bays nearly square, and a semicircular apse, or chan- cel, covered with a half-dome. The apse is raised above tlie main floor of the tomb, and contains an altar of stone, to be used in religious services for the burial of the dead. The bays are covered with vaulted ceilings resting upon arches turned between the bounding piers, and terminating in open rings, protected by open lan- terns visible from without, and through which alone, with the glass nine inches thick, light is admitted to the interior. The great interior is an unobstructed space, and occu- pies the breadth only of the central part of the front. The sides of the room contain the cells or catacombs, for coffins. Beneath each of the large arches which support the vaulted ceiling on each side are two subordinate arches springing from a central column. There are eight compartments thus formed, each containing nine cells, or seventy-two in all. A ventilating pipe runs from each cell to the air-chambers above. The cells are about 2 feet 7 inches in width by 2 feet 2 inches in height, and 8 feet deep. The heads of the arches above the cells are filled with semicircular bas-reliefs, about 8 feet by 4, illustrating scriptural subjects. Beginning with the first, at the right of the apse, they are as fol- lows : " The Creation of Man ;" " The Fafl of Man ; " '' Giving the Law to Moses ; " " David Praising the Lord ; " '' Solomon sitting in Judgment ; " " The Virgin 10 218 THE VANDERBILTS. and the Christ Child ; " " The Crucifixion," and " The Ascension." Rich bronze gratings, costing $60,000, and requiring twenty tons of standard bronze, protect the cells from intrusion. These gratings, or gates, are very artistic and elaborate in design. They were made in America by artisans brought from Paris. Each piece liad to be cast separately, after which all were put to- gether. Kew moulds were made for every piece for each of the screens, or gates. The effect of so much bi'onze work is wonderfully rich, and gives the interior of the tomb a strange appearance. The color harmonizes with the deep-toned and gloomy surroundings. This bronze work renders both the tomb and the cells within burglar proof. The whole interior of the tomb is made of light-colored Indiana limestone, the floor consisting of large slabs of it. The structure was over a year in building, and is supposed to have cost not less than $300,000. CHAPTER XXV. CLOSING LABORS. Sensitive to Public Opinion— Relinquishes His "Monopoly" — Fifty Millions in Government Bonds — Resigns His Presidencies — Let- ter to Associates— " The Pvablic be Damned ! " — Succeeded by His Sons — Working Westward — Acquiring the Nickel Plate- Letter on Freight Discriminations — Ou Labor — To Grover Cleve- land. As year followed year, Mr. Vanderbilt withdrew more and more of his attention from the roads, leaned more and more upon his sons, and took longer and more fre- quent vacations. Sometimes he went to Europe just for the ocean voyage, returning upon the same vessel which carried him out. He was widely condenmed as " a dangerous monopo- list " by all agrarians, and by others who were moved by similar feelings without, perhaps, proceeding to the extreme conclusions ; and the illustrated papers con- stantly put forth vile caricatures of him representing him as a colossal dragon on wheels, rushing across the land M'ith bloody claws, yawning jaws, and breath of flame. He was vehemently denounced as the enemy of the people, the oppressor of the poor, the robber of the industrious. It was partly to silence this senseless clamor that he resolved to sell $35,000,000 worth of his Central stock. 220 THE VANDERBILTS. How to do it without breaking the market and causing a depreciation of all securities was the serious question. Negotiations were carried on for weeks with great secrecy. A journey was made to Europe in the interest of the scheme. In the last week in November, 1879, the bargain was closed. To a syndicate representing chiefly the Wabash sys- tem, but also a number of foreign capitalists, he sold 250,000 shares of Central stock. He was known to hold at the time at least 400,000 shares, which, as the market then stood, represented a wealth of $52,000,000. The stock had not been seen on the London Board for nearly fifteen j-ears, and it was felt that it was desirable that it should be there. Besides, there was danger of a rupture in the traffic agreement between the Central and Wabash systems, the latter system having been extended a short time before, and through freight being a prize for which an active competition among the trunk lines was to be expected. The purchasing syndicate was composed of J. S. Morgan & Co., of London, Drexel, Moi-gan vfe Co., August Belmont & Co., L. Van Hoffmann & Co., Morton, Bliss & Co., Winslow, Lanier & Co., Edwin D. Morgan, Cyrus W. Field, Jay Gould, Russell Sage, and others. This syndicate took the 250,000 shares at 120, wliich was 10 below the ruling price in the market. It was agreed that the syndicate should have a corre- sponding i-epresentation in the director}' of the Central, and that Yanderbilt should not place any of its stock on the market for a year. The news of the consummation of the sale reached Wall Street early on November 26th, and the effect was promptly visible in the advance of the Vanderbilt and Wa- GREAT SALE OF STOCK. 221 bash stocks. Xew Yoik C'entral and Hudson River rose from 129| to 134f , and AVabasli common from 39 to 434, preferred from 63 to 68. The rest of the list being affected by sympathy, Erie closed at 3Sf, that being the liighest price of the day. Tlie advance was due to a general conviction that the arrangement was one of the highest value to the two systems, inasmuch as it was a guaranty of at least temporary harmony in traffic relations between them. Mr. Vanderbilt admitted that one of the considerations that entered into the sale was that it would i-elieve him and his road of the embar- rassment growing out of the public distrust of great power in a single man. Tlie 835,000,000 which he received for the stock he at once reinvested in government bonds, and within a year it was reported from Washington that he was re- ceiving interest on bonds amounting to 853,000,000. Chauncey M. Depevv, speaking of tliis colossal trans- action, said : " Mr. Vanderbilt, because of assaults made upon liim in the Legislature and in the newspapers, came to the conclusion that it was a mistake for one in- dividual to own a controlling interest in a great corpora- tion like tlie iS^ew York Central, and also a mistake to have so many eggs in one basket, and he thought it Avould be better for himself, and better for the company, if the ownership were distributed as widely as possi- ble. . . . These syndicates afterward sold it, and the stock became one of the most widely-distributed of the dividend-paying American securities. There are now about fourteen thousand stockholders. At the time he sold there were about tliree thousand." Mr. Vanderbilt had done all he could to prevent the 222 THE VATiTDERBILTS. completion of that " piratical " road, the Nickel Plate, cutting rates desperately^ to that end, but to his discomfi- ture it pressed on mile after mile, and he felt compelled, early in 1883, since he could not break it, to buy it. His second son carried on the negotiations with a good deal of ability, and on the reorganization of the com- pany was elected its president. On May 3, 1883, Mr. Yanderbilt finally resigned the presidencies of the various roads of which for six years he had been. the he^d. His health had been gradually failing, and he felt that he owed all his care to its recu- peration. The retirement had been anticipated for some time, but it caused considerable surprise. In surrender- ing his position, Mr. Yanderbilt said : " Gentlemen : The companies of which I have had the honor to be president for many years past are now about to elect new officers for the ensuing year. The meetings of all of them have been called at this office at this time to thank you as the directors and officers, and also the shareholders of the several companies, for the confidence they have always reposed in me as their pres- ident. It is my belief that these corporations are all in sound condition, and that all the prominent positions in them are filled by gentlemen who understand their duties, and who will discharge them to the satisfaction of the stockholders. This fact has had gi'eat infiuence with me in determining the course of action which I have, after due delibei'ation, decided upon. " In my judgment the time has arrived when I owe it as a duty to myself, to the corporations, and to those around me upon whom the chief management will de- volve, to retire from the presidency. In declining the "the public be damped." 223 honor of a re-election from you I do not mean to sever my relations or abate the interest I have heretofore taken in these coi-porations. It is my purpose and aim that these several corporations shall remain upon such a basis for their harmonious working with each other, and for the efficient management of each, as will secure for the system both permanency and pi-osperity. Under the reorganization each of them will elect a chairman of the Board, who, in connection with the Executive and Finance Committees, will have immediate and constant supervision of all the affairs of the companies and bring to the support of the officers the active assistance of tlie directors. The plan of organization now adopted and inaugurated will remove the business of the companies from the contingencies of accident to any individual, and insure a continuance of the policy which has here- tofore met the approval of the stockholders." The various Boards passed complimentary resolutions in response. Mr. Yanderbilt, accompanied by his son George and his Uncle Jacob, immediately sailed for Europe, which he had visited many times since that first celebrated voy- age on the Xoi'th Star. James H. Rutter was elected president of the Central, and retained the position until liis death, his successor being Chauncey M. Depew. The system laid out by Mr. Yanderbilt, which is based on the English system of railway management, has since been maintained. A thousand sarcastic changes have been rung, and a thousand indignant editorials written, and hundreds of satirical cartoons printed, concerning the notorious say- ing attributed to him, " The public be d d ! " His 224 THE VAISTDERBILTS, utterance of it was at first denied by those desiring to defend him, but Saninel Barton, his favorite nephew, was one of tlie party at the time, and he confirmed the report of the exclamation liaving been made. But the vicious story of the reporter was virtually false, notwith- standing, for he omitted all the context and the surround- ing circumstances which explained the malediction. The thing under consideration was the fast Chicago mail-train, which Mi'. Vanderbilt was about to take off. " Why are you going to stop this fast mail-train ? " asked the reporter, whom Mr. Vanderbilt had received on his special car with every evidence of cordiality. " Because it doesn't pay," was the answer. " I can't run a train as far as this permanently at a loss." " But the public find it very convenient and useful. You ought to accommodate them." " The public ? " rejoined Mr. Vanderbilt ; " how do you know they find it useful ? How do you know, or how can I know, that they want it ? If they want it, why don't they patronize it and make it pay? That's thej only test I have of whether a thing is wanted — does it pay ? If it doesn't pay, I suppose it isn't wanted." " Mr. Vanderbilt," persisted the reporter, determined to get a column interview somehow, " are jou working for the public or for jouv stockholders ? " "The public be d d!" broke out the irritated man — " I am working for my stockholders ! If the pub- lic want the train, why don't they support it ? " That is the way it happened. Mr. Vanderbilt often spoke freely to reporters— sometimes too freely. He did not seem to realize the weight which people placed on anything that fell from his lips. CLOSING LABORS. 225 Great were his indignation and disgust when he found that his casual words in defence of the stockholders whose agent he was had been tortured into a brutal speech— a malevolent imprecation aimed ac the whole American people, to whom he owed his fortune. Noth- ing, he alleged, was further from his thoughts. Steadily, during these years, Mr. Vanderbilt's two eldest sons, Cornelius and William Kissam, had grown from being assistants to being associates and practical allies. Tlie\' had neither found nor sought to find places that were sinecures in the great establishment. Corne- lius had, on his grandfathers death, become First Vice- president and chief of the Finance Department, and his younger brother had become Second Vice-president and head of Transportation. The duties of these posi- tions were exacting, but the young men who occupied them had been trained to work, and they had been taught by both father and grandfather that constant work was their only salvation. After his resignation of the presidency, William IJ. Vanderbilt had, on the advice of his physicians, with- drawn almost entirely from office- work, and even from active superintendence. He had resigned his director- ship and sold his stock in the AVestern Union Telegraph Company, and in the Union Pacific. His latest opera- tions were purchases and dealings in Chicago and North- Avestern, Omaha, and Philadelphia and Reading, and a few other minor transactions. During a year or two, a project which had gi-adually assumed tremendous physical proportions, known as the West Shore Railroad, had been a very pronounced thorn in Mr. Vanderbilt's flesh, by reason of its continuous opposition to the great 10* 226 THE VANDERBILTS. system of wliich his father was the founder. It was pushed to completion bj- its reckless and desperate pro- jectors, and soon went into the inevitable bankruptcy. Mr. Vanderbilt did not hesitate vehemently and frankly to denounce the promoters as a gang of thieves and blackmailers, who had stolen the money of dnped stock- holders in order to obtain the chance of stealing his ; but the rival ly M'as too immediate and disastrous, and something must be done. Mr. Depew undertook nego- tiation at the solicitation of Mr. Vanderbilt, which re- sulted within the week in an absolute transfer of the West Shore to the Xew York Central on terms calcu- hUed to discourage those who build competing roads for the sole purpose of selling out. At all times Mr. Vanderbilt entertained positive views as to discriminations and rate-cutting, and he did not Jiesitate to express them. On Febrnary 28, 1878, the New York Chamber of Commerce held a meeting to hear the Railroad Trans- portation Committee report on " Freight Discrimina- tions and the Effect upon the Commerce of the City." At this meeting the following letter from Mr. William H. Vanderbilt was read. President's Office, New Yokk Central and Hitdson Eiver R.R. Co., Grand Central Depot, New York, February 21, 1878. Dear Sm, — Yon ask me to give you my views upon the peculiar diificulties and disadvantages attending the receipt and shipment of merchandise at this port. Cities, like rail- ways, must offer equal facilities with their comjietitors for busi- ness. Within the past ten years Philadelphia and Baltimore LETTER ON COMMERCE. 227 have made rapid progress in competing for foreign and home trade. They have granted to their railroads the most liberal privileges in tlie iise of streets, docks, and water-fronts, and have furnished them every assistance for the erection of ware- houses and elevators, and the establishment of steamer and other lines. As a natural sequence, the imports and exports at those cities are constantly inci'easing, and will continue to in- crease, at the exj^ense of New York, until New York shall see its danger and fully offer the same facilities for commerce. The New Y'ork merchant is subjected to a terminal charge of from seventy cents to one dollar per ton, a burden from which his Philadelphia and Baltimore rivals are free. It is clearly to the interest of the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Pennsylvania Rail- way, carrying goods upon a pro rata of the Baltimore or Phila- delphia mileage, to take them to those ports, rather than to New York, and deliver them to the consignee, without this terminal charge ; and, from this cause, leaving out their other and local influences, it is to their interest to divert trade from this port ; for here comes always this exceptional tax, in the shape of a terminal charge, affecting every ton of freight de- livered in the city, and amounting to about ten dollars a car in excess of the same freight delivered in either Philadelphia or Baltimore. The land under water around this city has been granted to it by the State for the puii^ose of improving, increasing, and ex- tending the commercial facilities of the metropolis. This prop- erty is a trust, to be used, not to secure a temporary income, but to be so administered as to enlarge and cheajDen the busi- ness of this ijort. But the city, relying upon its natural and other advantages, has always appropriated, improved, and rented this gift, as if it was held only for the immediate revenue which could be collected, without regard to the effect of such a policy upon our future prosperity. Public sentiment has heretofore sustained this view, but the time has come when both the city government and the merchants must see that any revenue de- rived from this source is insignificant compared with the damage inflicted. While steamships at other and rival ports laud at 228 THE VANDERBILTS. comparatively free wliarfs, the rental of a dock owned by our city is about equal to seven per cent, per annum upon the cost of a first-ciass ocean steamer, and at the same time our railways are prohibited from reaching these docks, though the distance is only a few feet, the expense trifling, and the connection would to that extent put us on an equality with rival cities. "When the railroad desires to use city property for the building of depots, and the increase of facilities, it pays at the same rate as to a private individual. When it wishes to erect piers over the land under water, and applies for a permit, the city expects a large yearly rental for this ground, covered by fifteen or thirty feet of water, and that the pier built by the comiaany at great expense shall revert to the city, after a few years, as its abso- lute property. Every burden of this description is paid directly by the rail- road, but necessarily reimposed upon its traffic. The proj^erty of the city, otherwise useless, is improved at the cost of the company, and the improvement increases our terminal facili- ties, adds to our commercial advantages, and cheapens the ex- l^ense of doing business at this port ; but the terms imposed neutralize most of the benefit. In all these matters the true in- terests of the city, the railroads, and the merchants are identi- cal. We have the same competitions, and we must live on profits so small that volume of business becomes a necessity. It is short-sighted policy which jH-omjits an increased terminal expense at New York, making it to the interest of any road to carry its traffic elsewhere. The natural advantages of this city, and its large control of the channels of trade, ought to be so supplemented by its liberality and wisdom as to induce all lines to seek New York. I appeal to the merchants to arouse the municipal authorities on this questioi>, and to encourage and sustain every elfort look- ing to relief and improvement. Trade once lost is hard to gain. The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad is ready at all times to bear the burdens and make the expenditures necessary to compete with roads in other seaboard cities. With thor- ough harmony of action, as there is of interest between the LETTER TO CLEVELAND. 229 municipal goverament, the merchants, and the railroads, the financial and commercial sui^remacy of Nesv York can be main- tained. Very truly yours, W. H. Vaxderbilt. Ch.\eles S. Smith, Esq., Chairman of Committee of Chamber of Commerce. In October, 1884, at the commencement of the rail- road war, cutting rates to the West, Mr. William 11. Yanderbilt said : " I can tell von one thing : our old road will not be behind any of its rivals, whether they are young or old. The rates to the West may be any figure that the other lines may choose to make them . . . The fact is that there has got to be a further liquidation. Some companies among the trunk lines have confessed that they were not making much money, but others have not . . . Everybody has lost money in the last year or two, and it is fortunate that the losses have fallen on the richest men. 1 feel the depreciation, and perhaps in proportion to my wealth, but on some of the rich men it is telling pretty hard. It is ridiculous to suppose that politics will change the process of liquidation. The success of one candidate or the other will not add a cent to what I already have. But I decline to discuss pol- itics ; I take an interest in it, but I have not given any- thing to either side. " One of the troubles in this country just now is the relation of wages to the cost of production. A skilled workman in almost every branch of business gets every day money enough to buy a barrel of flour. I don't refer to ordinary laborers, but to men skilled at their trades. 230 THE VANDERBILTS. The man who makes the article receives as rancli wages, in many instances, as tlie article is worth when it is finished. This is not exactly fair, in my opinion, and must be adjusted. Until wages have a truer relation to production there can be no real prosperity in tlie couu- try." The following letter, written by Mr. Vanderbilt just afterward, explains itself. The Honorable Geoveb Cle-'vTeland : My Dear Sir — I congratulate you and tlie people of the wliole country upon your election to the Presidency of the United States. You owe your election, in my opinion, to the fact that the people believed you to be an honest man, and not to any particular efforts made by any faction of either the Democratic or Republican parties. Independent men who care more for good government than for parties or individuals have made you their choice, because they were convinced that your administration would not be for the benefit of any political organization or favored i^ersous, but for the interest of the whole people. This is just the result which is most desired. We have reached a time when party amounts to little ; the country is above all, and wants an honest government by honest men. The belief that we will find it iu you has led to your election. Yours very truly, W. H. Vanderbilt. New York, November 7, 1884. Mr. Vanderbilt voted generally the Kepublican ticket, but in late years the Democratic. His sons are all Re- publicans, excepting AVilliam Kissam, who is an enthu- siastic Democrat, approving, usually, of both the meas- ures and methods of his party. CHAPTER XXVI. W. H. VANDERBILTS DEATH. Worry and Anxiety — His Declining Health— Morning of the Last Day — At Ward's Studio — Conference with Mr. Garrett — Paralysis and Quick Death — Effect on the Public Mind— Simple and Inex- pensive Funeral — The Vault at New Dorp — Home Again. Mk. Vanderbilt "svas a mucli more comfortable aiul happy man upon his Staten Island farm than in his Fifth Avenue palace. Like numy farmei's, he knew that the story of Antseus, the giant son of Keptune, said to have been strongest when he touched the earth, was not a fable, but the poetical expression of a rugged fact. After he left the farm and came to the city to live he complained of a feeling of suffocation, and every pleas- ant Simday for years saw him behind a brisk team driv- ing to the ferry to seek the free air of his former home. These visits became less and less f i-equent with the flight of years, until sometimes months would pass and find him chained to the city. It told upon his health — the confinement and care of his great and growing property. William II. Yanderbilt never learned his father's knack of turning off business rapidly and easily. What- ever he had to do he generally did in the hardest way. He could not acquire the habit of shifting his burden. Of course, this injured his general health. Ilis ap- 232 THE A'AXDEEBILTS. petite failed him. lie was anxious about himself, and wanted the doctors to see him often. His anxiety was increased by an attack of paralysis which the doctors called "insignificant" while living in the house at the corner of Fortieth Street, but the effects of it soon passed away, and he pretty nearly i-ecavered his confi- dence that he might possibly enjoy a long life. "If I can only pass my sixty-fourth birthday !" he would ex- claim ; " that seems to be a dangerous period in our family." So the result proved it to be. His death on December 8th was sudden and dra- matic. He had no note of warning. He died in- stantly, as he had often wished to die, not sympathizing with the prayer of the litany. The day had been with- out excitement. He rose at the early hour of seven, as was his custom, and breakfasted at eight and a half with his family. He showed little appetite for food, but this was not unusual, as lie had been suffering from indiges- tion for years. After the morning meal the " boys " dropped in to see him, as they were wont to do — Corne- lius, William K., and Frederick AV. — and consulted with him about the management of the properties that the family controlled, and in the direction of which they were active. About half-past nine this conference was held, and Mr. Rossiter, the treasurer of the Centi-al road, and the custodian of many of Mr. Yanderbilt's business confidences, was also present. At eleven o'clock, some matter being under consideration that required the pi-esence of Mr. Depew, he was sent foi-, but he re- turned word that he would be unable to answer the call before one o'clock, and an appointment was made for that hour. THE LAST HOURS. 233 Considerable business liad been ti-ansacted by this time, and Mr. Vanderbilt, remembering that he liad an appointment, left the house and walked briskly to the studio of J. Q. A. Ward. He gave the sculptor about an hour's sitting for the bronze bust of him which had been ordei-ed by the trustees of the College of Physicians and Surgeons; that notable beneticiary of his bounty. Returning to the house, he had luncheon at 12.30, sitting at table with his wife, his youngest son, George, and his daughter, Mrs. Twombly. It was afterward remarked that he was in a cheerful mood and chatted in a jocund manner with the family. At one o'clock Mr. Depew arrived, but finding that Mr. Robert Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, had just called to have a talk with Mr, Vanderbilt, he waived his own engagement till later in the day, and insisted on Mr, Garrett taking his place. The ar- rangement was accepted, and Mr. Garrett began to talk over the project of bringing the new trunk line into the city via Staten Island and Mr. A^anderbilt's old home. The two men were seated in the study, a capacious room on the north side of the house. A brisk fire was burning on the hearth. The greater millionaire sat in liis favorite easy-chair, one with a deep seat, low back, and soft arms ; at his left, his table scattered with papers ; behind him, his desk. Tlie smaller millionaire sat on a sofa just opposite, under the front window, and here and thus for an hour they confei-red. Mr. Garrett unfolded his plans for establishing terminal facilities ; Mr. Van- derbilt leaned eagerly forward and listened, and made suggestions. Xo one who heard their quiet conversation could have 234 THE VANDERBILTS. inferred that Mr. Vanderbilt was talking to the son of his old antagonist in transportation, with whom he had had more than one desperate rate-cutting battle. Mr, Yanderbilt was speaking, when suddenly his visitor perceived an indistinctness of utterance. Leaning for- ward to catch his meaning, he saw the muscles about the mouth twitch slightly. Then they were violently convulsed, and a spasm shot through the frame. In an- other instant the stricken man plunged forward, witli- out a cry, headlong to the floor. Mr. Garrett caught him before lie struck, but before he could lay him on the rug and put a pillow under his head he had ceased to breathe, and in a moment the pulse was still. The family were summoned ; doctors were sent for ; restoi'a- tives were tried ; in vain — the man was dead. When Dr. McLean, the famih- physician, arrived, he found that apoplexy had done its work — a blood-vessel burst in the head, a clot of blood upon the brain, and that was the end. Mrs. Yanderbilt fainted M'hen she heard the news from the physician. It was generally agreed that Mr. Yanderbilt had been subjected to no peculiar annoyance or fatigue during the day — no special nervous pressure. Mr. Ward said : " Mr. Yanderbilt was somewhat out of breath when he came in, though he had not been exerting himself more than to (j:et out of his carriao;e and walk into the house here. At each of the former sittings he was in excellent spirits, and while I woi-ked on the clay model he talked about horses and various artistic subjects, especially paintings. lie never seemed to tire of relating his amusing and unusual experiences in buying the works of art now in his residence. To day, however, Mr. Yau- PUBLIC EXCITEMENT. 235 derbilt was rather silent, and after a few minutes seemed to grow drowsy. I asked liim whether he was feeling well, and he said that his head felt a little queer, but that he supposed it was the result of sitting up rather late last night, and M-ould therefore soon wear away. After about half an hour he grew very restless. "He took a short nap in his chair, then roused him- self and asked how I was frettino- alono-. To interest or?* o him, I brought out a picture of Maud S. and asked his opinion of it. lie thought it not very good, and said he had a much better one. From this we began discussing horses and fast records, and the possibilities of the future. Mr. Vanderbilt was now much more wide awake, but as he was not feeling his best, I suggested that he cut the sitting short, and I could do very well with what I had. He lingered a few moments to dis- cuss the clay, and I asked him if that was his first bust. He laughingly asked if I hadn't heard about the one at the Eden Musee, and went out." The news of the death spread with mai'velous i-apidity. By dusk everybody in town knew it. By dark it had been telegraphed to the ends of the continent. The sons and dauo'hters hurried home. Cards and messao-es of condolence poured into the saddened house by the hun- dred. Telegrams came from remote cities. Scores of friends stopped at the house to inquire and to leave mes- sages. There was no attempt to intrude on the suddenly- afflicted household. Curiosity and interest caused crowds to gather in front, and to prevent too great a throng an officer was detailed to patrol the walks. He had no trouble in preventing collections of people, but men and women paced up 236 THE VA]S'DERBILTS. and down, watched the bright vestibule and darkened windows, talked in bated breath of the sad affair, and wondered what he had done with his fortune. All night that ghostlj policeman walked his short beat in the somber shadows. Scores of people came and whispered together under the gas-lamp, noiselessly made inquiries of the sentry, gazed up at the drawn cur- tains, watched the callers — some of them closely-veiled ladies — coming and going on foot and in carriages, and listened to the newsboy's dissonant cry, not five rods away, "Extry ! Extry ! Death of William H. Vander- bilt ! " Within three blocks a meeting of magnates was held for the purpose of preventing a fall in prices, and it was agreed by the syndicate to buy three hundred thousand shares, if necessary, to sustain the market. It was said that $12,000,000 was pledged for the use of the pool. The solitary patrol marched to and fro. The hoarse announcement of the newspaper came up the street, and now and then a messenger boy darted out of the darkness and back again, and vanished on his way. The funeral was very simple — as simple as his father's — as simple as the last rites over the body of a man of such plain tastes should have been. Xo needed expense was spared, but nothing was wasted. Friends were re- quested not to send flowers. The body was not em- balmed. The coffin was exceedingly plain, of cedar witli elliptic ends, draped in black English l)roadcloth, and lined with white satin. On the morning of the 11th the family assembled around the remains of the dead for a farewell and a brief prayer. Then the undertaker closed the casket, the THE LAST RITES. 237 pall bearers removed it to the nndecorated liearse, and the cortege moved through the crowd to St. Bartholo- mew's Church, where the most simple public ceremonies were held by Bishop Potter. U]X)n the casket was a bank of fresh violets, a bunch of palms, and a wreath of myrtle, and a cross of white roses was at the foot. The regular burial service of the church was read, and there was no eulogy of the deceased. The following gentlemen served as pall-bearers : Chauncev M. Depew, Samuel F. Burger, J. Pierpont Morgan, C. C. Clarke, Charles A. Rapallo, John P. Brady, William Turnbull, William L. Scott, William Bliss, D. O. Mills, George J. Magee, Stephen D. Caldwell. From the crowded church down crowded streets again moved the procession to the foot of Forty-second Street, where the ferry-boat Southfield was in waiting — the same boat that had taken the remains of Commodore Vanderbilt to the same destination. Again the boat was crowded with mourners ; again the pilot rang his bell, and they moved out into the stream, carrying the remains of the dead millionaire from the city where he had lived and labored and doubled the enormous for- tune that had been left him, to the lovely island where he had spent so many years, and which now was to be his final resting-place on earth. The body was placed in the public vault of the little Moravian cemetery at Kew Dorp, and a simple service was said by the local clergyman. Everything was quiet and unpretentious. A stranger passing by and looking over the low wall would never have imagined that the simple rites that were taking place Mere over the re- mains of the richest man in the world, nor have dreamed 238 THE VANDERBILTS. of the immense wealtli represented by the sorrowing gronp. When the family and friends returned to the city, a watch of armed men was set over the vault, and they paused in their solemn pacing to and fro in the cold night, turned a bull's-eye lantern on the faces of curious strollers, and answered their questions. For several months this armed guard will be on duty night and day protecting the body of the dead from tlie hyena rapacity of the living, until the completion of the mausoleum on the adjoining hill which Mr. Yanderbilt began some months since as the final home of the Commodore and his descendants. CHAPTER XXYII. THE WILL. Two Hundred Million Dollars given Away — The great Burden Dis- tributed — Widow, Children, and Relatives well provided For — The " Residue " of a Hundred Millions — Charities — The Testa- tor's Purposes and Dreams. How the great property had been divided by the will was the question that now excited unusual interest. The bequest of $200,000,000 was unprecedented in the his- tory of the world, and for three days the public dis- cussed all the possibilities with eagerness, and the news- papers of all the land published every fact and rumor that could tend to the solution of the mystery. It was well known that the Commodore had been an advocate of primogeniture — the special advancement of the eldest son — not l)ecause he cherished the old feudal superstition that the eldest- born liad superior rights, but because he believed that, if equally capable, such a single heir would be more likely to keep a vast inherit- ance intact, and thus the better to maintain the power of the family. It was obvious that the Commodore had carried this conviction into effect in devising the bulk of his estate to William II., giving to his other children only enough to insure their comfort ; and it was further known that he had discriminated in his will in favor of his young namesake, the eldest son of his eldest son, and had indicated him as the future head of the house. 240 THE VAIS^DERBILTS, This son, Cornelius, was understood to liave weathered the financial storm of 1883 more safely than his brothers, and to have retained and augmented his in- heritance in a way that indicated shrewdness and thrift. This was quoted in support of the assumption that he "would now inherit one-half, perhaps three fourths, of the tremendous wealth which his father and grandfather had accumulated. Moreover, it was alleged, bv those who thought themselves in a position to know, that at least one will had been signed and attested within five 3'ears which executed the Commodore's wish to have the estate entailed in a direct line. And it was not known that this will had been destroyed and super- seded. AVhen the leo-al will was brouo-ht from the Safe Deposit Vaults and read — the last of nine wills that had been made in six years — great was the public astonish- ment. It overthrew primogeniture, by dividing half of the property equally between the two eldest sons. The family were not surprised. They knew that the testator had honestly experimented with primogeniture and had been himself a victim of it. His doctor alleged that he had died of overwork. Originally equipped with a superb constitution, fine physique, and extraordi- nary muscular power, his health and strength had de- clined from the day that he took charge of his father's business. Ills appetite had failed him. Dyspepsia had assailed liim. His sleep was broken. Pleasure had lost its zest. In eight years he had lived twenty. Constant worry had laid the foundation of arterial changes that resulted in a rupture of a large vessel in his brain and sudden death. He felt a premonition of his doom, and he said to his THE GREAT BEQUEST. 241 family : " The care of $200,000,000 is too great a load for any brain or back to bear. It is enough to kill a man. I have no son whom I am willing to afflict with the terrible burden. There is no pleasnre to be got out of it as an offset — no good of any kind. I have no real gratification or enjoyments of any sort more than my neighbor on the next block who is wortii only half a million. So when 1 Lay down this lieavy responsibility, I want my sons to divide it, and share the wony whicli it will cost to keep it." On the day succeeding his funeral, Satnrday. the 12th, the will was carried to the Probate Coui-t by Channcey M. Depew and the four sons of deceased. It covered nineteen pages of foolscap, type-written, and contained about six thonsand words. A petition for probate was signed by the four sons and verified by their oath, set- ting forth that the will was signed September 25, 1S85, in presence of the i-eqnired witnesses ; that it bore no codicil ; that the names of the heirs-at-law and next of kin were, in the order of age, Marie Louise Yanderbilt, the widow, living at No. 640 Fifth Avenue ; Cornelius Yanderbilt, a son, living at Xo. 1 West Fifty-seventh Street ; Margaret Louise Shepard, a daughter, living at No. 2 West Fifty-second Street; William Kissani Yan- derbilt, a son, living at iSo. 660 Fifth Avenue ; Emily Thorn Sloane, a daughter, living at ISo. 642 Fifth Avenue; Florence Adele Twombly, a daughter, living at No. 684 Fifth Avenue ; Frederick W. Yanderbilt, a son, living at No. 459 Fifth Avenue ; Eliza O. Webb, a daughter, living at No. 680 Fifth Avenue ; and George W. Yanderbilt, a son, living at No. 640 Fifth Avenue. Provision is first made for the widow. To her de- ll 242 THE VANDERBILTS. cedent gives for use during life the house in which lie resided at the time of his death, the pictures and other works of art, the horses, carriages, and stables, and he leaves to lier an annual allowance of $200,000, and the privilege of disposing of $500,000 absolutely, bj will, to any one whom she may desire thus to benefit. To each of his four daugliters he leaves the houses in which they are now living, near his own residence ; but he adds a condition which shows that he shares his father's incredulity as to the business ability of women, directing that the portion intended for his j^onngest daughter shall not be delivered to her till she attain the age of thirty, and if she die cliildless before that time her portion shall revert to the estate. The testator sets apart $40,000,000 of certain specified securities, and directs that it be divided into eight equal parts and distributed to his children, giving to each one five million dollars absolutely. He then sets apart another $40,000,000 of railroad aud otlier securities as a trust fund. This is to be di- vided into eight equal parts, held by trustees, and each child is to receive the interest on $5,000,000 during life, in addition to the $5,000,000 absolutely given. This makes an annual income of about $500,000 for each. The principal goes to the children of the eight, as each of them may direct by will. If any son die without leaving children, his portion of the trust fund is to be divided among surviving brothers or their children. The same direction applies to the daughters' shares. After the death of the widow, the works of art (ex- cepting the marble bust of Connnodore Yanderbilt, which is given to Cornelius), the family residence. THE DISTRIBUTIOT^. 243 stables, etc., in wliicli she has a life estate, are be- queathed to her youngest son, George Vanderbilt, or to liis children if he be dead. If he die without issue, William 11. Vanderbilt, the eldest son of Cornelius, will I'eceive this property, and $2,000,000 besides. The tes- tator further gives $1,000,000 to this favorite grandson, absolutely, on attaining the age of thirty years. If he be not living at the time when such bequests Avould fall to him, then they shall go instead to the next son of Cornelius, who bears the same name as his father. " My object being," the testator says, recurring to the spirit of the Commodore, " that my present residence and my collection of works of art be retained and main- tained by a male descendant bearing the name of Van- derbilt.'' Mr. Vanderbilt also gives $2,000,000 to his eldest son Cornelius in addition to all other bequests ; §30,000 to William V. Kissam, a nephew ; to his brother, Jacob II. Vanderbilt, the dividends during life on 1,000 shares of Kew York Central ; an annuity of $2,000 to his Annt Phebe and each of twelve other relatives, and of $1,200 to othei-s ; and to his secretary, E. V. W. Ilossiter, $10,- 000. He gives $200,000 to the Vanderbilt University, of Tennessee, which his father founded. To the follow- ing, $100,000 each is bequeathed. To the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church ; St. Luke's Hospital ; the Young Men's Chris- tian Association of Js^ew York ; the Protestant Episco- pal Mission Society of ]^ew l^ork ; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Moravian Church at Xew Dorp. The following get $50,000 each : The General 244 THE VANDEEBILTS. Theological Seminary ; the Xew Yoi-k Bible and Com- mon Prayer Book Society ; the Home for Inciirables ; the Protestant Episcopal Church Missionary Society for Seamen in the City and Port of New York ; the New York Christian Home for Intemperate Men. and the American Museum of Natural History. Thus about half the property is disposed of. The vast remainder is divided and given in two equal shares to the two eldest sons, Cornelius Yanderbilt and William K. Yanderbilt, giving them about §50,000,000 apiece in addition to their present large fortunes. It is estimated that Cornelius Yanderbilt cannot have less than $80,- 000,000 — nearly as much as his father received from the Commodore. The widow and the four sons are made executrix and executors, and each son is made one of the trustees for all the trust funds except those for his own benefit. If they qualify they shall serve without compensation. The New York Sun, alluding to this will, said : " Never was such a last testament known of mortal. Kings Lave died with full treasuries, Emperors have fled their realms with bursting coffers, great financiers have i^layed with mil- lions, bankers have reaped and sowed and reaped again, great houses with vast acres have grown and grown and still exist ; but never before was such a spectacle presented of a jilain, or- dinary man dispensing, of his own free will, in bulk and mag- nitude that the mind wholly fails to apprehend, tangible mil- lions upon millions of palpable money. It is simjily grotesque. " The numerical significance of a million is incomprehensi- ble ; it can only be measured relatively and by illustration, and when it comes to dealing with himdreds of millions, the under- standing is overwhelmed and helpless. Mr. Yanderbilt gave them right and left, as if they were ripe apples." THE VICTIM OF CHURLS. 245 For a week after the pii1)lication of tlie will, its pro- visions were a leading topic of popular discussion through- out the country. It was taken up and picked to pieces, approved and criticised, with as much s})irit as would have been manifested if the parties to the dispute had all been legatees. One thought the property should have been equally divided among the children ; another that Cornelius should have had almost all of it, to carry out the Commodore's dream ; another that it should have been distributed among the whole population of the countr}', " and it would have given $4: to every man, woman, and child in the United States ; " another that it should have been directed more to objects of public benevolence. In this last, many concurred. To those who knew him best, it seemed a wonder that the testator was not so wholly embittered as to refuse to make any provisions in his will for public charities. He had been harried and abused by the press, whenever he had tried to do any generous action. Every announcement that he had made a donation to science or medicine, to art or music, was met by the churlish connnent, " It's nothing for him ! " and " Why didn't he give ten times as nmch ? " Instead of gi-ati- tude, lie got sneers ; instead of decent treatment, in- sults. The demand of the loudest-talking, if not the most influential, of the press of the city, seemed to be that he could atone for the heinous crime of being rich, only by giving away all of his property at once to any- body who chose to ask for it. So it is a marvel that he did not become wholly hardened and cynical, and refuse to consider any schemes for the special benefit of the public. 246 THE VANDERBILTS. On the contrarj', his mind was busy with such pur- poses, trying constantly to give permanent foi-ni to the liberal thought. " The great trouble of our time," he was in the habit of saying, " is that there are too many people idle. There are few skilled mechanics among them ; most of the tramps and loafers are those who are unskilled, w^ho have not been trained to do aiiy difficult thing, and do it well. "What is especially needed, is to have all boys and girls of all classes of societj' taught some sort of difficult trade — given special training, so that they can fall back on work whenever necessary." To this end he considei-ed the expediency of establishing some great tool-house, where poor chil- dren might be taught trades ; but he gave it up because he came to think that such training should be conferred b^' a modification of the public school system. But inquiry shows that Mr. Vanderbilt wished and meant to associate his name with some great gift to the city of New Yoi-k which should be at once unique and pre-eminent ; and this generous ambition at last, two or three }ears before his death, took the form of a public Museum, like the British Museum, to be, like that, of incalculable value as an educator of youth. lie decided to build such a museum of magnificent dimensions on the block opposite to his house on Fifth Avenue, and to endow it with ^5,000,000. This would be a far greater endowment than that possessed by any other museum in the woild, and it might be expected in a few years to excel all others in the extent and value of its collections. The delay in realizing this superb vision, and finally its failure through death, resulted from the impossibility of obtaining the land. It belongs to the citv, but is A DEFEATED PURPOSE. 247 rented to the llomaii Catholics for an orphan asylum, for 990 yeai's, at the lental of $1 a year. Tiie asyluni people would not relinquish the advantages of their fine bai'gain, and the city was helpless ; so, after persisting for two years, Mr. Yanderbilt suspended the plan till he could find another acceptable site, and New York lost one of the most valuable monuments of industry and art that it was within the power of man to rear. CHAPTER XXVIII. ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTER. ^ Temperate Habits — Abstemious — Domestic — Tribute of the Directors — Opinions of Jay Gould and Russell Sage — Letter to Matthew Riley — A Much Abused Man— Fond of Opera — The Student Waiters — The Undelivered Apple-Jack. The general habits and personal character of Mr. Vanderbilt will not be doubtful to those who have attentively read the preceding pages. He used no tobacco in any form. He was abstemious at table. Few men ate less, he taking no meat some- times for days together. He never partook of rich foods or hot breads. He was fond of shell-fish and of the cereals in a coarse form, with milk. He retained simple tastes, and seldom drank wine or liquor of any sort. He was not in anj- sense a high liver. He weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds, and often complained that he did not get enough physi- cal exercise. His chief recreation was the opera, of wdiicli he was fond. His physician, Dr. McLane, said : "I did not think he needed medicine when I first diag- nosed his case in 1870, and I have never thought so since ; therefore, I prescribed as little as possible. My theory was that he needed rest and relaxation. I believed he liad too much to think of, and that under the weight of such important cares as his great interests involved liis THE MANNER OF MAN. 249 health had been affected in such a way that only com- plete rest and freedom from worry would restore it. I saw him on Sunday, and congratulated him on his ap- pearance, lie seemed to be *in excellent health, and in iine spirits over the successful transfer of the AVest Shore property and the solution of that puzzling and annoying problem. The suddenness of his death shocked me. Those who saw him shaking with laughter over the ' Queen of Sheba ' at the Metropolitan Opera House last Wednesday night will agree with me that his appear- ance indicated quite a lease of life on earth." In his liome life Mr. Yanderbilt set an example worthy of ennilation by many men of less affairs. He was exceedingly domestic, and devoted to his home and family. It was a very pressing matter of business in- deed which got him out of his home at night. He used to stay at home and play whist every evening after din- ner. He was passionately fond of a good rubber, and played with considerable skill. Unlike the iron Commodore, he always felt that his children had rights. He was kindly, conciliatory, and indulgent in liis relations with them, and in the midst of the greatest affairs always found time to look after their welfare and enjoyment, to bend to their humors and fancies, and to make their hours happy. Instead of fearing him, they loved him. As a host he was always cordial to friends and acquaintances, affable to strangers, and approachable and accessible to all. He did not bi'ing his shop to the fireside. Pie was a fair story-teller, and while not a picturesque or poetical talker, he was fluent and vigorous of speech, and capable of conveying a vivid impression of his ex- it* 250 THE VANDEKBILTS. periences. He was fond of recalling the amusing inci- dents of his travels in Europe before any of the family spoke French or German, and when favorably launched upon the after-dinner tide he could agreeably entertain a table-full. Perhaps there is no better way of conveying an ade- quate idea of Mr. Vanderbilt's character as it was under- stood by those who worked with him and saw much of him than by copying here the following expression of their regard uttered by the directors of eleven railroad companies assembled together on the day after his death. Cynics can, if they choose, make some grains of allow- ance on the ground that this estimate was uttered by his associates and beneficiaries — but, in the main, the words are no doubt true : " His sudden death in the very midst of the activities whose influence reached over the entire continent has startled the whole country, and in the hush of strife and passions the press and public give tender sympathy to the bereaved family and pay just and deserved tribute to his memory. But to us, who were his associates and friends, endeared to him by the strongest ties and years of intimacy, the event is an appalling calamity, full of sorrow and the profoundest sense of personal loss, while officially we feel that his sagacity, his strong common sense, his thorough knowledge of the business, his will- ingness to lend of his vast resources in times of peril, and his counsel and assistance, were of invaluable and incal- culable service in conducting and sustaining these great enterprises. " He came into the possession of the largest estate ever devised to a single individual, and has administered the TESTIMONY OF ASSOCIATES. 251 great trust with modesty, without arrogance, and with generosity, lie never used his riches as a means of op- pression, or to destroy or injure the enterprises or busi- ness of others, but it constantly flowed into the enlai-ge- ment of old, and the construction and development of new works, public in theii- character, which opened new avenues of local and national wealth, and gave oppor- tunity and employment directly and indirectly to mill- ions of people. In keeping together and strengthening, during a period of unparalleled connnercial depression and disintegration, the combination of railways known as the Yanderbilt system, which he inherited from his father, greatly extended, and transmitted to trained and worthy successors, he performed a work of the highest beneficence to the investors and producers of the whole country. " None of his accumulations were derived from his injustice to others, from conspiracies against associates, from ci'ushing out the w^eak, but the humblest stock- holder shared in equal proportion in whatever benefited the common property, " But it is not alone for his sense, judgment, and jus- tice in the vast business with which he was connected that he will be remembered. His many and unostenta- tious charities are known only to the beneficiaries, but the Yanderbilt University, the Egyptian Obelisk in the Central Park, and the Medical College in New York will remain among the endui-ing monuments of his public spirit. AVhen he had gathered in his galleries the lar- gest and best collection of modern art in the woi'ld it was his greatest gratification to invite the public to enjo}', in equal measure with himself, those priceless treasures. 252 THE VAISTDEEBILTS. " To the employes of liis railroads lie was exacting in discipline and the performance of duty. He was merciless to negligence or bad habits in a vocation where millions of lives were dependent upon alertness and fidel- ity. But within these limits he was a just and gener- ous employer and superior officer. He knew how to reward faithfulness and remember good conduct, and always held the respect and allegiance of the vast bodies of men who called him chief. The successful adminis- tration of the railways under his management and the affairs of his life was largely due to his rare knowledge of men and his ability to recognize the qualities needed in the control of great trusts. " With all the temptations which surronnd nnlimited wealth, his home life was simple, and no happier domes- tic circle could any where be found. The loved compan- ion with whom he began his active life in the lirst dawn of his manhood was his help, comfort, and happiness through all his career, and his childi'en have one and all honored their father and their mother and taken the places which they worthily fill in their several spheres of activity and nsefulness. " In performing this last and saddest of duties, we who were his associates, advisers, and friends remember not the millionaire, but the man. His frankness, his unaffected simplicity, his deference to the opinions of others, his consideration for the feelings of all, his ten- derness in suffering and affliction, and, his whole-hearted manliness, were to us precious privileges in his life, and are loving recollections in his death." Arrangements had been made by lieavy holders of stocks to buy freely if the market showed a decline on A PLOT OF THE BEARS. 253 Wednesda}'. Early in the morning there was an excited crowd in the vicinity of AVall and jS^ew Streets, and wlien the corridoj's and galleries were opened at 9.30 there was a wild scramble of those eager to obtain entrance. The scene has not been paralleled since the panic of '73, and in fifteen minntes every available foot of room was occupied. In the melee hats were knocked off, clothing torn, and a few persons slightly injured. On the floor the throng was thickest about the Yanderbilt proper- ties, and when the first roll of the gong was heard, an- nouncing the liour for business, the Lake Shore corner resembled a bear-pit, being filled with a jostling, yelling crowd of frantic men. The first recorded quotation was at 85, as against 88, the closing figure of Tuesday after- noon, for stock sold half an hour after Mr. Yanderbilt was dead ; but the collusion of the large operators was in- stantly apparent, for purchases were rapid, and the stock rallied and rose to 86, then to 87. The behavior of JS^ew York Central and the other Yanderbilt stocks was about the same. At first, for an hour, they went off, but the strong hand of Gould, Sage, and Field was felt, and they all rapidly recovered their ground. And when the great gong rang again at 3 o'clock brokers looked at eadi other with a sigh of relief, and said : " It wasn't much of a shower after all."' Jay Gould said, shortly before the close of business : " This rapid recovery demonstrates to me very clearly the wonderful growth of this country. Its richest man is dead, but in spite of the calamity the stock market is likely to close higher than j^esterday, when his death was not anticipated. A few years ago the result might have been very different." 254 THE VATSTDERBILTS. Russell Sage, one of the shrewdest men in America, and liimself the possessor of a fortune of not less than $50,000,000, said: " Mr. Vanderbilt was a very remark- able man, of far more original force and financial ability than any one imagined when he succeeded to his father's millions. I don't know that any one ever thought of comparing him to the Commodore, whose genius in finance was really beyond comparison. He was to finance what Shakespeare was to poetry and Michael Angelo to art. But William H. was certainl}^ an able successor. He doubled the colossal fortune that was left him, and that proves an executive skill that only one man in a million possesses. 1 have had more or less to do with him, and the three qualities I observed as most striking in his character were his readiness, his reliability, and his courage. That is to say, he always met an emergency with a plan ; he always kept his word to the very letter, and he possessed such a fund of decision and persistence that, having undertaken to do a thing, and having made np his mind how it was to be done, he went right ahead and put it through on the lines he had laid down. I think that his rare success in manipulating his great fortune was due to these quali- ties." The relations of Matthew Riley, the broker, to the dead millionaire throw some interesting side-lights upon his character. Mr. Riley is a lover of horses, and he and Mr. Vanderbilt were for years warm friends. In 1876 Mr. Riley went to Philadelphia and became man- ager of the Exposition Hotel. Of this he says: " I was quite successful with the house, and every- thing going smoothly, when one day I got one of his GENEROSITY. 255 regular monthly letters that always brought sunshine and encoui'ageinent to nie. It stated that Dan Mace had that day driven his team, Hutledge and Dickens, a mile in 2.2U. I sat right down and wrote him, offei'ing congratulations on the team, asking him if he was com- ing to Philadelphia that summer, and ui'ging liim to be my guest if he did come; also telling him of a fast horse 1 had seen that M'ould please him. The letter brought this reply from Mr. Yanderbilt, written fi'om 452 Fifth Aveime, the house the Commodore had given him. It was not dated, but you will see from the contents that it was the summer of '76." The letter referred to was as follows : M. ErLET. Dear Sir : Your very kind note of yesterday i.s just re- ceived, and I assure you I am veiy much pleased to hear that you are so prosperous in yoiu- business. Let me give you a word of good advice. These are hard times, and but very few are prosperous. Don't let this opportunity slip. Give up your horse and all other unnecessary expenses, and put away for a rainy day every dollar that you can save from your business. This summer is your harvest. You know what it is to struggle against adversity. Now is the time to save something ahead. Don't neglect it, and you will always thank me for pressing it upon you. Your account of the horse — he must be a good one. If he was here I would try him a week or two, and if he suited me would buy him at a fair price. My team, Kutledge and Dickens, are fine, but I want a third horse to come in with them. Father's health is such that I can make no plans for this summer. I am afraid he will not get out again, but we must hope for the best. He is of so much vitality and game that he may outlive the disease. I am really glad you are doing well. Now, take my advice and lay up a good nest-egg. Do away with luxuries that are really of no use until you get in position where the enjoyment of them can be indulged in from your in- 256 THE VANDERBILTS. terest money rather than from the principal. Don't laugh at this. You know I would like to see vou do well and prosper. Now while you are young and in health is the time to provide for old age. Yours very truly, W. H. Vandeebilt. A jDOstscript follows on the first page, showing how sincerely the writer had his friend's interest at heart : Don't think I have preached to you a sermon. I have said so much because I want you to improve the present opportunity. " Another tiling Mr. Vanderbilt did for nie," con- tinned Mr. Riley, "that was almost as good as that. One day about two years ago I was driving Kitty S. and met Mr. Vanderbilt behind Little Fred. We had a friendly brush down the road, and I beat him. About ten days later we were jogging together after a spin. I had heard that he was angry because I liad beaten him that day, and told him so. Said he : ' My dear Riley, if you pay attention to the words of every envi- ous sucker you'll have a hard row to hoe in this world ! ' After a minute's silence he said : ' I don't know any better way to kill off these bilious fellows than to make you a present. What horse is there in my stable that you want ? ' "I thought him joking, and said: 'Are you in ear- nest ? ' " ' Yes,' he answered, ' I am.' " I said : ' Leander is the best horse you own.' " ' Well,' said he, ' Leander is your horse.' " That was two years ago, and ever since I've used Leander. Mr. Vanderbilt was very fond of him, and I value the gift not so much for its worth as for the giver." HIS ENEMIES. 257, Mr. Yanderbilt was the most thoroughly and cordially abused man in this country — probably in any country. His great wealth and the investments he made brought him into contact with the public and subjected him to a good deal of honest criticism. lie was also the object of malicious denunciation by many wlio, only under- standing that he was immensely rich, and unable to "understand how his riches could possibly benefit any- body but liimself, looked upon him as a buccaneer or higliwa}' man, who had aggrandized himself at their ex- pense. These men hated him because they were cov- etous of his possessions. In every mail that came to his desk were denunciations of his opulence. His daily mail was a museum. He was promised fortunes by futui-e millionaires on the condition that he would merely help them to start. These were the commonplace let- ters. Then came the grotesque ones. From the im- pecunious person who claimed relationship. From the ambitious dynamiter who was about to put in motion a mysterious machine for the annihilation of the whole Vanderbilt family. From the energetic Socialist who demanded money and threatened assassination in case of refusal to pay. Skulls and cross-bones, daggers and black coffins, were common features of decoration, and occasionally a suspicious-looking package was opened with care and found to bo a badly-constructed " infer- nal machine." On three occasions Mr. Vanderbilfs mail assumed a really dangerous aspect. In April, 1SS2, such a dastardly contrivance was sent to him, but it was intercepted befoi'c it reached him, through the premature explosion of a similar one ad- dressed to another distinguished magnate, Cyrus W. 258 THE VANDEEBILTS. Field. The niacliine was a clumsy device, and it was contained in a box lined with a German Socialistic news- paper. Tims, Mr. Vanderbilt was made at times to feel that the reputation of being the richest man on the globe conld not be worn with impunity. But the menaces did not much alarm or agitate him, and he never went out of his M'ay on account of them. "What's the use of dodging?" he would say to his secretary, laughing; "I am a good-sized target, and if the ci-anks are l)ound to kill me, they can do it. But they can't scai'C me to death, anyhow." He believed that he would die when liis time came and not before, and, beyond taking ordi- nary care against ti-eachery, he did not bother himself about those whom his prosperity made natural enemies. Mr. Vanderbilt was a church-member, liaving con- nected himself with the Episcopal Church, which for many years he attended on Staten Island. But he was Avarmly interested in secular enterprises of a public nat- ure. If not an enthusiastic lover of classical music, he enjoyed modern operas keenly, and felt all the responsi- bilities of his position as a patron of the lyric drama. He was always a liberal subscril)er, and on the occasion of Henry E. Abbej^'s benefit, at the close of an opera season that is unique in the musical history of the world, he sent to that enterprising and spirited manager his check for $5,000. He was fond of the drama in general, and kept him- self surprisingly M'ell posted on theatrical news, so that in conversation with one of the profession he well knew what he was talking al)out. Mr. Vanderbilt Avas the first supporter that Mr. Dion Boucicault found for his ESTIMATES OF IIIM. 259 tlieatrical insurance scheme that he so vigorously agi- tated. Mr. Jay Gould gave the following estimate of his dead compeer : — " I have for many years considered Mr. Vanderbilt as a man of unusual ability in the manage- ment of large financial interests. AY hen his father died and he came into possession of his lai-ge fortune, Mr. Vanderbilt was not long in demonstrating his ability to manage the property which had been intrusted to his care. He made no move upon the checker-board of finance until he felt satistied that the move was a safe one to make. He would not run a great risk unless he were absolutely compelled to by force of circumstances, which I assure you was not veiy often. His judgment upon values was always sound. Few men have made so few mistakes in the handling of moneyed interests as Mr. Vanderbilt. He was not a bold venturer or operator. He seemed to be satisfied with a small, or, at least, a fair, return from his investments, so long as they were sound." Isaac P. Chambers, controller of the iS^ew York Cen- tral Railroad, said : " I acted as the private secretary of Mr. Vanderbilt in connection with the auditor's duties from 1865 to 1883. During all those eighteen years I was never further away than in the next room to his, and I never saw a man of more amiable disposition. He was not understood by tbe public. He thought of their interest in every respect, and in considering any new movement or change in policy, would say : ' AVe must look out for the public first, for you know that we are their servants.' He was a very generous man, and was constantly overrun with applications for assistance, and one would be surprised at the chai'acter of many of 260 THE VANDERBILTS. tlie applicants. Doctors of divinity, lawj^ers, and even judges who had become entangled in speculations would ask him to help them out of their troubles. I remem- ber one letter he wrote in reply to a request for advice in December, 1878, in w^hich he stated substantially this : That he never speculated in stocks and never rec- ommended any one else to do so, for he had seen too many people ruined by ventures of that kind ; that stocks in Wall Street did not sell on the merits of the properties, but were subject to the whims and caprices of a few men ; that he wrote this much in the liope of influencing one man to be satisfied with an honest livelihood obtained in a legitimate business, for thou- sands of people had lost the savings of a lifetime in one day of speculation ; that the writer had asked for his advice and there it was." Mr. Depew said, alluding to his dead friend : " A peculiarity of the man was his fearlessness. He was constantly in receipt of letters informing him that at a certain hour and place he was to be shot, stabbed, or otherwise killed, and under what ciicumstances. It would have been an easy matter to do this, for he always drove over the same roads, went the same way to the office, at the same hour, and back again at fixed hours and over fixed routes. He used to hand me these lettei-s. Many of them were from cranks, others from that class of adventurers who make a living by preying on the feai's of their fellow-men ; some of them contained threats, others appai'ent disclosui'es. Some I thought were real : but he would never allow me to investigate them further. On the conti-ary, when infoi-med that he would meet death at a particular hour and place, he AMONG THE STUDENTS. 261 never failed to i^o tliere on time. lie said that lie wanted to enjoy life, and that if he were to be wateheil and protected it would become a burden to him. If death had to come, it would come Avliatever he might do, and he would ao riirht alono-. He was in this a philosopher, and so when he was abased in public or in the press. lie held this idea: that in consequence of his wealth and the character of his investments, that gave him constant public prominence, he was necessarily subjected to constant criticism that to a certain degree was justified. He got used to abuse, and while he was not much affected by it, I know that he was mightily pleased when the newspapers said anything complimen- tary of him." Mr. Yanderbilt spent some months of the summer of 1883 driving with his family among the White Moun- tains. At the Glen House students from Bates and Bowdoin Colleges were employed as waiters, and he at once began to inquire of them about their college life and experiences. He ascertained that the students were in most instances the sons of parents who were not burdened with an abundance of wealth, and were there- fore depending in a large measure upon their own efforts in securing money with which to meet the expenses of their college course, and some helped to support their parents besides. Mr. Yanderbilt thought this very plucky and creditable, and on going away he left $3,000 with Charles Milliken, the landlord, for the promisiug and ambitious young students in black jack- ets and white aprons. Each of them returned to school $100 richer through his thoughtful generosity. This is only one instance of scores of similar ones. 262 THE VANDERBILTS. Only a week before he died, when he visited the farm for tlie last time, to inform the resident farmer of the change in ownership, he said, sitting in liis carriage : " Well, I am no longer master here. I have given it ail to George. He will look after the place hereafter. I cannot be bothered with it any more. After all, I have enjoyed more peace of mind and quietness liere than I ever have in the big city yonder." And then he rode back to Kew Dorp, and entered the old Moravian Cemetery, and drove through it, and up the hill, to the magnificent family mausoleum in course of construe-- tion. He was anxious to know if the workmen would be able to get it enclosed before M'inter came with its frosts and snows. And thence he drove down to the ferry, where he met and saluted his old neighbor, Tyson Butler, who had "given him a lift" a quarter of a century before. In that early time before the war, when Yanderbilt was a farmer at Kew Dorp, he sent his crops to the city mar- ket on schooners, and brought back manure, which was hauled up the sandy beach by oxen. Once Yanderbilt's cart got stuck in the sand and his oxen could not di-aw it out. His farming neighbor, Tyson Butler, going by with a yoke of oxen, sung out : " Vanderbilt, your oxen are no good. 1^11 bet you a half- gallon of applejack that mine can haul that load up the beach." " Agreed ; I'll take that bet," was the reply. The oxen were hitched on, and they hauled the load out without great difficulty. " The applejack is yours ! " said Vanderbilt. But he forgot to deliver it. FORGOT TO DELIVER. SC!? So on this pleasant day in December, 1SS5, returning from tlie cemetery, this same Mr. Yanderbilt, become the richest man in the world, stood on the ferry-dock at Clifton chatting right and left with all he knew — and he seemed to know everybody. Mr. Butler drove his oxen by, hauling the great blocks of Quincy granite for the Yanderbilt mausoleum at New Dorp, and seeing his former neighbor, he shouted : " I haven't got that apple- jack yet, Yanderbilt; I'm getting thirsty." " And you've remembered it twenty-five years ! " ex- claimed Mr. Yanderbilt. "Well, Butler, you shall have it." The next week the rich man was dead and laid to temporary rest in the cemetery vault, and the old team- ster went on hauling stones for his monument. CHAPTER XXIX. THE SONS AND THEIR HERITAGE. The New Residences — Cornelius and William K. Vanderbilt — Their Public Trusts and Private Character — A Notable Present — Law- abiding and Self-restraining — Comparison of the Central with other Roads — Reduction of Passenger and Freight Charges, After the death of tlie Coniinoclore, William II. Yan- clerbilt and his two eldest sons planned and bnilt three mansions on Fifth Avenue north of tlie siinmiit of Murray Hill. The first has been sufficiently described. The two others, rivaling it in elegance and luxurious- ness, were located, one at the corner of Fifty-second Street and the other at the corner of Fifty-seventh Street. The pictures of these houses given elsewhere in this volume convey some idea of their spaciousness and sumptuousness. Cornelius Yanderbilt went into the Treasui-er's office when he was twentj^-one years of age, and had been there thirteen years when his grandfather died and liis func- tions were enlarged. lie was one of the most method- ical and industrious of men — the first to get to his desk and the last to leave it. He had a res-ular and thorough office training, and knew how to work to advantage. William Kissam Avas more like his grandfather, find- ing routine labor irksome, quick and dashing in action, readj^ to take risks. He was irascible, like the Commo- dore, too, and intolerant of opposition or correction. But he made himself master, of the whole transportation de- w. K. vanderbii^t's residence. THE BUSY BROTHERS. 265 partnient ; was quick at calculations ; was familiar with freight rates and agreements and the margin of pi'ofit, and possessed good judgment on railroad combinations. When the father retired from the presidency the two sons were made alternately chairmen of the Boards of Directors of the different roads : Cornelius held that position in the Hudson Kiver and Xew York Central and Michigan Central, and William K. was chairman in the Lake Shore and President of the Xickel Plate. AVith the next son, Frederick W., his father adopted a different course, lie took naturally to study, and grad- uated at the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, and thence was received into the office, doing general railroad work under his father's direction, lie was first assigned to one department and then to another till he became somewhat acquainted with the whole complicated ma- chine, lie is a director in the different lines. Besides being chairman of the Boards of Control of the Xew York Central and Michigan Central, and hold- ing important positions in several other roads, Corne- lius Vanderbilt has different trusts to distract his atten- tion, lie is an officer in the Young Men's Christian Association, a trustee in the Episcopal Seminary, an active member of St. Bartholomew's Church, the treas- urer of the Episcopal Board of Foreign Missions, a trustee of St. Luke's Hospital, and a ti'ustee of St. John's Guild, besides being intimately associated with numer- ous charitable institutions. In the spring of 1881 Mr. Yanderbilt gave to the Metropolitan Museum six hundred and thirty-three drawings, where they are arranged, as far as possible, by schools, in chronological order. These are pen-and- 13 266 THE VANDERBILTS. ink, sepia, and red-clialk drawings, illustrating the spirit and subject of bygone ages foreign to our own. To the uneducated in art, thej are little more than curiosities. Among these are works by Raphael, Del Sarto, Cellini, Rossetti, Baroccios, Salvator Rosa, Tintoretto, Rubens, and many othei's. Less than a liundred years ago this collection was begun by Count Maggiori, of Eologna, and it has since received many additions from other famous collections, includni'g that of James Jackson Jarvis, our Consul at Florence, from whom Mr. Yander- bilt purchased it in 1880. The schools represented are the Roman, Florentine, Sienese, Parma, Man tuan, Peru- gian, Bolognese, ISTeapolitan, Venetian, Dutch, and Flem- ish, including drawings by Albrecht Durer, and by Murillo and Yelasquez of the Spanish school. These are of great value to American art students. The Yanderbilts have not abused their trust. They have been obedient to law, and have acquiesced in the conventionalities adopted and observed by their neigh- bors. They have been friends of social order, and they have never yielded to the temptation which enormous wealth confers to make war upon the institutions about them ; to indulge in those coarse vices which are too often assumed to be the privilege of the rich and pow- erful. They have not preyed upon the poor, for they were all nurtured in the school of self-restraint. At the celebration by the Commodore of his golden wedding a hundred and forty of his descendants and near relatives assembled at the house, and .on that sig- nificant and joyful occasion he presented to his wife a beautiful little golden steamboat, with musical works instead of an engine — emblematic at once of his busi- THE NEW YORK CENTRAL. 2G7 ness career and the liarmoiiy of his home. If he ever boasted of anything that was his, in the presence of strangers, it was of liis mother, his wife, or liis long la- mented soldier-son. AVillianill. Yanderbilt was equally fond of the home life, and his sons are more domestic than most of their neighbors. The opulence they possess is not the result of the manipulation of stock. It was not acquired by I'obbing the frugal and industrious. It was earned by building- roads where they were needed and as they were needed ; by rolling twenty-six fragmentary lines into one and giving them a single competent and respectable head. For taxes these roads pay 8151 an hour the year round, aorerreofating' about three times wdiat it costs to maintain the canal as a free competitor. The company pays $1 to the State to every $2.70 paid to stockholders. This system of roads within New York State supports 200,000 people directly and indirectly from the wages paid for service. At the same time it responds to the public need for transit and traffic at a cost less than any other railroad in the world. This is illustrated by the statement which follows : Passengek Bates. Cents I Cents per mile. per mile. NewYork Central Railroad. 2 | Illinois railroads 4 Connecticut railroads 4^ j Minnesota " 5 Colorado " 10 Maine (( ... 5 Pennsylvania 5,000 of such bonds ; to each of the three daughters of my niece, Mrs. Phebe Ann Dustan, 85,000 of such bonds ; to Charles Simonson, son of my nephew Charles M. Simonson, deceased, $10,000 of like bonds ; to my family physician, Dr. Jared Linsly, '810,000 of like bonds ; to Cap- tain James Braisted, formally in my employ, 84,000 of such bonds ; and to Lambert AYardell, an old and faithful clerk, 820,000 of such bonds, provided he is in my service at the time of my decease. I further give and bequeath unto my grandson, William K. Thorn, Jr., son of my daughter Emily, 825,000 of registered bonds of the Lake Shore and Michi- gan Southern Railway Company, of 85,000 each, of the issue hereinbefore mentioned ; to Samuel Patten Hand, son of Obediah Hand, a brother of my mother, one of such regis- tered bonds of said company of 85,000 ; to the Rev. Dr. Charles F. Deems, pastor of the Church of the Strangers, in the City of New York, > 20,000 of such registered bonds of said company of 85,000 each ; to ]\Irs. Maria Lecher, wife of General Gordon Granger, 810,000 of such registered bonds of said company of 85,000 each ; and to the wife of my nephew, Samuel Barton, 825,000 of first mortgage bonds of the Staten Island Railway Company of the issue in this clause of my vdll before desciibed." [The sixth clause of the will provides for the purchase of bonds to make the above legacies good, in case he should not have those described on hand at the time of his death.] 13 290 APPEIiDIX D. [The seventh clause of the will relates to the payment of taxes in respect to the bequests.] Eighth. — All the rest, residue, and remainder of the prop- erty and estate, real and personal, of every^ description, and wheresoever situated, of which I may be seized or possessed, and to which I may be entitled at the time of my decease, I give, devise, and bequeath unto my son, William H. Yan- derbilt, his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, to his and their own use forever. Ninth. — I constitute and appoint my son, William H. Vanderbilt, and my grandson, Cornelius, son of the said Will- iam H., and also, when he shall become of age, my gTandson William, and the sou of the said William H., and also my before-named nephew, Samuel Barton, executors of this, my will, and trustees of the several trust estates hereinbe- fore created. And should any of the said trvistees refuse or be unable to act as such, or resign their trusteeshi}), the said trusts, together with the estates and powers hereinbe- fore granted to the trustees, shall rest in those of the said ti'ustees who shall act. And should any of the said trus- tees die, the said trust estates, trusts and powers shall rest in the siu'vivors and the suiwivor of them. But it is my will that no commissions or compensation shall be charged to my estate, or to any of the said trust estates, or to any of the persons for whose benefit the said trusts are created, b}" said executors or trustees, for their services as such executors or trustees ; it being my inten- tion that they shall serve as such executors and trustees without any compensation whatever, and they are severally appointed on that condition. And should either of theii^ refuse to qualify and act, or to continue to serve as such executor and trustee Avithout compensation, his ajipoint- ment herein contained shall be void and of no effect. And should my nephew, Samuel Bariou, refuse to act as such executor and trustee without compensation, the bequest to his Avife hereinbefore contained shall become void, and the bonds bequeathed to her shall revert to my residuary es- tate. Tenth — It is my Avill that in case any direction or provision of this my will should be held illegal or void, or fail to take effect for any reason, no other part of this my will APPENDIX D. 291 shall 1)0 thoreb}' invalidated, impaired or affected, but this my will shall be continued and take effect in the same man- ner as if the invalid direction or permission had not been contained therein. And should any of the legacies herein lapse, the same shall go to my residuaiy legatee before named. Lastly. — I hereby revoke all Avills and codicils by me at any time heretofore made. In witness whereof I have set my hand and seal to this my last will, written on twenty-four pages of paper, at the city of New York, the 9th day of January, in the year 1875. C. Vanderbilt. Signed, sealed, published and declared by Cornelius Van- derbilt, the testator, as and for his last will and testament, in the presence of us, wdio, at his request, and in his pres- ence, and in the presence of each othei', have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses. Francis P. Freeman, 140 West Forty-third St., New York. Sidney A. Corey, 122 East Thirty-seventh St., New York. Joseph Harker, Everett House, New York, Charles A. Rapallo, 17 West Thirty-first St., New York, CODICIL. I, Cornelius Vanderbilt, do make a codicil to my last will and testament, which bears date the 9tli day of January, 1875, and is hereto annexed, as follows, viz. : First. — I give and bequeath unto m}^ grandson, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr., son of William H. Vanderbilt, all the shares of capital stock of the New York and Harlem Railroad Com- pany which now stand in the name of my said grandson on the books of said company, and of which I hold the cei'tificates in my possession, being 22,396 shares ; also all the shares of the capital stock of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad company now standing in the name of my said grandson on the books of the last-named com- 292 APPE^STDIX D. pany, and of which I hold the certificates in any j)ossession, being 31,650 shares." [In the second clause of the codicil, he gave to his grand- son, William K. Vauderbilt, 20,000 shares of New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company.] [In the third clause he gave to Frederick W. Vanderbilt the same number of shares in the same company. In the fourth clause he gave the same amount to George Vander- bilt. In the fifth clause he gave 2,000 shares of the capital stock of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Compaiiy to his wife, in addition to the bequests to her in his will. The codicil was dated June 30, 1875.] APPENDIX E. The following letter was written, explanatory of the large charity : New York, October 17, 1884. Dr. John C Dalton, President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. My Dear Sir : I have been for some time examining tlie question of the facilities for medical education whicli New York possesses. The doctors have claimed that with proper encouragement, this city might become one of tlie most im- portant centres of medical instruction in the world. The health, comfort, and lives of the whole community are so dependent upon skilled physicians, that no jarofession re- quires more care in the preparation of its j^ractitioners. Medi- cine needs a permanent home where the largest opportunities can be aftbrded for both theory and practice. In making up my mind to give substantial aid to the effort to create in New York City one of the first medical schools in the world, I have been somewhat embarrassed as to the manner in which the ob- ject could be most quickly and efl'ectively reached. It seems wiser and more practical to enlarge an existing institution, which already has great facilities, experience, and reputation, than to form a new one. I have, therefore, selected the College of Physicians and Surgeons, because it is the oldest medical school in the State, and of equal rank with any in the United States. I have decided to give to the College .^500, 000, of which I have expended §200, 000 in the j^urchase of twenty-nine lots, situ- ated at Tenth Avenue and Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth Streets, the deed of which please find herewith ; and in selecting this loca- tion, I have consulted with your treasurer, Dr. McLean. The other .^300,000 please find inclosed my check for. The latter sum is to form a building-fund for the erection thereon from time to time of suitable buildings for the college. Very truly yours, W. H. Ya>;derbilt. Letters of thanks were sent to Mr. Vanderbilt, by Dr. Dalton, by the Faculty of the College, by the Trustees, the Alumni Association, and the students. APPENDIX F. The New York papers on the morning of January 12, 1885, published tlie letters which passed between Will- iam H. Vanderbilt and General and Mrs. U. S. Grant. They are thoroughly characteristic of the writers, and call for no cominent. The correspondence began with the fol- lowing letter : 640 Fifth Avenxie, January 10, 1885. Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant. Dear Madam : So many misrepresentations have appeared in regard to tlie loan made by me to General Grant, and reflect- ing unjustly upon him and myself, that it seems proper to briefly recite the facts. On Sunday, May 4th last, General Grant called at my resi- dence and asked me to loan him i5150,000 for one day. I gave him my check without question, not because the transaction was business-like, but simjjly because the request came from General Grant. The misfortune which overwhelmed him in the next twenty-four hours aroused the sympathy and regret of the whole country. You and he sent me, within a few days of the time, the deeds of your joint properties to cover this obliga- tion, antl urged my acceptance on the ground that this was the only debt of honor which the General had personally incurred, and these deeds I returned. During my absence in Europe the General delivered to my attorney mortgages upon all his own real estate, household effects, and the swords, medals, and works of art which were the memorials of his victories, and the presents from govern- ments all over the world. These securities were, in his judg- ment, worth the ^150,000. At his solicitation the necessary steps were taken by judgment, etc., to reduce these properties to possession, and the articles mentioned have been this day bought in by me, and the amount bid applied to the reduction of the debt. Now that I am at liberty to treat these things as my own, the disposition of the whole matter most in accord APPENDIX F. 295 Avith my feelings is this : I jiresent to yon, as your separate es- tate, the debt and jndpfnicut I hohl against General Grant, also the mortgages njion his real estate, and all the household fnr- niture and ornaments, conpled only with the condition that the swords, commissions, medals, gifts from the United States, States, citie?, and foreign governments, and all articles of his- torical vahie and interest shall, at the General's death, or, if yon desire it sooner, be presented to the Government at Wash- ington, where they will remain as perpetual memorials of his fame and of the history of his time. I inclose herewith assignments to you of the mortgages and judgments, a bill of sale of the jiersonal proiierty, and a deed of trust in which the articles of historical interest are enumerated. A copy of this trust-deed will, with your ap- proval, be forwarded to the President of the United States for deposit in the proper department. Trusting that this action will meet with your acceptance and approval, and with kind regards to your husband, I am, yours respectfully, "VT. H. Vanberbilt. Xew York Crrv, January 10, 1885. Dear Sir : Mrs. Grant wishes me to answer your letter of this evening to say that while she appreciates your great generosity in transfeiTing to her the mortgage given to secure my debt of §150,000, she cannot accept it in whole. Siie accepts with pleasure the trust which ai>plies to articles enumerated in your letter to go to the Government of the United States, at my death or sooner, at her option. In this matter you have an- ticipated the disposition which I had contemplated making of the articles. They will be delivered to the Government as soon as arrangements can be made for their reception. Papers relating to all other j^roperty will be returned, with the request that you have it sold and the proceeds a^iplied to the liquidation of the debt wliich I so justly owe you. You have stated in your letter, with the minutest accuracy, the history of the transaction whicli brought me in your debt. I have only to add that I regard your giving me your check for the amount without inquiry as an act of marked and unusual friendship. The loan was to me personally. I got the money, as I believed, to carry the Marine National Bank over a day, being assured that the bank was solvent, but owing to unusual calls needed assistance until it could call in its loans. I was assured by Fertliuand Ward that the firm of Grant & Ward had over §660,000 to their credit, at that time in the Marine Bank, be- sides 81,300,000 of unpledged securities in their own vaults. 296 APPEISTDIX F. I cannot conclude withoiit assuring you that Mrs. Grant's inability to avail herself of your great kindness in no way lessens either her sense of obligation or my own. Yours truly, tl. S. Grant. W. H. Vandekbilt, Esq. 640 Fifth A-^-entje, January 11, 1885. General U. S. Grant. Mx Dear Sir : On my return home last night I foitnd your letter in answer to mine to Mrs. Grant. I aj^iireciate fully the sentiments which actuate both Mrs. Grant and yourself in de- clining the part of my lirojDosition relating to the real estate. I greatly regret that she feels it her duty to make this decision, as I earnestly hoped that the spirit in which the offer was made would overcome any scruples in accepting it. But I must in- sist that I shall not be defeated iu a puri^ose to which I have given so much thought, and which I have so much at heart. I will, therefore, as fast as the money is received from the sales of the real estate, deposit it in the Union Trust Company. With the money thus realized I will at once create with that company a trust, with proper jMovisious for the income to be paid to Mrs. Grant during her life, and giving the power to her to make such disposition of the princijial by will as she may elect. Very truly yoiirs, W. H. Vanderbilt. New York City, January 11, 1885. Dear Sir : Y'our letter of this date is received. Mrs. Grant and I regret that you cannot accept our proposition to retain the property which was mortgaged in good faith to secure a debt of honor. But your generous determination compels us to no longer resist. Yours truly, U. S. Grant. W. H. Vanderbilt. New York, Sunday, January 11. Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt : Upon reading your letter of this afternoon General Grant and myself felt that it would be ungracious to refuse your princely and generous offer. Hence his note to you. But upon reflec- tion, I find that I cannot, I will not, accept your munificence in auv form. APPENDIX F. 207 I heg that yon will pardon this apparent vacillation, and con- sider this answer detinite and final. With great regard and a sense of obligation that will always remain. I am, yours veiy gratefully, Julia D. Grant. To Mk. W. H. Vandeebilt. This action was not taken without serious consideration by both parties, and Messrs. Chauucey M. Depew and Wliitehiw Keid were consulted by the principals several times between the incurring of the obligation and the writ- ing of these letters. The final declination of Mrs. Grant's was afterward mod- ified so far as to accept for the Government the trophies and souvenirs turned over to Mr. Vanderbilt, and these were sent to Washington ; the rest of the mortgaged prop- erty was sold and went toward the liquidation of the debt. The loan having been effected by an exchange of checks, and General Grant's check proving not to be good, it was felt by the family that to pay the debt was the only honor- able thing to do. 13* APPENDIX G. THE WILL. Following is the full text of Mr. Vanderbilt's will, with the exception of the formal descrijjtiou of the real estate embraced in his late residence and the stables belonging thereto, and in the houses which the testator bequeaths to his four 'daughters : I, William H. Vanderbilt, of the City of New York, do make and publish my last will and testament as follows, viz. : First. — I devise unto my beloved wife, Maria Louisa, for and during her natural life, the dwelling-house in which I now reside and the lot on which it stands. ... I also give and devise to my said wife, for and during her natural life, the three lots of laud on the northeasterly corner of Madison Avenue and Fifty-second Street, in the city of New York, . . . together with the stables and improvements thereon erected. I also give and bequeath to her, for and during her natural life, all the paintings, pictures, statuary and w'orks of art which I may own at the time of my de- cease, except the portrait and the marble bust of my father, which I have bequeathed to inj son Cornelius. I also give and bequeath to her, for and during her natural life, all the furniture of every descrijjtion — including plate, silver, library, ornaments, musical instruments and other articles of household vise — which may at the time of m}' decease be in or appurtenant to my present residence, corner Fifth Avenue and Fifty-first Street, and also all the horses, carri- ages, vehicles, harness, stable furniture and implements which I may have on hand at the time of my decease and usually kept in my said stables, on Madison Avenue and APPENDIX G. 299 Fiftj'-second Street ; and I empower my wife during her life to exchange or dispose of any of my said household furniture and other chattels, except pictures, statuary, and ■works of art, and of any of said horses, carriages, and stable furniture to such extent as she shall deem necessary from time to time, to renew or replace the same. I also give and bequeath to my said wife an annuity of $200,000 per annum daring her natural life, to be computed from the date of my decease, and jjaid to her in equal quar- ter-yearly payments thereafter. And I direct that a sum sufficient to produce such annuity be set aj^art and at all times safely invested by my executors for that purpose during the life of my wife ; and I empower her to dispose by will of $500,000 of the jDrincipal of the sum so directed to be set apart in any manner she may desire and which shall be legal. All taxes, assessments, and charges which may be imj)osed on the real estate devised to my wife for life shall be pay- able b}^ her during the same period. And I declare that the foregoing devises and bequests to her are to be in lieu of dower. Second. — I devise uuto my daughter, Margaret Louisa, wife of Elliott F. Shepard, Esq., her heirs and assigns for- ever, the house in which she now resides and the lot on which it stands ... at Fifty-second Street and Fifth Avenue, southwest corner, together with all my rights iu Fifth Avenue and Fifty-second Street in front of said premises, excepting, however, out of the lot of land hereby devised and described an irregular strip of laud, part of the rear thei'eof, which strip extends from the southerly line of Fifty-second Street to a line parallel therewith, and distant 44 feet southerly therefrom, and is 7 feet and 11 inches wide at Fifty-second Street, narrowing by jogs and curves to 4 feet 4 j inches in the rear, as now inclosed by the iron fence which separates said strip from the residue of the lot iu this clause described. Third. — I devise to my daughter Emily Thorn, wife of William Sloane, her heirs and assigns, the middle one of the three houses erected by me on the westerly side of Fifth Avenue, between Fifty-tirst and Fifty-second Streets, and the lot on which it stands, which lot is bounded and described 300 APPENDIX G. as follows : Easterly in front by Fifth Avenue, westerly in the rear by a line parallel with Fifth Avenvie and distant 149 feet and 114- inches westerh' from the westerly line thereof, northerly by the lot of land herein before devised to my daughter Margaret Louisa and by said strip expected therefrom, and southerly by the lot of land hereinbefore devised to my wife for life, containing 53 feet 5 inches in width in front on Fifth Avenue and 39 feet and 7 inches in width in the rear, and embracing all the land lying between the lots described in the first and second clauses of this will. I also devise to my said daughter Emily, her heirs and assigns, for the purpose of being kept open as a rear entrance to the premises devised to her, the before described irregular strij) of land excepted from the rear part of the lot in the second clause of this will described and extend- ing to Fifty-second Street. Fourth. — I devise lauto my daughter Florence Adele, wife of Hamilton McK. Twombly, her heirs and assigns forever, the lot of land on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street, in said city, and part of the lot in the rear thereof fronting on Fifty-fourth Street, ... to- gether with the dwelling-house erected on said premises, and all my right, title, and interest in and to the street and avenue bounding said premises. Flfth.~l de^dseunto my daughter Eliza O., wife of Will- iam S. Webb, her heirs and assigns forever, the lot of land on the westerly side of Fifth Avenue, next adjoining on the south the corner lot described in the next preceding fourth clause of this will, and also the remaining part of said rear lot fronting on Fift^'-fourth Street, said premises beginning at a point on the westerly side of Fifth Avenue, distant 48 feet 3^ inches southerly from the southerly line of Fifty- fourth Street. The strip of land on the westerly side of said lot fronting on Fifty-fourth Street is given to my said daughter Eliza O., for the purpose of aifording her a rear entrance from Fifty-fourth Street to her house, and the easterly line of said entrance may be shaj^ed in such man- ner as shall be or have been devised by the architect in charge of the erection of said two houses, biit keeping as nearly as possible within the dimensions herein before jare- scribed. APPENDIX G. 301 SixtJi. — Should the dwelling-houses now being erected for my daughters — Florence Adele and Eliza O. — upon the two lots of land devised to them not be tinislied at the time of my decease I direct that they be completed as soou as practicable thereafter at the expense of my estate. Serenfh. — I give and bequeath to the trustees herein- after appointed $25,000,000 of bonds of the United States of America bearing interest at the rate of four per cent, per annum, the principal falling due iu the year 1907 ; $5,000,000 of second mortgage bonds of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company, due in the year 1903, bear- ing interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum ; $800,000 of the first mortgage bonds of the last named company, due in the year 1900, bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum ; $2,000,000 of the sinking fund bonds of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Com- pany, due in the year 1929, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum ; $2,000,000 of the sinking fund bonds of the last named company, due iu the year 1929, bearing interest at the rate of five per cent, per annum ; $200,000 of the general consolidated sinking fund bonds of the last named company, due iu the year 1915, bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent. ]3er annum ; $-4,- 000,000 of the mortgage bonds of the New York Central Railroad Compau}', due iu the year 1903, bearing intei-est at the rate of seven per cent, i^ev annum, and $1,000,000 of the mortgage bonds of the New Yoi'k and Harlem Railroad Company, due in the year 1900, bearing interest at the rate of seven percent, per annum, making in the aggregate $10,- 000,000 (forty million dollars) of the above-named securities at par in trust, to divide the same into eight (8) equal par- cels of five (5) million dollars each, and each of said parcels to contain an equal amount of each of the above specified kinds of bonds ; to set apart and hold one of said parcels in trust for each of my four sons, Cornelius, William K., Frederick W. and George W. Vanderbilt, and one of said parcels in trust for each of my f(3ur daughters hereinbefore named, and to collect and receive the income of each of said eight trust-funds, and pay the same over as it accrues and is collected to the beneficiary for whom it is set apart during the natural life of such beneficiary, and I direct that 302 APPENDIX G. no payment be made in anticipation of such income, and that no part of the principal of either of said trust fimds be paid over or ahenated or transferred during the hfetime of the child entitled to the income thereof, and upon the death of each of my said children I direct that the principal of the fund so set apart and held in trust for him or her be paid to his or her lawful issue in such shares or proportions as he or she may b}' last will have directed or appointed, and in default of such testamentary direction I direct that such fund be divided among his or her lawful issue in the proportions in Avliich they would be by law entitled thereto had my child, so dying, died possessed thereof his or her absolute ownership. In case either of my sous should leave no lawful issue him surviving I direct that the fund so held in trust for him be divided among his brothers him surviving, and the issue of any of his brothers who may have died before him, such issue to take the share which the brother so d^'ing Avould have taken if living. And should either of my said daugh- ters leave no lawful issue her surviving I direct that the fund so held in trust for her be divided among her sisters living at the time of her death, or should any of her sisters have died before her leaving issue, such issue shall take the share which such deceased sister would have taken if living. Eiglith. — I authorize thetriistees of the said several trust- funds to receive and reinvest the proceeds of the bonds so given to them in trust as they mature, and also in their dis- cretion to change from time to time the investments of said trust funds, but I direct that they do at all times keep the said principal of the said several trust-funds securely in- vested during the continuance of said trusts respectively in bonds of the United States of America or of the State or City of New York, or in mortgage bonds of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, the New York and Havlem Railroad Company, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company, or the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company, or bonds guaranteed by it or someone or more of said sjiecitied securities. They may change such investments from time to time and may also invest on bond and mortgage on inieni'umbered real estate iu the State of New York, and they may apply to the rein- APPENDIX G. 303 vestments of the principal of said trust-funds, or cither of them, any of the securities of the classes above specitied which I may have on hand at the time of my decease at tlieir market vahie at the time of such apphcation. And I direct that all securities in which such trust-funds shall from time to time be invested be taken and held by said trustees in their names as trustees for the parties re- spectively for whose benefit the funds are separately set apart and held, so that each of said eight trust-funds shall be kept separate and distinct from the others, and the ac- counts thereof shall be separately kept. Should I not have on hand at the date of my decease a sufficient amount of each of the descriptions of bonds here- inbefore specified to make up the amounts in the seventh clause bequeathed in trust, I direct that the deficienc}' be supplied with bonds of the New York and Harlem Railroad Company at pxr or any other bonds I may leave. Ninth. — I give and bequeath unto my four sons and my four daughters hereinbefore named, to be equallv divided between them, $10,000,000 of bonds of the United States of America bearing interest at the rate of four per cent, per annum, the principal falling due in 1907 ; §920,000 of the bontls of the New York Central Railroad Company, paj'a- ble in the year 1903, and bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum ; 180,000 of the mortgage bonds of the New York and Harlem Railroad Company', payable in the year 1900, and bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum ; $1,000, 000 of the bonds of the Detroit and Ba}" City Riilroad Company, payable in the year 1931, and beai'ing interest at the rate of livejDer cent, per annum ; 83,000,000 of the second mortgage bonds of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Company, payable in the year 1903, and bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum ; 83,000,000 of the mortgage bonds of the Pine Creek Railroad Company, payable in the year 1932, and bearing interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum ; §2,000,000 of the mortgage bonds of the Pittsburg, McKees- port and Youghiogheny Railroad Company, payable in the year 1932, and bearing interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum ; $2,000,000 of the guaranteed stock of the last named company, bearing interest at the rate of six 304 APPENDIX G. per cent, per annum ; $2,000,000 of the debenture bonds of the Chicago and Northwestern Eailwaj' Compan}-, paya- ble in the year 1933, and bearing interest at the rate of five per cent, per annum ; $2,000,000 of the bonds of the Dakota Central Railroad Company, payable in the year 1907, bear- ing interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum, and guar- anteed by the Chicago and Northwestern Eailwaj' Company ; 40,000 shares of the capital stock of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, 30,000 shares of the capital preferred stock of the Chicago and Northwestern Riilway Company, 50,000 shares of the capital stock of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company, and 20,000 shares of the capital stock of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, making in the aggregate $40,000,000 of securities at par, to be divided among my before-named eight children in such manner that an equal amount, as nearly as may be, of each kind of security shall be allotted to each child. Should I not have on hand at the time of my decease a sufficient amount of bonds and stocks of all the descrip- tions above named, after providing the trust-funds created in the seventh clause of this will, to make up the amounts in this ninth clause bequeathed, I direct that the deficiency be made up with cash to the amount of the bonds or stock which may be deficient at par. Tenth. — I having transferred on the books of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company to each of my three daughters, Margaret Louisa, Emil}' Thorn and Florence Adele, 4,000 shares of the preferred stock of said company, but I holding the certificates of said shares with powers to transfer the same executed b}^ my said daughters respec- tively, I hereby declare that the foregoing bequests to ray said daughters are to be in place of said shares, and that said shares are to be part of my I'esiduary estate. Eleventh. — I direct that the bonds and the stocks in the ninth clause of this will bequeathed to my daughter Eliza O. be not delivered to her or placed under her control until she attains the age of thirty years, but that they be set apart and held for her by my executors in the meantime ; that the interest accruing thereon be collected by them and paid over to her as it is received until said bonds and stocks APPENDIX G. 305 are delivered to her ; but it is my will that if my said daughter Eliza O. should die before attaining the age of thirty years, leaving children her surviving, the said bonds and stocks shall be divided among such children in such proportion as she may by will direct, or if she should leave no will, then in equal shares. Should she leave but one child, that child is to take the whole. And in case she should die before attaining the age of thirty years and should leave no child her surviving, the property be- queathed to her in said ninth clause shall revert to my es- tate. Twelfth. — I direct that the interest and dividends on the several bonds and stocks bequeathed in the seventh and ninth clauses of this will be apportioned up to the date of my decease, and that so much thereof as shall have accrued after that date shall belong to the legatees. Tliirteenth. — I bequeath unto my son, Cornelius Vander- bilt, the sum of $2,000,000 in addition to all other bequests to him in this will contained. Fourteenth. — Upon the decease of my wife I devise to my son, Geoi-ge W. Vanderbilt, for and during his natural life, the hereinbefore described lot of land and house on the northwesterly corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifty-first Street, where I now reside, and the lots and stables on Madison Avenue and Fifty-second Street, being the same properties in the first clause of this my will devised to my wife for life. I also bequeath to my said son, George W., for and during his natural life, all my pictures, statuary, and works of art, except the portrait and marble bust of my father, which I bequeath to my son Cornelius. I also bequeath to my son George W. all the furniture, carriages, and other chattels mentioned in the first clause of this my will for and dui'iug his natural life ; and after the decease of my wife and of my son George W., if he shall leave any son or sons him sui'viving, I give, devise, and bequeath absokitely and in fee the said house and lot on Fifth Avenue and Fifts'-first Street, and said lots and stables on Madison Avenue and Fifty-second Street, and all the pictures, statuary, furniture, and all the property of every description which is in the first clause of this my will devised and bequeathed to my wife for life, unto such one of the sons of said George W. 306 APPENDIX G. as he shall by his last will direct and appoint to take the same. And in default of such testamentary direction, then the eldest son of said George "W. who shall survive him. And in case the said George W. shall leave no son him surviving, then on his decease and after the death of my wife', I give, devise, and bequeath all and singular the said real and personal property so given to George W. for hfe, unto my grandson William H. Vanderbilt, son of my son Cornelius, his heirs and assigns forever, and in the event last mentioned I also give and bequeath to my said grand- son, Wilham H., $2,000,000. But, without regard to the event of my son George W. dying as aforesaid, I bequeath to my said grandson, William H., $1,000,000, to be paid on his attaining the age of thirty years : in the meantime the income thereof shall be applied to his use by my executors during his minority, and thereafter shall be paid to him at such times and in such amounts as his father, if living, shaU approve, until he becomes entitled to the princijaal. And in case the said William H. becomes entitled to the said legacy of $2,000,000, tlie $1,000,000 last given shall be deemed part thereof. In case my son George W. shall die without leaving any son him surviving, if said William H. is not then living, the real and personal estate so given to. said George W. for life shall after his death and that of my wife go, and I devise and bequeath the same, to my grandson Cornelius, in fee, and in that event I give to my last-named grandson $1,000,000, my object being that my present residence and my collection of works of art be retained and maintained by a male descendant bearing the name of Vanderbilt. Fifteentli. — I direct that no deductions shall be made from any of the legacies to my children by reason of any sums which I have heretofore given, or advanced to, or for ac- count of either of them. Sixteenth. — I give and bequeath to William Vanderbilt Kissam, son of Peter R Ivissam, of the City of Brooklyn, and nephew of my wife, the sum of $30,000, to be paid to him when he attains the age of twenty-five yeai's, provided his father and my son Cornelius, or the survivor of them, shall in their or his discretion approve in writing of such pivyment at that time ; otherwise at such later period as APPENDIX G. 307 they or the survivor of them shall approve, and I direct that interest on said legacy be paid to said William Y. Kissani from the time of my decease until he shall receive the prin- cipal. Seventeenth. — I give and bequeath unto my uncle, Jacob H. Yanderbilt, the dividends which shall accrue during liis life on 1,000 shares of the capital stock of the New York Cen- tral and Hudson River Kailroad Connmny, now standing in his name on the books of said company but owned by me, I holding the certificates with power. I also give to each of the children of my said uncle — viz., Mrs. Ellen Caesar, Jacob H. Yanderbilt, Jr., and Mrs. James McNamee — the sum of S2,000 per annum to each during their respective natural lives. Eighteenth. — I give and bequeath to Mrs. Annie Reid, wife of J. E. Reid ; to jNIi-s. EunuaDe Forest, wife of Frank A. Howland and daughter of the late Daniel C. Yan Duzer, of Stateu Island ; to my aunt, Miss Phcebe Yanderbilt ; to Sophia White, daughter of Andrew Ainslie ; to Jeremiah Simonson ; to Anna Root, wife of George M. Root ; to Miss Emma Simonson, daughterof Cornelius Simonson, deceased, and to Miss Charlotte Dustan, an annuity of $2,000 per an- num to each. To Mrs. Edith Dustan, wife of Charles Dus- taU; who resides at Demopolis, in the State of Alabama, an annuity of $2,500 per annum ; to Mrs. Georgiana Hitch- cock , Mrs. Emily Y. Snedeker, wife of Livingston Snedeker, and to ]Mi's. Catharine McGregor, of the City of New York, an annuity of §1,200 per annum to each ; all the said an- nuities to be computed from the day of my decease, and to be paid quarterly' thereafter to the several annuitants dur- ing their respective natural lives. Nineteenth. — -I give and bequeath to Mr. E. Y. W. Rossiter the sum of $10,000, and to Lambert Wardell the sum of $10,000. Twentieth. — I give and bequeath to the Board of Tnist of the Yanderbilt University, of Nashville, Tenn., incorpo- rated under the laws of the State of Tennessee, 8200,000 of the second mortgage bonds of the Lake Shore and jMichi- gan Southern Railway Company, to be applied to the uses and purposes of said University. Twentif-Jir^t. — I give and bequeath to the following named 308 APPEISTDIX G. societies and incorporated bodies, organized under the laws of the State of New York, the sums hereinafter specified, viz : To the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, $100,000 for domestic pui'poses. To St. Luke's Hospital, incorporated in the year 1850, $100,000. To the Young Men's Christian Association of the City of New York, $100,000. To the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the City of New York, $50,000. To the New York Bible and Common Prayer-Book So- ciet}^, whereof the Bishop is president, $50,000. To the Home for Licurables, incorporated in 1845, $50,000. To the Protestant Episcopal Church Missionary Society for Seamen in the City and Port of New York, $50,000. To the New York Christian Home for Intemperate Men, $50,000. To the New York Protestant Episcopal Mission Society of the City of New York, $100,000. To the Metropolitan Museum of Art, incorporated April 13, 1870, $100,000. To the American Museum of Natural History in the City of New York, $50,000. To the Moravian Church in New Dorp Lane, Staten Isl- and, organized under the name of the " United Breth- ren's Church," $100,000. Twenty -second. — All the rest, residue and remainder of all the property and estate, real, personal, and mixed, of every description and wheresoever situated, of which I may be seized or possessed, or to which I may be entitled at the time of my decease, I give, devise, and bequeath unto my two sons, Cornelius Vanderbilt and William K. Vauderbilt, in equal shares, and to their heirs and assigns to their use forever. Tireutij-ihird. — I constitute and appoint my wife, Maria Louisa, and my sons, Cornelius, William K., Frederick W., and George W., and the survivors and survivor of them, executrix and executox's of this my will, and trustees of the APPENDIX G. 309 several trust-funds hereinbefore mentioned and created ; provided, however — and tliis appointment is subject to this exception — that neither of my said sons shall be trustee of the fund hereinbefore directed to be set apart and held in trust for him or for his benefit ; but as to such fund, in the case of each of my said sons, the trust shall rest in and be executed by the others of the trustees hereinbefore named and the survivors or survivor of them. And pro- vided further, and the said appointments of executrix, ex- ecutors and trustees are subject to the further condition that no commissions or compensation shall be charged by or allowed to either of them for their services as executrix, executor or trustee, and if either of them shall decline to serve on that condition his or her api:)ointment as such ex- ecutrix, executor or trustee shall cease and terminate. And for the purpose of guarding against the contingency of any unsuitable person being appointed trustee of any or either of the trust-funds hereinbefore created, I direct as to each of said trust-funds that, in case of the death, disability, or resignation of any of the trustees hereinbefore appointed, the trust shall rest in and be executed by the others of those whom I have named, and iipon the death of the last sur- vivor of the acting trustees during the continuance of the trust the trust shall cease, and the entire trust-fund shall be paid to the beneficiary entitled to the income. Twenty-fourth. — Should any or either of the provisions or directions of this will fail, or be held ineffectual or in- valid for any reason, it is my will that no other portion or provision of this will be invalidated, impaired, or aifected thereby, but that this will be construed as if such invalid provision or direction had not been herein contained. Lastly. — I hereby revoke all former wills and codicils by me at any time made. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal at the City of New York, the twenty-fifth day of September, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four. W. H. V-AXDERBILT. Signed, sealed, published, and declared by William H. Yanderbilt, the testator, as and for his last will and testament, in the presence of us, who at his request and in his pres- 310 APPENDIX G. ence, and in the presence of each other, have hereunto sub- scribed our names as witnesses. The words " or bonds guaranteed by it " interlined on the twenty-first page. Charles A. Eapallo, 17 West Thirty-first Street, New York. Samuel F. Bakgek, 17 West Thirty-thii-d Street, New York City. C. C. Clarke, Sing Sing, N. Y. I. P. Chambers, 26 East Forty-ninth Street, New York City, a$ 14 i"V?;s»«»»<'"> ,1 A._60m-10,'65 S."?i'LH?aS»i. "''""'gtoley .^ :i T}^i i, ^ y. GENERAL LIBRARY - U.C. BERKELEY 6000783307